You have no right

So, I finally get the internship I was waiting for all summer. I’m happy, ecstatic, maybe a little bit anxious.

After an hour, or was it an hour and a half, of driving from Heliopolis to Mohandessin on my first day, I arrive at the office building and start searching for the prized parking spot along with what seems to be half of the Egyptian population.

The spot must not be too far away, not second row so my car doesn’t get towed or hit by another car, not in an abandoned place so it doesn’t get stolen, and not in the governmental parking lot that someone suggested, where they force you to leave your breaks open and play “who can push and hit your car the hardest?”

To my amazement, I found it!!! The golden parking spot!! With ten minutes to spare!

As I am approaching the space, a shadow or possibly a ghost slowly appears. I squint a little and drive closer, and to my horror, it is the infamous SAYES! [car attendant].

I park my car and step out, and the first thing that comes out of his mouth is: “Aren’t you going to give us anything that will make us happy today?”

Me: “When I get back, I will.” (Noting that I found the place all on my own with no help from him)

Sayes: “How long will you stay here?”

Me: “Not long!”

But I return after a full day’s work only to find the sayes reprimanding me saying, “you’re late!” as if he were my own mother and I came back home past my curfew.

I restrain myself from commenting or shouting as I know it would lead to no good and give him EGP 3.

The next day I arrive to work and I thankfully find another one of those golden spots, but to my dismay, the same sayes appears. He waves his hands wildly at me, flashing me a peace sign. “Wow he’s hip,” I think to myself.

I later find out that he only wanted me to park for 2 hours. The EGP 3 pounds from the previous day apparently did not cover my six-hour working day, which would have cost me either EGP 5 or EGP 10 depending on the number of hours I was gone.

At this point my frustration reached a whole new level.

Who is he to tell me when, for how long and how much I can park there? Does he own this piece of land and have the right to dictate what I should and should not do? Does he have a permit?

Every day coming to work, I find a new sayes (they’re like a whole gang with a possible blood bond) that either forbids me to park because the spot is somehow reserved or he’d like a high turnover rate.

The bigger problem is that in this day and age in our country, I am restrained from taking any action about such incidents; I can’t go to the police to complain since they would just laugh at my face and I can’t get into a dispute with the “Sayes” or refuse to pay him, since he can easily puncture my car ties and walk off easily with no witnesses or a penalty.

What may seem as a minor problem to many is an underlying issue of oppression. The “Soyas”, have exploited the corruption taking place in the state to their own benefit and are feeding off of it with no punishment. Yesterday they were asking for EGP 5, today they are asking for ten, tomorrow they will ask for 20 and they will continue to raise their “fees” because nobody is stopping them.