Camillof

Never as robust as their self-congratulatory efforts anyway.

So rigorous, that until now I haven't heard of it at all. All I would ask is to see No tips signs displayed in their offices again, as it happened during 2019 under Big Joke's reign.

If they want to prove they are serious, NACC should investigate about those members of the Office of the Trade Competition Commission (OTCC) who approved purchase of Tesco by CP.

This is really cause no. 1 in this country in my opinion. Followed by cause no. 2: police inaction, and no. 3: DUI. Highways here are conceived more like speed tracks than else, spiced up by the lethal U-turn system. As to the route where this particular accident happened last night, the new "M6" toll road supposed to connect more safely Bang Pa-in to Korat lies there, finished long ago and still closed.

The government prefers to charge public health costs on foreigners. Much easier.

Digbeth, I'm interested in this particular topic. Do you know if they were allowed to continue indefinitely or if they were just given a postponed deadline? Do you happen to know when this decision was taken? Can you indicate any official source by any chance? Thank you.

Yes it is.

I didn't write that it's easy to do, but personally I learned my lesson. Forewarned is forearmed.

That's acceptable in principle because the discrimination is not based on nationality: a non resident pays more, regardless of his nationality. Then the question of "how much more" is another story. But the general practice of favoring local residents is common and widespread everywhere, just like granting discounts to groups or schools, etc.

I think there's a general misconception here about this dual-pricing matter. Let's not mix up different issues: "tourists" vs "locals", or if you prefer "non-local residents" vs "local residents", is one thing (acceptable), "citizens vs non-citizens" is another (unacceptable). Charging tourists more than locals is acceptable if by "locals" you mean people actually living on the spot or immediate surroundings. Understandable common practice in many countries. But here in Thailand, as well as in some other underdeveloped countries, it's not like that. Here they don't charge tourists more, they charge non-Thais more, which makes all the difference and is contrary, in principle, to human rights conventions ratified by the Thai government. That is why foreigners should refuse to pay those higher fees. Here, Thai tourists are being charged like local residents, while foreign local residents are being charged like tourists. Thus, the foreign local resident is forcibly contributing by paying, not only part of the Thai local resident's fee, but even part of the Thai tourist's fee. Sick and disgusting practice. I wish all countries around the world applied the same principle to Thai citizens living there.

Yes, such a laughable, clumsy, even disrespectful offer, showing the low esteem they feel towards foreigners in general: "You dogs, do as we say and we might extend your leash a little. Don't ever dream of getting rid of it." Also: do some computing and you'll find that 9 times in 10 years is relatively "more frequent", no "less frequent", than 3 times in 1 year; even if the absolute time span is longer... "Once every 3 years" would start making better sense as an offer. Finally, this offer also reveals how pointless the 90 days reporting really is, even for them ????

That's the point also for me. I think that even if the rules were as clear as spring water, we would still face difficulties because that's how they want it to be. Many (not all) immigration officers have only this in mind: to squeeze out, or extort if you prefer, an undue tip from our wallet, often if not always with the consent and good pleasure of their superiors. To me, it remains our first problem as expats living here and the first point we should always keep in mind and be prepared to face before going to our respective Immigration Office for any procedure; especially when going there for our yearly renewals. If, in addition, rules are not all crystal clear; if certain details are left up to the arbitrariness of regional and local offices, that's a manna from heaven to those officers. And that's how the current government wants it to remain. An evidence of what I'm saying? During Big Joke's short-lived term as Head of the Immigration Police, 3 to 4 years ago, here in Nakhon Ratchasima a NO TIPS sign finally appeared in the IO main hall and in other premises too. It was rather small and not really in good view, but it was there (I have photos). Shortly after Big Joke's sidelining by the PM, the NO TIPS sign vanished. Totally it held less than 1 year, from autumn 2018 to summer 2019, at most. By the way: I don't recall reading any news about that here on ThaiVisa. Was such an issue not sufficiently relevant to us expats living here? Another evidence? In Autumn 2015, here in Nakhon Ratchasima's Immigration Office, I once tried to insist on getting a receipt over the payment of 500 THB for a residence certificate issued by them. I knew well that they wouldn't issue it, but for some particular reasons that day I decided to insist just to see where it would lead. I insisted so that the head officer in charge at that moment had to intervene in person, only to admit quite candidly that she couldn't issue a receipt because that's tea money used to fill up the office's pantry to the benefit of the staff. Amen.

Effects of a monopolized consumer market Last month I took this video in the fresh food section of my local Lotus. It was a Friday afternoon at around 5:30 pm. You can count more sales staff than customers, including at least four idle department heads (three of them sitting around a table, a fourth one walking nearby, last person seen in the video). In the past, when still Tesco-Lotus, that was the start of happy hour on unsold items and the store used to get crowded with customers in quest of good deals, both Thais and non-Thais. At times, it was difficult to pass through with your shopping cart. In short, the new management chased people away by: - Reducing drastically the choice of fresh items on display (bakery, ready-made dishes, etc.). A process that, to be honest, had already started with Tesco-Lotus years ago, now quickly worsened to the point of wondering why don't they just close those sections for good - Reducing drastically the discount on the few unsold items ("few" not because they managed to sell them at the regular price, but because they have almost nothing on sale to start with) On the other hand, they considered it relevant to install a mini cafeteria with tables to consume "luxury" ready-made meals on the spot, maybe just for the sake of aping the more prestigious supermarket chains. From what I can see each time I go there, those tables are deserted most of the time, or being used by their own staff. Situation at my local Big C not much different although it hasn't deteriorated to that point yet. Luckily no internal mini cafeteria there until now. My personal conclusion: just let Lidl or Aldi or the alike come in, and we'll see how long those idle department heads will keep their job at our expenses, how long those useless mini cafeterias will hold. 20220204_173748.mp4

I've seen and keep seeing even worse than that. As an example I'm annexing the last photo I added to my personal gallery of supermarket absurdities. Shot at Big C a couple of weeks ago: same product, 1 box 39 baht, two-box pack 85 baht. This widespread absurdity (you see it everywhere) shows clearly enough that the consumer market here is not a free market. To me, that explains everything.