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Caliburger is a burger joint from South California and they’re officially opening up this Wednesday at Miral Complex. I’m going to sound like a broken record but I have no clue why people think it still makes sense to open more burger joints. Anyway for more information checkout their instagram account @caliburgerkw

My primary bank is NBK but due to various issues, mainly this one time when their ATM network was down and I wasn’t able to withdraw money before traveling, I decided to open a secondary bank account with Burgan Bank as a backup. I chose Burgan Bank primarily because they were located in the building adjacent to my apartment building and I liked how the branch looked like. As I found out recently though, turns out for traveling, Burgan Bank was the wrong bank to go with.

Last month while in Cape Town the owner of the bed & breakfast I was staying in asked me if I could pay him in cash since that way he wouldn’t have to pay the credit card transaction fee. So I went to an ATM to withdraw money using my Burgan Bank card. The ATM had a limit on how much I could withdraw at once so I had to withdraw the amount in two parts. After withdrawing the first half I tried to withdraw the second half and got an error. I then received a message on my phone from Burgan Bank saying my card had been declined and I needed to contact them. So I called Burgan Bank up using roaming and after getting a hold of an employee I was told that due to security reasons, Burgan Bank has placed a limit on South Africa and that I could only withdraw a maximum of KD25 a day. I went apeshit over the phone. I told the employee I’m on vacation and they have no right to limit my spending to just KD25. I told him KD25 wouldn’t be enough for me to spend per day and I also needed to pay for my accommodation now and I couldn’t because of this stupid limit. He told me he would put in a request to increase my spending limit temporarily. I was like I needed the limit lifted now so he put me on hold for a few minutes before letting me know my limit was lifted.

I came back to Kuwait and basically forgot about the whole incident until this past weekend while I was in Bahrain I ran into another issue. On the day I arrived to Bahrain I tried to use my Burgan Bank ATM card but it got declined. I thought it might have been something with the sellers machine and decided to use my NBK card for the purchase instead. I didn’t use my card for the rest of the trip since I was using my NBK credit card. When I landed in Kuwait Saturday night I headed to the Burgan Bank ATM machine at the airport to withdraw money to pay for parking but I got a declined error again and a message on my phone saying the bank declined my card and I should contact them. So I called Burgan Bank and ask their customer support why they’re declining my transactions and the employee told me it was due to security reasons. I was like what?! He was like when someone uses the ATM card in two different countries in the same day they automatically block my card and I need to call the bank to unblock it. I went apeshit again. I told the employee I had breakfast at the airport and then traveled to Bahrain and wanted to use my card there, are you telling me I am not allowed to do that? Are you saying that if I have breakfast at the airport I am not allowed to use my card again until 24 hours later after arriving to my destination? He was like it’s their policy. I was like I can’t be the only Burgan Bank customer that has complained about this. I was literally yelling at this point and asked him if Burgan Bank customers ever travel??? I told him this was the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard and that IF they were to block my card it should be when someone tries to withdraw a large amount like a KD1,000 or KD5,000 but not KD10! I told him I was fed up with them and that I hated being put in awkward situations because of them. I told him they have no right to keep blocking my card like that because they have no idea what situation I could be in while abroad and needed money but because of their incompetence I would end up being screwed. I told the employee to unblock my card and to put a note to never ever block it again. I told him even if five different people in five different countries try to withdraw money from my card at the same time to let them. Even if someone in Nigeria is trying to withdraw all the money on the card to let them. I just couldn’t handle it anymore, I hate being treated like a child by my bank. If they’re concerned about any transaction on my card they should call me and check on it like NBK does. But to block my card without warning is ridiculous.

So in the next few days when I have some free time I’m going to sadly be closing my account with Burgan Bank. I say sadly because I actually love the branch near my house and have had a pretty good experience with them. Even though both their app and online banking sucks I liked passing by their branch and their bank employees are actually really friendly. But their security policies have completely killed it for me. The whole point of opening an account with them was so that I have a backup system to use when I travel and the one thing I wanted them for they’ve failed in miserably. Now I need to find another bank instead so if anyone has any recommendations let me know below.

Update: Burgan Bank ended up calling me regarding my post and according to them they’ve reengineered some of the processes so that people don’t end up having these issues again. This is the email they sent me:

Dear Mark,

Thank you for raising your customer experience with us in regards to recent issues on your debit cards, firstly we regret the inconvenience caused to you. Due to the recent spate of frauds in card related transactions across the region each bank including ourselves had put in parameters in order to protect & safe guard our customers. Our endeavor has always been to protect our customers assets & ensure better customer experience.

We can reassure you that based on your experience and feedback we have relooked at our processes & reengineered them to ensure better customer experience and we will monitor and review the same on ongoing basis.

Regards,

OXadventure is a local non-profit organization which was started by three young Kuwaitis who had a passion for travel, charity work and adventure. During their carefully planned trips, the OXadventure team completes charity and humanitarian work in the countries they travel to while safely exploring them on a budget. They get to see things the way the locals do as opposed to tourists. The trips have also developed into an accredited internship program in a couple of universities in Kuwait.

OXadventure have a trip coming up in February and are looking for volunteers. They will be traveling to Nepal for a spiritual five-day yoga hike and refurbishing a school in rural Kathmandu. The trip is from February 19th to March 1st so if you’re interested in being part of this send an email to [email protected] or give them a call on ‪90998807‬.

Eight is a restaurant that is open across the street from Arraya Complex in Kuwait City. It opened up over a year ago but I never ate there because the design of the place looked so dark and gloomy. But, today while walking by it I noticed they’ve completely redecorated the place and it’s now so much more brighter and better looking. I still haven’t tried it out but I did quickly flip through the menu and I might end up going back for their sweet potato and brisket dish. For now I thought I’d just mention the facelift since it’s such a major improvement.

I got a lot of emails over the holidays from readers (mostly Qualitynet users) complaining about how their internet has been really slow. According to two people, Qualitynet told them its because of a fiber optic cable that was cut. I couldn’t find any information on this but as a WiMD internet user myself, my connection has also been slow averaging less than 1Mbps instead of my usual 10Mbps.

So if you’ve been having connection issues, let me know below.

I’m trying to put a list together of places that make turkey (to go) for Christmas, this is what I have so far:

Eedam Cafe (in Radisson Blu)
KD10.750 per KG
Order 48 hours in advance
Tel: 25673420

The Butcher’s Den
KD38 for around 5 to 6KG
Includes: Gravy, steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, apple pie, dinner rolls, stuffing bread and corn or brown rice.
Order 24 hours in advance
Tel: 22263140

Dean & Deluca (unconfirmed)
KD6.950 per KG
Order 48 hours in advance
Tel: 22242224

If you know of any other places that make turkey let me know in the comments.

Graffiti artists Monstariam and Bufifty spray painted a gigantic spaceman mural over the weekend outside Al Khaled Complex in Salmiya. It’s the same complex where Gia and Lorenzo are located and this has to be my favorite Monstariam graffiti work yet. I love it.

Doodles by @browneyesstudio

Alfredo’s Gallery is an Italian restaurant that has been around since 1907. In Kuwait they opened up back in June and according to the message they have plastered everywhere, they’re “The birthplace of the original fettuccine Alfredo”. I decided to pass by with a friend last week for lunch and I left with mixed feelings.

Alfredo’s is located in The Avenues but in a secluded area away from all the hustle and bustle. I personally love the location but for those who are looking for a place to sit and be seen while watching people walk by, this isn’t for you. Alfredo’s is located in a quiet and nicely sun lit courtyard behind H&M in Grand Avenues. There is plenty of outdoor seating but even if you choose to sit inside you won’t be disappointed since the interior is cozy and nice looking.

The menu is pretty big with a large selection of dishes. We ended up ordering:

Calamari Al Guazzetto KD3.750
Pizza Sofia Loren KD4.950
Extra Mushrooms KD1.000 (for the pizza)
Risotto Al Funghi KD4.750
Tagliatelle alla Bolognese KD4.250
Water KD0.000

Yeah you read that right, the water is free. When tiny hole in the wall restaurants are selling water for upwards of KD1 it’s refreshing to see a proper restaurant serve complimentary water. The water is served in their own bottles like they would serve tap water in Europe so my guess is in Kuwait they’re filling the bottles from a water cooler which is perfectly fine by me. Let me move on and talk about the food. I found the calamari and pizza both bland. The pizza fared better than the calamari but I wouldn’t go back specifically for their pizza since there are a bunch of places that make better pizza. The bolognese was too salty for my liking and by the time I got down to the bottom of the dish where the sauce was located I stopped eating because I couldn’t bare the salt. The risotto on the other hand, how can I put this nicely… I saw my friend eating only the mushrooms in the risotto so I asked them about it and they told me to try the risotto. It was by far the worst risotto I’ve ever tried, it tasted so gritty and bland that it was inedible.

Back to the positives, the staff are all Italian and pretty well informed on the menu. They were friendly and attentive although when I was there only two or three other tables were occupied so things might be different on the weekends when they get packed. I was pretty surprised though that the waiter didn’t ask if anything was wrong with the risotto when he came to clean up since the plate was basically untouched. I figured it’s probably a regular occurrence so they just stopped asking about it anymore. Price wise I didn’t find them expensive. My only issue with the place actually was with the food but that’s also the most important thing in a restaurant. In hindsight we should have ordered the fettuccine Alfredo since it’s probably the thing they do best but I didn’t feel like having it that day.

Would I go back? Not really sure. We don’t have that many Italian restaurants in Kuwait and I actually like their location even though it’s in Avenues. But, my guess is that even if I go back and try other dishes, I’d imagine everything would probably end up tasting bland. If you’re interested to find out more about Alfredo’s or if you’d like to check out their menu, here is the link to their [Website]

I have noticed in the past few weeks, two issues with employees that kept repeating themselves! So in order for this to be beneficial to others dealing with the similar situation I decided to post about them.

1) I submitted my resignation and it was accepted verbally, I was also told that I do not need to attend work for the rest of my notice period, therefore I didn’t. Now there is a case against me for absconding from work, what do I do?

First is first guys!
-Any communication with your company should be in writing. Even if you trust them they should understand why you would require it in writing.

– If you are emailing something to your company and you think you might need that email in the future to prove something (example your resignation letter or your acceptance to resign) and you are using a work email, email it to yourself. BCC your private email always with your personal matters, you never know when all your work emails will get deleted.

– If you attend a meeting and you end up discussing everything verbally, you can send the attendees an email after the meeting to have things documented. Name your email “Minutes of meeting” and write in it a recap of the meeting and what the attendees agreed on.

So those are the precautions but what do you when there is a case against you?
Get a lawyer! You need to at this point.

FYI: Your holiday can’t be deducted from your notice period, because they told you not to show up.

2) My company isn’t doing well, so I was laid off. They said they can’t give me my termination indemnity because they don’t have it. Do they have the right to withhold my indemnity because of bankruptcy?

No. I repeat NO. They are broke? Still the answer is no. They are going to court? Still the answer is no They are going up in flames because of a giant dragon? NO. You have the right to get your termination indemnity.

Got it? Ok? OKAY? Yeah? Good.

Feel free to email me [email protected] with any legal questions. I do not have the capacity to answer everyone for free (but I try), and I am happy to announce that I am currently working with a great team and therefore we are able to reply back to all emails with a reasonable time frame.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

Insecam.com recently made the news as a website that displays footage from thousands of unsecured webcams from around the world. According to the website there are 112 unsecured webcams in Kuwait some of which are located inside peoples homes. Right now I’m watching a couple sleeping in bed. Creepy. [Link]

If you have a webcam at home make sure you change the password since all the webcams listed on insecam are there because the owners kept the default password.

via crazyinkuwait

The Kuwait Towers are on UNESCO’s tentative list to become a World Heritage site. It’s only the first step but if it does get approved, then the Kuwait Towers will become the first modernist building in the entire Gulf region to be designated a World Heritage Site. I’ve written in more depth about this [Here]

One of the requirements for a building to become a World Heritage Site is for the building to be restored to it’s original state. This is where the issue is with the Kuwait Towers right now, there are currently plans to refurbish the building which would mean it would no longer be able to become a World Heritage Site.

I’m not sure why they’re still going ahead with a refurbishment plan with an opportunity like this at the door, in any case if you would like to voice your opinion on this there is currently a petition calling to stop the refurbishing and to restore the Kuwait Towers to it’s former glory. You can view and sign the petition [Here]

Last week I passed by the Arirang Korean restaurant for lunch and it turned out to be a pretty disappointing experience to be honest. It was such an unexciting experience I’m actually forcing myself to write this review.

Arirang has been open for nearly three years and they’re located inside the Swiss-Belhotel Plaza (inside Muthana Complex). The location at one point was an Indian restaurant, a Kuwaiti restaurant and possibly a Chinese restaurant before finally becoming a Korean restaurant. So far the Korean restaurant has lasted the longest but not really sure why.

The interior is fairly decent looking I guess, it’s very spacious and the booths look cozy although awkwardly large for just a couple to just sit in alone.

We were three people and so we ended up ordering the following:
Beef Dumplings x 2 KD2.500 each
Shrimp Teppanyaki KD5.500
Bulgogi KD7.000
Galbi Pot KD7.000

Now here is where things started going downhill. Firstly there was only one waiter for the restaurant which is fine considering we were the only occupied table. But, because of the way the restaurant is laid out, the waiter was always at the main entrance while we were all the way inside. That meant whenever we needed anything we would have to get up and walk down a corridor to call him. It then took 50 minutes for them to serve us our starters (the dumplings) which was absurd considering we were the only customers there. Finally when the main courses arrived, the only dish that was any good was the Shrimp Teppanyaki… a non Korean dish. I had the Bulgogi which was dry and bland while Galbi Pot although looked great presentation wise, the dish was just too fatty. Once piece of rib for example had fat the size of a golf ball on it.

Maybe I visited the place on a bad day I’m not sure but I do know I didn’t enjoy the experience. They also have pretty strong competition since the popular Koryokwan Korean Restaurant is located across the street from them. But then again, if they’ve bene open for three years it must mean they have a loyal fan base, I just don’t know why.

K’s PATH are organizing their fourth Bark in the Park event which includes the popular dog show competition and which will be held the beautiful Ahmadi South Public Park.

Date: Saturday 8th November 2014
Location: KOC Ahmadi, South Public Park
Time: 11:00AM to 3:00PM

Competitions:
1. Best Child Handler
2. Best Dressed
3. Best Look Alike
4. Agility Course
5. Best Mixed Breed
6. Best Rescue Story
7. Temptation Alley
8. Most Adorable

Advanced Registration Required:
Adults KD5, Children under 16 KD3, Children under 3 years – free entry
Participating dogs KD6, Non-participating dogs KD3

– Registration closes Thursday, November 6th

Register by clicking [Here]
The online form also guides you to calculate entry fees, which can be paid at the door on the day of the event.

For more information on the event and the original flyer click [Here]

[YouTube]

In honor of Q8 Bookstores one year anniversary, graffiti artist Monstariam created a mural for the store. The video above is the making of that mural. If you haven’t been to the Q8 Bookstore before or don’t know what it is, check out this [Link]

Does anyone know which twitter user they’re talking about in the article? [Source]