I find the "Wai" way of greeting simply wonderful,to the extent that when i'm back to my homecountry i "Wai" some of my friends which have travelled to Thailand or India.I did some "wrong" Wai in the past,but i have no regrets;i regret sometimes having been too lazy or moody to Wai somebody.A 'Wai" can have many meanings,but for me,mainly it means "respect".

I am not convinced that this is as black and white an issue as you make out.

There is a fair number of Thais who do return wais to service people, I actually see it quite often in shops and restaurants here in Chiang Mai.

Asked a Thai friend about it who does return such wais, she said she thinks they deserve a proper wai return even though they are service people.

For sure. My wife will return the wai of a waiter,waitress or other service staff when they've initiated the wai. She will also wai my daughter's (M3) closest friends when they wai her. As she told me she's simply acknowledging their politeness and in the case of the daughter's friends their close relationship with my daughter. It's a simple quick acknowledging wai with a "Sawadee Kha Luk". Nothing like as if the temple abbot of Wat Baan Rai was walking past or the like.

When I asked her about it she said she considers it polite and it's how she was raised. Similar to me who will always stop what I'm doing in a restaurant like eating or chatting and say "thank you" when a waiter/waitress comes to take a dirty plate/bring me a clean fork or whatever. It's how I've been brought up.

Edited July 17, 200917 yr by mca

I am not convinced that this is as black and white an issue as you make out.

There is a fair number of Thais who do return wais to service people, I actually see it quite often in shops and restaurants here in Chiang Mai.

Asked a Thai friend about it who does return such wais, she said she thinks they deserve a proper wai return even though they are service people.

For sure. My wife will return the wai of a waiter,waitress or other service staff when they've initiated the wai. She will also wai my daughter's (M3) closest friends when they wai her. As she told me she's simply acknowledging their politeness and in the case of the daughter's friends their close relationship with my daughter. It's a simple quick acknowledging wai with a "Sawadee Kha Luk". Nothing like as if the temple abbot of Wat Baan Rai was walking past or the like.

When I asked her about it she said she considers it polite and it's how she was raised. Similar to me who will always stop what I'm doing in a restaurant like eating or chatting and say "thank you" when a waiter/waitress comes to take a dirty plate/bring me a clean fork or whatever. It's how I've been brought up.

OK. I'm the awful person that will point out that they're married to 'service girls' that are used to 'waing' to everyone 'cos they're the lowest on the totem pole in Thailand.