3 hours ago, Megasin1 said:

My ambition has always been to be a supermarket 'greeter'. "Hello and welcome to Tesco Lotus!". I can say that with a genuine smile and also if pushed my skills extend to being able to put garlands around visitors necks. Although, in Tesco wire coat hangers may be more apt I am ready to go and just dream of the day when this job will no longer be 'protected'. Roll on the happiness!!

Hey the future is in Fries, get yourself a job at a burger joint.

Just now, norrska said:

Hardly trapped, all of the reasons you mention are of your own doing.

Please pay attention to my phraseology: I did say 'in a sense'!

4 hours ago, mok199 said:

yes I went for an interview a while back...1st question ''did I have my own chair'' ..2nd question''.can I sit for hours ,sometimes in the middle of the walkway so people must walk aroundme''..3rd question ..''can I clap my hands loudly to draw attention''!!!  .i thought I nailed it..but...they never called back ...

don't forget squeezing zits onto a mirror while waiting for passengers to show up

2 minutes ago, Eligius said:

Please pay attention to my phraseology: I did say 'in a sense'!

Pay attention to what?

Thailand could do with bringing in some cellarmasters and cheesemakers. The wine and cheese they make here is undrinkable and inedible respectively.

11 hours ago, observer90210 said:

Why not be fair and just by allowing foreigners to own one plot of land on which they would like to live their retirement ?

Foreigners should only be allowed to only ghost buildings, swamp land, or haunted houses, so that they can prove how much they really want to be here!

 

setting it up for the chinese rail crews

"The civil-engineer occupation should remain reserved for Thais because it involves people’s safety..."  

 

Good grief....OK...look... I mean, you just don't even go there man! People's safety?! Are you outta your mind! Haha!  What are you tryin to do?! Isn't there  a 2 year jail sentence for mentioning safety? You mention safety concerns about say a hotel elevator and ya know sumpin,  three years later that same elevator comes crashin down! My wifes nephew told me about that, he was working there when it happened ! So, Ya see there! I tell ya...who are these guys anyway?! Oh thats a good one!

2 minutes ago, Shaunduhpostman said:

"The civil-engineer occupation should remain reserved for Thais because it involves people’s safety..."  

 

Good grief....OK...look... I mean, you just don't even go there man! People's safety?! Are you outta your mind! Haha!  What are you tryin to do?! Isn't there  a 2 year jail sentence for mentioning safety? You mention safety concerns about say a hotel elevator and ya know sumpin,  three years later that same elevator comes crashin down! My wifes nephew told me about that, he was working there when it happened ! So, Ya see there! I tell ya...who are these guys anyway?! Oh thats a good one!

Yes. Thais live in an alternate universe - and it bears no resemblance to the one that the rest of us live in!

11 hours ago, mok199 said:

my dreams of becoming a tuk tuk driver are shattered.!!!

Try for a high speed train Driver/?engineer.

 

34 minutes ago, Eligius said:

Yes. Thais live in an alternate universe - and it bears no resemblance to the one that the rest of us live in!

Well...as for living in a parallel universe, I'd be one to talk. But in the one I inhabit  talking about potential safety hazards doesn't too often end up being the cause of accidents and mishaps. lol. As much as we appreciate the fresh new situations and bright new opportunities presented by getting into predicaments that could have easily been avoided, if it were as easy as just mentioning danger, we'd be doing it all the time. haha...

Engineers, accountants, architects? Hahaha. So you guy's needs some brain?

3 hours ago, Eligius said:

I would never, ever, advise anyone to come to Thailand in the present situation (military junta)...

 

...In his book on Thailand, he writes:

 

'After twenty years in Thailand I’ve come to the overwhelming conclusion I have virtually nothing in common with the locals … There seems to be a disconnect between the average Westerner and Thais when it comes to basic honesty … In the past when a local told me ‘you don’t understand Thai culture,’ I’d take offence and go into a detailed explanation. Lately, I’ve changed my tune: I’m happy that I don’t [understand Thai culture]!'. (The LOS Diaries, Vol. 3, by Mark Jones).

AMEN brother Eligious!!!  Sadly, this growing feeling of a complete disconnect with 'Thai-ness' has been nagging at me for several years now.  I've lived here in the heart of Isaan for nearly a decade and a half, including 14 months as a young USAF grunt during the late Vietnam War at Ubon RTAFB and largely enjoyed retiring here.  I'm fortunate that I've been able to interact with many members of Thai society including MPs as well as the lowly Thai farmer and laborer at the bottom of the food chain.  But the longer I'm here the less I understand the (mostly) lovely people here (government leadership excluded, obviously).

 

Yes, Thailand is indeed "a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma".  Perhaps the most perplexing and disappointing revelation, that we've all been witnessing, is the Thai people's acceptance of military dictatorship-style junta rule since 2014.  I confess I never would have come back here had I known the Thais would simply roll over like the obedient puppy and let a Kim Jong-un wannabe rob Thailand of its democracy (flawed as it was) and rule them with an iron fist.  I could write a book myself.

55 minutes ago, Jimbo in Thailand said:

AMEN brother Eligious!!!  Sadly, this growing feeling of a complete disconnect with 'Thai-ness' has been nagging at me for several years now.  I've lived here in the heart of Isaan for nearly a decade and a half, including 14 months as a young USAF grunt during the late Vietnam War at Ubon RTAFB and largely enjoyed retiring here.  I'm fortunate that I've been able to interact with many members of Thai society including MPs as well as the lowly Thai farmer and laborer at the bottom of the food chain.  But the longer I'm here the less I understand the (mostly) lovely people here (government leadership excluded, obviously).

 

Yes, Thailand is indeed "a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma".  Perhaps the most perplexing and disappointing revelation, that we've all been witnessing, is the Thai people's acceptance of military dictatorship-style junta rule since 2014.  I confess I never would have come back here had I known the Thais would simply roll over like the obedient puppy and let a Kim Jong-un wannabe rob Thailand of its democracy (flawed as it was) and rule them with an iron fist.  I could write a book myself.

Brilliant post, Jimbo. I, too. am so disappointed in so many Thais (surely good people - people who really dislike authoritarian rule and want justice), who yet will not get out there onto the streets in their millions to say 'NO MORE OF THIS TYRANNY!'

 

I will never forget what a Red-hot, reputedly rebellious lesbian Red Shirt professor said to me about three years ago when I asked her if the Red Shirts were secretly organising (and she knew she was talking to someone who opposes the junta): 'Oh no,' she said. 'We can't. It's not allowed'!   What the f....!!!!   Sorry, folks - no revolution today - as Mr. Controller says it is not allowed. Let's all now go home and watch General Prayut's Friday night address, shall we?

 

This is what is gifting Thailand to tyranny: not stupidity (although that often plays a role), not lack of dislike of the junta, not a preference for authoritarian rule over democracy - no. What is gifting Thailand to tyranny is above all -   a generalised (with honourable exceptions) LACK OF GUTS,  GRIT and FIERY COURAGE amongst the masses of the Thai people!

 

Sad, but true.

      

 

14 hours ago, ukrules said:

 

LOL ?

As if the "engineers" in flip-flops are known for their safety measures. 

555555555

????

15 hours ago, bluesofa said:

As long as you're an American you can do that.

 

Are you suggesting ownership by Amity company ?? 

 

Amercians have no special right to land ownership.

15 hours ago, webfact said:

The Council of Engineers has criticised the plan. The civil-engineer occupation should remain reserved for Thais because it involves people’s safety, they said.

Because here in Thailand, the hub of safety

12 hours ago, bluesofa said:

I'm afraid I'm not an American, so I haven't a reference to that directly.

IIRC it allows the purchase of up to one rai. I'm sure someone with more detailed knowledge of it could point you in the right direction. It has been discussed on TVF a few times in the past.

 

In a previous life, my US neighbours owned the land for their bar in Pattaya. I know that initially the land office just said "no", and it needed a lawyer to take the land office to court in order to get put in their names.

 

ahh yes.. Bar stool nonsense.. 

 

As expected. 

 

 

16 hours ago, webfact said:

The civil-engineer occupation should remain reserved for Thais because it involves people’s safety, they said. 

555 - more reason to allow foreigners to perform the work!!

10 hours ago, norrska said:

So if I understand correctly, you believe getting a black belt and looking over your shoulder is the best way to succeed?

No, that's the best way to stay alive.  The best way to succeed would have been to sing off on shoddy construction work and get some sort of payoff. 

Xenophobia and paranoia as normal.

Exploit foreigners and keep the status quo is the name of the game.

19 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

No worries, my friend.  I think I've found a couple of the bicycle pedicabs worthy of restoration.  Great leg exercise.  Not quite as good as carrying 100 kilo sacks of rice up a ramp onto a 10-wheeler, but a close second.

Show me a Thai who carrys 100 kilo sacks up ramps to load the truck? 

I think the standard ones are 15-20kg (and even that's not easy after an hour or two depending on your fitness) 

22 hours ago, observer90210 said:

Why not be fair and just by allowing foreigners to own one plot of land on which they would like to live their retirement ?

Because it would be unfair to the thai people. I wish my country did not allow foreign ownership of land. It is not like the ban on land ownership was unknown when we all moved here. 

22 hours ago, ukrules said:

 

LOL ?

That is a bit ironic, Hahaha....5555

1 hour ago, Ks45672 said:

Show me a Thai who carrys 100 kilo sacks up ramps to load the truck? 

I think the standard ones are 15-20kg (and even that's not easy after an hour or two depending on your fitness) 

You may be thinking of retail rice ready to go.  I'm talking about rice that had come out of the field and was on the way to a mill or warehouse.  Burlap sacks big enough for a body.  Second pic shows how the used to load trucks 40+ years ago.

 

 

A worker in a rice warehouse in Pathum Thani, Thailand, prepares to throw a sack of rice into place in a warehouse. The sack weighs about 100 kilos (about 220 pounds). 

 

 

Labourers load rice into a truck at a wharf in Yangon

19 minutes ago, Damrongsak said:

You may be thinking of retail rice ready to go.  I'm talking about rice that had come out of the field and was on the way to a mill or warehouse.  Burlap sacks big enough for a body.  Second pic shows how the used to load trucks 40+ years ago.

 

 

A worker in a rice warehouse in Pathum Thani, Thailand, prepares to throw a sack of rice into place in a warehouse. The sack weighs about 100 kilos (about 220 pounds). 

 

 

Labourers load rice into a truck at a wharf in Yangon

The white sacks are the ones im used to, they're around 20kg

 

The one from 40 years ago looks much larger although he doesn't seem to be carrying it up a ramp, he deserves credit for being able to even lift it and move it at his body weight

 

 

23 hours ago, observer90210 said:

Why not be fair and just by allowing foreigners to own one plot of land on which they would like to live their retirement ?

Because they cant even trust each other so they cant possibly trust a nasty "Farlang", just  look when theres an immigration issue with people being here who shouldnt be and often its an immigration official whose been bribed and let them in with the aid of other Thais.

22 hours ago, imjmn said:

Allowing foreigners to work in those positions 'reserved' for Thai citizens would bring more knowledge and different practices into the Thai industry and make them more competitive on the world stage. MHO.

 

MJ

Nah theyd  just say "we dont do it this  way" end of education

20 hours ago, hobz said:

They don't want foreign money raising the price of land. Is 30 year lease not long enough?

But  ok for the wealthy Bangkonians to do this by buying up huge swathes of land even govt ministers near airports............ and I here the Chinese are  also now trying to do this?

20 hours ago, mikebell said:

In the same way that RTP are involved in road safety? 

 

Farang accountants will never happen - they are too honest; they would find out about corruption schemes in days instead of the years it takes Thai accountants.

I know someone who worked in a big position in a security company here (worldwide name G...) here and he found a huge  "discrepancy" and was then "asked" to leave without severance pay.