An executive that read or wrote nothing. Still sounds strange and unlikely.
My boss would have smiled, probably laughed, at being called an "executive." He knew he was unlettered. That is why he had to make his memory so good. He was not unusual.
He told me that all the workers had to walk home, back to their little settlements, not really towns yet, through the desert on the last day of the week (Wednesday for them) and they were paid in gold. I asked him if they had screens on their windows (knowing they had no A.C.) and he said "No, there were no windows in our tents."
He was SUCH a humble man. NONE of the men, from ANY country, who worked at ARAMCO ever wore suits, ties or jackets! They (the Saudis) all wore simple rather baggy pants and long-sleeved, collared shirts. Modesty for the men was just as important as modesty for the women.
The DRESS-UP for Saudi men was their long, white THOBE (dress), with a gutra, cloth wrapped around their head. Saudi men wore red and white checkered gutras (like an Italian tablecloth) for not-so-dressy and WHITE gutras for dress up.
Each Arab country had a different color. The Palestinians wore black and white checked gutras. I can't remember all of them--brown and white checked, green and white checked. That's all I recall. That cloth, gutra, around their head was to protect them from the hot, deseert sun and they had some interesting ways to wrap them. For the deep desert the gutra covered their face up over their nose and they made the top of the gutra push out to make kind of a bill to shade their eyes. They had all been goat and sheep herders.
These sheep were WEIRD. They had these big, long TRIANGULAR tails. Very odd. The goats were normal goats. They also ate camel, when necessary. They ate almost NOTHING green. Their well water was brackish and warm...YUCK!!
EVERY Aramco man bought the outfit, just because. I still have a photo of my husband in his "outfit"--with the red and white checkered gutra.
That is where the disparaging name of "raghead" for the Saudis came from.
True story:
One Thanksgiving I invited a Pakistani friend of ours to dinner. Hubby had to go to the Main Gate and sign him in. My husband had on a sports jacket and a tie...just for the occasion.
When he got out of his car to let in our Pakistani friends, ALL the Saudi gate guards, all soldiers, almost fell to the ground: A SUIT!!! Holy macerel!!!! A suit!!!! It was just a suit JACKET and tie, but they were ready to salute!! They thought my husband was a BIG SHOT, president of ARAMCO, of America, SOMETHING huge.
You simply do not understand that culture. My husband made the statement that LOGIC, as we know it, has NO place in the middle east. He was correct. When one understands that fact, one can deal with the life there.
99% of the Saudis could not read or write. The KSA is working on reversing that horrible statistic for their people. They KNOW that their future lies with their young, so their children WILL be literate. But for the old timers? It's too late.
The KSA is still trying to get all the Bedouin off the desert. Not an easy task to change the habits of so long a time.