The Work of a Fujairah Petrol Station Attendant

Hot Stuff

Spare a thought for the many Fujairah petrol station attendants this summer, standing in 45 C degree heat, while looking after the needs of customers and their cars.

Unfortunate Experiment

The move in 2008 to lay off these attendants and have self-service stations met with great opposition in the UAE. The ENOC Company trialed this for a three month period and motorists voted by driving to the next station where there were attendants.

Locals claimed it was too hot in the UAE to get out of their air-conditioned cars to pump petrol. Others, rightly or wrongly, claimed it was culturally inappropriate to expect women to be checking the water in radiators and batteries.

Beyond all of this, the experiment was a failure because there was a lack of information and an absence of any effective way of customers giving feedback.

Genuine Service Stations

The UAE is one of the few countries in the world where gas stations are still service stations and the attendants pump gas, wash windscreens and inflate tyres as part of their duty.

This man (pictured), who is employed at the ADNOC station on the Fujairah Corniche, works six days a week. His labour involves an eight hour stretch and he can be scheduled to work on three different shifts:

6am to 2pm

2pm to 8pm

8pm to 6am

While the primary task is attending to motorists, when things are quiet there’s always the forecourt to sweep, petrol pumps to polish and oil containers to straighten.

The remuneration for Fujairah service station attendants is Dh 1,800 per month.

Geoff Pound

This article is also posted on the Fujairah in Focus—Facebook Page.