Normative Behavior is my watchword!

Normative Behavior is what I am known for, while I am in Thailand.

 

For the purposes of this Topic:

 

 

I always follow norms of proper behavior.

 

In fact, I do not even think twice about adhering to what I, and probably you, too, regard as normative behavior.  This is now just my own personal SOP…for life here in Thailand.

 

I have learned that following accepted norms affords me a much happier life.

 

Otherwise, I might end up like our fine friend, the Marquis de Sade, which would be way far off the deep end, for both you and me, I imagine.

 

What about you?

 

Do you live a normal happy life in Thailand?

 

Or, do you act otherwise thinking that the excitement of living beyond the pale might give you a final rush before your end days on earth find you dried up, and unable to even get it up?

 

In my view, one must make the conscious choice to live in either one of two ways:

 

1. Live an upstanding life of contribution to others and to society (Plan A)

2. Become a complete sybarite seeking nothing but self-pleasure, self-pleasuring, and total waste! (Plan B)

 

I have chosen Plan A.

 

I have found that there is no other way to be truly happy and content in this weird world, one in which the narcissism in us all drives us to act in ways that are not in our best interests.

 

Always follow your conscience, and you will never regret the time you have spent on earth, living in this way.

 

I should know….

 

But I bet there are some of you who might disagree with my thinking on this Topic concerning either a life of giving to others, as the absolute Key to the Kingdom of Life as a Self-Actualized Human Being, during our Final Finale, right up until the moment of one’s final breath of God’s clean air on this planet....or....

A life in the moral gutter.

 

I would like to go on here, to share a few more important philosophical thoughts.

But, I will not.

Because, I want to approach this series of Topics, one by one, and not all at once.

 

Regards,

Gamma

 

Note: So, in conclusion of this Topic:  Do you adhere to and follow Normative Behavior in Thailand?  Or, do you often step out of bounds in the pursuit of pleasure?  And, do you wake up the next morning…feeling….embarrassed, foolish, and guilty, too?

 

Note2:  It's always best to do the right thing, no matter how boring.  Let this be today's best advice that I have imparted unto you guys...this evening...

 

Note3:  If you have overstepped, or have gone too far...then...please do believe me....

 

It's NEVER too late to REPENT!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not a bad topic for you, GG. I gave you a thumbs up. 

 

Certainly happier in learning the language and following local social norms, albeit not to the nth degree. Learning how to carry oneself is a very big deal here... how to dress, converse and roll with the natives in an unassuming, steady manner. I have many Thai friends and am very comfortable around them, probably more so than my own. It took me around 15 years to get into the groove proper. Sadly, many come here and do not integrate themselves bar the obvious, doing it large and behaving like numpties. Each to their own, of course, but to then denigrate Thais because they do not gel, or whatever, is pretty sad.

Negatory.

I can't even be bothered to know what those are.

Don't y'all hate people who say negatory.

Signed, Bad Expat

 

I did follow 'normative behaviour' when I came here but as time has passed, I care less and less what Thais (or foreigners) think of me.

In some areas, I am less and less enchanted with the usual behaviour of Thais (men especially; women's behaviour I can live with). But over the years I have become disenchanted with people driving the wrong way, people driving through red lights, people crossing double yellow lines, people speeding, trucks driving one inch from my bumper, people pushing to the front of the queue (women as well). etc etc Am I intolerant? Yes I am, and proud that I will not lower my standards to this prevailing here.

I don't spend massive amounts of time on the roads and we have a driver now, and so I can't honk the horn like a madman or try to contain the anger within.

 

The big question is do I behave like most people and hide my sexual proclivities or am I out of the closet like the MdeS? Yes I do, but again as time passes, I have less and less concern about being found out. I'm sure our servants know what goes on in our bedroom. 

I didn't in the US so why bother to here?

I haven’t changed my behavior, demeanor or personality by the slightest being here, still the same old easy going except any and all at face value without judgement, pretty much the same with my local Thai friends and family. Though I do have some Yong friends in the sankamphang area that are very traditional, even then they can really care less if someone doesn’t follow suit.

Did I buy my wife

Did I treat women as second class

Did I push in the q

Did I eat fat and think it was OK to do so

Did I put sugar on all my food

Did I steal my relatives property

Did I drink whisky and throw the furniture around

Did I litter everywhere and treat nature as a dumping ground for trash

Did I drive dangerously

Did I worship an elephant

Did I etc etc etc

 

NO. I guess I didn't follow "normal" behaviour while in Thailand.

On 1/24/2024 at 7:28 PM, retarius said:

I'm sure our servants know what goes on in our bedroom. 

I hope you treat them better than Thais do. I had a Thai GF that gave up the bar to work as a servant. She was treated so badly she went back to the bar where she was treated better.

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I hope you treat them better than Thais do. I had a Thai GF that gave up the bar to work as a servant. She was treated so badly she went back to the bar where she was treated better.

Our's tend to stay with us for years on end. I think pay over the usual rate of pay but my wife demands good service. The work is tediously boring and we live in a rural area outside town, so it';s not lively, but it suits some people.

We are not rich, but I am more or less disabled, can't drive, cannot work in the gardens, can't lift much, and so we need help, and even paying more than anyone else in the area we are aware of, we have a bargain, a labour is ridiculously cheap in Thailand.

 

In general I am in favour of substantial rises in the the minimum wage, so long as it does not destroy Thailand's economy. Wage rises should be steady so as not to cause too much inflation which hurts the poor the most, nor to kill off the good factory jobs brought by foreign investments in car and electronics factories etc

 

I don't understand foreigners who cut their own lawns, or do D-I-Y, when for 500 to 600 baht a day you can get good, decent, labour you can trust and rely on.

The Marquis De Sade -why couldn't he have just been happy with a little bondage and spanking?

 

There's always a nutter who ruins it for everyone.

 

There's a reassessing bio on him that destroys him as a so-called philosopher.

 

He was more Son of Sam than Sartre.

43 minutes ago, retarius said:

I don't understand foreigners who cut their own lawns, or do D-I-Y, when for 500 to 600 baht a day you can get good, decent, labour you can trust and rely on.

I never had a lawn in Thailand to cut, and I did my own DIY because unlike yourself I never experienced a Thai worker that did work worth a damn. If the wife employed someone I always had to redo it myself after they botched it up ( like the gate they welded that fell off the next day ). Less stressful to do it myself.

Eg, after I wired up an outside light for the family house in the village they employed a Thai to redo it ( they wanted me to do it in a way that would have electrocuted the unwary, and I refused ). Result was 10 meters of melted cable. Did I ever laugh when I saw that. I also refused to pay to redo it properly.

Of course there are decent Thai workers. My wife has a system, whenever we need the electric or anything else fixed, we get someone in, if they are useless we never use them again and keep trying until we get someone decent, she then give that tradesman plenty of work and doesn't quibble about the bill. After living here for 18 years, we have a cadre of known quantities that do decent work, clean up after themselves, know us as we know them, charge a reasonable price. It is pretty good. Yesterday we had the a/c people in and the builders and today we have the builders and the security camera people, all of whom were have used for several years and know well. It is a systematic approach instead of the haphazard approach I used to take. I now have nothing do with selecting tradespeople and nothing to do with supervising the people when they are working. 

I made a tragic mistake when we built our house. I picked a British builder, commonly called a 'cowboy' back in the UK. I mistook the ability to speak English for intelligence. My wife ridiculed me roundly, and rightly so.....since then I have left it up to her with generally very good results, and if anything does go wrong, they fix it for free. 

I behave in a normal, good behaviour, polite way. Nowadays I do not care about Thai norms and behaviour, as I know that I will never be accepted as part of this society. I treat people as I want people to treat me. - While I 'wai-ed' every monk (and taxi girl I knew) when I first came to Thailand, I nowadays don't do that anymore. I am, naturally, polite towards Thais and anyone else, but not 'Thai style' (even though I probably say "Kop khun krap" and 'thank you' much more often than the average Thai does).

My normal ... treat people like I want to be treated.  I seem to receive what I project.  You get smiles when you give smiles.

 

It's a beautiful world.

58 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

My normal ... treat people like I want to be treated.  I seem to receive what I project.  You get smiles when you give smiles.

 

It's a beautiful world.

That is something I do, I smile at everyone and wai everyone too. 

Other than wai to everyone (except kids) there's nothing special to do that differs from any other country.