I Made A Thai Laugh Hysterically Today

[jaansinatra]

I went to my local pattaya nursery today to get some grass fertilizer. i buy about once a year a gigantic 50kilo bag of 16-16 brand fertilizer. used to be like 1,400 baht, now it's 1,800. anyway, there wer out of it but they had these little sandwich size bags for 20 baht each. i told the gal i wanted the big bag and she said "no have, only have small for 20 baht" .

so i said to her "ok, if i buy ten bags for 200 baht, can you give one bag free, so i pay ten bags, you give me eleven bags".

she literally literally fell on the floor laughing. and the 85 year old grandmother was there too and she though my proposal was so funny, i though she was going to have a heart event due to extreme laughter (it can happen).

in between her lauighter, i said eleven for 200 baht" , she said "no, eleven is 220 baht", and the laughter continued.

they had no comprehension of bulk buying to get even a small discount. i imagine if i said "1,000 small bags, same same, 20 baht per bag, is 20,000 baht, or i get discount for 19,000 baht?"; i'm sure that would have given her an irregular heartbeat with excessive laughter.

i didnt realize iw as so funny .

[Beacher]

At least it wasn't more expensive.

I mean that I often see products in Lotus, etc. that are bundled in 2's or 3's and the the price works out higher for each one than it is to buy them individually. The approach Thais have to marketing is approximately 180 degrees opposed to the Western methods.

[Cuban]

....they had no comprehension of bulk buying to get even a small discount.

Indeed - I visited a bar suppliers some years ago looking for the multi-national strings of flags you see in bars all over. They did not have the premade sets but a selection of slightly larger flags from a selection of countries. Seeing that a broad range of countries were on offer I asked what would be the price of 100 so that I could string them together myself. A straight reply of 300 Baht x 100 was the response.

[toptuan]

Hysterical laughter at such a proposal is the Thai's non-confrontational way of saying "NO."

When I couldn't get service on a warrantee for a defective refrigerator I had purchased new, I suggested to the dealer that he just replace it with a new one. Same reaction.

[Samuian]

Lucky that the consumer has a choice!

he may or he may not!

until they got the clue, they won't change their policy, even if one does make the effort, to calculate certain issues through with them...if they don't get it... they don't get it!

Strange but this is the way they are, luckily not all of them - there are quite some decent people out there!

[jaansinatra]

a friend was booked on the Thai Airways nonstop from new York to bangkok in that "premium economy" class; then Thai advised that the flight was cancelled and my friend was downgraded to edconomy class on a connecting flight and was told no refund as "it is still economy class, same same".

my friend suggested to Thai airways that they provide him seats in premium economy but since that isn't available or any longer a choice, he should be upgraded to business class on a connection, at no extra charge. my friend asked "why you downgrade me, why not upgrade me", response: hysterical laughter.