In these countries, you have got to be careful in not upsetting a local connected guy.
I've seen cases of having a policeman taking abusive action and arresting or humiliating an expat just because the former was upset with the expat's ramarks on driving (no fingering or any other obscene gesture).
At one time, one customs (x-ray guy) got upset with me because the machine was jamming while while he was distracted with one good looking lady passing by, and threatned me not to speak to "the authority" the way I did. All I did was to say the usual "Excuse me! the machine is jamming".
Here in DXB, this is not so notorious because the expat numbers outnumber 9 to 1 the locals, but then you have a number of other expats doing the same stuff because they just think this is their land.
They treat us like guests. Uhm! I don't treat my guests this way.