1 hour ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Did anyone ever really think it was more than a marketing slogan?

Not really. But it's a way of saving face.

 

Edit: If its a lady smiling at you, it's for a reason.

1 hour ago, bob smith said:

see it everywhere I go. nobody is smiling. Nobody seems happy. attitudes of the locals must be at an all time low and its understandable why.

Corruption, pollution, rising prices, lack of opportunity/career growth, no decent healthcare, crippling household debt, being led by a dictator turned politician...

I mean, what have the thais got to be happy about really??

and now the recent findings that Thailand is the 60th happiest country in the world. 60th!!

how can they claim to be the land of smiles when their official happiness rating is just above that of Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan?

 

Seems to me the land of smiles slogan is just another lie thais tell themselves to make them feel better about their predicament. 

 

you can tell yourself something fantastical till the cows come home but sadly it doesn't make it so! 

 

Maybe they have heard about you?

Don't forget most people are suffering from the heat right now,not easy when you have to work outside in this heat.

The girls in 7 11 are very smiley today,they enjoy being cool.

 

44 minutes ago, bob smith said:

i have also noticed this.

when drunk they are usually pretty friendly but before that first beer they are as cold as chirstmas.

 

so thats how low we have sunk in their eyes, they actually need a drink to to even tolerate us! ???? 

Is it just Thais that need a drink to be around you?

yes, a lot of thais smile, a lot are friendly.  but just as many are falsely smiling, and below the smile lurks a me me me personality.  Have you tried to get out of a side street in a car?  nobody lets you out.......also, so many lie about just about anything......so much <deleted> here.  been here 7 years now, and i have to say, it is starting to get on my nerves a bit here.  not enough to go back to UK, nothing will be bad enough to make me do that......but things have changed here....not the same any more.  maybe a month or two break somewhere else is the answer.......and then maybe i will find the Thainess funny and acceptable again.

1 hour ago, persimmon said:

Last week on the Muay Thai channel ( 27 ) there was a match between a huge , mean looking Farang and a Thai fighter who seemed happy and smiling . The Farang guy only lasted a couple of rounds before before retiring with a smashed face . 

Bet the Thai guy was smiling even more.

8 minutes ago, nickmondo said:

yes, a lot of thais smile, a lot are friendly.  but just as many are falsely smiling, and below the smile lurks a me me me personality.  Have you tried to get out of a side street in a car?  nobody lets you out.......also, so many lie about just about anything......so much <deleted> here.  been here 7 years now, and i have to say, it is starting to get on my nerves a bit here.  not enough to go back to UK, nothing will be bad enough to make me do that......but things have changed here....not the same any more.  maybe a month or two break somewhere else is the answer.......and then maybe i will find the Thainess funny and acceptable again.

shhhh, be careful....

 

you might get bashed on here for telling the truth!!!! ???? 

 

some great points there mate

1 hour ago, Will B Good said:

I stand at the end of our drive with the dog, smiling at passersby.....(I'm not mental).........and the Thais all return a big smile and a nod or a wave....... except boys/men 18ish to 30ish....they pointedly look away.

I have often wondered what expats do for entertainment up in the villages. 

Well, 

It is easier now that you don't have to wear the Chinese virus mask.

2 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Did anyone ever really think it was more than a marketing slogan?

Apparently, the OP did, although in instances you still see Thai smile, but only when they get something for free.

4 minutes ago, ignore it said:

Well, 

It is easier now that you don't have to wear the Chinese virus mask.

you mean you like breathing in pm 2.5 all day??

 

your damned if you do and damned if you dont mate.

What I've noticed over the years is any place that's nice, eventually will get ruined. I was in Thailand 10 years ago, Pattaya was way less crowded, less polluted. It was kind of boring and every Thai worker was nice/polite(with the exception of one guy at The Pizza Company). 

Coming here after 10 years I see quite a change. Much more crowded/polluted. I'm sure this, along with economic conditions like wage theft, is the reason for less hospitality than before. 

I was in Rayong and Chanthaburi recently and i noticed the locals smile a lot more than Pattaya

There was no smiles from the lady at my bank this morning when I went in to report that my online banking login had for some reason been stopped. She insisted that I must have used the wrong password. I told her that I'd been using the same one for years and that my PW was unforgettable. After getting a new one for me she told me to remember it this time. Not one flicker of a smile all the time I was there.

For you.. sure. Is Pattaya a correct guess? 

 

I smile first and often and get plenty of smiles

2 hours ago, bob smith said:

I see it everywhere I go. nobody is smiling. Nobody seems happy. attitudes of the locals must be at an all time low and its understandable why.

Seems like we are going the same places, I still live in Land-of-Smiles...????

Only time they smile is when you're giving them money. Deep down they detest foreigners. Don't be fooled by the racists 

Smiles are hit and miss.  I seem to notice that some in the service industry are less patient than in the past.  Today as I was taking the groceries from the shopping cart to the conveyer belt the cashier said “member card, member card”.  I thought does she not see my hands are busy pulling items onto the conveyer belt?  So I did the passive response by putting items on the belt even slower.  I then slowly pulled out my member card and she scanned it.  She definitely was not smiling and looked angry at me.  The other time I had to pull the “slow boat” response was at BKK. At the checkin counter as I was putting my 22kg suitcase onto the scale I heard the word “passport” at least 3 times.  I thought does she see me pulling the heavy suitcase onto the scale so it could be weighed?  After I had slowly put the suitcase onto the scale I then slowly pulled out my passport, slowly opened it to he data page and gently placed it onto to the counter.  She completed the checkin, handed me the boarding pass without saying a word to me.  These are recent events and I have definitely noticed a change for the worse in the attitudes of service workers.  Who knows this could be a global thing but Thailand has marketed itself as the “Land of Smiles” and lately no so much. As they say “it is what it is”.  

 

Of course I could be wrong and it has been like this for years and I did not notice until now.  In the end I just need to complete the transaction and a smile is not necessary so Thai Tourism might consider another slogan.  Possibly “The cheapest holiday you can find on earth”.  

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

Weird, never been screamed at at the airport in 27 years. Never had my passport throw at me either.

Post Covid I have found the IOs to be genuinely friendly. Pre-Covid never found them unfriendly, just doing their job.

Not sure what you are doing to get screamed at.

I concur. And there even was that IO once. She had processed quite painfully a batch of elderly Chinese tourists who had struggled a lot with the fingerprinting etc. When it was finally my turn, she smiled and said "Sorry for the wait. Chinese people know nothing...".:)

Thailand is often referred to as “The Land of Smiles.” It got this nickname because in Thailand, a smile is much more than just a smile…it is a form of subtle interpersonal-messaging. There are at least 13 different smiles that a Thai person may use, each one having a very specific meaning.

 

 

1. Yim thang nam taa: The “I’m so happy I’m crying” smile.
2. Yim thak thaai: The “polite” smile for someone you barely know.
3. Yim cheun chom: The “I admire you” or “I’m proud of you” smile.
4. Fuen Yim: The stiff smile, also known as the “I should laugh at the joke even though it’s not funny” smile.
5. Yim mee lessanai: The smile which masks something wicked, such as bad intent.
6. Yim yaw: The teasing, or “I told you so” smile.
7. Yim yae-yae: The “I know things look pretty bad but there’s no point in crying over spilt milk” smile.
8. Yim sao: The sad smile.
9. Yim haeng: The dry smile, also known as the “I know I owe you the money, but I don’t have it” smile.
10. Yim thak thaan: The “I disagree with you” smile, also known as the “You can go ahead and propose it but your idea’s no good” smile.
11. Yim cheuad-cheuan: The “I am the winner” smile; a smile given to a losing competitor.
12. Yim soo: The “smiling in the face of an impossible struggle” smile.
13. Yim mai awk: The “I’m trying to smile, but can’t” smile.

It's not just a Thai phenomenon. Depression and anxiety are rising all over the world. Birth rates are plunging, young people aren't having sex, anti-depressants are commonly used. At the moment, the world is not a happy place.

I know this topic is about Thailand but the worse I saw for scowls was the Philippines, all walking around with scowls on their faces !

2 hours ago, Goat said:

Agree with that one. Thai Muslim villages are not smiley like other places. 

Probably even moreso right now. No food or drink during the hot days. Probably very thirsty. Plus waking up at 4am to eat doesnt put them in a particulary cheerful mood.

Ah you mean because it's Ramadan? A very tough call that one. 

You need a beer

everyone is stressed out with living costs post covid and livng with a junta cant be easy  

Mongolia. Ulaanbatar is the best kept secret in Asia, just like Phnom Penh was up until about 2007.

3 hours ago, bob smith said:

how can they claim to be the land of smiles when their official happiness rating is just above that of Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan?

They never said the smiles were real...

I routinely exchange smiles & it's very rare when one isn't returned....

About the only too busy, unrelaxed, non smiling people I see are farangs.....

Certainly this is true of many:

 

No such thing as a smiling Thai driver or a jealousThai woman

If you want to travel to the (real) Land of Smiles, you should travel to Cambodia...