The Foreign Service Journal, January 2007

Abidjan. The front office was completely dysfunctional, taskers were at cross purposes, no support whatsoever. Addis Ababa. Nasty city, nasty work environment, poor housing; the school is iffy; roll up your windows when you drive past the boneyard. Mission management doesn’t have a clue. Oh, don’t forget that it’s considered rude to eat in public; but never mind all the men urinating wherever they feel like it. “3,000 years of history uninterrupted by progress.” Amsterdam was a good place to live, but I would still have rated it negatively in every way in this survey for poor support of staff, inattentive manage- ment, overwhelming workload with little time off, lack of resources to get the job done, no embassy support, and a high cost of living. Asuncion has got to be the most bor- ing place in Latin America, and opportu- nities for spousal employment and fam- ily recreation are nil. There’s nothing to do outside work. Baghdad, because of a perceived lack of concern on part of post manage- ment/State management about the safe- ty and security of employees — in par- ticular, failure to provide safe housing (trailers in place of hardened structures like the ones USAID built for its employees). Beijing is so understaffed that all you do all day is put out fires. There is no time at all to manage or plan ahead. Then there is the terrible air pollution and lots of frustra- tions in everyday living. Belize City. Too many mosquitoes and too much crime; generally a dirty and grotty place. Bogota — Our movement was restricted and we put in many long hours of uncompensated labor on the visa line. Bridgetown (and I’ve also served in Baghdad). Terrible morale. Lousy management support. Issues are inconse- quential. Outdated facilities. Brussels. Extremely high cost of living, tiny living quar- ters, lousy weather. Top-heavy in senior grades, leaving the rest treated like stepchildren. The only plus I found was that it was easy (but expensive) to get into a car, train or bus and visit other places. Cairo is the most disorganized. Lagos was the most corrupt. Abidjan and Lagos were both very dangerous. Chennai — Relentless overwork, no opportunities for professional development, insufficient institutional support. Ciudad Juarez — high crime rate and drug problem. Conakry. Awful in nearly every sense imaginable. The school is absolutely inadequate. No one with school-age children should ever have to go there. Copenhagen. Low post morale, pointless work, dreary place. Damascus. The front office declared open season on admin cone employ- ees and actually encouraged negativity from others in the embassy communi- ty. Made it a horrible tour workwise for admin folks. Dar es Salaam — harsh climate, power cuts, horrible roads, bugs, rats, etc. Depends on the stage of life. Karachi was a horrible place in a lot of ways, but I was young and single, and had a great time. Mexico City, on the other hand, is a great place, but I had small kids, and found the traffic and crime overwhelming. Dhaka. Single females, in particular, have a difficult time pursuing activities. Housing was OK depending on grade and family size. Travel was difficult. Doha. This post is nicknamed Doha the Dull because there’s little of interest here. Because Diplomatic Security won’t let us travel through 30 kilometers of the only land neighbor, Saudi Arabia, this peninsula becomes an island with expensive flights and no ferries. Qataris appear arro- gant and lazy, but it is hard to tell because our only person- al interactions with them are when they hit us with their Land Cruisers — an annual occurrence. Frankfurt’s housing created a “fishbowl” environment, and its separated annexes complicated operations. Georgetown — nothing to do, isolated, poor infrastruc- ture, poor post management. WORST POSTS “Which post do you consider to have been the worst? And why (briefly)?” C O V E R S T O R Y 28 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 7 Asuncion has got to be the most boring place in Latin America, and opportunities for spousal employment and family recreation are nil. Continued on page 30