The Thai smile

[Kadilo]

1 minute ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

 

   I shall be getting a pizza next time though.

The manager gave my friend her telephone number and told her to call her next time I want a pizza and they will stay open especially for me 

The same friend you are not gonna see anymore because she ripped you off. That “friend”?
 

You need to get your story a bit more organised if you are going to come on here looking for some attention. 

[Andy from Kent]

21 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

 

As there was no other restaurants open in the village , we had to go home hungry .

 

 

Things like what you post used to bother me.    I finally learned to accept them as I realize I can do nothing to change them.

 

Many businesses here don't even think to post operating hours.    It's a concept outside their thinking.

 

AS one poster suggested, maybe it would help you if you moved to a different location.

 

Good luck

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Andy from Kent

[Mac Mickmanus]

11 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

The same friend you are not gonna see anymore because she ripped you off. That “friend”?
 

You need to get your story a bit more organised if you are going to come on here looking for some attention. 

 

  She came to visit me this morning and we kind of settled the disagreement and if she did rip me off , I am quite sure that she wont be doing it again . 

   Its a desperate time for many people in the villages , those that usually work in the city have returned and the few guest houses have few/no customers and 80% of the restaurants have closed and the people who previously lived hand to mouth are struggling . 

   Even if she did take it , it would have ben out of desperation, rather than dishonesty  , there is also the slight possibility that I was mistaken , so I decided to let it pass and to move on 

[1FinickyOne]

52 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

The manager gave my friend her telephone number and told her to call her next time I want a pizza and they will stay open especially for me 

how sweet... nice of you to own up to it too... [so, who is the bad guy in the story?] 

47 minutes ago, Andy from Kent said:

Many businesses here don't even think to post operating hours.    It's a concept outside their thinking.

or maybe it is just not part of their idea of having a village business. it is a village business.. you just open when you want and when you are in the mood... they enjoy having the business but do not want to keep regular hours... it is their business to run the way they want... they probably don't make enough doing it to keep it open all the time.. so, it is like a hobby business... they are obviously ok with losing some business in order to have their freedom. 

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

 We had been friends for  five or so years

Obviously she didn't consider you a friend. IMO she used you as a baby sitter, end of.

I've had western "friends" for over 30 years that turned out to be back stabbing scumbags, so nothing particularly Thai in your situation.

 

 

 

20 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

She lost a generous friend for the sake of 200 Baht

In your opinion you were a generous friend. She obviously had different idea about you.

The people that have hurt me the most were those that I helped the most. The people I helped the least are still friends- make of that what you will.

 

I ran into an ex friend of mine the other day in the local supermarket. I helped her for years after her messy divorce and asked for nothing in return, except friendship.

She met a new husband to be before corona, and moved into a new place just after lockdown ended. I understood that I couldn't visit during lockdown, but expected an invite for a cuppa and a bikkie after to see the new house. No such invite happened for 402 days.

When I saw her in the supermarket we had a brief chat, and as she left I remarked that I was still waiting for the invite she promised me. She didn't even look embarrassed, and it's been 2 weeks since, so I doubt she's going to. Obviously she decided she didn't need me to be a helping hand after she found a new man.

Gratitude- what's that?

[thaibeachlovers]

The Thai smile

Farangs new to Thailand don't understand that The Thai smile isn't the same as a farang smile. They have many different smiles for different occasions. I used to think my wife was smiling because she loved me, when it was actually a smile that said "look, I've hooked a farang ATM".

 

23 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

They just smiled and laughed , how funny .

 

That smile may have been one another Thai would have understood to be " I'm embarrassed, so I'll laugh a bit to cover up my embarrassment". Nothing to do with "funny".

 

[camble]

 

[richard_smith237]

Oh... ‘That Smile’....  Infuriating.... 

 

We’d booked at a very good Bangkok restaurant on Mothers day....     6 of us (Wife, Son, Mother & Father in Law, Brother in Law and I)....  

 

We arrived (5mins early), I saw our name and booking on the digital screen, but the staff said no tables available. Other families also were annoyed that their booked tables were not available. It turns out that the restaurant had not honoured bookings instead seating guests on a first come first served basis.

 

 

When I asked the owner, he looked but didn't answer me, smiled and tried to walk away (I’d been there before, the owner speaks perfect English).

 

I got irritated...  other families who had up until that point been patiently quiet also started giving him grief that their table was not ready.

 

I asked the owner why he didn’t have any courtesy for his customers, why hasn’t he even tried to offer an apology.

There were four other families.... they started asking him similar questions.

 

The amusing part of all of this was that that the whole dialogue was in English. The owner speaks excellent English. The ‘vocal’ members of the other complaining families were also giving the owner grief in English !!! 

 

I called the guy a 'spineless idiot....’ (more to make him annoyed than anything else).

 

I then smiled at the others who’d complained alongside me... Suggested they enjoy their evening elsewhere and not to come back to this restaurant.

 

 

Clearly, this restaurant can afford to do this, its very popular and they don’t need to worry about offending customers - we’ve never been back and I don’t really care - 30 mins later we were in another restaurant having a lovely time.

 

But... at the time I did care about having my time wasted...  and the irritating smile got right up my nose !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

I am just staying in a small "resort" at the moment , just compromising of three bungalows in a field . 

   I need to check out today and go back home , but there's no one else here , just me , I have no one to give my three nights rent money to . 

  The owners house is locked and I didnt get my normal cup of coffee this morning .

I dont want to leave the rent money laying around anywhere , looks like I will have to leave without paying the rent money .

   Nothing else that I can do 

 

I don’t know how you are going to manage to get home.... Do you have anyone to help you get through that onerous task ????

 

-----

 

Rent money....  

When moving out / leaving, someone will see you and notice. If they don’t and you can’t contact the owner before hand, leave your phone number / e-mail - then when they contact you can transfer the money (assuming you have a Thai Bank Account).

 

 

 

 

[Kadilo]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

. No such invite happened for 402 days.

 

Not that you’re counting. 

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Not that you’re counting. 

I can see why you think what you are thinking, but

 

My memory is so bad I keep a daily diary so I can keep a track of the drugs I need to take which vary from day to day. If I didn't I would forget and might not take them when I should or take them when I shouldn't. I thought that as I was keeping a daily diary I could write down how many days it was since the lockdown went to level 1 so I could easily see how many days we were affected by the corona thing before it ended. It's been 412 days since we went from level 4 lockup to level 3. Co incidentally, that's how long it's been since she could have invited me over.

Sooooo, I'm not counting the days she hasn't invited me over, but just how many days corona has affected us all.

 

????

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, camble said:

 

and to think that some people don't understand why so many single men flocked to Thailand. LOL.

[Kadilo]

38 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I can see why you think what you are thinking, but

 

My memory is so bad I keep a daily diary so I can keep a track of the drugs I need to take which vary from day to day. If I didn't I would forget and might not take them when I should or take them when I shouldn't. I thought that as I was keeping a daily diary I could write down how many days it was since the lockdown went to level 1 so I could easily see how many days we were affected by the corona thing before it ended. It's been 412 days since we went from level 4 lockup to level 3. Co incidentally, that's how long it's been since she could have invited me over.

Sooooo, I'm not counting the days she hasn't invited me over, but just how many days corona has affected us all.

 

????

Yeah I get what you are saying TBL but I still find it a bit daunting that you are measuring this friendship by the number of days she has t invited you over. You have now added another measurement since you saw her in the supermarket. 
 

I am not sure that’s a healthy way view your friendships or if it is best stay solo. 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Yeah I get what you are saying TBL but I still find it a bit daunting that you are measuring this friendship by the number of days she has t invited you over. You have now added another measurement since you saw her in the supermarket. 
 

I am not sure that’s a healthy way view your friendships or if it is best stay solo. 

You are making more of it than it actually is.  I've been wronged far more by other people I once thought were my friends, like my partner that took my house off me and the guy that did me out of a year's income, but I don't keep a running total of how long it is since they back stabbed me.

The situation I wrote about was just an example of how rotten some people can be, and just a co incidence I knew how many days it had been. If she is significant it is just that she was the most recent backstabber to have used and dumped me, but only the latest in a long line of backstabbers.

 

Staying solo is my preferred option now.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

It turns out that the restaurant had not honoured bookings instead seating guests on a first come first served basis.

 

Reminds me of the time I turned up at South Bus Station in Bkk to take a bus south, and the staff had given our seats to a couple that turned up before us. I had prebooked and paid for the tickets days before.

Like Trink used to say TiT.

[Liverpool Lou]

On 6/27/2021 at 3:46 PM, Mac Mickmanus said:

Due to their unreliability, I wont be going back there again .

As you've never been there before, I'm sure the loss of your custom will be of great concern to them.   Maybe you should have made a booking for such a significant outing so that they knew that they had confirmed customers coming...showered and in their Sunday best.

[Liverpool Lou]

On 6/27/2021 at 5:10 PM, Johnny Mac said:

To be fair I can fully sympathise with the op, it's infuriating and very disappointing when you look forward to going somewhere but to arrive and find it is closed, it's happened to everyone on here no doubt, as we all live the dream..

Bookings alleviate that problem.

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

there is also the slight possibility that I was mistaken

5555555!

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

I am just staying in a small "resort" at the moment , just compromising of three bungalows in a field . 

   I need to check out today and go back home , but there's no one else here , just me , I have no one to give my three nights rent money to...

looks like I will have to leave without paying the rent money .

   Nothing else that I can do 

No need for you to even think of doing a runner.

 

How about arranging that through your friend who you've now made up with?  She could speak to the owner, get his bank details, relay that information to you and you could send him what you owe him that way.   

[Mac Mickmanus]

15 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

No need for you to even think of doing a runner.

 

How about arranging that through your friend who you've now made up with?  She could speak to the owner, get his bank details, relay that information to you and you could send him what you owe him that way.   

 

   I did a websearch on the hotel, found their facebook page , sent the owner a message saying that I would be leaving soon and the owner showed up soon after

[Mac Mickmanus]

18 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The Thai smile

Farangs new to Thailand don't understand that The Thai smile isn't the same as a farang smile. They have many different smiles for different occasions. I used to think my wife was smiling because she loved me, when it was actually a smile that said "look, I've hooked a farang ATM".

 

 

That smile may have been one another Thai would have understood to be " I'm embarrassed, so I'll laugh a bit to cover up my embarrassment". Nothing to do with "funny".

 

 

   If the restaurant people were "embarrassed" , sorry , concerned about their business , concerned about their customers they would have just taken the chairs off the tables and reopened the restaurant , the laughing just showed that they couldnt care less about their business or their customers   

[holy cow cm]

21 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

 

  She came to visit me this morning and we kind of settled the disagreement and if she did rip me off , I am quite sure that she wont be doing it again . 

   Its a desperate time for many people in the villages , those that usually work in the city have returned and the few guest houses have few/no customers and 80% of the restaurants have closed and the people who previously lived hand to mouth are struggling . 

   Even if she did take it , it would have ben out of desperation, rather than dishonesty  , there is also the slight possibility that I was mistaken , so I decided to let it pass and to move on 

So the moral of the story is stiff rod have no conscience and that was 200 baht well spent. 

[Mac Mickmanus]

23 hours ago, 1FinickyOne said:

what would you rather they do? Knives or guns? 

 

 

 

  Well yes, I would rather that they laughed, rather than shooting me with a gun  or stabbing me .

[Mac Mickmanus]

On 6/28/2021 at 1:10 PM, Andy from Kent said:

 

 

Things like what you post used to bother me.    I finally learned to accept them as I realize I can do nothing to change them.

AS one poster suggested, maybe it would help you if you moved to a different location.

 

 

 

 

 

   I did go by the following night at about the same time and there were a few other customers in there , maybe me making a fuss caused them to change their policy and to remain open until the stated closing time ?

    I take your advice and I suggested to my friend that she sells her house and land , takes the kid out of school , leaves all her family and friends and moves to another location where the pizza shop closes at  the stated time .

    She replied that it would be easier to arrange with the current pizza shop to remain open until closing time 

[Mac Mickmanus]

Seems like the restaurant closed early because they knew that I was coming and were concerned about Covid infections