The rich are different from you and me but they have their problems and suffer just like those who are less well-endowed. Of course I don’t mean health problems since all people, rich and poor, have those. Perhaps the difference is that while the rich have certain medical problems — gout and depression for example — the poor also have theirs: Food shortages, malnutrition and what they often have little control over — an environment which often lacks the most basic services.
The problems of the rich in this country that I want to talk about are of a different nature. Here are some examples. One is what might be called the car phone problem. When they first appeared, car phones cost a staggering SR50,000. Enter the mobile phone and everything changed. At present for only SR400 you can buy a mobile phone chip that enables you to talk to anyone anywhere at any time. Now, the rich feel they have been victimized since they paid SR50,000 for a car phone that is now more or less obsolete. They feel that the Saudi Telecom Company ought to refund them every penny they paid.
The second problem is the special mobile phone numbers auctioned for enormous sums by STC. With the company planning to expand the network and add a digit to the current eight, the rich sense trouble on the way. They see that the special numbers — for which they paid a small fortune — will no longer be special. They lament the large quantities of business cards they had printed which include the eight-digit number. “What can I do with all those cards?” a man who owns several shopping centers asked me. He wondered if STC would refund the money he spent on his special number.
The third problem concerns the Traffic Department. It is said to be thinking of changing all the car license plates in the country. Now what about those who paid piles of money to get a special plate? There are strong rumors that some people have paid as much as SR150,000 for their special plates.
I certainly can’t offer solutions to these problems. I have simply noted them for you, and in so doing, I have laid them before our officials as well. I can do no more.
