CNXman2551

I use my US Bank and Chase credit  cards and my USA Credit Union debit cards without any issues of the 3% levy at the major stores. The card issuers do charge the 3% Foreign Transaction Fee. If I use it at smaller stores they will charge the 3% levy, as well as the card issuer's 3% fee = 6%. So I don't use the card at such shops.

I shop at Big-Cs in Chiang Mai on almost a daily basis. I present my partner's Big C card and confirm their name to the cashier. I'll pay for my purchases with cash, a Bangkok Bank debit card, or one of my cards from the U.S.A. They did not ask me for any documents two days ago when I used the Big C card and U.S.A. issued credit card. Whenever we can get a discount, they will ask my partner for their id. I see them ask other Thai shoppers for their id cards when giving them the discounts.  They do ask for the Big C card when I pay a utility bill as a back-up for their records for the commission they charge and that the bill was paid.

I find it interesting when I go to Siam Commercial Bank to make a car loan payment for my partner, one bank branch will ask for my passport. Another branch will not ask for any of my identification.

Does the Chicago Police Department (or any police department) send bills for or sue for reimbursement of investigatory costs to others who file false police reports? Do they publicize such actions as much as they are publicizing this case? I know police departments will charge the person(s) with a crime for filing a false report but will reimbursement also be pursued?

6 hours ago, KittenKong said:

These people sicken me. They really are the scum of the earth.

The whole idea of zoos, circuses with performing lions and tigers, bears, elephants, dogs, horses, or sea-aquariums with performing porpoises, seals, Orcas , alligator farms, etc. are unsettling to me. There is widespread animal abuse in all of these venues. Taking animals from their native habitats, forcing them into cages or shackling them to chains staked in the ground limiting their movements to a very small area, training them to do tricks with whips, hooked poles, withholding food as punishment is happening around the world. The owners of these venues state lofty ideals of how they are doing research, bringing these creatures to those who'd never see them, may believe what they espouse. But they are in the entertainment money making business. I certainly hope KittenKong is including ALL of these people when expressing their sentiments and not limiting it to Thais.

Rather than the usual responses of Thai-bashing, look to the property management as the principals in this matter. I'd ask them a number of questions to get a sense of what they have done to correct this years old problem, other than moving the collection bins. How often and when is the trash collected and hauled away? Have they talked with the waste management company to change collection days or to increase them per week? Several collection days per week are necessary when managing a multi-family development. Especially immediately after the weekend AND immediately before the weekend help cut down on the offensive sight and smells.

I have my accounts at Bangkok Bank. On three occasions I received US Treasury checks that I took to my branch bank. In one instance they cashed the check immediately. The other two checks the bank manager deposited the checks close to closing time. The cash was in my account and available for withdrawal the next morning.  For any other check, U.S. insurance check, personal check, etc., it will take 30-60 days for it to clear. 

Rather than criticize ISIS and further alienate them, we should try to better understand them, connect with their emotional and human requirements, and respect their values. It is hard for some westerners to accept that muslims just enjoy living in that sort of structured society, but that does not make it wrong. Let's try to show them more respect and try to better get along (together with building a darned high wall rimmed with razor wire around civilization). I'd say we are winning so long as social deviants are thrown off tall buildings in Raqqa rather than in Roehampton.

My oh my your NIMBYism is showing itself in your last sentence. Also what appears to be homophobia is there too. Your embracing ISIS under the cloak of saying, "we should try to better understand them, connect with their emotional and human requirements, and respect their values" does not apply to those you call "social deviants" being thrown off of buildings. Since most of those persons are gays your comment appears to be an endorsement of executing gay people. Where is your openness to understanding gay people? Respecting them and their emotional and human requirements? You implictly are up there with ISIS on the rooftops pushing gay people off.

As for the NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard). You believe it is okay to do such things to the people in Raqqa, but heaven forbid it should show itself in Roehampton. The expression of NIMBY arises everytime someone stands up to say I support the need to have shelters for survivors of domestic violence, group homes for the mentally/emotionally challenged, etc. BUT I do not want them in my backyard or my neighborhood. Put them in someone else's. As long as it is as far away from me I do not have to deal with it on a daily basis. Let human rights abuses happen elsewhere. That's okay because you do not have to deal with them from the comfort of your home. You can continue to look at life through your rose coloured glasses but see who stands up for you when those acts are happening in Roehampton, as well as Raqqa, and you are considered the "social deviant" by someone else's definition/standards being thrown from a rooftop.

The "Thai-English/English-Thai Dictionary With Classifiers and Tones for English Speakers" compiled by Benjawan Poomsan Becker and Chris Pirazzi, published by Paiboon Publishing includes the different fonts for the Thai consonants; the begninning sound and ending sound, if there is one; and many other features that make this a good resource for me. I refer to it when I see a font I do not recognize and it has not failed me yet.