A Little Too Generous

Imagine receiving a US$500 tip from a Lebanese businessman for a work well-done. Now imagine instead of giving you five 100-dollar bills, he gives you a single 500-dollar bill:

When a Malaysian hotel cleaner was tipped $500 by a high-rolling, self-proclaimed Lebanese “billionaire”, it seemed to good to be true.
[...]
Businessman Elie Youseef Najem’s generosity turned out to be his undoing. When police tipped off by the disappointed cleaner searched his hotel room they discovered $66 million in counterfeit bills. Among them were 60 $1 million bills and bundles of other $100,000 and $500 notes stashed in a black bag in his Kuala Lumpur room.

That’s alot of Monopoly money! The cleaner should have no immediately that the money was fake. I mean, we are on record of being the most stingiest people in the Middle East.

AP: Police found 60 $1 million bills and bundles of other $100,000 and $500 notes stashed in a black bag

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Overpaid Lebanese

Now is that even possible?

[Bahraini] MPs yesterday decided to question a top government official over what they claimed was her lavish spending on Lebanese employees. MP Shaikh Mohammed Khalid Mohammed highlighted the issue at yesterday’s session, saying it was understandable why the [Ministry of Culture and Information] was asking for an additional BD2 million [US$5.3 million] to meet recurrent expenditure.

“They bring in Lebanese experts and give them wages more than those earned by a minister in a month. Everyone is waiting to learn about their contribution. Can anyone imagine the senior expert earning BD9,000 [US$23,850], while the youngest, under 25, making BD5,500 [US$14,600]. The ministry also wants that money for new Lebanese secretaries, in their mini-skirts, who earn BD3,000 a month [US$8,000].”

The MP goes on to wonder what qualifications Lebanese have that makes them more appealing than Bahrainis. Ah, you mentioned it dude: “mini-skirts“.  Anyway, in my opinion, you can never be overpaid; there are always things that would be out of your economical reach.

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Exporting Lebanese

I consider Lebanese to Lebanon’s number one export. No matter where you are in the world, you are bound to run into someone who shares your nationality. Of course, we emigrants can enrich the new society we join…

SECRETARY CLINTON: …And it is important that I stress this special bond that exists between the United States and Lebanon. My country has been enriched by the contributions of many Lebanese Americans…

or we can embezzle from it:

COMMENT #1: I think before the discovery of  this complex syndicate , Lebanese as a whole have been using the power they have on [the Liberian] economy to deny the government of much needed revenue.
…
COMMENT #3: Lebanese businessmen, love and appreciate a Government that’s corrupt, by this way they can make money to rebuild their war torn country-Lebanon.

So where do you stand?

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Gold Hunt

Grab your metal detectors, there’s gold in Lebanon:

The mortgage broker who posted an online confession last month before fleeing the country on a private jet has been returned to Sacramento to face a 44-count federal indictment.

…

He left the U.S. the previous week on a chartered jet to Lebanon where authorities believe he may have stashed up to $5 million in gold.

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Making Big Bucks and Paying It Up

ArabianBusiness.com has issued partial results to its Salary Survey taken in January 2009 and apparently a Lebanese has the title of the most paid:

…no one nationality dominated the top earners list with 10 different countries represented, with Lebanon, Bahrain and Australia filling the top three rankings.

And how much does our fellow Lebanese make?

Well, he or she wouldn’t get out of bed for less than US$300,000 a month including all commission, bonuses and allowances.

US$300,000!!! Well at least there’s someone out there making good money. Of course then there’s always someone throwing away good money:

The General Department of Traffic in Dubai Police has prepared a list of 100 motorists who owe the department the most in traffic fines.
…
A Lebanese man tops the new list with Dh70,000 [US$19,022] worth of fines pending against his name.

I have a question to each of the two individuals:
Individual #1: What the hell do you do that justifies your company to give you US$3.6 million a year?
Individual #2: How the hell do your rack up US$19,000 worth of traffic fines?

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