My generous father treated us all to a delicious meal in one of the city’s premier restaurants, which sits on the 28th floor atop a hotel. Oh and being in the la-la land of the UAE, it revolves. Naturally.

As usual, Squiffy ordered the chocolate desert thingo. As it happens, so did I. The desert was really, really rich and impossible to finish in a single attempt, so we asked for a doggy-bag to take it away for future enjoyment — much to the embarrassment of my parents (they would never consider such a brilliant idea!).

Imagine our surprise, therefore, when our waiter returns with our boxed goodness in one hand and an indemnity waiver form in the other. I’m not joking, Squiffy was requested to sign the the contract to absolve the restaurant of any blame–and I quote–“as a result of or consequent upon death”.

It took a few moments for our British waiter to step back from his recently acquired la-la land mentality and understand our hilarity. “If you think that’s funny, have a look at this”, he said, producing another indemnity form, this time for customers bringing food and drink, “the Food”, into “the Premises”.

I’ve taken a photo of both forms and included them in the gallery below — you’ll likely have to click the “Full Size” link when viewing the photo to be able to read the small print.

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