Manners

[Gumballl]

Some time back, returning to Bangkok, I was waiting in the line in front of the immigration.

Probably only 7-8 people infront of me.

A lot of people are running back and forth between the lines, as they keep count of how many are lined up in front of the various Immigration Officers.

Guess we are all familiar with this.

Then the (arab) guy infront of me leaves the line, dragging his wife with him. He is running over to another line, with his wife hanging after him, just about to take off like a kite. She is not happy, but does as told.

Rest of us steps forward.

Then he sees that there are actually fewer in the line he left. He had now actually cut through 3-4 lines to reach the line he was heading for.

He now turns around, with his wife still hanging on, cutting through the other lines again, before he reaches the line he left.

He squeezes himself infront of me.

Im stunned.

Then I say, Sir!!!

He turns around, and I ask what he is doing.

He replies, "this is my line".

I say, Your line??

It is not your line anymore when you leave it.

He kept insisting it was still his line as he had returned to it.

I started to blow steam and become veeeery loud.

300 pair of eyes watching us.

Big sceene I guess.

Our line keeps moving forward rapidly now, so when he then start to remove himself from the line,

I told him to just stay, but to remember this for the future.

I guess I had bad manners creating this sceene?

Comments on this please.

What would You have done in a case like that?

I would've just let him back in. You are in no worse of a position than you were in the first place. If the person had left permanently (to another queue), then your position in line would have improved, thus you should show gratitude.

Anyhow, the first thing to learn when coming to Thailand, and what better place than at the immigration queues, is humility.

Now if someone blatantly and unexpectedly cuts in front of you, then by all means give em h*ll.

[Dustoff]

Some time back, returning to Bangkok, I was waiting in the line in front of the immigration.

Probably only 7-8 people infront of me.

A lot of people are running back and forth between the lines, as they keep count of how many are lined up in front of the various Immigration Officers.

Guess we are all familiar with this.

Then the (arab) guy infront of me leaves the line, dragging his wife with him. He is running over to another line, with his wife hanging after him, just about to take off like a kite. She is not happy, but does as told.

Rest of us steps forward.

Then he sees that there are actually fewer in the line he left. He had now actually cut through 3-4 lines to reach the line he was heading for.

He now turns around, with his wife still hanging on, cutting through the other lines again, before he reaches the line he left.

He squeezes himself infront of me.

Im stunned.

Then I say, Sir!!!

He turns around, and I ask what he is doing.

He replies, "this is my line".

I say, Your line??

It is not your line anymore when you leave it.

He kept insisting it was still his line as he had returned to it.

I started to blow steam and become veeeery loud.

300 pair of eyes watching us.

Big sceene I guess.

Our line keeps moving forward rapidly now, so when he then start to remove himself from the line,

I told him to just stay, but to remember this for the future.

I guess I had bad manners creating this sceene?

Comments on this please.

What would You have done in a case like that?

I suppose I would have weighed the importance of the situation before reacting.

You created a scene that likely reflected badly on yourself and your country of origin;

This scene was perpetrated in a Thai Government Office in total lack of respect for where you were;

You verbally abused and humiliated another foreign national in front of his own wife;

You created this display over 'your' rules and 'your' sense of fairness..

At the end of it all, you ended up no further back in the queue than you were in the first place, behind a man who arrived at Immigration before you and deserved service in terms of first come, first served.

I would probably have shaken my head over his frantic behaviour but smiled and given him back his rightful place in the queue.

But then, that's just me...

[zaza]

I have brought this up before, but it keeps happening and I still don't understand why.

I was on the elliptical machine at the health club today watching the Discovery channel and as I was enjoying it, I decided to keep the remote with me. I have noticed that our Thai hosts seem to think that whoever has the remote can change channels at will. There were about 5 people watching Discovery while running or biking besides me, including a couple of Thais.

A big Thai guy in his early twenties (think of the bad guy in Blood Sport who breaks Van Damme's brother's back) came in and got on a running machine directly in front of the TV. Eventually he reached over and changed the channel without even looking at anyone else. I said, "Excuse me, but we were watching that", but he just sneered and grunted, "I watch this".

I took out the remote and switched it back to Discovery and waited to get my butt kicked.

To make a long story short, he just ignored me and I ignored him until my time on the elliptical was up and then I went to another room with weights and then went swimming.

Most Thais are as polite about this as they are in general, but lots of them will switch a TV channel when a bunch of people are watching it and not ask for permission.

Any one have any theories why?

My theory is::: YOU should stop immediately exercising in that health club or you would lose your health !

[Heng]

Tensions at immigration are pretty well known and somewhat understandable. Once in a while I still accompany relatives who for some reason prefer to use their foreign passports (despite having Thai citizenship: id and passport) for their yearly Suan Phlu rubber stamp. There's this whole feeling of "what the heck am I doing here... why can't I just stay here or at least come and go as I please?" feeling lingering in the air.

Edited October 6, 2008 by Heng

[ChangMaiSausage]

It's not just in Thailand I work and live in the Gulf the combination of bad manners is incredible locals arrogant and dont give a <deleted> about anything (especially on the roads) Indians without a care in the world, it seems as if Asia in general lacks a little manners.

[Ulysses G.]

I have brought this up before, but it keeps happening and I still don't understand why.

My theory is::: YOU should stop immediately exercising in that health club or you would lose your health !

I have never seen a farang change the TV channel without asking, but I did have this farang that everyone calls "The Ugly American" who came up and advised me that I should not bother exercising as I am too fat and it would not do any good. Of course, he was waiting for the exercise machine that I was using at the time!

Edited October 6, 2008 by Ulysses G.

[sylviex]

Monochronous: in a monochronous culture, time is managed in a linear fashion, tasks being performed one after the other

Polychronous: in a polychronous culture, time is handled in a circular fashion, and individuals perform several tasks simultaneously (multitasking)

When the twain meet, blood pressure may sometimes rise. If this happens, quietly repeat "polychronous culture" until your turn comes around again.

Still, I agree interrupting may be somewhat rude in intention if it's unnecessary and the interrupter is simply trying to declare superiority over the interuptee. As has been pointed out, they would not do this to someone they consider a superior. We foreigners often feel uncomfortable with the importance of social hierarchy here, I think.

Edited October 6, 2008 by sylviex

[MrHammer]

Any one have any theories why?

Its The Law Of The Alpha Male, toughen up buddy!

[zaza]

I have brought this up before, but it keeps happening and I still don't understand why.

My theory is::: YOU should stop immediately exercising in that health club or you would lose your health !

I have never seen a farang change the TV channel without asking, but I did have this farang that everyone calls "The Ugly American" who came up and advised me that I should not bother exercising as I am too fat and it would not do any good. Of course, he was waiting for the exercise machine that I was using at the time!

If that man wasn't an American;I truly would have claimed that he is one of my family members; regarding his adequate skills of courtesy and sublime manners

[bonobo]

Standing in a queue and having people cut in front of you. This seems to happen more here than in the west because in the west someone will usually yell out "back of the line", to the inconsiderate A__hole, but here it happens often.

A Thai friend told me that many Thais do not understand "queue etiquette". I'm thinking "What's there to understand"?

i don't mind this because i will shove the queue jumper out of the way in order to get past them. if they jumped the queue several spots in front of me then this signifies that the queue has been compromised and is now up for grabs to the more aggressive people. it becomes a mad dash to the cashier. if you have ever traveled in China then you will recognize the every man for himself style queues. i haven't seen it as bad in Thailand as i have seen in Beijing and Shanghai. perhaps those cities prepared me for Thailand and now it is no sweat when one person is doing it. it becomes more hectic when there are 20+ people shoving their way to the front.

For example, anywhere in India...

Or Nigeria.