Most Baffling Thai Service

[crazygreg44]

Robblok got that right . . there are taxi touts and there are honest guys. And i admit, adversely to my comment in the first post, some actually don t know their city well, and get lost or drive you around helplessly but would never admit . . . . while I have come to some that got me to my minibus IN TIME when I was late by many minutes . . by sneaking me through some back alleys in the correct direction and made me catch the bus . . against heavy traffic jams in the main roads . .

however I would never be rude to them if refused a ride . . . it's THEIR job & city , they are free entrepreneurs, and nobody gives a f..k how taxi regulations are handled in the U.K. . . not same same in the Big Mango . .

Anyways guys & ladiss . . this topic is about THE MOST BAFFLING Experience you have had with Thais !!! I expect this to be one hel_l uva Post . . . could really grow to be a large collection of real encounters of our long-in-the-country- living expats vs Thais . . . if they'd just stop getting wound up in comments on if it's rough or not leaving taxi doors open to honest faced taxi turds

lets get back to that said topic . .hel_l, I was and am stil trying to dig up a few memories when . . . got lost in a maelstrom . . . ah, can ya shut that rear taxi door pleeze??

[freethefour]

helpful hints: Ordinary Thai people like waiters can hardly speak/understand English especially Australian English or some Thai words false pronounced with an Australian accent.

So don't expect that they understand your order. And don't expect that a yes/no is a yes/no in your sense. Same for the Tom Yam fiascso...

Actually that's in the beginner's guide to Thailand.

So, next time speak slowly and simultaneously point that on the menu by saying: No mayonnaise and repeat that.

Agree with you there.

I often see foreigners ordering in shops or restaurants in Thailand and

ordering things that are not specified on the menu and talking like they are back

home then getting flustered when the order comes back incorrectly. My

Thai is basic so I use the point at the menu method and never

had any problems. As a matter of fact I have never had a order screwed

up yet at a Thai establishment. When it comes to service in shops and

restaurants I do believe this is one department that Thai's are supperior.

[Daewoo]

helpful hints: Ordinary Thai people like waiters can hardly speak/understand English especially Australian English or some Thai words false pronounced with an Australian accent.

So don't expect that they understand your order. And don't expect that a yes/no is a yes/no in your sense. Same for the Tom Yam fiascso...

Actually that's in the beginner's guide to Thailand.

So, next time speak slowly and simultaneously point that on the menu by saying: No mayonnaise and repeat that.

Two different cases...

In the first case, my Thai is pretty good, definately good enough to order food... but I also get the waitress to confirm in English, so I know that she has the order correct, but she either hasn't written in correctly on her pad, or can't explain it correctly to the cook, or there is no process by which she can tell the cook...

In the second case, it is a pretty expensive restaurant that catters mostly to expats, and the staff have pretty good English, I think the waiter understood the question, but just didn't think the shrimp were big enough to affect the taste or something...

I am not talking about basic miscommunication, which I blame on my own inability to grasp the Thai language... I have a much harder time trying to communicate with Thai wait staff in Thai restautrants in Australia than I do in Thailand, because here, they aren't used to shithouse farrang Thai ... and they aren't expecting to have to try and decipher my feable attempts...

Cheers,

Daewoo

[Soutpeel]

Yeah sure I can be a prick sometimes, just like everyone here can be a prick at some point. So does admitting to being a prick make me a bigger prick aye? Prick.

Ladies....may I suggest handbags at dawn...

[gotglue]

Yeah sure I can be a prick sometimes, just like everyone here can be a prick at some point. So does admitting to being a prick make me a bigger prick aye? Prick.

Ladies....may I suggest handbags at dawn...

Mr Soutpeel, now you're just being a prick I'm sorry mate, I just can't be arsed with forum cheerleaders. No better way to get a thread closed. And this has been quite an interesting read.

[Robpreece]

We have lived in Thailand quite a while now and the funny incidents that stick in my mind are:

Arriving at the small dry cleaners to pick up drycleaning. Only one staff member who has a look and then appears worried. Runs out of shop - leaving till open. We wait a while, she doesn't return, so we decide to come back tomorrow. No problems the next day - drycleaning is there. This is a common scenario for us so we were not too perturbed - Thai people do not like to deliver bad news and prefer avoidance as a defence.

At dinner at a middle eastern restaurant, our order is taken and food duly appears for my wife and myself but the children's requests do not arrive. The waiter is now deliberately avoiding our table. We wait a while and then my wife calls him over. He tells us the children's choices are not available - perhaps they would like something else. This is about 40 minutes after we initially ordered. No problem - we finished up and then took the kids to McDonalds which they prefer anyway. Once again - waiter did not want to deliver bad news and once he realised food was not available did not want to lose face.

Taxis - I have had wonderful taxi drivers who have driven me through flooded streets or in extreme traffic jams. They get big tips. I have also had crazy, inebriated taxi drivers. I have only been turfed out of a cab once - nothing I did but the taxi driver decided that he did not want to take me after 5 minutes of driving. My way of dealing with refusals is to break a trip down into two parts or get the taxi driver to take me to the nearest BTS or MRT. I have twice got out of a cab due to refusal to use the meter.

[bonobo]

Posts have been deleted.  Let's keep away from the name-calling, please.

[theoldgit]

I got a taxi to the airport a couple of weeks ago as we were about 5 mins away the driver realised his meter wasn't moving, he tapped it and it started moving at the proper rate. On arrival the meter was only showing 47 Baht, against the normal 250 or so, I asked the price of the trip and he pointed to the meter with a shrug of the shoulders and a smile, I paid him the normal rate adding a decent tip.

On my return, during curfew hours, I went up to the arrival level where a couple of drivers were cruising around, the one who stopped for me quoted 500 Baht plus the expressway fee, on advising that there was no need to use the expressway for Thong Lor his fixed price went to 600 Baht, I declined his kind offer, as did everyone else, and took a cab from the rank at the regular rate.

We were recently in a restaurant in Hua Hin, at the next table was a couple with two kids, they ordered a meal and Mum's meal was delivered fairly quickly as were the kid's meals, Dad waited patiently, the desserts arrived for Mum and the kids with Dad still waiting for his main course and on enquiry being told his meal was on the way. Mum and the kids finished their deserts, Dad still waiting for his main course, after a little while, without prompting, the bill arrived, Dad pointed to his dinner on the bill explaining that he was still waiting for his dinner, the waitress simply deleted the item and recalculated the total, adding "not have". I suspect that couple will not be returning. Only in Thailand.

[clausewitz]

The most important one!

ATM machines giving cash first then the card! how many times do you grab the cash and walk off...should be card first followed by cash!

Done that twice so far including once in Panthip Plaza (probably the worst place I can imagine to lose your bank card!), of course my card was gone from the ATM just 6 seconds later when I realised and turned around. Called the bank and cancelled it immediately and then found out the next day that someone had tried to withdraw 20k for the rest of the day at various places all over Bangkok.

It should be card first then cash so you can high-tail it with the wad before all the murderers and muggers who hide around ATMs have a chance to jump you!

yep, lost 2 cards so far because of that.

[llso]

I really enjoyed this thread, Read through the whole thing. It brought back many memeories of my 7 years in Thailand. I could relate to almost everyone of the stories,

Thanks,

LL

[Kilgore Trout]

The most important one!

ATM machines giving cash first then the card! how many times do you grab the cash and walk off...should be card first followed by cash!

Done that twice so far including once in Panthip Plaza (probably the worst place I can imagine to lose your bank card!), of course my card was gone from the ATM just 6 seconds later when I realised and turned around. Called the bank and cancelled it immediately and then found out the next day that someone had tried to withdraw 20k for the rest of the day at various places all over Bangkok.

It should be card first then cash so you can high-tail it with the wad before all the murderers and muggers who hide around ATMs have a chance to jump you!

yep, lost 2 cards so far because of that.

The system where you slide your card is much better, then it never leaves your hand. About the Pantip thing, you were lucky the bank was open; I wonder, do they have a 24 hour hotline? Lucky break though

[Beltre]

I see my vote for the urinal massage is the current majority by a vast margin.

While initially rather disconcerting, it actually is nice and really empties out the kidneys.

[Kilgore Trout]

I see my vote for the urinal massage is the current majority by a vast margin.

While initially rather disconcerting, it actually is nice and really empties out the kidneys.

It blows if you are a victim of stagefright

[KunMatt]

About the Pantip thing, you were lucky the bank was open; I wonder, do they have a 24 hour hotline? Lucky break though

Yeah it's a UK bank and they have a 24 hour line for lost or stolen cards. One idiotic thing I did in a rush to call my home bank was I tried to use one of the phones inside Panthip which have a slot for credit cards, it was only when I swiped my remaining Credit Card and that I started to think about the possibility of the phone being rigged to copy cards too, like you see on ATM machines with the fake mount in front of the real card slot. Of course the phone was out of order which just fuelled my paranoia, luckily my credit card was ok.

With all of the criminal elements in Panthip and the hardware for copying just about everything in there you should really only use cash and I'd just compromised both both of my bank cards and only resource for getting cash abroad in the space of about 45 seconds!

Credit to my bank though, they stopped all fraudulant transactions and shipped a new card from the UK to a local branch in Bangkok in a few days.

[gotglue]

@Kilgore Trout, again "It blows if you are a victim of stagefright"........? hmmm ok

Edited June 4, 2010 by gotglue

[hunglikea]

@Kilgore Trout, again "It blows if you are a victim of stagefright"........? hmmm ok

I tihink "it blows' must mean something different in American

[gotglue]

@Kilgore Trout, again "It blows if you are a victim of stagefright"........? hmmm ok

I tihink "it blows' must mean something different in American

No, I'm just picking him up on his choice of words. He knows what I'm on about......

[chaoyang]

I always wondered about shops selling only weight scales or some such thing. Wondered how a family could survive on the proceeds, but it invariably seemed to be the case, because it was often an elderly Chinese man and his extended family -- and the shops look like they've been there since the time the country was called Siam.

[Colabamumbai]

I always wondered about shops selling only weight scales or some such thing. Wondered how a family could survive on the proceeds, but it invariably seemed to be the case, because it was often an elderly Chinese man and his extended family -- and the shops look like they've been there since the time the country was called Siam.

So many things are sold by weight in Thailand, gold, fruit, rice, junk, dope etc. It is probably a good business. People need scales.

[rixalex]

I see my vote for the urinal massage is the current majority by a vast margin.

While initially rather disconcerting, it actually is nice and really empties out the kidneys.

Speaking of odd behaviour in toilets, why do Thais flush before using?

[GarryP]

I see my vote for the urinal massage is the current majority by a vast margin.

While initially rather disconcerting, it actually is nice and really empties out the kidneys.

Speaking of odd behaviour in toilets, why do Thais flush before using?

Because the last person only flushed before using.

[rixalex]

I see my vote for the urinal massage is the current majority by a vast margin.

While initially rather disconcerting, it actually is nice and really empties out the kidneys.

Speaking of odd behaviour in toilets, why do Thais flush before using?

Because the last person only flushed before using.

Nah, that's not it.

Even if it were though, is what they "produce" too good to be mixed with what the last person "produced"?

Oh dear... starting to regret bringing this up.... too many images

[witold]

Why so paranoid about your ATM card?

It is unusable without the PIN. It's not like a credit card.

[bkkjames]

Why so paranoid about your ATM card?

It is unusable without the PIN. It's not like a credit card.

hmm let's see.

have your atm card cloned / including pin and all your savings gone or having your credit card used fraudulently with limited liability?

I take option B.

[Kilgore Trout]

@Kilgore Trout, again "It blows if you are a victim of stagefright"........? hmmm ok

I tihink "it blows' must mean something different in American

No, I'm just picking him up on his choice of words. He knows what I'm on about......

You are picking me up eh? Sorry already taken.

[elkangorito]

It looks like a 'massage at the urinal' is the winner.

I thought I was being accosted when this happened to me. It's rather strange & whoever thought this up, obviously had good intentions but for us foreigners, it's a bit disconcerting at first.

[soundman]

I see my vote for the urinal massage is the current majority by a vast margin.

While initially rather disconcerting, it actually is nice and really empties out the kidneys.

Speaking of odd behaviour in toilets, why do Thais flush before using?

Because the last person only flushed before using.

Nah, that's not it.

Even if it were though, is what they "produce" too good to be mixed with what the last person "produced"?

Oh dear... starting to regret bringing this up.... too many images

Because {supposedly} it stops the crap sticking to the porcelin.

[gotglue]

@Kilgore Trout, again "It blows if you are a victim of stagefright"........? hmmm ok

I tihink "it blows' must mean something different in American

No, I'm just picking him up on his choice of words. He knows what I'm on about......

You are picking me up eh? Sorry already taken.

Enough! Second thoughts, what if I was get a job in the toilets?

Edited June 5, 2010 by gotglue

[rixalex]

Speaking of odd behaviour in toilets, why do Thais flush before using?

Because the last person only flushed before using.

Nah, that's not it.

Even if it were though, is what they "produce" too good to be mixed with what the last person "produced"?

Oh dear... starting to regret bringing this up.... too many images

Because {supposedly} it stops the crap sticking to the porcelin.

Thanks for the explanation SoundMan. Yeah, hadn't thought of that.

So how many years of marriage did it take for that particular topic to be broached?

[elcent]

Once I sent my German friends to the railway station in Chiangmai. They needed to go back to Bangkok. Unfortunately we came a bit late. The train had already left. We only saw the red backlight far away. The station master realized what has happened and ordered the train to stop and to come back to pick up the three tourists. The train was moving backwards for a couple of hundred meters.

A truly amazing experience. Everyone was baffled and we all bursted out in laughters, also the staff at the railway station.

Edited June 5, 2010 by elcent