Held to Account: But wait, there's more...

Friends, the bar has been raised on the international Bureaucracy-Gone-Mad-o-Metre. I present to you, as the new champion of 'red tape strangling sanity', a mind boggling example of pointless, self-important lunacy. If you've lived in Dubai longer than 4 weeks, this situation or one similar has probably happened to you already, but take a deep breath and read on:

You will recall the story of our man "S" who's moved house and simply wanted the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) to disconnect the power and water from his previous house and reconnect the services at the new one. Not too much to ask you would have thought. As you know from the first story, our man went to the DEWA office to settle the final bill and as part of the new connection procedure, confirmed that he wanted his DEWA bills to be sent to him by email as they have been for the past 5 years. At this point, he was told to go away and not come back until he could produce a letter of authority from his employer stating that the company had no objection to "S" receiving DEWA bills electronically. Despite his protests, "You've been sending the bills to me by email for the past 5 years...", the DEWA dude would not be moved.

Once "S" calmed down he pondered how to get this letter done, and that's when the penny dropped. As he's the holder of the Power of Attorney for his company and is the only company signatory in the UAE, "S" has to write a Letter of No Objection from himself, The Boss, saying that he has no objection to himself, The Employee, being sent his power bills by email. Maybe something along the lines of:

I confirm that I, "S", have no objection to me "S", receiving my power bills by email the same way you've sent them to me for the last 5 years....Signed, "S"

then he has to sign the letter, put the company stamp on it and present it at the DEWA office together with his ID and probably a copy of the PoA.

And try to keep a straight face.