Common Sense

[RakJungTorlae]

Common sense.

"Phone rings" hey man you want to go to Soi Cowboy

"Reply" No

[Moonrakers]

My wife recently had her wallet snatched. No big deal as there was only about 100 baht in cash, but it was quite inconvenient as it contained her ATM card and ID.

Before she could get a replacement ID we needed cash, and of course with no ATM card this meant going into the branch. And so my wife goes to the branch with her passport to get some cash........ No can do! <deleted>? A passport is official identification issued by the government that proved beyond doubt that my wife is indeed the account holder, but still they stood absolutely firm that no transaction could be done with the Thai ID card.

This was on a Friday and we had to borrow cash from a friend for the weekend until this mess was sorted out.

The following Monday my wife goes to another branch nearby with passport in hand, and had no problem withdrawing cash and with no questions asked.

The first bank teller for me is a prime example of no common-sense. How on earth my wife was refused access to her cash despite proving without doubt that she is the account holder is ridiculous, and unfortunately it is unlikely that the bank teller could see just how ridiculous she was being and so will not learn from it.

funny, i would have just given my wife some of my money to tide her over -- i suspect that would be a common cents issue

It's a joint account, what kind of marriage works on a 'my money', 'her money' basis?

And to the other replies, she did have the police report with her as she went to the bank directly from the police station , my fault for not mentioning it in the first place

[MidoriApple]

My wife recently had her wallet snatched. No big deal as there was only about 100 baht in cash, but it was quite inconvenient as it contained her ATM card and ID.

Before she could get a replacement ID we needed cash, and of course with no ATM card this meant going into the branch. And so my wife goes to the branch with her passport to get some cash........ No can do! <deleted>? A passport is official identification issued by the government that proved beyond doubt that my wife is indeed the account holder, but still they stood absolutely firm that no transaction could be done with the Thai ID card.

This was on a Friday and we had to borrow cash from a friend for the weekend until this mess was sorted out.

The following Monday my wife goes to another branch nearby with passport in hand, and had no problem withdrawing cash and with no questions asked.

The first bank teller for me is a prime example of no common-sense. How on earth my wife was refused access to her cash despite proving without doubt that she is the account holder is ridiculous, and unfortunately it is unlikely that the bank teller could see just how ridiculous she was being and so will not learn from it.

funny, i would have just given my wife some of my money to tide her over -- i suspect that would be a common cents issue

It's a joint account, what kind of marriage works on a 'my money', 'her money' basis?

And to the other replies, she did have the police report with her as she went to the bank directly from the police station ,

my fault for not mentioning it in the first place

Ahh..that's ok... Would be pleased if you accept my apology for my post up above, too...

Have a nice day!

[grantbkk]

IMHO common sense is not all that common. I agree with the poster that referred to a "sixth sense" when referring to common sense. It also appears to be culturally driven. Living in a foreign country you have to have a lot of patience. Here the locals cannot walk in a straight line so they seem to be reacting to some kind of commando training in which they zig-zag down the sidewalk.

The systems in place here do not allow much room for individual thought or expression at least as it pertains to the business world. If they go off script when dealing with customers they will get into trouble. I have grown to expect problems and roadblocks when attempting to get anything done. Low expectations mean you will never be disappointed.

Recent I could not pay the phone/internet bill anywhere but a TOT office because I was deemed negligent and a bad seed for letting the bill go unpaid last month. It didn't matter that I was late because the bill had been transferred to my by my landlord and there was some kind of lag time. I tried to tell the very tenacious lady that I was in Singapore and I just wanted to give them money but she said she had Caller ID and I was actually calling from Bangkok. After heading down to Chit Lom BTS I called TOT but they didn’t know where the payment office was and I walked back and forth between Chit Lom and Phloen Chit for 20 minutes following their directions. I finally found a TOT facility and ended up in a giant warehouse full of discarded payphones. A guard finally directed me to a small payment office for bad seeds. I convinced TOT personnel that it was in their best interest to let me pay ahead and was allowed to deposit Bt10,000 to prevent me going delinquent in the future. Thankfully my friends were waiting for me at Morning NIGHT on Soi 4 because I really needed a beer after that. I love Thailand!

I was moving to a new home and decided I needed to make the transition to LCD television technology. I have lived in Bangkok for more than 5 years so I knew going in to have low expectations when it comes to sales staff. Myself and a friend arrived at Power Buy in Central Rama III and were immediately overwhelmed with choices. Sizes, brands, features and styles hit us like an elephant on Sukhumvit Road. Basically, about 100 rectangles with a fame surrounding an LCD screen. We finally settled on a brand because the model had just came out that week, incorporated the latest technology, was one inch larger than most in its class, and the brand is known for reliability. The two salesmen said I was a ‘lucky man” because Power Buy was running a promotion that would give me a free 32” LCD TV with the purchase of the 47” model I wanted. Sounds good but this is where the deal began to go bad.

I told the two salesmen that I wanted two of the 47” LCD’s but I really didn’t want two 32” giveaways. Just give me one 32” LCD and a cheap home theater system that is about half of the value of the 32” LCD TV. After much lip licking and glances between the salesmen you can guess what happened next. “Cannot” was the expected and given response. I told the poor guys that I was ready to hand over Bt260,000 cash, the price of the two televisions so maybe they should call their manager and see if something could be worked out. One guy took off running, came back a few minutes later and uttered, “Cannot”. These two actually let us walk out the door.

The next day I went to Power Buy in Silom Complex and made the same proposal to the six salesmen assisting me. One dutifully called his manager and the “head office” to get options in an attempt to make the sale. The bottom line is that I spent far less than Bt260,000, was given a top of the line home theater system and they even threw in a HD DVD player along with my free 32” LCD TV. Same company, two different stores that appear to be worlds apart when it comes to training and customer service.

On a high from my positive experience with consumer electronics I thought I was on a roll so I went bed shopping. My girlfriend and I found the ultimate bed at Home Pro, Chitlom. The saleswoman said I was “lucky man” because the bed we wanted was on sale. The bed was marked down from well over Bt100,00 to only Bt93,000 and included what I describe as a funky, cheap wooden headboard with two small lights built-in to use if you wanted to drive the bed at night on the highway. I told the saleswoman that I didn’t need the headboard and asked what was the adjusted price? After about 45 seconds with her calculator she showed the “lucky man” could have the bed for Bt93,000. I reminded her that was the same price of the bed with the headboard. I proposed a small amount be knocked off the price because I didn’t want the headboard. She said, “cannot”. I told her she should probably check with her manager as I was ready to pay cash for the bed. “Cannot” was the last thing I heard before I went out the door.

A short distance down the road I went into the Paragon Department Store and found the same bed. The wonderful saleswoman kept finding ways to reduce the price once she found out I was a serious buyer. 10% for this 5% for that, sale price, etc. amounted to a savings of more than Bt33,000 from the price at Home Pro. I could not believe the price difference and sales staff between the two stores.

My latest positive experience has to deal with the future of sales in Thailand. We love the VIP chairs in the Major Theaters at Siam Paragon. They are the ones in the Nokia branded screening rooms made with leather and are electric powered recliners. In this case I was able to get the manufacture’s name from the head office of Major Theaters and using only a mobile phone and the internet had two chairs built and delivered to my exact specifications. The theater seats were expensive but the ease of the sales process and the outstanding sales staff at Image Sofa and Motion Furniture made the whole experience worthwhile. Picking the model and color were done using a catalog sent on the internet. My special needs were never questioned and no one ever said “cannot”. Payment was accomplished using Internet Banking and the product was delivered in perfect working order on time. In my opinion, no company in the world could have done a better job than this particular Thai company.

[Swanky]

That was my comment about a sixth sense. True though, sometimes you need it and many things are instinct driven. Common sense also has to do with how practical a person is to forsee things. As in action and reaction.