Banks And Supermarkets Staff

[CroBiker]

This morning went to Tesco at Chaofa East to buy some groceries. Cashier scanned the goods and tells me to pay Baht 220 (two hundred twenty). I looked at the pile of bags filled with stuff, thinking yippie...can't believe my good luck... and asked her once again how much. She repeats 220. I asked her if she's sure on which she kind of angrily replied and confirmed. Only then I looked at cashier digital price display and realized amount is Baht 2,200. This time I slightly raised my voice (in reply to her rudeness) and asked her again. Again, 220 she said. Finaly, I pointed out to price total at cashier display, she was staring at it in disbelief for about 10-15 seconds.....Red face and embarrasing smile appeared, accompanied with newly found humility towards paying customer.

This is not the first time it happened. In Central Tops is daily occurence and when customer (especially foreign) points out to their mistakes, they hardly care or even apologise afterwards. Least would expect "thank you" for saving her sorry ass from being fired.

The other day, SCB bank at Central. Paying my credit cards and buying foreign currency. Cashier asks for passport, credit card and what not. Transaction completed but in process she asks me thousand irrelevant questions, confusing me and herself. Can't wait to get out of there. Upon completion of task, she looks at me and tells me it's all done. I asked for my passport and card. She tells me she gave it to me. Of course she didn't, but she just won't budge. She responds as if I am here to defraud the bank, other employees (all females) approach too and looking at me as if I have fallen from another planet....At the end, they found the card and passport in photo copier.

I heard of many similar cases happening to other folks, some of them outright hilarious.

Question for TV readers: How often you come accross situations like these?

Edited August 23, 2010 by CroBiker

[Capealava]

Thai banks and Supermarkets hardly pay these front line clerks a livable wage. Probably 6000 to 8000 baht a month. Their lack of enthusiasm is understandable. I am sure they all appreciate your help when things get confusing however.

Parked my car between 2 Porsche Cayenne SUV's at Top Foods worth about 4,000,000 baht a piece the other day. The upper echelon does well in Thailand mainly through the poor wages paid to the majority of Thai employes. In the USA people bitch about CEO's making 250 times more than the wages of a regular employee. In Thailand it must be 1000 times more. It makes for "a every man for himself attitude" than helps spawn the deep corruption in Thai society.

Answer to you Question-Often-but it happens more often in the USA with billing errors and having to call 5 times to get it fixed. Definitely not hilarious.

[PhuketBlogger]

daily occurence ... I heard of many similar cases ...

Not sure I recall such "hilarious" things ever happening to me. Probably has, but if perchance a check out clerk made a mistake, it's not something I'd keep in my mind and waste time writing about.

[surayu]

" ....saving her sorry ass from being fired."

i don't think it will goes that way, more likely the loss will be elevated till the nearest "alien" is found and then an appropriated story will be made up to suit the case

" looking at me as if I have fallen from another planet "

why do you think we are addressed as "aliens" in official matters otherways ?

The customer been un-welcomed while doing a purchase is a very common trait in many local stores, usually the staff are busy with their mobile phones, chatting with colleagues, watching lakorns, whatever else and they really make you feel like if you are clearly an annoyance to them, if they pay attention to you at all .........and remember, if it's not "sanook" then isn't worth doing it :jap:

[iSabai]

Thai banks and Supermarkets hardly pay these front line clerks a livable wage. Probably 6000 to 8000 baht a month. Their lack of enthusiasm is understandable. I am sure they all appreciate your help when things get confusing however.

Parked my car between 2 Porsche Cayenne SUV's at Top Foods worth about 4,000,000 baht a piece the other day. The upper echelon does well in Thailand mainly through the poor wages paid to the majority of Thai employes. In the USA people bitch about CEO's making 250 times more than the wages of a regular employee. In Thailand it must be 1000 times more. It makes for "a every man for himself attitude" than helps spawn the deep corruption in Thai society.

Answer to you Question-Often-but it happens more often in the USA with billing errors and having to call 5 times to get it fixed. Definitely not hilarious.

These folks have been poorly paid for as long as I can recall. But it's a more recent phenomenon that they have the surly attitudes. I chalk it up to this younger generation, same like in other cultures and countries.

The younger Thais just don't have the same polite respect that their parents and grandparents had. Same same, like you say, as in the USA.

[petercallen]

Its the same everywhere not only Thailand and the USA

[sam666]

Get a grip, they don't even get to sit down, you earn more in an hour then they do it in 12, jesus ....

[steelepulse]

What if the OP is unemployed or retired, does he still earn more in an hour?

Unfortunately this attitude is more and more prevalent here in Phuket. It's always refreshing to visit another province and see how much better you are treated.

[LivinLOS]

Banks.. Everywhere they are a rub but here they just take the cake..

2 lately in Kasikorn JC (so much so I changed).

First one small, I wanted the full transaction record as clean as possible in my bank book, as I was seasoning some money for immigration. My bank book has only half a page left in it. The teller speaks great english (which I am very grateful for) so this isnt a question of miss communication, its a 'dont care'.. I am really careful before handing her anything.. "Hi, I need this record for immigration, its important, I only have a small amount of space left in this book, so please do not update it, if you cannot stop the process once its started.. I dont want this statement on bits of stapled in paper".. Yes (makes a grab for the book).. I hold it back.. "If it needs more space, I am happy to get a new book first, and have the whole print start in the new book" Etc etc etc.. I mean I stressed this 5 ways to sunday, calmly, politely, smiling, etc.. She grabs the book, feeds it in the machine, finishes the book and gets a slip of paper !! I stop her, point out thats precisely what I just spent a minute explaining must not happen and not to print it.. Oh if I stop now you lose all the rest of the transactions, cannot stop !! Jesus wept !! I know I can order and pay for replacement statements but really, I took so much care to avoid this precise issue.

Much bigger one.. After 2 years of fighting, I finally get a bunch of money back from uncle Sam for taxes they should never have had (hadnt even been to the states during that time) years I had stubbornly fought for that cheque... Of course USD cheque... So I ask them, can you cash this ?? Oh yes no problem.. Are you absolutely sure ?? Yes easy take 4 - 6 weeks but no problem.. Your sure this wont screw up, because my euro bank wont have an issue with it and I have a usd account there ?? No no easy just hand it in (and pay about 500 baht for the service). Then when doing the forms, what bank is this from ?? (look at cheque, its direct from the US treasury) well its not from a bank, its from the government.. But what bank ?? Erm not a bank.. The US treasury is the government, like a government bank... We have to have a bank name (at this point I want the cheque back to post to europe but no they have started now and resist that, I should have known their ability and insisted).. She puts US treasury in the 'bank' space.. 4 weeks, no credit.. 6 weeks no credit.. 8 weeks phone call please come to the bank.. We cannot cash this, we dont know what bank issued it (sigh) OK give it back.. But they have stamped all over it, cheque cashed, account payee credited !! Plus they refuse to give me back the cheque cashing fee.. So they have ruined the cheque it took 2 years, and paying a US accountant, and doing the first tax return I have done in a decade, to get !! The service they were sooooo sure was 'no problem'.. The whole attitude was one of "well its not our fault.. You had to tell us the bank name" not even conciliatory about it.

I just have to keep remembering, do nothing complex here, do the simplest processes only.. They just cant cut it for anything mildly out of the ordinary.. My fault for expecting them to.

[Lannatyne]

Totally agree with the OP and other posters. I always joke with my wife that this isn't the LoS, it's the "Land of Bua Nak Faces" - 'miserable / bored' for those who don't know.

At home in UK, you can give a sequence of instructions, and it generally work out. Here, they can only cope with one task at a time. Therefore, I tend to break everything down and just drip feed them. They think they're finished, but oh no, the next bit is this........

Okay, it perhaps winds them up a bit and they clearly don't like it, but it's the only way I'm certain of completing the "full job" properly.