Introspection: Are You a Chronic Complainer, or Are These Just Minor Inconveniences?

[hankypankee]

If you spend enough time on this forum, you’ll notice a consistent trend: some people seem to struggle with nearly every bureaucratic or systematic process in Thailand. If the posts here were the only source of information about how things get done, you’d think it was almost impossible to live here legally.

 

From visa extensions, 90-day reports, and TM30 address reporting to opening a bank account, filing tax returns, and transferring money in and out internationally, the complaints never stop. Getting a Thai driver’s license is somehow “very complicated,” yet thousands of foreigners manage to do it without much difficulty and without hiring unnecessary consultants or agents. Meeting the financial requirements for a retirement visa is “unreasonable,” according to some, but isn’t that just the reality of living here long-term?

 

Then there’s the outrage over work permits and visa rules, the difficulties of registering a car or motorbike, and the supposed impossibility of owning property and the challenges of buying a condo (even though the laws are clear and have been for years). Some people complain that overstaying a visa results in fines and bans, as if immigration rules are ever optional anywhere in the world. Others act surprised when they run into problems with marriage and divorce laws, even though a little due diligence could have saved them the trouble.

 

Of course, bureaucracy anywhere can be frustrating. But are these really particularly massive issues in Thailand more so than in other places around the world, or are they just the standard rules of living in a foreign country? Most of these things seem to merely take a little effort, patience, and an understanding that things don’t always work exactly the way they do back home.

 

Personally, I haven’t had an exceeding amount of difficulty with any of these things over the years. It’s just a matter of following the rules, making sure you have the right paperwork, and then things move along mostly as expected.

 

So, are many of the incessant complaints in these forums legitimate, or are people just malignant moaners making life harder for themselves (and making it seem that way to others) than it really needs to be?

[wozzlegummich]

There is one place just off the coast of Europe whose inhabitants would win the Gold Medal in a complaining contest. (And I bet they will comment here just to prove me right).

[FriscoKid]

Talk to Robert_Smith. He certainly built an entire career on AN by thanklessly whinging about anything and everything in Thailand. 

[atpeace]

Some posters need it to feel better about themselves.  Most are harmless albeit pathetic.  Thailand does attract loads of losers that do what losers do. 

[Yagoda]

1 minute ago, atpeace said:

Some posters need it to feel better about themselves.  Most are harmless albeit pathetic.  Thailand does attract loads of losers that do what losers do. 

You can see them over in the Soapbox screaming their fevered Trump nightmares and looking for Russians under the bed,

[atpeace]

That is completely different set of individuals that might also be part of the group the OP was describing. They are just butt hurt and with time will regain their senses.

[short-Timer]

16 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

You can see them over in the Soapbox screaming their fevered Trump nightmares and looking for Russians under the bed,

Many of the people in your beloved Soapbox come across as unintelligent and obsessed with acting solely as an echo chamber, with all the same talking points repeated over and over by the right wing media, fully absent of any substance or facts.

And all the name calling and belittling. Telling people on the left in an insulting way that they are having difficulty coping while offering nothing of relevance or comforting that things aren't really as bad as they really are.
 

It's really just a toxic pile of childish and rotting manure. Everyone will suffer the same consequences no matter which side they are on. There is only one world that everyone is able to share in. Can't really understand why anyone even wastes their time engaging with all the stupidity. I certainly don't. 

[Yagoda]

2 minutes ago, short-Timer said:

Can't really understand why anyone even wastes their time engaging with all the stupidity. I certainly don't. 

Well maybe you are smart enough not to want to be showed up as a fool, like the rest of the Trump deranged and theft supporters.

[short-Timer]

10 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Well maybe you are smart enough not to want to be showed up as a fool, like the rest of the Trump deranged and theft supporters.

Exactly the right wing Soapbox idiocracy that I was just referring to. Insulting and calling me a fool if I don't support Trump, while offering absolutely nothing of any fact or substance to go along with it. Thank you for fully attesting to and certifying what I just said. 

[Yagoda]

1 minute ago, short-Timer said:

Exactly the right wing Soapbox idiocracy that I was just referring to. Insulting and calling me a fool if I don't support Trump, while offering absolutely nothing of any fact or substance to go along with it. Thank you for fully attesting to and certifying what I just said. 

Well its hard for me to judge just on your word, but since you tossed an ignorant (typical) flame in, I can predict it would be probably good for your ego that you stay out of that section.