onlycw

Collect the salary first?

AFAIK, regarding the WP, you should be in the system, having taken the first steps. That requires help from the school. 

Fingerprinting. B-Visa, ... Nothing, nada? => They want you to do a Visa run? Not good!

Have you collected your salary? Now you can go ahead and tell them (corroboration might help as many lie about such matters)

Well, I've been transferring money from HSBC UK to Bank of Ayuthaya for years. In the past, the "mid spread" rate at www.xe.com 

worked out okay. 7 months ago, even more THB were credited than anticipated.

But the last 10 days, the shortfall has been thousands of THB per transfer or adiscrepancy of about 2%. that's steep.

Is some other Thai bank less greedy?

Have you observed a similar deterioration in fair forex pricing?

One day, a victim might snap. 

I knew a grandmother whose criminal son beat her up. Once he gave her a frightful Black Eye. He had been in prison and once she went to the Police. Getting no help.

Domestic violence and violence against old persons is something Thai societe needs to learn to handle. Considering such incidents as "private" is wrong as prohibition!

The sequence of the shooter's actions is most interesting, isn't it?

Health and life insurance, 2 policies. 

Tourist Police? While I can be told to pound sand, the cops having a complaint on file might make him reluctant repeating this act of fraud.

A friend introduced me to the owner of a computer shop. 

I just bought a nice Thinkpad X230 and wanted it upgraded. SSD + 16 GB RAM.

Months went by and the excuses and lies were getting ridiculous. ("No drivers" for Win 10. But hey, there are hundreds of X230s running Win 10 on the Ebay websites... ** Then he needed "a cable, to make it go faster". Which I paid, like I prepaid the work)

The end of my stay in Thailand was approaching and I made it very clear that I would need my Thinkpad back.

He invented a "parcel" which was "returned". Yeah, my condo has a mail room and they dutifully sign for parcel, not turn them away.

In a nutshell, he stole some of the old RAM (not it has "3 GB") and all the new stuff. The SSD and the 16 GB.

...

A previous "installer" (who was a colleague at a government school) removed all new RAM and replaced it with low grade RAM to return the machines working, but ... Hundreds of Dollars were made that way.

Yet another installer claimed the "CPU was toast". I brought the same notebook, swapped the SSD and voila, no problems.

Am deeply shocked and want to warn you guys. Besides asking, is there a point in reporting such theft? I have FB messenger communications to back it up and would be prepared to make a sworn statement at the embassy.

Cheers,

Chris

Hi,

I sent them a photo with my signature and passport, stating that I want to cancel my policies due to having left Thailand.

I never claimed one Baht. What can I expect? A partial refund?

They are not responding...

The marriage was never registered here in TH. They wanted the document stating that one would be "free to marry". Kinda absurd in the light of a valid and existing marriage recognized by the USA etc.

It was a serious question. We would fly to Argentina if that's where we could get the uncontested divorce. 

Residing in Hong Kong for x months with no income @ what, >$ 100 a day for a hotel room? Forget it!

Thai (and American, 2 passports and dual citizenship) and German

We hadn't married in Thailand because of the requirement for a silly document stating that the German would be free to marry.

We already had had the Buddhist ceremony in 2008. and that one document would have cost a 6-figure amount in THB. Apostilles, translations, court action overseas. He*l no.

The Chinese embassy won't give an apostille of the original marriage certificate.

We also got photos showing us at the Registrar in Hong Kong, signing the document, taking the oath etc.

Sure, if the Amper would divorce us, then I would hop on a plane and fly back to get it over with. But to register our existing marriage, they still wanted that expensive document showing that the German partner would be "free to get married" (As if the German partner would like to become a bigamist and go to jail over this)

Thanks for your replies, they are all appreciated!

They never paid out a single THB. Now that I no longer live in Thailand, can I cancel the policy and perhaps get a partial refund?

Thanks!

The marriage was never registered in Thailand.

We had married in Hong Kong. But to get divorced there, one or both would need to reside there for months to qualify for court action. No can do.

Q: do you happen to know any jurisdiction or country where 2 long-term separated people can get a quickie divorce?

Las Vegas?

Just asking. We have settled everything 100% and need nolawyers or judges to get involved in that.

Hope to hear from you guys!

Do they take credit cards? 

I hear you, OP. My last 2 landladies have been fined 800 THB each over this. When I will return to my rented condo for a few nights' stay, hell knows what the law requires. 

Q: Why can't they offer health insurance and perhaps deportation cost insurance and make the purchase of both compulsory? Then let folks buy their Visa at Immigration.

All these Visa runs to neighboring countries. Surely there would be a better way, benefiting Thailand?

Their restaurant near the airport was closed for refurbishment a few months ago. Am confused regarding the new branch b the moat somewhere. The website shows an address in Suthep, but I need to find them near the moat.

A friend said they are near MIGUEL'S the Mexican restaurant near the white temple, On the parallel road to Moon Muang Road (sorry, don't know the name).

Thank you in anticipation for helping me find it.

Cheers and a HNY to y'all!!

One of us is American. Could the other sign something and the American spouse gets a judge to order a divorce?

Just wondering, as returning to HKG for (I forgot, 6 months? ) for filing won't work for us.

And the marriage was never registered here in Thailand. (They wanted some silly document which would cost thousands of Euros to obtain).

I just rented a room for myself @ 1,500 THB with a water meter. The landlydy first sayd "no SD" and then changed her mind to ask for "1,000 THB". 

Don't push them out into homelessness. The mental stress would be cruel and chances are that she will go wild accusing you of something or making silly decisions like staying at a hotel.

What's her income?

I'd rent a convenient place near her work place and phase out paying in a few months' time. 

It's shocking when there is a blatanly open threat. I'd bow out and never look back.

Wanna buy a friend? It won't work (or you will run out of cash)

Hey Ryan

there is a whole Parallel Universe out there. While I had to seek approval from the TCT and spend big bucks on a flaming transcript, I do know teachers who work in government schools

• nearly 70 years old
• without a degree

A colleague got some weird job description like Media Facilitator or something. No TCT, no transcript needed. 

A friend got his agency to pull strings. He got a WP in 1/10 the time I got mine. Not sure if hhis salary of only 25 k means that there is a form of pay-pack involved?

Rest assured that you will be competing with a mob with fake degrees.

My institution just signed some deal with the Army. I expect having to wear black all year long. The Thai teachers certainly do.

About 75% wear  o n l y  black, the rest may sport a white shirt. With a black ribbon.

I would agree with that lecturer. It's been an uphill struggle getting students to speak at all. Speaking their mind, play leaving a message (my name is X, my # is 08x xxx xxxx and I'm calling to say ...)

Why the fear?!? 

Then there are those who cannot read. Motivated M2 girls in rural Isaan. On time, alert in class. But they cannot read English and when I proposed to do something about it, the HoD couldn't be arsed to allocate a free trainee from a university or a TA. *** All these school PCs  n o t  running, because some corrupt SOB opted for 256 MB RAM. Hello!! => I spent thousands of THB to buy RAM on Ebay. But then the computer teacher replaced my own new Crucial RAM with something else like 2 x 1 GB. Actions speak louder than words.

Recently, I spoke with a computer guy about installing a SSD and 16 GB RAM. I provided it all, wrote a note and - he re-installed the OS on a perfectly running system. <deleted>?!? 

My tertiary institution has a 10 M THB smart classroom. Don't get me started on that. Hey, how about authorizing 2,000 THB for loudspeakers in my classroom?!?

There is a drive to cut costs. NES have been replaced by non NES from a neighboring country and others with fake degrees and shockingly bad English. While the best and brightest young teachers are stuck and won't get even 50% of the guy from Uganda who is proud of his 540 TOEIC score and cannot pronounce (...) 

Cui bono? Can the Junta please clean up Thai education and remove greed as source for such issues?!

Huh? No click bait - apologies, I just thought the article might say something about feeling disappointed, disillusioned, deflated. Here it is again, as Bruce says it's not working?

https://www.stickmanbangkok.com/weekly-column/2011/05/when-somchai-pulls-the-trigger/ 

I thought this was a thing from the past - Stickman. 

The relentless drive to cut costs led to contracts being ending in February (not March or even April as was customary in the past). YMMV, but more and more Africans appear on the scene AFAIK. What matters is to save some $$$s. 

It's all about the bucks - the rest is just conversation (Gordon Gecko, played by Michael Dougles in "Wall Street")

Are you asking the right question?

I'd rather know more about the job. 20+  d i f f e r e n t  lessons t prepare? What about the dreaded lesson plans? (Bloom's taxonomy, 7 pages long, ...)?

Can you come and go as you please?

Gotta sign in and sign out at once or twice?

How's your boss, what kind of an operation is this? Are they friendly or full of haters? 

I'd rather get a relaxed job somewhere for 33 k than all that stress for 5 k more.

TBH, a good school might offer a very sh*tty deal

What's up everybody?

Some of you may have read this article: https://www.stickmanbangkok.com/weekly-column/2011/05/when-somchai-pulls-the-trigger/

What will it take for you to resign your position and move on? The point has come for me...

It's both not surprising but still shocking how complete the disregard for our customers is. The organization doesn't exist to serve the community or other stakeholders, except the teachers? What is your take?

Life's short, make the most of it here and now

TBH, I think a naked bike like Honda's Hornet 600 would be better, because of its lower weight. Top speed will be irrelevant, won't it? 

I have had a lot of fun on 250 cc bikes like the Kawasaki Z-250 and the Honda CRF 250 enduro. YMMV, but I was not happy with my heavy  liter bike over here!

Thanks for sharing. In June, I was swindled by an online company which took the money for a "1 hour VISA". VIETJET was anal about it and after I paid, they said they would process it like 6 hours later. I wouldn't have purchased it if I had known this...

Years ago, a perp at the Cambodian embassy overcharged me and lied to me, then skilfully pocketed the over-payment. Unbelievable! 

Pay in USD $ and avoid forex scams they also play in Laos. $ 30 / $ 35 vs 1,500 THB.