To Sue or Not To Sue: Inthar 3adileh on Labor Day

That is my new phrase of the day, and my decision of the day to ponder. What do you think I should do?

One thing I HATE about living here, is being forced to be someone I am not. I am not by nature an aggressive driver, I follow the rules and give people lots of room who don’t. But here, if I want to get in the flow of traffic, when NO ONE will move left to a clear lane to accommodate new traffic, where no one uses the nifty European ‘zipper’ method of merging, I will go fast with a big car and force my way in. It goes against my nature, and I resent it.

Another thing I hate is men who think I would be attracted by their staring, gross tongues, and grosser sexual invitations. Even in front of my kids. In order to appear ’strong’ and not weak, I have to get in their face and act like a you-know-what to defend my honor. I am a nice person, a moral woman of deep faith, a faithful wife, and their innuendo makes me want to throw up (all over them).

My latest thing I hate is the attitude of a certain magazine owner who has chosen not to pay his free-lancers for four months, letting his admin girl be the fall-gal to deliver the: ‘insha’allah next week’ refrain. For twelve weeks I had been kind, understanding and cooperative. But to him, a mild-mannered marshmallow to take advantage of. This marshmallow finally got singed to the point she is discovering her inner-Erin Brockovich.

A month ago ago I called a couple of the other free-lancers and discovered they were getting the same run-around. We decided to stop submitting articles until we were paid. It didn’t help, the mag just started advertising for more suckers to string along. I decided we may be stronger as a unit than as individuals, and began to think class-action. One of them asked me to start a union for them. Chuckle. Me, the Republican, Right-Wing Bottom-Feeder, starting a free-lance writers union. Mostly, I just want to handle this like Jesus would want me to.

I used my developing super-sleuth /journalistic skills to track the guy down, and discovered he is hardly a starving entrepreneur. He is a man of means and assets. I brought little Kinz with me and waited for him to open his store (I figured he wouldn’t yell at me if I had her with me). I sat down and kindly explained there must be some mistake, I’m sure he just forgot, but he has been remiss in paying his free-lancers, and it is time to make it right. He frowned: “How do you know them?” I said: “We are all bloggers, we have websites that thousands of Jordanians read”. He looked startled, then stood up and said: “Next week, insha’allah”. I told him, with a smile, I am tired of insha’allah, my trust has been broken and I would be happy to take goods from his store in the amount I am owed. He sat back down and smiled and said: “But no, you will have a check next week”.

A week passed. No call, no check. I asked blogger El 3atel what he thought I should do, since he had been well-acquainted with the non-paying-company-syndrome. He said “Be a lion”. ROARR!!! I roared to God in prayer asking for wisdom, hoping I wouldn’t have to do this, but it seems a part of my character development He desires done.

I sent and email yesterday saying exactly what I wanted. I got one back saying the check would be ready Sunday, but that they forgot the raise per piece they had given in December and didn’t include the latest issue’s work. I sent an email back saying I wanted the full amount as I submitted the latest issue’s work early and they were the ones who were late to print.

Today, I got the answer to my prayer. Two actually. One friend who has royal wasta said she could arrange a little phone call. The father of another friend offered his company legal counsel and advised me to file an “Inthar 3adileh”, to give the man two weeks notice before I actually start legal action against him for all the free-lancers, including fines, interest, and reimbursement for Tylenol. I sent the owner another email saying if the full amount I requested was not available Sunday, we would proceed to file the Inthar 3adileh on Monday. One of the other writers laughed that I seem to have more wasta than he does. Bizarre.

This is so scary (not nearly as scary as previous Mafia connections. But that is another story :D).

But, I think I am doing the right thing. If any of you have anything to add, please speak up! And what does Inthar 3adileh mean, anyway?