Which gift has your partner appreciated the most?

[NextG]

8 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Both of you seems to be lacking humor; sad – indeed it must be sad to live a life like that...

Doesn’t it need to be funny, in order to qualify?

[cdemundo]

8 hours ago, J Branche said:

With a Behavioral Psychology and having lived in Thailand long enough.             

 

They do appreciate the gifts but the giver is believed to receive good luck in return.  Also Thai people are generally more introverted and so less dramatic outward appreciation.

 

Lastly, Thai people do not have strong math or Value of money abilities.  From some regions of Thailand parents have not taught them how to plan, save, budget or how to avoid the psychological marketing appearance of value.  Buy 1 Get 1 but the price is higher on the 1 item than it's original price.  

 

Buying small gifts for their family that they need or makes life easier for their parents seems to make my girl happy.

 

 

 

" From some regions of Thailand parents have not taught them how to plan, save, budget "

 

Even Thai acquaintances have told me this about Thai people.

"Thai people don't save."

And have observed the same with my Thai acquaintances by and large.

[4MyEgo]

9 hours ago, Lucky Bones said:

She thanks the Lord Buddah for small mercies🙃🙃

 

You must live a boring life.

 

 

[it is what it is]

2 hours ago, khunPer said:

I can hardly think anything other meaningful gift for a Thai partner than "house, car, motorbike, gold, money etc."...

 

really, that says more about you than the ladies in question.

 

[Lucky Bones]

8 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

You must live a boring life.

 

 

Que? I'll type slower so that you can keep up with the humour.🙃🙃

[GinBoy2]

So, setting aside the monetary stuff, isn't it always the sentimental stuff that we give each other that means the most?

 

I've already told you i made a photo montage of us and our son before he went to college, made my wife very emotional.

 

Few years back she gave me a ticket for a concert we went to in Singapore long before we were married. Hadn't thought of it for 20+ years, yet the fact that she had kept it for all this time made it special

[khunPer]

7 hours ago, NextG said:

Doesn’t it need to be funny, in order to qualify?

No, this –  – will certainly do; you better get used by style of dry Scandinavian humor...

[khunPer]

5 hours ago, it is what it is said:

 

really, that says more about you than the ladies in question.

 

I'm quite sure not, it merely says that you suffers from lack of humor...

[NextG]

2 minutes ago, khunPer said:

I'm quite sure not, it merely says that you suffers from lack of humor...

Says to whom? You? I’m happy enough to not have to sink to such depths to search for ‘humour’. You carry on. 

[Chalky0w]

I thought this would be a nice thread but found it a little depressing.  I’ve been with my partner for 5 years and while I have brought her a bit of gold, some small / strange things have been appreciated more. A few examples…

 

Chocolate is always a welcome gift but I bought two Lindt gold bunnies back from the U.K. (not seen them in Thailand). These now live at the front of the freezer and I don’t think they’ll ever be eaten.

 

She has a very strong attachment to our sofa. The previous sofa was provided by the owner of the house we rent and had hard wooden arms. She is very clumsy / accident prone so used to bump into these all the time. I brought a new sofa with lots of padding everywhere to reduce these accidents and she absolutely adores it.

 

I’m getting older so bought some nose/ear hair trimmers but ownership was immediately transferred and now used for her eyebrows with many khop khun kaas and laughter whenever used.

 

Just a few examples.

 

 

[Keeps]

30 minutes ago, Chalky0w said:

I thought this would be a nice thread but found it a little depressing.

 

30 minutes ago, Chalky0w said:

 

 

Yes, didn't fully go the way I had hoped 😀

 

My partner too likes chocolate. She has a thing for Ferrero Rocher and surprisingly, orange matchmakers. I don't tell her the latter only cost £1.25 a box.....

 

I've found the nasal/nose hair trimmer invaluable. It's sad but nowdays I've got more hair in my ears than I have on my head.

[4MyEgo]

16 hours ago, Lucky Bones said:

Que? I'll type slower so that you can keep up with the humour.🙃🙃

 

[patman30]

Pinball, TMNT collectors edition
it was a birthdy present that she had to wait 6 months to arrive due to delays, without knowing what it was
when it arrived she did not do anything else for 3 days solid, i mean nothing else
luckily the MIL was with us so the dogs and i got some food lol

[sammieuk1]

My sausage dog that is now 100% hers unless I'm eating bacon or greek yogurt 🤔

[radiochaser]

On 11/3/2023 at 5:37 AM, FruitPudding said:

Money

Yeah, same here.   Wife loves it when I give her cash money.   I tried all kinds of other gifts and each time she said, I don't like it, take it back.   One day I gave her five dollars as a gift with a birthday card.   She acted like I gave her a million dollars!   

Me, I'm cheap.  A pack of bubble gum, a gift card from a coffee shop, and I am happy. 

[radiochaser]

19 hours ago, cdemundo said:

 

" From some regions of Thailand parents have not taught them how to plan, save, budget "

 

Even Thai acquaintances have told me this about Thai people.

"Thai people don't save."

And have observed the same with my Thai acquaintances by and large.

My Thai wife must not be Thai then.   I won't say how much she has in the bank, even after she bought a 4.9 million baht condo on the river with cash (all her money).   
Yet, she gushes with thanks when I giver her 200 baht as a gift .

[radiochaser]

On 11/3/2023 at 8:33 PM, J Branche said:

With a Behavioral Psychology and having lived in Thailand long enough.             

 

They do appreciate the gifts but the giver is believed to receive good luck in return.  Also Thai people are generally more introverted and so less dramatic outward appreciation.

 

Lastly, Thai people do not have strong math or Value of money abilities.  From some regions of Thailand parents have not taught them how to plan, save, budget or how to avoid the psychological marketing appearance of value.  Buy 1 Get 1 but the price is higher on the 1 item than it's original price.  

 

Buying small gifts for their family that they need or makes life easier for their parents seems to make my girl happy.

 

 

You haven't met my Thai wife.  None of the descriptive's  you wrote fits her, except that last one.  

[connda]

On 11/3/2023 at 10:42 AM, Keeps said:

Not talking about the big ticket items eg house, car, motorbike, gold, money etc. Something more modest but meaningful.

Food.  My wife is loath to miss a meal.

[Lucky Bones]

9 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

Brilliant.

[Lucky Bones]

8 hours ago, radiochaser said:

My Thai wife must not be Thai then.   I won't say how much she has in the bank, even after she bought a 4.9 million baht condo on the river with cash (all her money).   
Yet, she gushes with thanks when I giver her 200 baht as a gift .

That is serious money that doesn't come from a regular daytime job. Thinking there has been some "add-ons" along the way.

[radiochaser]

2 hours ago, Lucky Bones said:

That is serious money that doesn't come from a regular daytime job. Thinking there has been some "add-ons" along the way.

She and her sister owns a take out restaurant in a historical building here in the U.S. of A..   Their gross income per year is more than I earned in the last 10 years of working for the U.S. of A. government!!!   11 of those years I was a G.S. 12 Step 6, the last year a G.S. 13 step 5.  Pay scale was for the Philadelphia, PA area.    

Of the more than 100 other business's her place is the top seller!  The business occupies a smaller footprint than the condo she bought!!

[Lucky Bones]

8 hours ago, radiochaser said:

She and her sister owns a take out restaurant in a historical building here in the U.S. of A..   Their gross income per year is more than I earned in the last 10 years of working for the U.S. of A. government!!!   11 of those years I was a G.S. 12 Step 6, the last year a G.S. 13 step 5.  Pay scale was for the Philadelphia, PA area.    

Of the more than 100 other business's her place is the top seller!  The business occupies a smaller footprint than the condo she bought!!

Ok & curious. They "own" a restaurant in the US of A.

Ah, so Thai cash flow to buy condo is from a foreign source, and possibly start up costs paid from elsewhere, which you didn't indicate.

Maybe have to pay Jolly Green Giant's foreign tax soon?😡😡

Good luck to them in these tough times.

Not really indicative of the average Thai though.

No idea what GS & Steps are? Was that good or bad?

As I said......curious.🙃🙃

[KhunLA]

2 hours ago, Lucky Bones said:

No idea what GS & Steps are? Was that good or bad?

As I said......curious.🙃🙃

[Lucky Bones]

9 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Cheers. How much to buy a Grade 13, Step 6? Oh Wait!🙃🙃

[radiochaser]

1 hour ago, Lucky Bones said:

Ok & curious. They "own" a restaurant in the US of A.

Ah, so Thai cash flow to buy condo is from a foreign source, and possibly start up costs paid from elsewhere, which you didn't indicate.

Maybe have to pay Jolly Green Giant's foreign tax soon?😡😡

Good luck to them in these tough times.

Not really indicative of the average Thai though.

No idea what GS & Steps are? Was that good or bad?

As I said......curious.🙃🙃

Wire transfer from U.S. of A. bank to Thai bank showing that the money was from a foreign source.   

There was no start up cost for the restaurant here in the U.S.  It was an established business more than 20 years old that my wife and her sister purchased.  My wife has a business degree from a university in Thailand and knows what she is doing.   Since she and her sister purchased the business changes were made and the gross receipts have increased over what they were before.   As an example of one thing that has increased profits; the previous owner was only using a dial up access by telephone to process debit and credit card purchases.   This process took 2 - 3 minutes to complete. At best that is (if my math is correct) 30 debit/credit card purchases an hour.     I ordered an internet service provider installation which has VOIP,  reducing the processing time to seconds. About half to 3/4 of sales are debit and credit card from day to day with the rest cash sales.  The facility the business is in has enormous numbers of people going through it.   100,000 potential customers pass through the facility each week and it is open from 9 am to 6 pm daily.   During the busy times, it is impossible to walk through the place without bumping into someone.  

If I recall correctly, the G.S. stands for General Schedule a white collar job for office workers, or in my case a Federal Agent for one of the 3 letter agencies.  G.S. 13 pay grade is a senior position paying in the 6 figure range in U.S. dollars, usually requiring college education.  I worked my way up from the lower grades to the G.S. 13 grade even though I only had a high school education.   If you do well in your pay grade, then about every 2 years you are increased by 1 step or you can be promoted to a higher step or higher pay grade by merit.   G.S. grades start at G.S. 1 and goes up to G.S. 14 or 15.   After that the only way to be promoted to a higher level is to become a supervisor, Manager Grade, M.G..   I was promoted by merit, i.e. even though I did not have a college education, my work was on par to those that had bachelor and master's degrees from universities. 

I found the following on the internet:
"The GS-13 pay grade is generally reserved for top-level positions such as supervisors, high-level technical specialists, and top professionals holding advanced degrees. Positions at GS-13 and above are known as Career Competitive."
 

I guess I was considered to be a high level technical specialist.   

G.S.   vs.  W.G., wage grade which is pay scale for mechanics, carpenters and machinist type jobs, blue collar (I think) which has a lower pay scale.   

I don't know what you mean by Jolly Green Giants tax.  

[Fairynuff]

On 11/3/2023 at 5:02 PM, PJ71 said:

Last time i saw her she had none on...

 

 

Did she leave them at work?

[thaibeachlovers]

17 minutes ago, radiochaser said:

 I was promoted by merit, i.e. even though I did not have a college education, my work was on par to those that had bachelor and master's degrees from universities. 

While not really equivalent I was a hospital trained nurse at a time that it was being transferred to university ie more theory than practical. While Uni graduates had the theory they were useless for the first year till they learned what we learned while training. One more woke idea that was <deleted>.

It was easy to pick a Uni graduate as they didn't know how to take a blood pressure when they started.

Not being a Uni graduate certainly never held me back as far as doing what I wanted to do, and I worked in Saudi and the UK to get more money than in NZ, which had pitiful pay rates and conditions.

[Lucky Bones]

50 minutes ago, radiochaser said:

Wire transfer from U.S. of A. bank to Thai bank showing that the money was from a foreign source.   

There was no start up cost for the restaurant here in the U.S.  It was an established business more than 20 years old that my wife and her sister purchased.  My wife has a business degree from a university in Thailand and knows what she is doing.   Since she and her sister purchased the business changes were made and the gross receipts have increased over what they were before.   As an example of one thing that has increased profits; the previous owner was only using a dial up access by telephone to process debit and credit card purchases.   This process took 2 - 3 minutes to complete. At best that is (if my math is correct) 30 debit/credit card purchases an hour.     I ordered an internet service provider installation which has VOIP,  reducing the processing time to seconds. About half to 3/4 of sales are debit and credit card from day to day with the rest cash sales.  The facility the business is in has enormous numbers of people going through it.   100,000 potential customers pass through the facility each week and it is open from 9 am to 6 pm daily.   During the busy times, it is impossible to walk through the place without bumping into someone.  

If I recall correctly, the G.S. stands for General Schedule a white collar job for office workers, or in my case a Federal Agent for one of the 3 letter agencies.  G.S. 13 pay grade is a senior position paying in the 6 figure range in U.S. dollars, usually requiring college education.  I worked my way up from the lower grades to the G.S. 13 grade even though I only had a high school education.   If you do well in your pay grade, then about every 2 years you are increased by 1 step or you can be promoted to a higher step or higher pay grade by merit.   G.S. grades start at G.S. 1 and goes up to G.S. 14 or 15.   After that the only way to be promoted to a higher level is to become a supervisor, Manager Grade, M.G..   I was promoted by merit, i.e. even though I did not have a college education, my work was on par to those that had bachelor and master's degrees from universities. 

I found the following on the internet:
"The GS-13 pay grade is generally reserved for top-level positions such as supervisors, high-level technical specialists, and top professionals holding advanced degrees. Positions at GS-13 and above are known as Career Competitive."
 

I guess I was considered to be a high level technical specialist.   

G.S.   vs.  W.G., wage grade which is pay scale for mechanics, carpenters and machinist type jobs, blue collar (I think) which has a lower pay scale.   

I don't know what you mean by Jolly Green Giants tax.  

Thanks. Sounds like very good business acumen.

Jolly Green Giants tax is proposed to be on foreign investments/ cash transfers into Thailand.

As usual it is a total balls-up at the moment, if it actually happens.

Locate the thread about the taxing of foreign funds for more info.

Vietnam is looking more attractive every day.

Cheers.🙃🙃

 

 

[cdemundo]

On 11/5/2023 at 10:35 AM, patman30 said:

Pinball, TMNT collectors edition
it was a birthdy present that she had to wait 6 months to arrive due to delays, without knowing what it was
when it arrived she did not do anything else for 3 days solid, i mean nothing else
luckily the MIL was with us so the dogs and i got some food lol

thought I was in the wrong thread with some preceding posts.

 

Anyway I was wondering it this is a stand up pinball machine or a video game type replica?

Cool either way and an original gift idea

Thanks for sharing

 

[cdemundo]

23 hours ago, radiochaser said:

My Thai wife must not be Thai then.   I won't say how much she has in the bank, even after she bought a 4.9 million baht condo on the river with cash (all her money).   
Yet, she gushes with thanks when I giver her 200 baht as a gift .

 

You are right, there are notable exceptions.

 

I have met bargirls who own farms and homes in the provinces.

This in contrast with folks who are taken by surprise when the rent comes due each month.