Some members of the Egyptian community in the western region have said the lack of phone receptionists at the Egyptian Consulate General here is forcing them to travel to the Consulate themselves to conduct their business. Muhammad Mas'oud, an Egyptian resident in Makkah, said: “My main problem is the difficulty in contacting the Consulate by telephone despite my numerous attempts. There is no response from the Consulate hence I've had to travel to Jeddah several times to complete my transactions.” However, the Deputy Consul General Maher Al-Mahdi, has said there is nothing he can do about the problem. He said, “We receive hundreds of telephone calls from Egyptian workers in different parts of the Kingdom. We try our best to respond to each and every call. The Consulate's staff are keen to receive the complaints, remarks and suggestions of their citizens, but the problem we're facing is the delay in answering because of the huge number of telephone calls.” Mahdi stressed that the citizen should demand his right in an appropriate way so as to get the service he wants. Not all Egyptian nationals are dissatisfied with the Consulate's services. Adel Abul Majd said the expectations and demands are always higher because the Consulate is the only recourse for Egyptian workers in the Kingdom. Another Egyptian national, Sayyid Ali, has observed that the Citizens' Affairs Section at the Consulate deals with citizens appropriately. He said, “Its staff work hard to complete the transactions during the specified time without causing any delay.” He also said the problem was that the said Section is closed on Thursdays and Fridays like other Saudi Arabian departments. But since the Egyptian weekend is on Friday and Saturday, citizens lose three days out of every week in which to do business. __
