I like living here, but there are so many things here that aggravating and just plain backwards, that they can barely be considered “cultural” but rather just a massive lack of common sense:

 

- Vehicles literally never yield to pedestrians, ever. You can be crossing a crosswalk and a car will come zooming up, blocking your path and nearly hitting you. Not cultural, just a lack of brains and common sense. 

 

- 7/11 stores that have ‘Slurpee’ machines that are out of order, 24/7. Not an exaggeration. I guess playing on your phone and scolding customers who come in and don’t immediately check their temperature on those stupid machines is more Important.

- Not making any kind of accommodation for anything, whatsoever. Example: substituting something for something else at a restaurant, requesting a retail store to hold an item for you for only a couple hours, or having a food delivery arrive at a certain exact time (always early, usually by 20+ minutes)
 

- Breathtaking lack of safety standards and common sense. Example: I have never seen a “road work ahead” sign or even a symbol representing that idea. Another:, a cleaning lady at my gym will just mop the floor constantly, a hardwood floor, without even considering that a wet floor can cause someone to slip and fall. The concept is foreign to them. There is no signage either that says caution Wet floor, ever. Imagine you are on the exercise bike and get off and the entire floor is covered in soapy water, and everyone working there just thinks that’s fine. Why even mop the floor while people are working out? Can’t wait until later? I guess if you slip and fall on a slippery floor, it was your fault because “if you weren’t in the country it wouldn’t have happened.”

 

 

Stuff like this is why the stereotype of “life is cheap” in various places exists. They just don’t aspire to anything greater than merely existing and doing the bare minimum of merely existing.
 

There is zero care or motivation, and almost zero consideration. I would call it laziness, but “laziness” implies that they are capable of doing better, but choose not to. They aren’t capable of doing better, this is just normal for them. It’s normal to almost smash into a pedestrian in a crosswalk. It’s normal to leave a machine at your work broken forever. It’s normal to create environmental hazards without even so much as a sign to warn others of it. 
 

It’s honestly aggravating, and the worst part is if you point it out or try to challenge, YOU get labeled the A hole!

We should celebrate their backwardness it keeps Thailand the way we like it i.e. not like Singapore or Hong Kong

 

but it is frustrating i agree

Wow... those things frustrate you so much you wrote them twice !!! ????

 

You’re new....  that doesn’t make you wrong... it just means you’ll learn to ignore most of the dumb s#it and get on with things.... 

 

Having low expectations works !!... i.e. I’m pleasantly surprised if I take a taxi from Sukhumvit at midnight and he doesn’t try and rip me off !!!  I’m pleasantly surprised when a waitress gets ‘all of the family order’ correct !!... 

 

 

The safety aspect bugs me still.... but we can take our own precautions... Crossing the road, extra precaution... 

On the road, drive myself wherever possible. Motorcycling, again, myself, I never use moto-taxi’s etc (never at night or in the rain etc). 

 

 

Now.. given the context of your thread I give it’ll be less than a page before someone suggests that 'Thailand isn’t for you and you should go home !!!’  - this thread is too much of a dog-whistle for those who’d make such comments. 

 

 

Thailand will chance you,you will not chance Thailand

Adjust to the things that are going on here or go back where you came from.

It is really that simple,it takes time but you have to constantly remind yourself you are not in

Kansas any more.

After a few years you either start seeing the logic of it all or you go off the deep end.

 

1 minute ago, richard_smith237 said:

Wow... those things frustrate you so much you wrote them twice !!! ????

 

You’re new....  that doesn’t make you wrong... it just means you’ll learn to ignore most of the dumb s#it and get on with things.... 

 

Having low expectations works !!... i.e. I’m pleasantly surprised if I take a taxi from Sukhumvit at midnight and he doesn’t try and rip me off !!!  I’m pleasantly surprised when a waitress gets ‘all of the family order’ correct !!... 

 

 

The safety aspect bugs me still.... but we can take our own precautions... Crossing the road, extra precaution... 

On the road, drive myself wherever possible. Motorcycling, again, myself, I never use moto-taxi’s etc (never at night or in the rain etc). 

 

 

Now.. given the context of your thread I give it’ll be less than a page before someone suggests that 'Thailand isn’t for you and you should go home !!!’  - this thread is too much of a dog-whistle for those who’d make such comments. 

 

 

Yeah lol D’OH I guess I hit copy+paste. I fixed it though 

Sure there are many people like the OP who only know one thing, and that is growing up in a nanny state where the rule of thumb is that no one has any common sense and the state has to warn you about anything. Some of us are much older and I remember the days when that did not exist, when falling and spraining your ankle in a pavements pothole was considered your own stupid fault for not looking or falling over on your bum because the floor was wet was similar.  Having lived here for half my life now I now where I prefer to be but perhaps that is because I am still gifted with common sense.

I agree with you. General lack of standards and common sense. I like parts of living here also (my wife and son are here and it is relatively cheap) but I can't stand the general Thai craftsmen, workmanship, and inability to learn new methods and techniques.  This "backwardness" is great on vacation and i am not sure how much more I can lower my expectations. Honestly for me, living here full time compared to where I was raised kinda sucks. 

My remedy for annoyance arising from these "thai" affairs is to think back for a moment about why I left Europe. That puts the feet back on the ground.
 

30 minutes ago, HandsomeTallFarang said:

Vehicles literally never yield to pedestrians, ever. You can be crossing a crosswalk and a car will come zooming up, blocking your path and nearly hitting you. Not cultural, just a lack of brains and common sense. 

It is cultural.

Just observe what Thai people do. If they want to cross the road do they look for green light? Do they look for zebra painting on the road? No. They look for vehicles on the road. And if there are any vehicles then Thais don't step on the road. It's obvious for those Thai people that cars and trucks are bigger and heavier then they are. So the smart move if obvious: Don't get into the way of something which is heavy and fast approaching.

 

I would love to see interviews with ordinary Thais about (mostly) foreigners insisting that they can cross a road only because there are those markings on the road. I am sure most ordinary Thais will think: Why are those farangs so stupid? Why don't they open their eye and look for approaching cars? And why do they talk about zebra crossings and their right to cross the street. What do they learn in those countries far away? Why are they all so stupid?

 

Many things and ways of thinking are different in Thailand. And often there is no right or wrong. They are just different. And anybody who wants to survive here better learns the local ways to do things.

 

And about that example with mopping the floor: The cleaner has work to do. I.e. 10 jobs in 8hours. Should she come back every hour and look if maybe nobody is exercising? She is doing her work now and then. And whoever is in that room should open their eyes and see the floor is wet. Just be a little more careful.

 

Do I like all Thai behavior? No. But I got used to a lot and I accept it most of the time.

And looking at so called civilized countries and thousands of security rules and things which make life different I prefer Thailand.

 

 

 

 

The flooring tiles outside (and sometimes the pavements) which literally become like walking on ice when they get wet , which they do when it rains.

   I did slip and fall over a few times , but now I walk on the road when it rains .

Really should have used different tiles for the flooring 

same same but different in so many ways

I live near Phayao. There have been many road works here for the last 2 years and they have been well signed, In fact there is a portion of road north of Phayao that has been well signed as road works in progress speed limit 50k but nothing has happened for over 5 months 

ser, I think your need to either take a break from Thailand or go and do some meditation. or maybe take antidepressants like I do. or all three LOL.

 

I'm retired here since December 2021. prior to that my last visit was late 2014. on that trip and previous trips since 1997 I found myself getting frustrated and aggravated over stuff you described. it took the shine off of my holidays and I became quite jaundiced about the Kingdom.

 

I thought long and hard about whether I was cut out for living long-term in Thailand with that kind of attitude. then I finally came to the conclusion that i needed to "flip the script" and stop worrying about all the little niggles. Elsa from Frozen helped me too...let it go, let it go! ????

 

so armed with that adjusted attitude I've been happy here for the last six months with only one or two little incidents where I got riled up. the rest of the time I've been doing the good old jai yen yen and moving on with things after something less than optimal happens. 

 

 

What annoys me is Aseannow with the dam ad screen keep coming up from the right hand side while I'm trying read your post.

24 minutes ago, HandsomeTallFarang said:

- Vehicles literally never yield to pedestrians, ever. You can be crossing a crosswalk and a car will come zooming up, blocking your path and nearly hitting you. Not cultural, just a lack of brains and common sense. 

That's the only point of yours with which I agree, but that's not even limited to vehicle vs. pedestrian, in general it's: The biggest something has right of way, a truck more than a car, car more than a bike etc.

 

25 minutes ago, HandsomeTallFarang said:

- 7/11 stores that have ‘Slurpee’ machines that are out of order, 24/7. Not an exaggeration. I guess playing on your phone and scolding customers who come in and don’t immediately check their temperature on those stupid machines is more Important.

The cashier's aren't he people who fix broken machines. In my experience the slurpee machines are mostly working, and for example broken ice cream machines in Mc Donalds are a gag in all countries, not limited to Thailand.

 

27 minutes ago, HandsomeTallFarang said:

- Not making any kind of accommodation for anything, whatsoever. Example: substituting something for something else at a restaurant, requesting a retail store to hold an item for you for only a couple hours, or having a food delivery arrive at a certain exact time (always early, usually by 20+ minutes)

If I request anything special at a restaurant I nearly always get it, holding an item was never a problem, sometimes I even ask them to ship it to me so that I don't have to carry around, even that was no problem. Maybe the way you talk with people is a problem? That Thai people aren't on time is quite well known.

 

1 hour ago, HandsomeTallFarang said:

- Breathtaking lack of safety standards and common sense. Example: I have never seen a “road work ahead” sign or even a symbol representing that idea. Another:, a cleaning lady at my gym will just mop the floor constantly, a hardwood floor, without even considering that a wet floor can cause someone to slip and fall. The concept is foreign to them.

I see them all the time (they are not at every road work site though), but they are in Thai. In my condo they put up "wet floor" signs, and in places like Central they do as well.

I've been living here for 12 years now. I've learned not to concern myself with what other people do here.

Recently, there was work being done at the condo. A Thai was using a tile cutter at about 120 dB with no eye or hearing protection. If he does that for a living, he will be deaf by age 45.

Is it my problem? No.

Stop trying to impose your standards and rules on another culture it's just going to upset and disappoint you.

 

As I have said many times here, you have been taught and expect certain standards and behaviour all your life.

If you like, you play Chess ! Now you have come here where they play Checkers, your rules won't work.

You need to understand and learn Checkers and stop trying to force your host to play Chess.????

5 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I've been living here for 12 years now. I've learned not to concern myself with what other people do here.

Recently, there was work being done at the condo. A Thai was using a tile cutter at about 120 dB with no eye or hearing protection. If he does that for a living, he will be deaf by age 45.

Is it my problem? No.

I see guys doing welding and using sunglasses (sometimes not even using any eye protection ) and sun glasses offer no protection from the welding light and this will cause eye problems and blindness if they persist

5 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

I see guys doing welding and using sunglasses (sometimes not even using any eye protection ) and sun glasses offer no protection from the welding light and this will cause eye problems and blindness if they persist

I see guys riding motorbikes with no helmets. 555

31 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Stop trying to impose your standards and rules on another culture it's just going to upset and disappoint you.

 

As I have said many times here, you have been taught and expect certain standards and behaviour all your life.

If you like, you play Chess ! Now you have come here where they play Checkers, your rules won't work.

You need to understand and learn Checkers and stop trying to force your host to play Chess.????

Checkers is easier. Good analogy though.

51 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

What annoys me is Aseannow with the dam ad screen keep coming up from the right hand side while I'm trying read your post.

Bad on phones

I feel exactly the same and that's way I give myself one more year and I will be out, then probably back again. Would not and will not make this my permanent home. There are better countries. I enjoy it for now though, even though I have almost been killed way too many times.

 

Don't learn the language, it will ruin it even more.

Aisle or Window? Where is the OP returning to that is so perfect and beyond reproach? I would  love to compare his country to Thailand.

2 minutes ago, Kalorymetr said:

Don't learn the language, it will ruin it even more.

Yep.   The guys that say that are correct.    They would definitely not like what the

inhabitants here say about them . 

1 hour ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

I see guys doing welding and using sunglasses (sometimes not even using any eye protection ) and sun glasses offer no protection from the welding light and this will cause eye problems and blindness if they persist

But the their eye problems are not your problems so no problem.

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

We should celebrate their backwardness it keeps Thailand the way we like it i.e. not like Singapore or Hong Kong

Exactly ????

 

It's never gonna change anyway. Chances are it's even gonna get worse as time goes by. Thailand won't escape the middle income trap. Didn't act quickly enough to solve its education, inequalities and workforce problems.

 

Demography is a b????tch...

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

What annoys me is Aseannow with the dam ad screen keep coming up from the right hand side while I'm trying read your post.

This appears to be new and is also seriously pissing me off.

7 minutes ago, Wagga said:

But the their eye problems are not your problems so no problem.

Becomes my problem when they begin driving their cars home 

Just start taking Meth.  That is how a growing number of Thais are dealing with their day to day life.

When what you see as backward thinking and a lack of  common sense gets on your nerves, just go spend a few weeks in India. When you return to Thailand everything will seem so much more pleasant.