Post #76316

I have a friend who worked in Oman for several years. My wife and I went to visit, and the three of us were going to get dinner somewhere. We ended up parking somewhere that wasn’t free, but wasn’t horribly expensive either (honestly, paying for parking is pretty uncommon there from what I saw). Payment was only done in coins or through mobile. Paying with our phones didn’t work, and we only had paper bills, so I went into a small shop asking if they could give me coins. I can’t remember what the shop was for, but it wasn’t anything touristy. Oman is very highly developed, but I’m always mindful about the privilege I have to travel intentionally as an American. They said I could pay through mobile, which I said didn’t work. The employee walked outside, asked which car was ours, and plugged our license plate into his phone. How long will we stay? Couple hours. Ok, you’re all set. Cool! How much do we owe you? It’s ok. No, we can pay you. No, it’s ok. He just would not take payment. Even if it was a small thing, the context and optics meant so much to me at the time. If you ever get a chance to go to Oman, I would strongly recommend it before the tourists take over.