Me and my boss’s wife are both from the same home country but currently we are living in uae.
I’m visiting back home for my brother’s wedding for just a few days. I’m visiting with a very hyper 5 year old while my husband stayed back because of work.
Before the wedding, my boss called me and asked me if I can carry some meds for his wife. I told him sure. But I also told him that I can’t carry anything else (last time he sent a whole hand carry luggage with me to my home country and I had to ask my FIL to drive it to their house).
He said along with meds there might be just a few dresses. I refused and told him I can’t carry anything other than meds. I also told him to get the meds delivered to my address as I can’t go and pick them up because of the wedding.
I’m traveling back to uae tomorrow and yesterday I called him to give him the address and confirm that I can carry meds and he can send them.
He again put me on the spot and asked why I can’t carry anything else. I told him I have a lot of other stuff I’m carrying this time. He got offended and kept on trying to pressure me into saying yes.
Since I’m traveling with my son, I don’t want to carry any hand carry in the plane. I tried to explain this to him but he has taken it personally.
I have some space in my luggage and now I feel bad for refusing to take his wife’s stuff. But I feel misused because of last time and I have no idea how much stuff he will send if I allow him. I agreed for meds because I understand that can be important for health purposes.
AITA in this situation and should I tell him to send the stuff to my home?
NTA- why is your boss having any say in your personal travels?
F that guy and his “stuff”. Unless you’re on the clock you don’t owe anyone from work anything at all.
(Perspective, I live in the US, so we literally have almost ZERO protections for workers, but at the same time, I would never ‘carry’ anything for anyone over international borders)
Under no circumstances should you agree to transport medications for someone else, and certainly not to a different country. This has bad idea written all over it.
I was going to say this. I would have said yes to dress but no to medications. OP has no idea what the meds are and could possibly be putting themselves at risk of jailtime.
Absolutely! People I know have been detained at the Mexico /US border for prescriptions that they didn’t have a doctor’s prescription for, and they were cavity searched, lucky to get away within 24 hours with meds confiscated! I’ve lived in the Middle East for decades and airport security is VERY different there. I was in Israel, but I feel confident that a) if she lies and is caught, she will be arrested and b) if she answers security question truthfully (she has someone else’s medication, not her spouse/kid) it will be confiscated and she will be detained. In the UAE, it will be the same, unless her boss knows some very powerful people there. She’d be safer carrying the dresses, assuming she could inspect them first. But why?
Is her boss unaware of DHL and other international shipping services? She can simply send him a link.
NTA are you sure it’s legal to carry someone else’s meds? I was told to make sure I have a copy of my prescriptions so they could match them with my ID but in fairness mine were ADHD meds which are controlled.
There’s no way on earth I’d take anyone else’s meds. God knows what they could be swapped out with.
I had to scroll too far down for this.
I too have been told it is illegal to transport another person’s medications across borders.
Don’t do it. You will go to jail, not your scuzzy boss.
NTA
NTA but don’t carry the meds either. I’m sure you know this, but flying in to the UAE with unknown meds is just asking for trouble.
NTA. Drug smuggling is a crime. He’s not worth it.
No is a whole sentence.
NTA, your boss is extremely nonprofessional.
NTA but never carry someone else’s luggage with you on a plane or over a border. Even though it’s your boss!
Border control doesn’t care if you tell them it’s your bosses luggage. You carry out, you are responsible. If there is something illegal inside (which also can be meds!) you are the one paying for it or going to jail.
NTA – Question One asked by every Customs Agent ever: “Did you pack this bag?”
\-Question Two asked by every Custom Agent ever: “Do you know what is in the bag?”
Result of answering “no” to these two questions – an intense extra search of the bag in question, and a pair of linked bracelets when it turns-out that the drugs are illegal narcotics…
NEVER, ever, agree to carry someone else’s meds, unless they belong to your spouse or child. Even so, check with the Country you’re going to if the meds in question are legal to bring-in, and what paperwork is required to allow you to bring them in.
As others have noted this has bad idea written all over it.
ditch the meds before the airport and claim the bag got lost. importing drugs of any kind into UAE could get you the death penalty. Your boss is asking way too much risk, get another job.
Never carry anything for another person, especially drugs