ORPO

A friend in Al Khobar coined ORPO because of the opportunistic behavior of my officemate Tony. It became a buzzword because it can be used generally. People from work, a family member, a friend or even an acquaintance is a potential ORPO. When somebody wanted to take advantage of you or the situation, he is an ORPO.

You may find ORPO, the newly coined word amusing but it isn’t. It’s not funny when somebody takes advantage of something, especially when he does it so deviously, deceitfully in an unprincipled way. It is even harder if the person doing this to you is a person whom you considered as a friend.

Below are ORPO moments:

· He carpools (offers a service) but charges you with exuberant amount. When you take a trip from DMM-ALK-DMM it would cost you SR150.00 / month. If you have a regular bus service like those of the Indians you may be charged with SR. 80.00/month. With ORPO you may be charged with SR. 200.00.

· Trip from DMM to ALK would cost you SR. 5.00. When you ride in taxi it would only cost you SR. 3.00/ride.

· He sells PEPSI (Alcoholic Beverage) for SR. 25.00. Remember it is illegal in Saudi to sell Alcoholic Beverages. The prevailing market price for that is SR. 15.00.

· He sold his AC for SR. 200.00 but charges you with additional SR. 50.00 for handling. You will learn later that he wouldn’t pull out his AC so you lost your SR. 50.00.

· He sold his foam for SR. 35.00. He said it’s brand new but you found out later that it’s old.

· He sells magic cream for SR. 45.00 but the actual price for that is only SR. 30.00.

· His will tell you that his daughter will undergo an operation and need you to contribute at least SR. 100.00 so he can send money to his home. He promised to pay you back but didn’t keep it.

· He will charge you with a TFC connection even if you don’t have a TV.

The list could go longer and in the future there will be additions in the entry.