Source ::: The Peninsula
Doha: Many Qatari families are living in fear of confronting uncertain future as swayed by the once-booming stock market, their bread-winners have quit their plush government jobs.
The heads of these families have undoubtedly made money when the share prices were high, but they have lost a stable income that ran their households.
The wives of many of these people are employed but their salaries are too low to meet heavy expenses of the family, Al Sharq said in a report after interviewing a number of men and women from affected families.
Ibrahim Saad became so fond of stock trading after having made some money that he neither had the time nor the inclination to continue with his government job.
Remaining absent from work continually and facing embarrassment, he decided to be honest to himself and quit the job.
"There was more money in stock trading, so I thought why waste my time in a routine job and decided to resign," Al Sharq quoted him as saying.
He said since he was working for a public sector services company, his job demanded full-time presence in the office.
Mohamed Al Sulaiti, who said he religiously visited the Doha Securities Market (DSM) every morning on trading days, had a similar story to tell.
"This routine (of visiting the DSM) I have been following for months. My work in the office suffered and so, I decided to eventually call it quits," he said as a matter of fact.
"It was hard for me to pay attention to my office work any more after a keen interest I developed in share trading," he said.
A secondary school teacher whose name Al Sharq did not disclose, also followed in the footsteps of compatriots Ibrahim Al Saad and Mohamed Al Sulaiti, and put in his papers.
"You make more money doing nothing," he was quoted as saying about stocks.
While compromising their jobs to pursue what they thought was a more rewarding pastime, was so easy for the men, digesting the decision of their husbands was so tough for the wives.
"I got the shock of my life when I realised that my husband had quit his plush and cosy government job. I didn't believe him first as I thought he was just joking, but as days passed it came out that what he told me was true," said Jawahra Mohamed, a housewife.
What happens when the stock boom ends or the market faces a crisis, she asked. "Where is the income going to come from to run the household?" she wondered.
"My husband has compromised our future," Jawahra said.
Noora Khaleel, another affected Qatari housewife, sounded equally upset with her husband and said she did not know what future awaited her family.
"It is uncertainty that we face now. Yes. There is money today when the stock market is doing well, but what happens tomorrow," she asked.
Sheikha Jassem, yet another housewife, faces a more agonising situation as not only her husband but a brother too has quit his job.
"I am employed but I get one-fourth of what my husband was earning as salary. It is a meagre income and insufficient to run the household," a saddened Sheikha was quoted as saying.