Women with Expiry Dates

I hardly slept all night because all I was thinking of was the assessment I had to pass for my promotion in the next few hours. I got off the bed around 6 a.m., making all kinds of scenarios in my head. At 7 a.m. I did the last check of my appearance. Makeup looked fine, hair was perfect, uniform was well pressed and shoes were polished; I was pleased with the way I looked. By 7.15 a.m., I was downstairs looking for a taxi. I had thought of everything but forgot to book a taxi. I should have booked one in advance.  “It’s okay,” I thought to myself. There was still time to 9 a.m. and I usually find taxis around my place. Not today. Not when I was in a hurry.

You won’t believe how hot that morning was in Dubai. I could feel sweat running down my back and all over my face. I am not sure if my eye shadow was still on my eyes or if my foundation had already turned into water. Half an hour later of waving and jumping on the road, I finally got lucky and found a taxi. I kept reassuring myself that I had time since work was just 15 minutes drive away.

You know what they say, “A good day starts early in the morning.” Well I could see where mine was going. The taxi driver, who was probably lacking stress that morning, was in the mood to chat. He saw me in my uniform, hyper and stressed out, and seemed to enjoy it. All I asked him was to take me to work on time. The traffic looked insane and the chatty driver was not in a hurry at all. It felt like he had the entire time of the world to get to the destination.

The chatty driver began to throw questions at me; if I am married, if I have a boyfriend, if I have children, how often I visit my family, and it carried on. Lastly he asked my age and when I told him I was 31, at that time, he began pulling his hair and beating his head on the steering wheel! “OH MY GOD! You are 31 and not married! Four more years and you will expire!” he began shouting.

What in the world was going on? I was shocked. I wasn’t sure what I should be shocked of; the fact that I had only 10 minutes left to be at work or the way this man was screaming that I was going to reach my expiry date in four years.

When I thought he was over with his very animated gestures and the screaming, he began to scream in a desperate voice, “You need to find a man as soon as possible and don’t tell him your age!” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing and I told him, “Why don’t you drive a little faster to catch the green signal, so I can be on time for my assessment.” I don’t care if I was reaching my expiry date or not, I really did not want my job to expire at least.

What you probably don’t know is that in this part of the world, every woman is called “lady” so you feel like a princess. Of course since my chatty taxi driver couldn’t stop talking, his reply was very serious but with a thin voice, looking at me through the rearview mirror, “Lady, what you need is a chill pill. Why do you stress so much? You have a job so don’t worry! All you want is more money!” I think I was done with this driver.

I finally got to my appointment at 9 a.m. sharp after running from one side of the building to the other despite leaving my house for it two hours earlier. Gasping for air, hyperventilating, trying to calm myself down and looking composed, I managed to tell the receptionist who I was and why I was there. It all worked out because I passed the assessment. Hooray!

That day, I learnt there is no use of panicking. If something must happen, it will happen so there is no need to raise your blood pressure and have a heart attack over nothing and actually “expire”!

However, on my way back, I couldn’t stop thinking. Do women have an expiry date? Is it bad to aspire for more or I should be happy with the little I have?