How to politely turn down sellers in Thailand?

[sanemax]

1 hour ago, dotpoom said:

shake head from side to side

Interesting .

Where did you learn this ?

Are there any  you tube tutorials that you can post up ?

[Stevemercer]

I've always found sellers in Thailand to be polite and not pushy (compared to, say, Cambodia, Indonesia and India). 

 

Normally just a smile and polite shake of the head will suffice.

 

You will only have a problem if you are aggressive, rude or dismissive such that the seller feels they have lost face.

 

You and your mates will probably have found holiday girlfriends after a day or two and you can take them with you to ward off any sellers.

[Donotdisturb]

10 hours ago, colinneil said:

How to politely turn down sellers?

Easy..... Learn 3 words,mai mee tang, they soon go away, leave you alone.

Mai mee tang,  English, got no money.

Ambitious reply. My advice consists of 2 options:

1. 2 words MAI AOW 

(No take)

2. Zero words

Just blatantly ignore the seller. Dont waste 1 word. Easy peasy

[sanemax]

9 minutes ago, Stevemercer said:

Normally just a smile and polite shake of the head will suffice.You will only have a problem if you are aggressive, rude or dismissive such that the seller feels they have lost face.

Problem is when you spend all day saying "no" and shaking your head . It becomes annoying.

    Are you polite to people who harass you, just because you are scared of upsetting them ? 

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Problem is when you spend all day saying "no" and shaking your head . It becomes annoying.

    Are you polite to people who harass you, just because you are scared of upsetting them ? 

I don't know about him, but I'm polite to the people simply because it makes me feel good. 

 

It's easy to ruin own vacation by being unpolite and and grumpy.

 

[Lacessit]

I avoid places where there are a lot of sellers, except when I want to buy something.

[sanemax]

6 minutes ago, oilinki said:

I don't know about him, but I'm polite to the people simply because it makes me feel good. 

It's easy to ruin own vacation by being unpolite and and grumpy.

OK, you are talking about a vacation .

I was talking about when you live here and you get the constant hassles, usually the same people asking you whether you want to buy the same things everyday

I had an Indian guy asking me whether I wanted to buy a suit everytime I walked past his shop, which was sometimes six times a day , in the end I just told him to stop fukkin askin me, everythime I walk past his shop

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, sanemax said:

OK, you are talking about a vacation .

I was talking about when you live here and you get the constant hassles, usually the same people asking you whether you want to buy the same things everyday

I had an Indian guy asking me whether I wanted to buy a suit everytime I walked past his shop, which was sometimes six times a day , in the end I just told him to stop fukkin askin me, everythime I walk past his shop

In that case, use creativity. From twitter, incidentally today:

 

Beach vendor just tried to sell me a watch:
Him: “Why you don’t want a watch”
Me: “Aliens use them to track me”
Him: blinks, gets up and walks off.

 

The vendor will be puzzled and you'll get the last laugh :)

[oobar]

11 minutes ago, sanemax said:

OK, you are talking about a vacation .

I was talking about when you live here and you get the constant hassles, usually the same people asking you whether you want to buy the same things everyday

I had an Indian guy asking me whether I wanted to buy a suit everytime I walked past his shop, which was sometimes six times a day , in the end I just told him to stop fukkin askin me, everythime I walk past his shop

I've lived in Thailand 32 years.  I am always polite.  I am never hassled.  Not getting the proper reactions, I must be doing something wrong.

[Stevemercer]

Same here. Walking around Pattaya, sitting at the beach and I don't get hassled. Maybe its just one's attitude or mood at the time. Anyway, I've never really noticed it. I certainly wouldn't identify it as something to avoid Thailand as a holiday destination. 

 

Yes, ladyboys can be aggressive and in your face. Again, a smile and gentle head shake 'no' and they try their luck with the next tourist.

[sanemax]

26 minutes ago, oobar said:

I've lived in Thailand 32 years.  I am always polite.  I am never hassled.  Not getting the proper reactions, I must be doing something wrong.

We must live in different areas, I was constantly getting asked whether I wanted a Tuk-tuk, suit made, massage , bird food, fish food and numerous other things.

  Maybe the vendors can sense that you are a really nice polite guy and they decide not to hassle you ?   

[smotherb]

13 hours ago, colinneil said:

How to politely turn down sellers?

Easy..... Learn 3 words,mai mee tang, they soon go away, leave you alone.

Mai mee tang,  English, got no money.

Why lie to the people? A simple Mai Ao, I don't want is sufficient.

[smotherb]

12 hours ago, allane said:

You and every other foreigner are doing them a great favour by even setting foot in their country. There is absolutely no need for any of us to worry about being polite. When I am on the beach, I close my eyes when I see them coming. Anywhere else, say nothing. Of course they don't understand any foreign language. If you say anything at all, they take it as an expression of interest in whatever they are selling. 

yeah, a real cultural expert you are.

[smotherb]

You guys would go nuts in a country which really begs--try the Philippines

 

[lemonjelly]

easy..... smile and say “mai pen rai krab”. keep repeating and smiling if necessary, don’t lose your cool, walk away happy and uninjured

 

 

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[rvaviator]

You guys would go nuts in a country which really begs--try the Philippines
 

Or try Egypt ! 555


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[CG1 Blue]

The Indian tailors in certain areas are most persistent and hard to avoid without being rude. They'll walk up to you with outstretched hand to shake, calling you 'mate' or whatever name they think will amuse you, then start asking questions and complimenting you. I only fell for it once and shook the hand.  That was 18 years ago on my first trip to LOS. Now I give a polite "no thanks" without a smile and swerve them. If you smile they think they still have a chance.

Some of the cocky ones have made rude remarks when I've swerved them, but I ignore that. They're not worth wasting oxygen on.

I find the Thai sellers much easier to deal with.  They tend to leave you alone once you've signalled you're not interested.

[colinneil]

9 hours ago, smotherb said:

Why lie to the people? A simple Mai Ao, I don't want is sufficient.

 Not  telling  lies, with the baht/pound exchange rate, most UK pensioners have no money.

[roo860]

OK, you are talking about a vacation .
I was talking about when you live here and you get the constant hassles, usually the same people asking you whether you want to buy the same things everyday
I had an Indian guy asking me whether I wanted to buy a suit everytime I walked past his shop, which was sometimes six times a day , in the end I just told him to stop fukkin askin me, everythime I walk past his shop

Perhaps you thought you needed to smarten yourself up a bit, the cargo shorts and wife beater were looking a tad worn.
[emoji2]

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[steven100]

13 hours ago, sanemax said:

OK, you are talking about a vacation .

I was talking about when you live here and you get the constant hassles, usually the same people asking you whether you want to buy the same things everyday

I had an Indian guy asking me whether I wanted to buy a suit everytime I walked past his shop, which was sometimes six times a day , in the end I just told him to stop fukkin askin me, everythime I walk past his shop

Maybe he thinks your thongs and wife beater singlet need a change.  Those auss look stubbies may need changing ....     lol

Edited February 21, 2018 by steven100

[smotherb]

2 hours ago, colinneil said:

 Not  telling  lies, with the baht/pound exchange rate, most UK pensioners have no money.

Please, the beggars are asking for small change; you have that no matter how piss-poor the Brit pensions are; and you recommended saying you have no money.

[sanemax]

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

Maybe he thinks your thongs and wife beater singlet need a change.  Those auss look stubbies may need changing ....     lol

I have no idea what an "auss look stubbie" is .

[sanemax]

12 hours ago, CG1 Blue said:

The Indian tailors in certain areas are most persistent and hard to avoid without being rude. They'll walk up to you with outstretched hand to shake,

I love that when they stand there and say "Hello mate" and stretch their hand out for a hand shake and I just walk past them, leaving them stood there with an out stretched hand .

   Sometimes they curse me from behind my back, which adds to my satisfaction

[sanemax]

15 hours ago, oilinki said:

I don't know about him, but I'm polite to the people simply because it makes me feel good. 

It's easy to ruin own vacation by being unpolite and and grumpy.

I found that saying "No" all day long and shaking ones head numerous times, put me in a negative mood .

   I started the day off happy enough , and felt grumpy at the end of the day after giving negative responses numerous times .

   Some people may just like the attention and the brief companionship

[samsensam]

1 minute ago, sanemax said:

I found that saying "No" all day long and shaking ones head numerous times, put me in a negative mood .

   I started the day off happy enough , and felt grumpy at the end of the day after giving negative responses numerous times .

   Some people may just like the attention and the brief companionship

 

absolutely agree, though thailand is not even remotely like the experience of travelling in india where i was approached continually. my constant negative responses really put me in a negative mood so i started saying 'yes' to everyone but just keeping on walking, this had two positive results; it made me feel better and left the people hassling me confused.

 

here i just ignore such people, but as a dont dress or act like a tourist most of the hasselers leave me alone.

[elgenon]

21 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

I just say Mai Khrap and smile.  No thank you seems to work.  The idea is just to be polite and say no thank you.

This generally works for me. The shills for Indian tailors seemed to have mellowed. For me it's mainly the massage girls being aggressive and this generally works. Have had many rip off taxi drivers yelling "Taxi" at me and I say "Mai krup" and many say "Thank you". I do think politeness is the way to go. Or don't criticize them for being impolite. BTW places like Bali and the PI have much more aggressive hawkers. Provides a better image for us too.

They are just trying to make a buck. Or rip off two. 555

 

And lack of eye contact is important too sometimes.

[colinneil]

16 hours ago, Donotdisturb said:

Ambitious reply. My advice consists of 2 options:

1. 2 words MAI AOW 

(No take)

2. Zero words

Just blatantly ignore the seller. Dont waste 1 word. Easy peasy

Problem is if i started being polite, it would not be good for my image, you know grumpy old bugger.

[Shaunduhpostman]

Just don't engage them at all even slightly, works every time. Even eye contact, just a bit, and you add 30 seconds to how long it takes for them to finally leave you alone. That said, it's the least of your hassles in Thailand. But, don't shout or use expletives  should you get frustrated with anyone who persists, there are  a very few who might create problems for you, and there are many who will do the most outrageous inexplicable things, so cutting face time by ignoring them cuts the risk of something weird happening that is offensive to you, they feel entitled to do anything that suits them. Yet it is very much a one way street, Many Thais can take offense at quite mysterious things, and once you engage the risk of pissing someone off goes up quite a bit, mostly tho you will have no idea you have angered someone, so if you just get away from them never to see them again, you'll never find out. Things like having rolled up shirt sleeves, pointing your feet (never understood that one, your feet always point somewhere) etc, basically if someone wants to take grave offense they easily can and will. Its not the best country to visit and make lots of friends, most Thais only want you as a friend insofar as they can get something from you, they are not interested in you as a foreigner, you are supposed to be interested in them and you will be expected to pay in some way. If there's nothing they think they can get from you, they'll ignore you at best and mistreat you if you engage them at worst. It is a culture in which people are expected to tolerate all kinds of things, there is no sense of people needing to be considerate of others even slightly and you'll be tested by many on your tolerance, and to do this, again, people will do the damndest things, it is just unconciously done to test your tolerance and that goes for people flogging stuff at the beach or whatnot.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Shaunduhpostman

[Gillyflower]

On 2/20/2018 at 7:45 AM, kingstonkid said:

I just say Mai Khrap and smile.  No thank you seems to work.  The idea is just to be polite and say no thank you.

I do the same and have no problem.

[roo860]

I have no idea what an "auss look stubbie" is .

Short shorts.

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