Why I'm not accepted everywhere as a retired tourist to buy a government low price bus ticket?

[yogi100]

56 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

Expats in Thailand really need to accept the country for what it is.

 

Bleating about real or imagined unfairness is not going to change anything. It's only going to detract from your own experience here.  In an under educated country that is still steeped in tradition and centuries old culture, change is usually a lengthy, difficult, even violent, process, effected without influence from outsiders. 

No alien, whose temporary presence in the Kingdom is barely tolerated anyway, is able to change, or even slightly affect, their way of doing things.

Duel pricing, however unfair or even illegal will continue to be commonplace. The ticket sellers will do as they have been told by their bosses, not the irate foreigner looking for a discount.

I'm not condoning the way Thais treat visitors, just advising that acceptance of their ignorance of the basic manners we may consider the norm, will enable you to adapt to life in this madhouse. 

 

 

But people are not just bleating. They're voting with their feet and letting the Thai people know it. I was in a gogo bar last night and I'd bought a girl I've known for a couple of years a drink. While she was drinking it she was jabbering to a couple of her colleagues the whole time with her back to me. She'd hardly bothered to speak to me.

 

I drank up, check binned and took my leave. My departure got her attention and she held her blouse open for the customary 100 baht tip I always used to give her. I just shook my head and carried on out the door. There were very few punters in the place but lots of girls.

 

If enough of us do the same when a Thai person expects and acts as though it's their natural birthright to get tipped for nothing they should eventually get the message. If they don't they'll pay the price as the punters go elsewhere.

 

Like anyone else Thai people can change. At one time they used to treat us pleasantly and decently and give us their attention if they wanted money. In the last few years we are being treated more like ATMs than we ever were in the past. So they can change if they want to. The last few years has demonstrated that quite adequately.

[yogi100]

1 hour ago, ThaiBunny said:

I just checked the public transport discounts in Australian cities. Residents yes, tourists no

Same in London. In theory anyway.

[yogi100]

51 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Unpleasant people deserve unpleasant experiences, if they were just trying to do their job they should have sold him the discount ticket. These people were racist scum, it's not as if the discount comes out of their own pockets.

They're nationalist not 'racist'.

 

They treat people from neighbouring countries who are of the same race as themselves the same as they do us. Using the R word indiscriminately and incorrectly has long made it lose it's real meaning.

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

They're nationalist not 'racist'.

They treat people from neighbouring countries who are of the same race as themselves the same as they do us. Using the R word indiscriminately and incorrectly has long made it lose it's real meaning.

If they don't speak, the Thais don't know.
Us white guys are easy marks.

[NoshowJones]

3 hours ago, cracker1 said:

Or Steven has heaps of money and enjoys spending it !

Yes, his local 7-11 beer sales can vouch for that   

[BritManToo]

On the MRT a few months back the lady at the ticket counter asked if I was a 'senior', I said I was and she gave me a half price ticket for 21bht.

I'm OK with saving 21bht, people who throw money away are fools IMHO.

[NoshowJones]

2 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Always interesting to see the Thai apologists come out and support ignorance and racism. Plenty of them on this post. Always interesting to read those who support double-pricing on the basis that we aliens are guests in Thailand, and blaming the OP for being offended. It's a very strange way to treat guests, and not the way I would treat my guests. Perhaps I should charge Thais for the wifi when they visit my home and make it free for only my alien friends.

Gees, the "we are guests here" brigade are getting more members by the day. What a delusion.

Edited July 12, 2019 by possum1931

[steven100]

1 hour ago, ThaiBunny said:

I just checked the public transport discounts in Australian cities. Residents yes, tourists no

That's correct  !  but every time a farang doesn't get his own way here he will jump up and down and curse and spit the dummy. 

[ThaiBunny]

7 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Gees, the "we are guests here" brigade are getting more members by the day. What a delusion.

There's a somewhat bizarre notion that "guests" always means "welcome guests"

[White Christmas13]

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

You are not a local. You are here to spend your money, not get discounts, that's how the system is here for expats. Quite right too 

Well in that case we should charge Thai people in the west double as well

[NoshowJones]

2 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

There's a somewhat bizarre notion that "guests" always means "welcome guests"

I thought that guests were people who are welcome anywhere, ah! well, what do I know?

[holy cow cm]

2 hours ago, Ulic said:

When we were traveling in Vietnam we were not aware of a senior discount for train tickets. We didn't ask they just gave it to the people who qualified when we presented our ID (as needed) when booking the fare. Very helpful, inexpensive, and a lovely trip from Saigon to Nha Trang in a sleeper car. Cheap as chips. I can see Vietnam eating Thailand's lunch on the tourism front once the word gets out, cheaper, cleaner, friendly. When Vietnam opens up it's visa exempt list and extends it to 30 days Thailand's tourist numbers will drop dramatically.

I do believe there is some basis to that. But Thailand has way better food and that I can't do without as it has been my main diet for 25+ years now. I cannot eat western food more than one meal maybe a few times a month or my body goes out of whack, and VN food is sort of boring. I go to VN a few times each year but not sure if could shift to live there, but it is based on the food. The language I could learn.

[White Christmas13]

19 minutes ago, steven100 said:

That's correct  !  but every time a farang doesn't get his own way here he will jump up and down and curse and spit the dummy. 

Crap, explain to me when I took my Thai wife to the Zoo and my nephew as well

I told the cashier that they where visitors from overseas they got a discount but

I had to pay full price

[1FinickyOne]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Unpleasant people deserve unpleasant experiences, if they were just trying to do their job they should have sold him the discount ticket. These people were racist scum, it's not as if the discount comes out of their own pockets.

sounded to me as if he didn't qualify for the discount,... and though he sounds so sweet and pleasant here, I would bet he was not so pleasant in person. 

[thasoss]

too much trouble to get worked up about IMO...sure one can say "it's the principle"....but thai over 60's maybe on a thai pension of 1300 baht a month,what is your pension worth OP?

 

 

This topic is much ado about nothing,coffee tasting bitter today is it?

[1FinickyOne]

1 hour ago, Spock said:

You are defending the right of government employees to deny lawfully available concessions

OP said, "the boss told her reduced retired ticket only but only for Thai citizens. But I insisted..."

 

So, he was told that he did not qualify and still insisted and probably in a very unpleasant manner... that is where my complaint comes in... 

 

some old man told him he could get a discount - the boss told him he doesn't qualify... should have been end of story right there... 

 

 

[1FinickyOne]

1 hour ago, possum1931 said:

Gees, the "we are guests here" brigade are getting more members by the day. What a delusion.

Are you a citizen? A Thai national? Do you pay any income taxes here? 

[Pilotman]

1 hour ago, White Christmas13 said:

Well in that case we should charge Thai people in the west double as well

irrelevant 

[Fairynuff]

5 hours ago, steven100 said:

If one has to go to so much trouble just to save 200 baht one shouldn't be living in Thailand.

It's too expensive for you .. ????

It didn’t take long for nastiness to set in

[Fairynuff]

3 hours ago, Ulic said:

When we were traveling in Vietnam we were not aware of a senior discount for train tickets. We didn't ask they just gave it to the people who qualified when we presented our ID (as needed) when booking the fare. Very helpful, inexpensive, and a lovely trip from Saigon to Nha Trang in a sleeper car. Cheap as chips. I can see Vietnam eating Thailand's lunch on the tourism front once the word gets out, cheaper, cleaner, friendly. When Vietnam opens up it's visa exempt list and extends it to 30 days Thailand's tourist numbers will drop dramatically.

I always expect for Vietnamese to try to cheat me in the market or small shops but when it comes to things like trains etc Vietnam treats foreigners far better than Thailand does. 

[Fairynuff]

2 hours ago, yogi100 said:

They're nationalist not 'racist'.

 

They treat people from neighbouring countries who are of the same race as themselves the same as they do us. Using the R word indiscriminately and incorrectly has long made it lose it's real meaning.

Then they’re nationalist AND racist. Listen to the things they

say about Africans as just one example.

[nauseus]

6 hours ago, cnx355 said:

Senior ticket on Skytrain: only for Thai National Only 

 

Senior ticket on metro ( underground ) :Thai and non -Thai can buy them.

 

It seem there is no clear policy emplemented by the government for senior that are not Thai National.

 

 

Well, there's a surprise!

[Letseng]

On 7/8/2019 at 4:03 PM, Alfa said:

Only 10 years ago you saw more happy thai people, 20 years ago much more. That means money can't make people more happy.

But today this happened to me, that's why I don't feel fine. I don't want that kind of things happen to us. Can't they be more honest and be happy???????

Isn't this the case worldwide?

I assume you haven't been back to your home country for a long time.

[Too young to be old]

If you download the Thai constitution you will see that everyone should be treated equally. All this farang price/Thai price is illegal. But when has legality ever got in the way of racism?

[Fairynuff]

1 hour ago, kenk24 said:

OP said, "the boss told her reduced retired ticket only but only for Thai citizens. But I insisted..."

 

So, he was told that he did not qualify and still insisted and probably in a very unpleasant manner... that is where my complaint comes in... 

 

some old man told him he could get a discount - the boss told him he doesn't qualify... should have been end of story right there... 

 

 

Probably....so in fact you don’t know but it validates you bashing him

[Fairynuff]

1 hour ago, kenk24 said:

Are you a citizen? A Thai national? Do you pay any income taxes here? 

A single purchase of a car or a condo means you’ve paid more tax in a single event than many Thai people pay in a lifetime 

[Fairynuff]

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

irrelevant 

I’d say very relevant 

[totally thaied up]

I just use my Pink Card for everything. I just flash it and sometimes I get a discount and other times I don't. Just luck of the draw but it has saved me money in the past (around 30% of the time). 

 

 

[Fairynuff]

11 minutes ago, totally thaied up said:

I just use my Pink Card for everything. I just flash it and sometimes I get a discount and other times I don't. Just luck of the draw but it has saved me money in the past (around 30% of the time). 

 

 

No you’re wrong, it’s completely useless and a waste of time. Haven’t you read all the threads about it?????????????

[totally thaied up]

7 minutes ago, Fairynuff said:

No you’re wrong, it’s completely useless and a waste of time. Haven’t you read all the threads about it?

Lol... pity them. It has saved me money and like other posters on this thread said, I don't like giving money away for no good reason at all just because I am a farang. At our local hot springs I get in for local prices. Same as the lakes.