Galong

everytime you wash your sheets you kill an untold number of insects....

Very true. My philosophy is to do what I can, when I can and wherever I can to avoid killing things.

If you read about plants you start to think that killing them is not exactly the best thing to do either. They sure do have some goal-driven behavior which could make one think that there is a level of consciousness there too.

About ants: I spend a lot of time in the jungle and I always walk around or hop over lines of ants. I ask my clients to do the same and without exception, they do as requested.

Live and let live

My next advise is not really needed, but something I would ponder doing.

Buy a small 4'x4' advertisement in the newspaper with her photo stating that she is "no longer connected" with your company, etc. and any transaction involving her would not be honored. To avoid lawsuit, don't 'accuse' her of anything in the ad, but the tone and font used should shout "BEWARE". Complete loss of face even to the public.

You're actually being virtuous by doing this because you're forewarning other employers to prevent them from being scammed by her, and you're also preventing customers from being scammed as well.

Yep, I'm already planning on asking my lawyer if I can do this. I don't plan on making it look like she's a thief... as much as I'd like to... just letting everyone know she's no longer employed by my company.

I wasn't thinking of putting a photo of her in the ad. That might be pushing a bit hard as she does have connections.

Thanks again!

Hmmmm Just walk out to her work space and chew her out as loudly as you can, she will not suffer the loss of face and will leave and never return. It works at my Gfs factory every time.

This would be the cheapest way out.

Tried that before. She said, "sure, give me six months severance pay and I'll leave."

I think that the way it turned out was the cheapest. My accountant recommended a lawyer and he originally asked for 25,000 Baht to deal with her and with a licensing issue I've got with a bus I bought. The day after I agreed to that, the yellow plates arrived for my bus. So, he didn't ask for any money for that. I gave him 10,000 Baht when we first met and he said just give him 5,000 Baht for the employee drama and that's it. In other words, he treated me very fairly and I'm getting money out of 'her', so I'm satisfied.

My only concern is retaliation. My lawyer said not to worry about that. The police told her that if anything happens to me, she's going to be picked up and taken down town.

Thanks for your advice though.

Then at least bargain for a (hand) written "apology" (read: confession) from her admitting that she embezzled, which you can pull out in the future if needed.

Hmm, I think it's a bit too late for that. Her termination paper states the reason and she lost a good bit of face at the police station. The police and various folks in the police station all heard what went down... so to speak. We had a witness sign off the termination paper too and she heard the whole conversation.

Thanks for your helpful suggestions buddy. I kinda wished I'd put some of my plans on this forum so I could get some advice... like yours.

Hi Gonsalviz,

I've lived in Phuket for more than 15 years and I'm getting really tired of the traffic, noise, etc. I'm looking at moving to the edge of Phang Nga Town. I'd still be within a bit over an hour from Phuket, Krabi and Khao Sok (my favorite park). 401 is a lovely road. I ride my mountain bike on part of this route. The countryside is lovely and the villages that I've passed through are full of very friendly locals.

I'm also looking at the area just across the Sarasin Bridge (the bridge to Phuket). This way I'll be within easy striking distance to Phuket. This area is also lovely, though a bit flatter. And, I've been doing a lot of bike riding there over the past few months and the locals are extremely friendly and helpful.

PM me if you'd like.

Good luck!

If you don't let her see jail time at all, that sends a message to your remaining employees that they can steal from you but will never go to jail and at most, will simply have to 'pay back' money. They'll be willing to take that risk in the future because the reward to risk ratio is not bad; and you'll be considered a WEAK enforcer of honesty.

Thanks for this junkofdavid2. I wanted her to see jail time, but my lawyer advised against it.

The police also said that if anything 'odd' or violent happens to me, she's the prime suspect.

I value your opinion, but I think the rest of my crew will take a look at this and realize that there could be consequences. She did lose her high-paying job, she had to pay me a stack of money and it's not settled as my accountant still has to go through the past three years' of accounting. I'm sure she'll find something. And finally, if the rev dept come at us, her head is on the block again. This is all in a couple of contracts that my lawyer wrote up.

I'm happy with the way it went, though like you, I too would have preferred a bit of time in small cell.

Today justice was served...

I just got back from spending a couple hours at the police station.

My office manager had to pay back 55,000 Baht for starters. Next, my accountant will go back over the past three years' worth of accounting and see if she owes us more. Plus, if the revenue department audits us for anything that she did, she is responsible for the tax AND the penalty.

I did have a good poke at her though... when this 'deal' was first put forth I said, "nope, not enough, I want her to be put in jail!" My accountant was there and she said, "she's got a family"... to which I replied, "so do I and I can't see mine this year because my over-paid staff stole money from me. Her family can come see her in jail." I had to wind her up a bit for all the suffering she's caused me and my wife.

At the end of the day, I'm just glad to be rid of her evil A55 and I've learned a lesson about trust vs control. As much as I dislike accounting, it looks like I'm going to be stuck checking every little thing that goes on in the company.

Let's just say that once everyone else in the company hears about how this went down, I seriously doubt anyone would consider 'tipping' themselves even an extra 10 baht.

Now I'm going after a former guide who borrowed 8,000 Baht from us and then suddenly up and quit. He won't answer his phone, but I know where he lives and we've got a contract stating that he'd pay the money back 1000 Baht per month at a time... no interest. This contract is all my lawyer needs to go after him.

Lessons learned... stop being a nice boss and start being a serious boss who isn't going to let anyone get away with anything.

I reckon I'll finally get a good night's sleep.... it's been a while.

I use a Bluetooth USB plug-in thingy for my laptop. If my mobile phone has reception, I can access the internet. The speed is supposed to be 115 kbps, but I seriously doubt that that's the case when my mobile phone reception is just a bar or two. My phone bill hasn't gone up much since doing this, though I don't know how much it actually costs per minute. I don't surf the net with my laptop... just download emails and reply. Oh, and of course, visit the Thai Visa forum.

Galong, with all your talk of cruelty and lack of compassion towards animals why do you have an avatar of a baton wielding policeperson? These devices are designed to beat and inflict pain on your fellow man.

Does all your compassion not extend to humans? Do you hug trees as well?

Oh, so you aren't familiar with Cartman on South Park? If you were, you'd know how funny he is. I'm not so much of a fundamentalist that I oppose every single thing that could possibly be construed as abusive. I oppose blatant cruelty, neglect and exploitation of all living things.

I don't hit people or animals. And, before you come back with something like "you're one of those people who love animals more than people" I'll say that I see no need to ration my compassion. That is NOT to say that I wouldn't protect myself, my family or friends. I have a high limit for personal abuse, but if you cross that threshold... um, the 'baton' might come out.

Yes, I hug trees... thanks for asking. I also hug poor people and disadvantaged people and old people and I support five families. I work with school kids to promote environmental conservation... both local schools and international school. I've rescued five dogs and I'd have more if I had the room.

What do you do to make the world a better place?

I don't see any examples of Buddhist compassion in this country. I see the exact opposite in most cases. Thats a pity you see it that way. I guess we all choose to see what we want to see. I see compassion and loving kindness everywhere..

Sorry, but you're wrong.

I didn't choose to see the mahout from Siam Safari beat the crap out of an elephant. I just happened to be there when it happened.

I didn't choose to see the mahout throwing rocks at an elephant that was on a very short chain tied to a post. He was evidently trying to hit the elephant in the eye with a rock.

I didn't choose to see a baby elephant being whacked repeatedly with a long piece of rattan for not keeping as close to the other elephants.

I didn't choose to see the many puppies born with mange who will undoubtedly live their entire life in pain and misery.

I didn't choose to see all of the dogs and cats that are thrown away at temples throughout the country. I just happened to go to the temple with my Thai wife.

I didn't choose to see baby gibbons paraded around Patong so unsuspecting tourists can pay to get their photos taken with these poor animals whose parents were shot in order to be captured.

The list goes on and on. It wasn't my choice to see these things as you so eloquently accuse. I've been here for over 15 years and I've seen things that sicken me... not by choice.

Sorry, but I care about the welfare of animals and people. I don't ration my compassion. There are Thais who are very kind-hearted, but overall, unfortunately, I see more suffering than a peaceful coexistence.

But I am friends with an owner of one of the larger elephant camps up north and I consider him to be one of the more compassionate hi-so Thais that I have met, a man who has gone the extra mile to provide for the elephants under his care.

Thanks Johpa... I'm sure there are plenty of kind-hearted Thais. I'm married to one.

From my personal experience, I've seen a lot of cruelty. I've seen elephants tortured and beaten. The state of dogs and cats, often thrown away at temples, is heart-breaking. I don't like to stereotype people, but from my experience, Thais seem totally unconcerned about the suffering of other sentient beings.

If riding elephants is cruel what about the poor old horse, camel, donkey, llama, yak, giraffe and emus.

I think they would be far better off taking tourists for joy rides than lugging timber through the jungle, as in the past...

Those poor animals were/are abused too. What's your point?

You 'think' they would be better off because you're not the one being beaten into submission so some unenlightened tourist can sit his/her fat arse on your back.

Plus, from everyone I know who has ridden on a elephant, it's not that fun and certainly not as rewarding as feeding and/or bathing them. Elephant rides are offered because it's easy to copy.

You are correct in saying that lugging timber through the jungle was no fun. I've seen some very disturbing videos with elephants being beaten to tow a log that was way too big even for the full-grown elephant in the video.

I don't see any examples of Buddhist compassion in this country. I see the exact opposite in most cases.

I don't think that there is anything cruel about riding the elephants. Cruel is bring them into the city and making them beg.

The way elephants are taught to accept people riding on their back is by beating them and thus killing their spirit.

If you really care about the elephants, first make a visit to one of the few elephant centers who don't do elephant shows or treks like the Elephant Nature Park north from Chiang Mai (Click here), and only afterwards make up your own mind about doing an elephant trek or not.

There's more info on the National Geographic news site. Click here.

This information is not meant to sound like Thais are exceptionally cruel to all animals. Intentional cruelty to animals is a sure indication of sociopathic behavior no matter what the race or nationality of the perpetrator.

I don't have all the answers, but what I do know is the method used in Thailand (perhaps not by everyone) to 'train' the elephants is beating them, sleep deprevation and other nasty acts. From what I've personally witnessed, this appears to be used in Phuket at least. From what I read online, this appears to be the method most often applied.

What would happen if no one rides them?

Well, they could be retired to one of the parks/operations that simply take care of them and don't exploit them for $$. From what I've heard, Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, does a good job of taking care of the animals.

Some could be released back into the wild. "In a bid to reverse the precipitous decline of elephants in the wild, Thailand's Queen Sirikit has encouraged an experiment to release some from the royal household. The results could be significant for other parts of the world with plummeting elephant populations, writes Leyla Alyanak." from this website..

Also, take a look at this article..

Helmet law??? In thailand?? Will enforce it??? :D :D

Well said Britmaveric!

I'm a bit surprised that they didn't use the word HUB in this article. :D

And, let me guess what would happen if I happened to hit one of the many under-age motorbike drivers who drive as wildly as their parents? Let's see, I'd pay for the bike repairs, my truck repairs, the hospital bills and even if said youngster died from head injuries, it would be my fault that he/she wasn't wearing a helmet that met 'international standards'

With the extreme amount of cruelty to animals in Thailand I can't believe that any intelligent person would even CONSIDER visiting a place that has captive endangered animals like tigers. There is a ton of information about how tigers are treated in the Kanchanaburi temple/zoo. This is a massive money-making scam and the monks are in it for the huge amount of money they pull in from unsuspecting tourists.

Of course the tigers are drugged there too. If they weren't it would just be a matter of time before someone got an arm ripped off... or worse. To think that the monks are experts on tiger behavior is simply silly (to be polite). Volunteers have seen the tigers given drugs. There's a lot of evidence online. Do some research for Christ's sake. You're thinking about supporting animal cruelty!

Austhaied, you're living in a fantasy world if you don't think the tigers in the temple are drugged. What's worse, slander or cruelty to an endangered animal?

It's a Greater Coucal, a non-parasitic ground cuckoo.

The only way I'll be happy with whatever they do is if the cops stop people from cutting in line... fat chance of that happening. When the cops are directing traffic there are people in all sort of vehicles riding down the shoulder of the road to cut in front of everyone whose been waiting. I've NEVER seen a cop stop someone for doing that. It's annoying and downright rude.

Won't hit home until Vietnam's tourism industry is up and running. When that happens, watch out, because it will be like the ice water of Songkran hitting the locals when they least expect it or can afford it. There are a lot of well heeled westerners that will look for a place to go where the price is right, pollution is not unbearable, where the government works and the cops do not do shakedowns. They'll take clean orderly beaches free of touts anyday. Even in China, they don't try and rip you off in the taxi from the airport in Shanghai or Beijing.

Yes there are new sources of tourists but take a hard look at those new tourists. The Indians and others are not generous on tips and Indians and the Chinese know how to bargain. They will make the locals regret their haggling ways. As obnoxious as the Eu and Aussie drinking brigade is on Bangla Rd., they do not scream at the bar workers. If the Aussies have a fault it's their over friendliness. The Scandanavian ladies might go topless on the beach but they actually talk to the beach workers like humans. Does anyone think these russian and other former east bloc tourists are as considerate or will be as friendly? The Russians have alot of disposable income but they make the UK and Italian junket budget visitors seem generous. As for the Arab visitors, the Thais take their religion seriously and the Arabs view the locals as infidel idol worshippers to be treated accordingly. Simply put, as pat as the North Americans, Aus/NZ and EU segment might be perceived, they are the plum tourists. They are also fairly well behaved (yobs and lager louts aside.)Lose this segment and you end up a ghost town.

A bit heavy on the stereo-typing, but unfortunately fairly accurate too. Quality tourists who respect Thai culture and who treat the locals to tips and such are falling to the wayside. I expect the attitude to get worse here. That also means more possible violence against foreigners, which seems to be on the rise as it is.

And where will the TAT turn once they've pi55sed off the Russians, Indians, Chinese, etc? Thai tourists? Oh yeah, that's gonna be fun.

Thailand has to be one of the greatest places on earth for acting out fantasies and living lives of delusion. You can even be a pretend cop and live out fantasies of controlling others. What a bunch of tools these wannabe coppers are.

I always wanted to play copper so I could get drunk and shoot tourists at point blank range, then disappear to Burma for a while, then show back up and stand "trial"... then get off scott free.

I applaud gdhm and others who pointed out that those of us who complain do so because we CARE, not because we're unappreciative or don't like living here. We (I'm speaking for myself and hopefully others) would like to see some aspects of living in this great country improve. Those changes also coincided with Thai laws and seem to be desired by many Thais, including the government. The senseless loss of life due to irresponsible driving habits is simply not acceptable for those of us who TRULY CARE! We don't (speaking for myself again) want to see Thailand turn into the countries that we left.

Keep complaining guys and gals... this is a possible avenue for change

I'm drooling now thanks to you, Gerd...

The best 'commercial' burger in my opinion is the Faulty Burger at Fautly Towers, near the Expat Hotel. Their burger is really tasty and massive! Add fries and it's almost too much.

Generations ago? So, those people have pasted on have they not? Their descendents are now Thai are they not? My mother-in-law speaks only Thai, has a Thai name and a Thai past port, and gives her loyalty to Thailand and the King. Be careful how you generalize people, people are not so simple as demographics would have them.

Ah, that's what they want you to think. Are their loyalties solely to Thailand and the King or do they have an underlying goal to promote businesses of ethnic / semi-ethnic Chinese? I think the latter.

Take Thaksin for example... do you honestly think that he isn't in bed with China to some degree?

I don't think it's as cut and dry as you're portraying either.

Colonel Chanatpol said Immigration was also watching the Pakistan and Philippines communities on Phuket more closely.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't there criminals in every nation? It seems like a bit of stereo-typing here.

Man,that's alot of metal too move. 400,000 Baht a time,@14 Baht a Kilo,thats 28,570Kgs,and nobody saw anything??.Fair play too the BiB,nice little earner.

Just out of intrest what happens too the 10 Tonnes seized,'''''Tea Money''''' perhaps??.

Good point! How on earth can they take this much and not be seen? Well, one explanation is that the coppers don't patrol. I've been seeing major slash and burn operations going on in Phang Nga Bay National Park over the past few month. The clouds of smoke must be visible for many miles, but nothing is ever done. I report it to the dept of Nat Parks... probably wasting my time.

Was 'tea money' on the accounting spreadsheets?

Maybe these are the same guys who kamoyed the massive amount of rice

Don't fight life, learn from the Thais, you're in one of the most chill places on the planet. If you can let go of your desire to control, you may find piece of mind.

Where can I vote for the most asinine statement I've heard on this forum in a long, long time. True, there are some things about Thai culture that are impressive, but sorry, anything to do with safety is not. It's called being responsible and not endangering yourself and those around you... especially if it's only for the sake of fun.

"Peace of mind" doesn't have to include the high possibility of death in my book. I don't remember reading anything in either the Pali Canons or the Sutras about being irresponsible to the point of being criminal.

And furthermore, I don't see this as an extremely chilled place. On the contrary, I see it as an extremely competitive dog-eat-dog society where everyone is fighting to get all they can. You must mean in the past or something...