Shoeboat

Do you have amazon or any equivalent online retailer? That's probably your best bet.

No time for that, need a retailer I can visit and pick up.

Nobody seen it? We seem to have everything else. Thrones, Empire, Bad etc...

Has anybody seen it? I have never seen it on the pirate stalls but would prefer to get the original as it is a gift for a friend who's flying in from London soon.

I guess I could ask him to get it but it would ruin the surprise.

Thanks, I'm going to give a wide birth to the 'friend' who did this to me to try and instigate a (drunken) playfight.

Two weeks ago I received an knock to the left side of my head just above my ear. For a couple of days I had a bruise and general swelling which has reduced in diameter to a small lump which shows no signs whatsoever of vanishing. It should have cleared up after a couple of days but it hasn't and it's somewhat unsightly as I am not blessed with enough hair to cover it.

I'm guessing it's some kind of cyst caused by tissue displacement or over active cell reproduction during healing. Where can I go to have this swiftly and cheaply diagnosed and, preferably, removed at the same time?

Turns out she's also abandoned another guy who was depending on her for client referrals - and this without good reason. She also owes 10k to one of her Fillipina staff. A friend of hers whom I only met once told me that she's a strange one, though to me it seems she's simply a pudgy female Hitler on a power trip with people skills in minus figures. All academia and next to know experience in how to treat people in business.

Can I name and shame her? Mods?

^ Owch, Jesus 52 - what are you going to do about it?

You must be wishing a slow death on someone.

^ How did you get even Showbags? ...This is what I'm after, positive feedback. What I can do, not what I can't.

To Beetlejuice - I'm not expecting to have a leg to stand on legally, though if her company isn't legit then she has more to lose than I do.

I've been here over a decade and have nothing to lose, nothing keeping me here. I doubt very much i'd be jailed for working without a permit or payment of any kind, do you? And if I could be then why on earth would I want to stay?

I could be jailed for that then I could be jailed for showing my brother how to use Photoshop when he was visiting me last August, right? Correct? That too could be perceived as work. I may as well also confess while I'm at it that earlier this year I delivered a tee shirt that a friend of mine had forgotten in a bar before he went back to Koh Samui. That was technically a courier service, and I was technically paid for that because he made me chilli con carne and gave me a beer, so what should I do? Turn myself into Lumphini nick?

Bung was right - this country is notorious for foreigners ripping each other off, and it's because the odds are stacked in the favor of the corrupt and the wealthy - which is why this place is a magnet for people who simply don't belong in a fair and civilized society and an obstacle course for those who do.

To the OP:

Did you actually begin working for this woman in Thailand without first obtaining your work permit?

Are you out any money? Such as, did you pay this woman any fees for the work permit application or other expenses?

Is this woman`s company strictly above board in Thailand? Meaning, it is registered, does she have a work permit and does she file tax returns every year?

Does the sort of work involved, fall under the permitted work in Thailand for foreigners acts?

Before answering the OP`s questions, we really need to know the above first.

To your first point - Yes I did, in fact I know of very few companies (if any) who will offer a work permit immediately. If everybody stuck by those rules then the only foreigners living here would be those posted here by overseas companies. Does it count as work though if I haven't been paid? If it does then I may as well turn myself into the police every time I help a friend move apartment or write an email.

I am not out of money, have never been in debt or broke but have been living off emergency savings most of the year.

This woman's company is well on the way to being above board. It is a medical tourism company that pampers those wishing to come here for cosmetic surgery.

I have no idea if the work involved comes under something that was written up by other self interested parties. We humans do what we can to survive and doing it by helping each other out is better than doing it by harming others. The powers the be who wrote this up are I'm sure more interested in the Nigerians that are constantly hassling people to buy drugs on Sukhumvit in the early hours, or the countless illicit activity that goes on here, so why would they really care about some guy doing a bit of web design or photography to make ends meet, unless they were amoral self interested criminals with more right then us or their fellow people to have a place in this world! The word 'legal' is something I take seriously in Thailand because what is and what isn't is decided by such saintly paragons of human virtue.

Were rates of pay agreed before you started? Do you know exactly how much she owes you and, more importantly I think, does she actually have the money?

If she doesn't then there's not much point, for anyone other than yourself, in you selling the debt.

She doesn't pay the Pinoys much but she does pay them. They've been with her for a couple of years now so they could well be legit.

She will definitely have the money but will be extra reluctant to pay having recently paid several hundred thousand baht to PriceWaterhouseCoopers for their services and investing in uniforms for her staff. She's had an expensive couple of months but her business is well established.

I'm owed a discounted rate of 20k which was way to generous as it is but I've had a quiet year. It is because of this she viewed the work as doing me a favour, which isn't a very professional attitude. My fee was made very clear and neither her nor her Thai business partner had any objections. The refusal to pay is for personal reasons, its simply because she didn't like my tone and doesn't want to be my friend aymore. She's 31 by the way.

What would your budget be and where would you buy?

I thought of that.

She does actually employ a gaggle of Fillipino girls, I don't know if they have work permits or not but either way I wouldn't want to affect them negatively in any way, they have done me no wrong.

Her side of the story would be that I refused to shoot more footage and spoke to her in an unpleasant tone on the phone and that she doesn't want to know me anymore.

I've heard many stories of farangs screwing over other farangs during my decade here. Creative people especially are often vulnerable to the type of people that have absolutely no qualms when it comes to using somebody's talent and time to their own benefit then leaving them without a penny.

In my case, I was offered a position with the promise of a work permit by an acquaintance I trusted. A young Australian woman I often socialized with that has failed to deliver on the work permit and paperwork issue and after two months of on and off web designing and photography she has pulled the plug on the entire project and decided to hire somebody else following a fallout which was caused, rightfully so, by my discontent at being asked to do additional work having yet to receive any compensation.

Since there was no contract or deposit, it seems I am well and truly screwed. Or am I? I have plenty of evidence from emails and texts not to mention the work itself to support my claim, but can any of this be used toward a satisfactory outcome?

I would be happy to sell the debt if it were possible to do so. As much as I need the money, the justice is far more important to me.

I'd especially like to hear from members who have any tales of comeuppance regarding such exploitation.

They can't look like crap. Whilst most affordable shoes are sufficient for teaching it's important to invest in quality for conducting business here. Like it or not, that's how it is. It's not only Thailand that will judge a man by his shoes either.

You are right. They are quick to judge based on speech. Thais are funny seriously. I haven't figured it out yet that they do so because they have truly convinced themselves that it makes one superior if s/he speaks in a certain way and uses certain words and expressions or they just like to ridicule themselves for believing that one is better than the other because s/he tries to act like that. There is no such thing as high society anyway. There are only people who have a bit more money but have no idea how to use it to do good and until they learn it they are nothing. But on the other side it's cool. I mean every circus needs clowns.

Exactly.

'Hi So' is nothing but a state of mind that shepherds the easily led, the unenlightened and the stupid.

It's a meaningless word created for fools, just like 'discount'.

For smart leather business shoes where in the city is the best value?

My budget is about 4,000 baht and I've looked in the Paragon department store but just wondered if anybody can recommend somewhere that currently has a promotion on for quality shoes at a reasonable price.

Cheers

SB

From what I have heard it sounds artificial, backward and completely detached from nature. I could go on but I won't because I haven't been, though I suppose I can judge anyway - why not? I trust the opinion of most of you.

Thailand may be a pain at times but at least it has some history, culture and greenery.

Excellent point Sheryl.

Next time in Europe I think I will just avoid bread and ask for vegetables instead. That plus fibre pills maybe.

Buy a tin if Cherry Blossom and a nice couple of dusters and you have one less thing to worry about over the next four days.

Okay, well if you're ever looking for a Mexican restaurant how about I suggest you buy some tacos and ground beef from Villa. How helpful would you find that? In minus figures I would imagine.

Still, you have a point but the guys on the street that do it are professionals and they will make your shoes look like f****** mirrors - to quote Billy Batts.

I am fully aware that if I just wonder around Sukhumvit I might by chance see an enterprising pauper with a shoe shine kit. However I see these admirable hard workers on average two or three times a year which doesn't really help me if I need my shoes shined by Monday morning.

Is there any fixed placed that does it as a service?

Appreciated,

SB

Okay, well how about ignoring the padding and just replying to the actual question.

Is there one?

I need to learn the lingo by 2016.

Yes I'm definitely more active here, though I maybe walk as much or more when in Europe.

Whenever I go to Europe or the US or UK - especially at this time of year. I suffer a lot of discomfort after wiping my bum, and that's if I manage to push the poo out of it in the first place.

Some of my friends have said it is a dehydration issue and that one drinks less fluids when out of Asia, hence the bowel movements slow right down to an (almost) halt - but if that's the case then how come dehydration gives African kids diarrhea and dysentery?

Perhaps it is simply the diet, but I don't really feel that my bread intake is sufficiently more then it is here in Bangkok, though my vegetable and fruit intake may well be less.

Anyway, it's one of two reasons why I prefer to live in Thailand. The other is that my lips don't chap or decide to flare up with a cold sore the same day I have an important meeting.

The risk ist acceptable. Probability to be checked is low.

Just avoid any of the high risk goods as an addon (tobacco, alcohol),

Punishment for those is ridicolously hard.

Don't carry any duty free bags with you!

WHAAAT?? So I can't bring back any Becherovka?

I was going to bring back three bottles - which are not much bigger than the small, hip flask-esque Sang Som ones. I'd keep them in my main suitcase and maybe one in my carry on. Is that now gonna be a risk?

Customs/immigration couldn't handle a drink like that anyway.