OneMoreFarang

Yes, I remember that from back home from a long time ago. And I remember my first trip to Thailand without ATM and with lots of cash and traveler checks. And I had a credit card at that time. Officially it was not allowed to get cash from the credit card. I found a shop owner who deducted money from my credit card and he gave me cash minus 3% commission. I was happy that I was able to get cash.

I guess you think machines are for free. Or why else should the transfer be for free?

Why? Let's say you go here to the ATM and you withdraw the equivalent to 500USD. So that 500USD will be withdrawn from your account i.e. in the USA. Why pays for the ATM machines? Who pays for the computers? Who pays for the software? Who pays for the data transmission? Who pays for the management of all that? Who pays when something goes wrong? IMHO 220 THB is cheap for that service. And I am sure if that kind of service (ATM, bank transfer, etc.) would cost 1,000THB then people would still use it, because they need that service.

"Nine Years Ago, to this very day, I was kindly cautioned that I should never post a comment on the Farang Pub..." You should have followed that advice.

And your point is? That if years ago a service was free that is has to be free forever? There was also a time when people received reasonable interest on their money in the bank...

It's their head. If they want to protect it or not is their personal decision.

How do you think would the new billionaire who wants to become Thai PM distribute the money? Would he make sure that all the billionaires pay lots of taxes so that this will be used to make life better for the poor?

So which changes do you expect? Imagine there is the election and nobody tells you who won. By just observing the world around you, maybe for 6 months, with shopping, going out, etc. do you think you could tell who won the election? Personally I don't think I would be able to do that.

I am sure you worked out already that they want commission. And that is the only thing they care about. Last week I had a good experience by visiting the show rooms of two brands for bathroom equipment. I got my personal tour with (in each shop) a competent girl showing me the items. They knew their products and answered all my questions. That is what I will do now also for other products. Visit manufacturer showrooms and ask the experts. In one of the showrooms which I visited the girl told me she will get a commission when I buy there. Fair enough, she earned her commission. In the other showroom the girl told me they don't sell directly to customers. I should buy the products in one of the big shops (she gave me a list). And she won't get any commission, she has her salary. It seems that is one way to get advice and detailed information.

I am no pacifist and I don't have an issue with Indian or any other nationality. But in my experience with Thailand and especially Thai males and especially groups of Thai males it is a good idea to be nice to them. I.e. honking the horn and shouting at them to get the $#$@ out of the way is not a good start. Just imagine you are in the jungle and meet a big gorilla, and imagine you could speak gorilla language, would you tell him to f#%# off? Probably not. Use the same logic in Thailand and all will be fine.

Do you really expect much change? In day to day life I don't think I ever recognized a difference after any election. I think the biggest differences I experienced happened because politicians or police decided to enforce existing laws i.e. with Purachai many years ago. Otherwise it's more or less same same - not much different.

but different

There will be lots of new girls in the bars because the current pretty girls will be 8 years older. Or at least that is what I hope for. It seems in some bars they keep the same once for decades.

Sure they do that, for a fee, which is normally a lot more than 220 THB.

Is it a scam if banks want a little money for the service they provide? Imagine there would be no ATMs or similar services in Thailand, how much would you be willing to pay to get your money without flying back home?

Why do some people ask all the time questions just to ask questions?

There are also lots of egos to feed. Money is one reason but certainly not the only one.

If you ask Trump and his supporters they tell us that is by design to confuse the enemies.

I guess with LGBT+/- whatever there must be lots of different crossings. Imagine is a white heterosexual male wants to cross the street and there is only a rainbow crossing. That is obviously problematic and must be adressed. ????

No! There is nobody who gets it 100%. Obviously the USA is meddling around everywhere. And obviously they do what is in "their" interest and they don't really care too much about other people. But their interest is not well defined. Some action will be in the interest of the military industrial complex, some is from the left side of politics, some from the right, some from NGOs, and a lot from here and there and everywhere. Is all this coordinated with each other? No. Does the left hand always know what the right hand is doing? No. Does anybody, even someone very well informed, understand it all. No. Impossible.

Most AC remote controls send a one way signal. It is send from the remote to the AC. Maybe it arrives and maybe it arrives correctly. Just the fact that X is shown on your remote doesn't mean your AC is doing X.

What else? Does anybody really need another reason to stop smoking? Is cancer and the possibility to get sick and die early not enough? But then, personally I really don't care if anybody wants to smoke. As long as they don't do it in an office or my home or i.e. public transport let them smoke. Many people started smoking when they were young and it was cool. Maybe some of them could stop smoking if they really wanted. But then I could also stop looking at pretty girls if I wanted to. But I don't want that. And some people just want to continue with their habits. Let them! Looking at above argument is someone who smokes 4 packs a day a bigger enemy to our planet or someone who regularly takes planes to go on holiday? Or maybe someone who heats his house? Or someone who likes his AC cold? We all could do more for our environment and maybe we do already a lot more than others. But IMHO nobody should force us all to do only good things all the time. Let's enjoy life from time to time, even it is is not 100% healthy or environmentally positive.

My father, who smoked a cigar maybe once a month, did me the favor to offer it to me to try. I tried, I definitely didn't like it, and I never did it again. Thanks for that.

With all the rules and what should and shouldn't work I also would not be surprised if things are handled differently from land office to land office and maybe even depending on the officer behind the desk. I wouldn't bet that if something works in office A it will also work in office B.

a) Maybe you are just a faceless farang to her. You know, they look all the same like for us some Thais look all the same. b) Don't expect too much thinking from a homeless person. If her brain would work well then probably she would do something different. c) It was explained to me by Thais that the Thai "thinking" works similar to this: The poor people and beggars give us the opportunity to do something good. We give them money and because we give them money we feel good because we did something good. So basically beggars do us a favor for giving us the opportunity to feel good. I don't know how true this is but it sounds reasonable (for Thai thinking) to me.