scorecard

Adjust final paragraph: Son's wife now only buys cosmetics from Robinsons or Central Festival, and only buys cosmetics when her husband (my son) is with her.

Agree, IMHO the union should not align itself with one party. In fact there should be a vote before any such declaration. But i do encourage all their members to all openly discuss which party they support and respect the individual opinions of others.

Seems you are taking it easy and not getting angry etc. Good attitude.

Worst I've come across, several years ago in a restaurant in Pattaya. Farang at next table asked my Thai female friend to help him communicate with his Thai GF. The crux he shared: 'I met her 2 weeks ago, she couldn't speak one word of English so I get her into a small English school in Pattaya. Only 10 students in the class. Then he shared that they have no books or handouts and the class isn't divided at all by existence English level. Then he shared "She's been going to English class 3 days a week, 2 hrs per lesson for under 2 weeks, but she still can't speak English. I think she's just lazy."

Is this just a repost of 2 or 3 weeks ago? No new info?

To be honest I am quite negative about this 'profession'. My Thai son's wife is easy pray for influencers who easily convince her to buy many things. She's obviously an easy target and gets calls "I have new brand of cosmetics, beautiful bottles / jars and I'm holding the sales so you can be first, etc. She buys instantly. Some years back my son got tired of being asked for more and moe cash every month. He sat his wife down and politely insisted she tell him details of how she uses her money every month. Two health insurance policies came to light, both for her elderly mother, both way beyond being appropriate (8,000Baht daily limit for a private hospital room, and more). Also, son's wife had made several claims (handed to the seller / influencer). Son spoke to the seller who under pressure admitted that she had never forwarded the claims to the company. Seller was son's wife's best friend at high school. Son also asked for copies of the policies etc. His wife had none. Seller insisted that by Thai law customer are not allowed to have copies of insurance documents. Checking monthly premium payments revealed many payments had never been forwarded to the company. Son confronted the seller who insisted that she was doing everything legally. Son left the room and seller abused sons' wife 'how dare you, my best friend' the company is now investigating me and I will probably have to refund some commissions I have received. Son heard all this from the bedroom. Son then revealed he had been speaking to a manager at the insurance company which had revealed the seller had been dismissed many months earlier. Health policies for son's wife had been cancelled (by the seller) some one year earlier. Company did refund some money to son's wife. Son then told his wife she was prohibited from spending one Baht on anything without his written approval. Wife then realized she had been very childish. Son kept up the approval to spend for a few months then dropped it. Wife had learned her lesson. Son went with his wife to visit her mother to check what health insurance would be appropriate and they took a policy (different insurance company). Son still monitors the policy. Wife now only buys cosmetics from Robinsons / Central festival, and requests that my son go with her.

Maybe also a personal chef.

Yawn.

Guess - anything at all that other folks can be fooled with and which will bring cash into her pocket. In a nutshell that's what 'influencing' is.

And you don't mention what's on offer in Vietnam, Indonesia / Bali....

Thanks for confirming that situation, appreciated.

Keep in mind that the gov't may be pushinsg all gov't agencies to collect some form of fee to offset the costs of operating those agencies. Or, in other words, why should Joe Public who never has any business whatever with the customs department be paying into taxpayers general funds to operate that agency?

Here's a cut and paste from the appropriate Centrelink site. I have called the Thailand free call number several times over several years, always got through and speaking to a Clink officer in less than a minute. Never ever had charges added to my AIS phone bill. "If you are in one of the following countries, you can use our free call numbers listed. The numbers may not be free from mobile or public phones. c c c Thailand 001 800 611 4136 "

Thaksin Shinawatra Covered His Entire 6-Month Hospital Cost In other words thaksin just ignores the correct / legal way / regulations to handle this matter and decides 'I will do it my way'. Can he do that? Is his method legal? Can a member of the public just handle this as they want? Or should the debt be handled strictly / only through an existing law / embedded regulation / protocol? Such arrogance.

He has a Ph.D. in criminal justice from a no name very very low ranking US university which is located in a no name / very low profile state.

No fried tomatoes with oregano?

Good question... I'll assume the answer is no. In fact I rather doubt that an 'ordinary' prisoner' would have any chance / opportunity to discuss / negotiate such an option.

Alcohol on Thai trains has serious very bad history including the murder of a teenage girl on a train and the drunk murderer throwing her dead body out of a train window. Not surprising that there's severe laws re banning alcohol on trains.

OK, but if he's not assessed as having serious mental problems then seems to me he's well capable of knowing / understanding that bomb threats to aircraft is a very serious matter and brings very severe long-term punishments. On the other hand he's overstayed for 28 days and I think it can be assumed he knows this brings strong punishments. Perhaps he is incapable of logical analysis / thoughts and needs help. Singaporeans are well educated and well informed, and he's not a child, he's an adult, all folks (incl this guy) know that the chaos caused with a bomb threat is serious and brings serious punishment.

Sure, but there's many many small unlicensed shops which sell to anybody / anytime.

Yawn.

Perhaps take a very fast train with a sleeper cabin. Took this service once between Shanghai and Beijing. New train, super fast, very comfortable, many services available by calling the conductor, wake up call as ordered with coffee, shoes shined. I got a good sleep.

Many times I have done a quick search "Is xxxxx (newspaper / news website) biased? Often enough there's data which seems to be legit, more to the point It alerts me how much to believe in the reporting / stories / reports etc., that are offered. Many times after doing the above search I haven't gone past the headline. I always remember my dad's comment: 'Newspapers contain facts and opinions. The opinions are always biased according to the beliefs, values etc., of the owner / reporter.'

Stupid comment. There's vile people in every society / religion / culture. We had a neighbor opposite us in my old hometown who regularly beat up his wife and small kids with his fists and with a leather belt and an electric cord with plugs on both ends.. Several times either my dad of the man who lived next to the wife beater would go into the wife beater's house and tie him to a chair until the police they had called arrived. My dad and the other neighbour who helped took the wife and children to hospital several times and then brought them home after they got some treatment. Several times the wife and kids had broken arms, teeth smashed, and more. In those days family and children's services barely existed. He never got charged because his wife feared he would get even more severe revenge. The twist: On sunday mornings the whole family would go off to church (Methodist church) and the wife beater was a lay preacher and councilor. It happens in all societies unfortunately.

It's my experience that on late night flights the cabin crew attend to any urgent requests from passengers then as quickly as possible turn the cabin lights right down and close the shades. Most passengers seem to like this configuration and try to sleep. Can depend of course on how much distraction there is from movies etc., flickering, but I've noted not many passengers use the on screen entertainment offerings vert late at night when lights are off.