thumbinthrough

Personally i think khun Anuwat, is an avid TV forum member who only made the comments so that when he returns to Bangkok he can log on to TV and laugh his little yellow arse off at all the forum members getting their knickers in a twist.

If you can't afford a security system - A rotweiller (or any big dog) works just as well and makes a good companion too.

But, sorry for your loss of photos and hope you find the bastards -. Depending on how big your local area is, it maybe worth having a nose around the second hand / pawn shops for any recently added equipment. You never know you may get lucky. Or you could ask a friend to put up an advert in a window of a local shop stating something along the lines of; a foreigner looking to buy a second hand lap top for above the usual asking price. Again you may get lucky and they try to sell your laptop back to you.

My father who was a copper always said the easiest way to catch a thief was to appeal to their greed, (and a dog the best way to stop a thief) That was before there were so many guns though.

Good luck and hope the above ideas get you thinking.

I wonder what the questions on the survey? I also wonder why they carried out such a pointless survey?

Yep it's nice to be number 1 in something. Just wish it was something important - Like the footy

It maybe that farang are generally richer (as opposed to wealthy) than the native men, who generally are don't have a pot to p**s in.

I think their maybe some 'lost in translation effect here. This must be a slap in the face for the native men as their womenfolk are effectively saying; 'You can't provide for us so we'll look elesewhere.'

Native men - Raise your game or lose your women

I friend of mine who works (with WP and correct visa etc.) is expecting a baby soon. Here employer has told her that as she is not Thai - she is American. The company (in this case an international school) does not have to pay her during her maternity leave, when she has the baby.

Thai Labour Law (which i guess would apply to a non-thai national with a valid WP) states employee are entitled to a minimum of 90 maternity leave with 45 being paid by the employer.

Her school has turned around and said that as she is not Thai this law does not apply to her (so why have a WP if you are excluded from the law) and so won't pay.

Her contract states that 'this contract is governed by the laws of Thailand'.

I am fairly sure the school is trying to wiggle out of paying money. But, as a single man I have no experience of maternity leave issues.

Can anyone please advise or help shed some light on the subject - Are non-thais excluded from Thai Labour Law.

Serves them right - The rightous BIB upholders of the law - involved in an in-house illegal loan scheme. I call that Karma. Som Nom Na

That car is UGLY. It looks like its made of plastic and only two seats????

Lot's of people seem to be stuck on the showing respect for Thailand thing.

My question is how can you?

The thai people don't respect their own country and / or law (look at how much rubbish is thrown, remember drink driving during songkran, scamming tourists etc). The police don't respect the laws. The politicians don't respect the law. On the whole Thais don't show much respect to their neighbours (we've all heard the comments re: stuid laos, evil cambodia etc. etc)

It's no good saying come here and respect our laws, even if we the natives don't. All Thais need to earn the respect of their fellow countryman first, then perhaps foreigners will start showing Thailand the respect its earnt.

It's no good saying Thailand has a different system. Your rule sdon't apply. Ordinary people apply the rules with which they've been brought up with. An Indian in living England doesn't stop thinking like an Indian. So to expect an Aussie to stop thinking like an Aussie on holiday is stupid.

I don't know which is harder to believe: The people on ThaiVisa who defend these people, or the actual criminals doing the selling.

Someone mentioned it will drive tourists away--Do you really think people come here to buy fake designer products? And if they do, they are probably the same type of people who come here to get cheap drugs.

And saying it has no impact on the 'real' product maybe true--but somebody owns the right to the 'real' product.

It's against the law and laws should be enforced. If not, they can suspend the law and take whatever consequences go with that--they had no trouble doing it with the compulsory drug licensing issue.

Here, Here - theft is theft. If someone broke into your house and stole something, no matter how small - it's still theft and you'd be rightly expecting the police to do something (yeah I can hear the howls of laughter already). If the police turned a blind eye or are complicite in the theft you'd be outraged further. Hence the reaction from the US by adding Thailand to their watchlist.

The pittance paid by, for example, the athletic shoe companies to the workers in Asia is a scandalous form of slavery and child exploitation.

I wonder how much the people that produce the fake goods are paid. And i wonder it they are exploited as well?? Not that that justifies the shoe companies in any shape or form. But reforming their production policy / methods would be a hel_l of a lot easier that trying to reform the production methods of pirated products.

Individual governments need to get of their proverbial <deleted> and start demanding decent wages and working conditions for their people. I think we are all in agreement with that.

I have very little sympathy for these folks. The suppliers of these fake goods are - i would imagine - criminal organisations involved in frugs, human trafficking, prostitution etc. And these faked goods are just another way for these organisations to increase their own power and influence. And who makes these goods - Child labour is or has been used in the past most probably as its the cheapest. Thuis depriving another generation of education and facilitating the continuing cycle.

Yes, there are deep rooted social problems as to why these criminal organisations find it so easy to get people to work for them. But, these issues should not be used as a reason to support the sellers, rather alternative jobs should be found for them. Kinda like the royal projects in the north for the opium sellers.

There are huge numbers of highly skilled artists and craftspeople in Thailand. Thailand has far better offerings for tourists than faked gucci bags etc.

The designer companies are so greedy any ways. They just want all the money for themselves. It is outrageous when a small LV bag cost more than 20,000 bth. I have no sympathy for these mega million $ companies anyway,

These pirated junk are very small compare to the crime these big companies do

Why are the designer companies greedy? They fix the price of their goods, no problem with that. If hey want to sell a bag for 20'000 baht go for it. If some dumb smuck buys it. Good on the company, more fool the person that bought it. I wish I (and probably most of the contributors on this forum too) could find a business where some fool pays me pots of money for nothing, and would i keep that money for myself - hel_l yes - we all would if we are honest. The only reason people want these designer goods is their own vanity. And it is their vanity which plays into the hands of the criminal organisations.

There are plenty of well made, fashionable and affordable products made by young and talented designers. Why follow the crowd?

I have very little sympathy for these folks. The suppliers of these fake goods are - i would imagine - criminal organisations involved in frugs, human trafficking, prostitution etc. And these faked goods are just another way for these organisations to increase their own power and influence. And who makes these goods - Child labour is or has been used in the past most probably as its the cheapest. Thuis depriving another generation of education and facilitating the continuing cycle.

Yes, there are deep rooted social problems as to why these criminal organisations find it so easy to get people to work for them. But, these issues should not be used as a reason to support the sellers, rather alternative jobs should be found for them. Kinda like the royal projects in the north for the opium sellers.

There are huge numbers of highly skilled artists and craftspeople in Thailand. Thailand has far better offerings for tourists than faked gucci bags etc.

I have for the last six years been paying into the Social Security Scheme run by the SSO and have on several occasions had recourse to use the card at the hospital for which treatment was free and the card worked perfectly. My employer however, recently gave me a nice shiny leaflet in perfect English from the SSO outlining 'other' benefits available to, I assume farangs (well, it was written in English). These benefits included, unemployment benefit, child benefit, death benefit (can't see the benefit of being dead though) and old age benefit, which i guess equates to what i'd call a pension. Although the amounts were not too much to write home. What i want to know is, has anyone (a farang) actually tried to apply for these benefits? And if so what was the outcome. I can't quite get my head around a farang actually walking into the local SSO / unemployment office and registering for unemployment benefitor a pension. How would this sit with visa regulations?

Any takers please?