Aramco's Unsafe House

In Dhahran, there is the main street you enter the compound in, through the front security gate.


At the end of this main road, there is a house. The street turns left or right, and right in the middle is a house.

So on this main road, you can go faster than on a residential street.

People go out and party, drink (illegally, of course) copious amounts alcohol, come through the front gates, speeding, and drive straight… into the house at the end of the road.

And by people, I mean over the last 50 or so years, maybe 3 or 4 incidents. I wasn’t on the compound for most of them – but the legends of the incidents live strong in the Aramco youth.

One was a drunk guy on a motorcycle – right through the house.

Aramco responded by making a speed bump in front of the house.

One was a guy in a car – he actually fell asleep/had a heart attack/passed out from being so drunk with his foot on the acceleration. He sped up, hit the speed bump, and flew into the house, getting stuck in mid air.

Aramco responded this time by putting a big sign in front of the house, with arrows pointing to the left and right, showing you couldn’t drive straight. They also CONDEMNED the house. Which translates into, they deemed it unsafe. It was to remain forever empty, in case some other fool decided to drive straight into it.

When I was in 10th grade, my sister burnt down our kitchen. Me, my Mom and baby sister, Bob, were in the states at the time (she burnt a piece of plastic with a lighter and then threw it into the trash can, where it exploded and ignited our kitchen).

Maintenance made us move out. Everything we owned had to be packed and moved into a temporary home. But before they could find a vacant home ready to be moved into, they needed a temporary couple night stay home for us.

They put us in the condemned home. I wasn’t here for this – it was Dad, Mikail, Camree and Taylor. Dad was nervous about being in there, and made everyone sleep in the back room, to the furthest corner.

Ah, good times.