blackcab

You're worrying too much. If it bothers you, open a second account at another branch. Transfer 400k (or whatever) from the account you worry about to the second account.

It cant just be me, surely? For about the last 2 years or so I have seen a lot of new Baht notes.

Everytime I go to Tesco my change is new bills and new shiny coins even the 1/4 and 1/2 bahts.

Today I pulled 20,000 baht out of an ATM and bingo all brand new 1,000 Baht notes. SO new it was like the ink was still, wet they were sticky.

now if my little knowledge of currencies is correct, i.e. Germany before the war and places like Zimbabwe today, this is a sign of a country in trouble ? Yes/no?

Maybe someone on TV that is a money guru, can explain in layman's terms what this means. When I google the issue it only mentions high inflation but if I look at recent figures for LoS it is 0.88 of a percent ?

I don't understand, is the someone fudging the figures? As if ?

Any one else notice the new money ?

Places such as Tescos will get regular bulk deliveries of coins and small banknotes simply because of the volume they give out as change every day.

Tescos will hand out more small banknotes and coins each day than multiple bank branches combined. With that kind of demand it's not surprising they are given new banknotes and coins to dispense.

If you have zero luck in Pattaya then Super Rich in Bangkok will change it if you're over this way at some point.

http://www.superrich.co.th/

http://m.ikea.com/th/en/catalog/products/art/60165234/

Ikea also have a plastic and metal high chair where the legs unclip for easy transport and storage. I've seen this style used in restaurants in Bangkok.

http://m.ikea.com/th/en/catalog/products/spr/69046232/

I'm out too.

No more feeding the troll.

Perhaps the blow hards here haven't worked in Thailand. Don't know any Thai's. Live in a Rat infested falang neighbourhood in Thailand. Drink their beer with sex workers. Have bought a sex worker and delude themselves they have a wife. Spend their time smoking garbage and rotting away from the inside out with their bar stool bull.

If you knew anybody working in Thailand's hospitality industry you'd know they are paid minimum wage for a twelve hour day. They don't get paid overtime. They don't live in a nice house. Don't have a kitchen, garden, nice car. Don't travel abroad for holidays twice a year.

Ask any and they'd love to have these things.

When they're asked by their employer to work for free because the company is exploitative they don't so no.

IMO they have only themselves to blame.

Beautiful day here in Phuket, getting paid to relax at home.

You call other people blow hards?

It's not your meter. It's the PEA's meter.

I think there is only one person the OP will take constructive criticism from, and that's himself.

So, OP... If you think there is a problem, what would be your solution?

No reply from the OP. Just more troll comments.

You really don't need an agent. You (the purchaser), and the vendor go to the land office with the money. If the property has any mortgage or financial encumbrance on it then the land office won't transfer it until that debt is cleared.

If there is a mortgage then you (the purchaser), the vendor and an agent from the bank that holds the mortgage all turn up at the land office at the same time.

It doesn't matter who, but one of you pays off the bank at the time of the sale. The bank gives the nod, you pay the vendor the agreed price and the transfer is processed.

There is a high probability that you will be dead before that land is upgraded to Chanote.

Regardless of your current age.

I think there is only one person the OP will take constructive criticism from, and that's himself.

So, OP... If you think there is a problem, what would be your solution?

You do not have to pay for the existing pole on one side of the street because it is already there.

You do have to pay for a new pole on your side of the street (or anywhere else) because it is newly installed equipment.

Strange, but true.

- passports have always been a requirement of fx of notes at thai banks. If you already know staff at that particular branch, you can do some transactions without requiring physical passport at their discretion.

- In this region, having new-looking bills from your home country are of upmost importance. Cambodia and perhaps Laos is more lax...but mainly because they actually use USD as their de-facto currency in circulation.

- superRich et al private exchangers, YMMV with passport requirement. But bills will be inspected carefully. Remember that they must guard against fraud. And also be able to sell them back.

Edit: be thankful new series of bills arent released and you travel right afterwards with the new bills. Despite the efforts of central banks/treasuries to inform people well in advance, it still takes a couple of weeks to get the word out to the banking staff.

"Cambodia and perhaps Laos is more lax...but mainly because they actually use USD as their de-facto currency in circulation."

You should use pristine dollar notes to pay for your visa on arrival in Laos, they most definitely will not accept notes that are marked in any way, hotels and shops do not seem to be so concerned.

I have noticed that in Super Rich Thais are asked for their ID cards when changing foreign money into Baht.

At Super Rich Thais have to show a passport too. A Thai ID card is not sufficient.

I know this first hand because I wanted to exchange some currency and I didn't have my passport with me. I asked the wife to use her ID card and the staff flat out refused her.

This was at the head office opposite Central World.

I have a few GBP and USD they have refused to change waiting to be spent when I travel.

Mandatory overtime for over 8 hours a day.

Mandatory 30 days sick days a year

Mandatory 30 days pay per month

Mandatory 15 paid holidays per year

Mandatory 30 days notice to terminate

Mandatory severance pay

Minimum wage has doubled in the last few years

I work for a pretty typical company compensation wise, and everyone gets monthly bonuses and allowances, and an annual bonus of one to four months pay, this year it was 89 days pay.

Yes, working conditions here are hideous.

If that is in LOS, it applies to a miniscule number of workers. Most get NO paid overtime, though they do extra work at standard rate, no sick leave, paid only for days worked.

everyone gets monthly bonuses and allowances, and an annual bonus of one to four months pay, this year it was 89 days pay.

555555555555555555555555555 What a laugh. Have you never gotten out of Bkk and talked to people in the villages and small towns where most Thais live?

15 days hols a year, my wife never seems to get that many days holiday- I'll ask her next time I phone her, 30 days notice ditto, severance pay ditto.

If you think the rice workers in Nakhon Nowhere get full minimum wage you need to get a out a bit more.

My wife is from a village in the far north east where they grow rice, so she should know. Now she works for a major Thai company.

OK, so I asked my wife.

She worked for a big Thai company or over 2 years and got about 200 baht severance pay. Yes, she had to give 30 days notice. She only got 7 days a year holiday.

You don't get severance pay if you give notice, because that is the same thing as resigning. You get severance pay if your employer summarily terminates your employment (after a qualifying period).

The amount of severance you receive increases with time served. 2 years in gets you 90 days pay. 10 years in gets you 300 days pay.

Staff get 13 traditional holiday days per year (from the available 16 dates). After 1 years service they also get an additional 6 days leave.

Interesting....do you really gain any tangible benefits as a PR?

You get permanent residency, so long as you comply with the rules. So no more visas.

Being mid-30s, this is my main motivation. As it stands, if I lose my job, I am out of the country, wife and daughter are irrelevant, I am here for work purposes. With PR, I don't need to worry.

Still no suggestion to my main question - which route; specialist, father of a Thai child or married to a Thai?

I guess you have an extension of stay based on a non-imm B visa.

One thing you could do is at your next extension is change the reason to being married to a Thai.

No more business documents needed. You can have a work permit with this extension too. And if you lose your job, you can stay in the Kingdom - no rush to get out and get another entry.

Doing it this way you are not at the mercy of your employer. You are at the mercy of your wife.

Firstly, you cannot sign for anything or manage your own affairs as you are incompetent. But don't worry, a nice Thai solicitor will handle everything for you.

Secondly, say hello to your new friends who are living under the BTS.

It is not a requirement automatically.

Depends on type of business.

Would you care to explain what you mean? My understanding is that if you work, you need a work permit. And to get a work permit you need Thai staff and social fund payments.

What businesses can you legally work in without a work permit? Or what businesses can you get a work permit without employing Thai staff?

I guess service charge only be paid when the service was good, and with poor service you get a discount in stead. That would make sense. No good service - no pay service charge.

That's called a tip. Which worked well until the ++ started appearing.

Ummh. How joyful it is to be able to comprehend the written word.

My impetus to post was the cultural difference related to my wife's international workplace. It's an interesting sounding board, a forum. If you had read the thread, it's obvious.

You may have noticed an underlying class system here. New car, pretention, property bubble, flash bike, personal credit running at 90% of GDP. Yet who's doing all the work?

Women. The yes sir, subservient culture is what it's about. Not you, not my beautiful wife, not my flippant post.

Some have a penchant for squabbling. Some are agreeable regardless and some, from my cultural background ask what if.

Happy holidays.

You will assimilate Newbie.

It just takes time.

Or you will be assimilated...

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

Em quartier has a superb fish and chip shop. Been back twice

Thanks for the tip, i've been there today and it was great!

I even had been to EMquartier twice and never seen those spiral stairs with all those super restaurants. I immediatly felt home there, what a great looking restaurants. Also those gardens at the 15th? floor are awesome. I give them all a 10 out of 10 which is very hard to get from me.

The fish and chips were great, i also had a scottish egg for the 1st time in my life and also that was great. It came with pickled onions and something i couldn't define.

But i didn't understand why we got a bowl of stinky vinegar with the meal.

The waiters were phillipino girls who spoke fluent english!!

EMquartier is head and shoulders above every other mall i 've ever visited. The architekt who designed this is my new hero.

This really is a huge improvement for Bangkok.

The fish and chips place is called Jason and Mulwow? and it's on the top of the spiral stairs. One floor under the roof.

Jones and Mowlem.

The inspiration for the spiral architecture came from The Frank Lloyd Wright Building, which is part of The Guggenheim Museum.

In Bangkok you need to show a minimum of 1 month's Social Fund receipts for your staff during the application process for a work permit.

No staff = no Social Fund receipts = no work permit.

I must live in a different Bangkok from so many of the posters on TV.

Because 10% service charge + 7% VAT is pretty common in the majority of bars, pubs and restaurants I go to.

That includes mall restaurants, sukhumvit expat pubs, craft beer places, the latest "hot" new restaurants and more. It happens in many places these days.

When it happens I assume that to be the tip and don't tip further unless service was really good or the waiter friendly.

And getting charged for ice is standard in everywhere from the cheapo 100baht a big Leo places to the high end places charging 300B+ for a small beer.

A bucket is often 10-30B. If they just put some ice in your glass it's usually 5 baht. Unless you are a regular and know the staff and they'll often just give you ice in your glass / a separate glass for free/

Due to the fact they buy the ice in themselves as no one trusts the water here.

All very standard.

You live in a different Bangkok to me for sure. Sukhumvit expat pubs:

Robin Hood = no ++

Royal Oak = no ++

Dubliner = no service charge but VAT added on.

I've worked in the hospitality industry for many years. It's very normal for staff to work national holidays and take time off in lieu. Management positions often agree to take no holiday at peak times.

In terms of Thai staff, if they are unhappy they just don't come back to work. Which is why you don't have to dismiss Thai staff and you don't have to pay severance pay. If you really want to get rid of a Thai member of staff, all you have to do is stop making them feel part of the family and they will leave. I have seen supervisors do this to their staff and the staff all quit within a couple of days.

In terms of Thai people in general (especially female Thais), they often try to maintain long term relationships at the cost of short term inconvenience. This way of working is very different from Western thinking, where we often focus on the present situation and where we treat each issue as a discrete item that needs to be addressed.

The OP asks when will Thai people learn? There is nothing for Thai people to learn. They have their own way of maintaining long term relationships, which is not better or worse than Western thinking. It's just different.

I believe it's a model 26. Looking at the pictures in the original article there are 2 magazines. One is a standard G26 10 round. The other is a G26+ 12 round.

You can tell the difference when you look at the magazine floor plate. The 10 round magazine is flat, while the extension G26+ 12 round magazine is thicker and angled. This is to give you somewhere to place your little finger if you find the reduced grip annoying.

and this is important because.......

Obviously the speed of the posts is too fast for you. For your own benefit do try to keep up, because your post gives you the appearance of being foolish. Just this once I'll give you a summary:

The original report identified the weapon as a Glock 12 - a weapon that doesn't exist. Some posters then attempted to work out what model the weapon was. The consensus was a Glock 26.

So why is it important what kind of weapon it is, he was carrying a weapon illegally, end of. It seems that a lot of weapon junkies get off on scrutinizing it as if it was hardcore porn and then giving us the boring benefit of their knowledge, all Americans i can only presume

Some people believe what they read without question. Others evaluate the information they are presented and examine it's veracity.

I'm in the second group. From your own statements it appears you are in the first. Which kind of fits with your narrow minded and incorrect assumption that I'm American and also with your sexuslisation of firearms.