Yup, experience here is definitely different and challenging.

I'll tell you what, if you manage to put up with people in this country, you can pretty much put up with anything lol!

Oh and people (expats) who lose their jobs here, unless they are sponsored by a family (ie husband, wife or father) and the employer gives them a note of no objection to apply to a different company and get their sponsorship transfered to the same company, it's goodbye Qatar. Two years before you can reapply again to get a working visa.

Locals get paid here even when unemployed, that's why most of them are lazy as f***. But the country has started this program called Qatarisation, which means giving jobs to locals even if they only come to work for show in payroll lol. To be fair though, few of them actually work and use their heads, but very few.

So, here's another tip, if you are going to accept a job, make sure it's not something a local can steal away from you. I know this because it happened to me just three months ago, good thing about my case, I am sponsored by my husband and the company I worked for gave me three months salary for free plus my end of service, not to mention the loan I made got waived, which are all part of the HR policy for qatarised positions in that company. Also timely because we have been thinking about leaving the end of this year anyway.

Good luck to you :-)