4MyEgo

Perhaps they should have listened to what the nurses were saying, i.e. not to make vaccines mandatory and give them better wages, fact of the matter in my opinion is that governments will take other measures as opposed to facing the problems at hand when faced with them, because they think that they know best.

Following the words of his soon to be predecessor as he pushes him off of the cliff he is currently standing on.

Um I thought the boosters and the vaccines don't work on Omicron, so why more for those of us that have had them ? Just let it rip so we can all get it and become immune, simple if you ask me, i.e. unless I'm missing something ?

You could tell immigration upfront that you asked the bank to cancel your card, but it appeared that they didn't because you noticed that they still took out their fee of 300 baht on such and such a date and when you realised it, you added 1,000 baht to the account and went into the bank to cancel the card again so that they don't charge you the fee again. Add to that, that it was totally out of your control, and as they can see the funds where in the account when required except for when the bank took their fee out to leave you 22 baht short of the required 800k baht. I would be firm, always polite, offer them nothing, and I believe it should be a walk in the park, look nervous and they will go you for some tea money, worse case scenario they refuse you and off you go, then do another when you return. Not the end of the world and certainly wouldn't be feeding them for the job they are supposed to be doing, otherwise your just encouraging them and making things worse IMO.

This is the best news we have had in two years since the beginning of Covid. Bring in Omicron, the entire world will have had it within 3 months, it is the end of the pandemic, nothing more than a cold, it could have went the other way and become deadlier than Delta, fortunately it didn't, so at this point in time we can thank the virus for mutating to a less sever strain so that we can eventually get back to where we were in our lives. No doubt they will come up with an effective vaccine like the annual flu vaccine which is about 60% effective against the annual strain, remembering the flu also mutates and those jabs have to be tweaked annually, and at least 600,000 people die from it annually. Happy days are just around the corner, cough, sneeze, honey get me some paracetamol for me headache will you.

The truth is always in the pudding, I say that because I didn't see any wording including farangs or foreigners, so would with this then become a misunderstanding once again, or would it mean that farangs/foreigners will have to pay for their own boosters. I believe the latter will become evident as this will become part of the norm, i.e. the annual Covid shot, which will become similar to that of the annual flu shot which we pay for if we want it, but up to you if you, want it or not, they might even go further and make it mandatory that you prove that you have had you annual jab to get your renewal at immigration. Ah 2022 is going to be an interesting year.

Reminds me of a time I was at Bondi Beach getting a sun tan after a swim, then all of a sudden I heard people shouting and running near me so I got up and quickly walked down to the water to see what was going on as I moved through the crowd and there was a girl, no more than 12 years old, not too far from the shore clinging to a board screaming hysterically, it was obvious that she went straight into a large nest of blue bottles, with them all over her back and legs as she lay on the board which was going nowhere fast, and couldn't move as she was in agony and no one was game enough to go in to help her to shore. The only option that I saw was to go in and bring her in and I did, it was painful being stung by the blue bottles, very painful, but what was I to do, stand their like others and leave her there in pain, as soon as I brought her to shore she took off, no doubt to find her parents or friends, no thanks, and I didn't expect one as it was my call to go in, no one pressured me, but I would like to think that if one of my kids was in the same or similar situation, some good Samaritan or idiot, depending on how you see things, does the same.

For some, however those that choose to live in fear will come to realise that death is part of life, sooner or later for it is inevitable, so should chose to not live in fear, but choose to live for the sake of living.

Not helping people when in need would be like turning me into something I am not, that said, before helping I would do my due diligence best I could, then proceed to help, never bitten yet and if it ever did occur, if ever, I would worry about it then, but to live in fear because of the potential of what happened to someone else or what might happen is just inhumane IMO.

That sir, was summed up perfectly, thank you !

Pinching myself every morning when I wake up to make sure I am not in a dream. The fact that I no longer have to work 14 hours a day or 5/7ths of my life just to survive, in a country that was very expensive to live in made me very unhappy. I had a choice to bail at 55 or work till I was 67 to get the old age pension. 6 years ago I took the first option and took those 5/7ths of my life back and now make money not having to work just to survive, in a country that is very affordable to live in. This has been a life altering experience for me, going from unhappy to happy, a bit like an unhappy marriage to a very happy marriage. Yes I have been living the dream that I planned, which feels so surreal, hence the reason I pinch myself when I wake up in the morning.

Two years on and they are still beating the dead horse. I mean how many of us have had Covid, not me. Are we still alive, I am, and will wait for my mRNA booster in March (6 months). If Covid comes as they ALL say it will, then I will deal with it then, not much more one can do than that, so enough beating of the dead horse please.

I understand the culture to an extent, and usually nod my head to whoever, i.e. whether they are wai-ing to me or not, or even smile and I usually get a response 99% of the time. I am that type of guy, you know the type who would always put his hand out to shake back home when appropriate, welcoming. As for the dog house, well my wife knows is she waves the red flag to this bull, he will charge, but as I age gracefully I have learned that it is better to not play the game, silence as much as I hate it, allows her to know how p-issed I really am, and then she will come back in less than 15 minutes to make up, call that what you will, but I swear at times I could do a Mike Tyson....

It helps when they have spent a while (10 years) living overseas, it's a real eye opener, probably why she barks here at authority or idiot school teachers in uniforms who think they are in the army. Yes she grew some, and has turned from the little kitten that I once knew when I first met her, into a lioness, just hope she doesn't turn on me ????

I just had this discussion with my wife and she says you are 110% correct, i.e. as you are older and are in your own house, it is she that should wai you first. My wife gave me an example, i.e. she asked me when we drop the kids off to school and the principal sees us what does she do, she wai's to us first and she is older than us, point taken. My wife also said, it should really be a relaxed thing, you see me, I wai you, or you wai me, shouldn't have to be the way it is, look at the principal for example as above. Also my wife said for you to tell your wife to zip it and show her support to you first and foremost as opposed to her egotistical boss.

Go back and read my post until it sinks in, it has nothing to do with being irrational, it is about common sense prevailing, read it, the room sizes, the amenities it has, and breakfast always included in the price, i.e. (added on to the room rate) because we pressed the tab with breakfast. Theme parks with height restrictions is for safety reasons, we get that, paying adult rates for seats on aircrafts we also get that, but we are talking about the same rooms for the same amount of people for the same price, the only thing that has changed is the number on the child's age, from 11 to 12, that is it, these are not RULES, they are policies and they are flexile. I did move onto a hotel that saw what I was talking about and accepted it. Just because it's an industry standard, doesn't mean it is right, it is accepted by those hotels who form part of or joined the association to make it part of the industry standards for members to benefit from hoodwinkers the unsuspected, and if you can't see that then you would be hoodwinked, but not having kids, I am surprised your even commenting on this as it doesn't really apply to you IMO.

Didn't he just say the other day he was ahead of Omicron and it wasn't a worry as he was boasting that he had millions and millions of vaccines, what a tosser.

The thing one has to ask is who makes these policies up, e.g. children over 12 pay adult rate. That is like going to a cinema with the family and the cinema staff saying your 12 year old child has to pay an adult rate, why, she paid as a child last year and the year before that. No logic behind it. Let me be clear, at both hotels, the 3 star and the 5 star I have stayed in the rooms fit to accommodate 4 people, the 3 star calls the room a "family room" it has a double bed and a bunk bed, up and down for the two kids. The 5 star has a queen bed and a sofa bed which folds out to a queen size mattress, and when we have booked the above room, we have applied the breakfast rate, so we all eat breakfast. Now all of a sudden because one of the children turns 12, neither of those rooms are suitable, why ? Did the 12 year old become to heavy for the bed, eats more at breakfast which is included in the room rate. No logic, like the cinema example. It is not about breakfast, it is about trying to pull the wool over someone's eyes, seriously, what has changed, she eats the same, in fact she is not a breakfast eater, a yogurt before school and that's it, I am the one telling her to eat when at breakfast at the hotel because it is paid for by me, e.g. the room rates are cheaper if you don't include breakfast, however I when on holidays, I like to eat at the hotel vs going out to look for a 99 baht breakfast and the hotel breakfasts are more or less eat what you want and how much you want and anyone with kids, knows they don't eat much, as for the parents, well it's dig in till your belly hurts....lol In business, if your not flexible, you will not survive and when your business is suffering, if you think you might loss that customer as opposed to keeping that customer, you will do what it takes, fortunately the 5 star saw the light as opposed to the 3 star, it's either a win/win or a loss, because as the person who holds the cash, businesses need the injection of cash and repeat business, not to mention referral to stay in business. I am not out to screw businesses, especially hotels that have had it tough, but I will look for the logic and if I don't see it will query it and if there is no logic, then it's up to me to move on, or the hotel to see that the customer is right for the benefit of keeping the customer in this instance. Edit: A Policy is a system of guidelines there to achieve a rational outcome. It is an statement of intent, and is implemented as a procedure or protcol, it shouldn't be a steadfast rule, it has to be flexible in business situations.

Did you say get over it.....lol, I was over it as soon as the 5 star hotel acknowledged that they would accept our 12 year old as a child and not as an adult as per their hotel policy, i.e. they accepted that we didn't need to go to a higher room rate as the room we had previously stayed in, i.e. the 42m2 room with sofa bed that has a queen size mattress was adequate for two children to sleep in, as was the case on the two previous stays. The thing you obviously don't understand is that during the pandemic, businesses, especially the hotel industry which you claim to work in, have suffered enormously, and if they want to continue to suffer, all they have to do is continue to try and want to charge my 12 year old as an adult as far as I am concerned. The 3 star lost the our return business, that is the end of it, gone, dusted, never to return, the 5 star on the other hand retained it's repeat customer business. I think you must work in 3 star because you certainly come across as someone who doesn't live in the real world, because no matter how much one try's to explain to you how it works, you still keep the blinkers on.

You really don't get it do you, the same room, being a family room with a double bunk which we stayed at for many years previously and all of a sudden the 12 year old can not longer stay in a family room with the double bunk, so we must upgrade to a 2 bedroom suite, give me a break ! Having a family does cost money and I will save money when the opportunity arises, better in my pocket than theirs, as for the world being unfair, maybe for you.

It's actually called a joiners fee, and you usually pay it when bringing a girl back to the room, that said, I used to get around it because before booking, I would ask the hotel to waive it and if the wouldn't I would move on to another hotel that would, so having the email stopped anyone thinking they could charge me for the joiner fee, so they would take the girls ID, and if asked for a joiner fee, I would produce the email, which was rare as they knew. It is a scam to me, remembering one hotel in the early days saying the joiner fee is a deterrent for people not to bring the lady's back, right I said, but you will take the money right instead of stopping it. I recall many years ago my wife was in Thailand a week before me to see family up north and I was flying in from abroad to Phuket and told her that I would meet her at the hotel as her flight would land an hour after mine, plus the taxi in, another 45 minutes, I could be in the hotel showered and ready to go out when she arrived. Checked into the hotel and told the lassie that my wife would be joining me shortly, that all worked out well, until we returned at 3am from a night out and the change of guard, we approached the reception area, I asked for the key to my room and the guy said something to my wife as he handed me the key, and I had no idea what was said or happening, but my wife's voice was raised and the kid behind the counter put his tail between his legs quick smart and he was in the wai position with his head down to my wife all the time till mumbling to the wife till we entered the lift and the doors closed. I said to the wife what was that all about, and she said nothing, I said I heard a few raised words that you said to him and you hitting him on the head in a playful way. She said well he arked me for my ID card, and I said to her, well why didn't you give it to him, she said, I registered when I arrived, and he didn't know that I am marry to you, he think I working girl, and I told him that I was marry now and retired, so he should pay more attention, and I call him ting tong and I smack him on the head, that's all. Next morning when we went for breakfast she walked over and handed him the key and he would wai to her again with his head down all the time, at the breakfast table, I said to her, what did you say to him, she said she told him relax brother, I won't tell your boss. True story ????

Did you say rules, regulations, profitability etc etc, well I know one hotel for sure that missed out on a weeks profit during these hard times for simply having a policy that I couldn't accept and that they we not flexible to negotiate on, i.e. the hotel wanting to charge my 12 year old as an adult. Now think about it from a business point of view for a minute, now that might be hard for you, so let's go real slow, shall we. We will assume for the pupil that the room was 2,000 baht a night x 7 nights = 14,000 baht, but the hotel wanted to charge 3,000 baht per night x 7 nights = 21,000 baht, because the child is now 12, so they risked gaining 14,000 baht for the potential of gaining an additional 7,000 baht, well that certainly looks like a bad gamble to me, did I mention they did lost and also lost my return business. I could go on and say that by going direct to them, they would have saved 17% on what they pay to Agoda or Bookings.com and others, that's 2,380 baht, so it was 14,000 baht down the drain, not 11,620 baht, glad your still with me, as I am trying, as the saying goes, some are thicker than others. As for TV posters in your opinion as a "sharp knife", stating that they are not the sharpest knives in the box as they don't get it, could it be that your too blunt for your own good and, it might just be you that doesn't get it. You see, I did mention that due to my thinking outside of the box I managed to get us a weeks accommodation in the 5 star hotel for less than what the 3 star wanted to charge us. I call that good negotiating on the hotels part because they can see that I am a repeat customer and the risk of losing me over a trivial thing as charging my 12 year old child would be too high a risk, so they took the win/win route, a gamble that paid off IMO. The 5 star read the customers email and, understood that the policy was just that, a policy, which can be flexible, it is not a regulation handed down by the government, for example, the hotel must take a copy of the farangs passport, which I can appreciate is not up for negotiation, it's a regulation and penalties apply if they don't adhere to them. I'm surprised that you can't even see the above for what it is, being the alleged sharper knife in the box on TV Forum that you so claim to be, not sharp enough to also see the name change some time ago to, ASEAN NOW. Nite ????

I suppose you would also agree that a 12 year old child should pay the adult rate when sharing the same room as their parents ? Read my post a few back up.

I agree, however with the pandemic, a lot of hotels have suffered as you would be aware and some will turn a blind eye to an extra guest, or should IMO, that or potentially lose a customer for good, no repeat business. As we have 2 kids, we vary our stays between 3 and 5 star hotels, usually the same franchises, and the room types have a double bunk bed for the kids in the 30m2 family room (3 star) which has always been suitable, and then when stepping it up to the (5 star) the 42m2 room has a fold out sofa bed with a queen size mattress. My recent experience when looking at the hotel websites to book, states that children over 12 are classed as adults and then I put in 3 adults and 1 child as opposed to 2 adults and 2 children and, naturally the prices increased as you either have to take a 2 bedroom suite in the 3 star or a bigger room in the 5 star. i.e. 60m2. The above said I sent an email to the 3 star and told them that I was looking to stay at their hotel again for a week with the family, however one of our children recently turned 12 and I asked if we could stay in the usual family room that we stay at, considering she is still a child, and there reply was a flat no as their policy is children over 12 must pay the adult price, I said thank you for your reply and as your policy no longer suites our needs, we will be staying elsewhere, that cost them, not me. I then emailed the 5 star with the same enquiry and they said, you are welcome once again Mr $, we will welcome you once again and your 12 year old child can stay in the same room using the sofa bed with the other child as she did last time. So I booked as it was cheaper to book that room in the 5 star than it was in the 3 star, go figure. What gets me is who invented this stupid rule, I mean a room is a room and if it's big enough to fit a fold out sofa or double bunk beds for 4 people, be it a family or two guests, then they should just have a flat fee for the room for up to 4 people and not try to rip people off people discriminating against their age, e.g. because a child has turned 12, their policy dictates that they have to be elevated to the next room price which could be upwards of 1,000 baht per night, seriously something wrong with the hotel systems structure when it comes to these types of policies, as a 12 years old is not an adult, 18 is an adult, that said, I can understand that they pay full price on a flight as a seat is occupied, but in the hotels we have stayed, the rooms are the same, with the same bedding, so what's the difference ? Rant over ????