It'S All Too Hard

[crusty]

By far the largest turnover of staff on Samui are Thai males who masquerade as "engineers", they are usually found to be incompetent, lazy or unreliable. The absence of an apprentice system in Thailand is evident, as a construction worker will be employed to be all a plumber, electrician, carpenter or a bricklayer / plasterer, resulting in a shoddy, below standard job. Thus you wonder how any " maintenance man ", having been supplied with s.s. fittings and fasteners, would then use steel screws on a structure open to the seafront and as a bonus they use hammers to bang in the screws rather than a screwdriver ! AAgggghhhhh, the stress !

[Boater]

calm down and enter Bedlem , as see you have now notched up enough posts to access this ' hidden forum '

[sevenhills]

Don't do it to yourself Governor, It's not worth the stress. Far more important issues to pursue.

Edit: We will discuss it at the next Council meeting, and install an engineering senator.

Edited October 1, 2010 by sevenhills

[nullx8]

guess this is a thailand-wide "probem"

i have talked with uncoutable peoples already ...

like 22 years old, have masters degree ... and complainng the farang get more $$ ...

well its because the farang really EARNED the degree

but this is a hopeless topic anyway.

if i tell self named "masters" that you have to be in germany Bachelor for at least 5 years to be even accepted to Master-school in order to bring in some life and work experiences .. this is just answered with no comment at all .. haha

asking this peoples how they feel take responsibility for others in a hig ranking position without even know what the operation is about or what are the companys Goals..

well this things beeing usally ignored ... or questions like this resulting in "the farang know all better" or "get lost" HAHA

[joe84330]

as frustrating as this topic is, i do get a kick out of it sometimes. one recent example is my last drivers "test" for my 5 year license. in spite of the fact that i allowed my last license to expire by over a year prior to going in for the 5 year, i was waved right on through the process (thanks to a member of my staff calling her friend to let her know i was coming in, that i found out later) and even though i was standing in line with the other farang upstairs for the eye hand coordination test and others, i was very politely and discretely told in thai that i should step to the side and await the written test.

most of us know the written test by now so it shouldn't really be any surprise that i finished the test in 9 minutes, passing without any problems i mean when you are presented with a question such as "if you are feeling tired while driving, it is ok to...a) take ya baa yawn c) stop and rest or d) turn up the volume on the cd player , it doesn't really take a thoughtful and considerate person.

anyway, my 9 minutes were up so i pulled out my card and handed it to the woman who upon seeing me ace the test in such a quick time says that i am very "clever".

[sevenhills]

guess this is a thailand-wide "probem"

i have talked with uncoutable peoples already ...

like 22 years old, have masters degree ... and complainng the farang get more $ ...

well its because the farang really EARNED the degree

but this is a hopeless topic anyway.

if i tell self named "masters" that you have to be in germany Bachelor for at least 5 years to be even accepted to Master-school in order to bring in some life and work experiences .. this is just answered with no comment at all .. haha

asking this peoples how they feel take responsibility for others in a hig ranking position without even know what the operation is about or what are the companys Goals..

well this things beeing usally ignored ... or questions like this resulting in "the farang know all better" or "get lost" HAHA

Are you Big C??

[samuijimmy]

Oh come on now!!!

They do have apprentice programs... it's called "Jack of all trades, master of none" .....

Actually, not always true, but common, I do admit!

[mattcodes]

if i tell self named "masters" that you have to be in germany Bachelor for at least 5 years to be even accepted to Master-school in order to bring in some life and work experiences .. this is just answered with no comment at all .. haha

Isn't a masters something you do once you realise that the real world aint working too well after completing a degree and thus go back to the academic world. All the masters I know are utterly incompetent, not sure if this is niched to IT though. A cert is a cert a nothing else, thai or german, earned or not, doesnt mean much in the real world.

Edited October 2, 2010 by mattcodes

[BigC]

Tell me about. it. u have to watch those workers all the time. even when u have a 5 minute or a 1 hr brake they make time to mess something up. also if they do a good job i never tip them cause then the next payment they expect it again or more.

just tip one time at the end of the job. thats if they have done a good job.

the worst type of contruction people are the ones who know how to do the job. they just mess it up. this makes me even more angry than a stupid person who does not know how to do the job. this means that the person who can be an electrican or a plumer or a maintance man does mess the job up. this means they have done it on purpose. they normally either have to do the whole job again. or they don't get paid.

I tell them when i first meet them. eithere do it my wy. which is the right way and the easy way or do not do it at all. or u can do it again and again or u get nothing.

also a tip. if u use the contracters materials then he has to give u warrentee on his materials. if u supply materials and they supply labour then if they mess up the job. like a whole kitchen full of tiles. then they might not pay you for the new tiles to re do it.

[samuijimmy]

also a tip. if u use the contracters materials then he has to give u warrentee on his materials. if u supply materials and they supply labour then if they mess up the job. like a whole kitchen full of tiles. then they might not pay you for the new tiles to re do it.

Well not always if they use their materials... heard a story recently that contractor supplied materials (re grouting pool) & it did not work... The contractor blamed the manufacturer /shop for supplying the wrong material, of course the person who had the job done, had to pay for both again!

Agree too, don't pay in full or tip until the job is finished... I found that out with some painters...pleading they had to pay rent... . (silly me! They did not come back!!! ) ....but they lost out in long run because of no referrals ...

[nullx8]

.but they lost out in long run because of no referrals

after 7 Years in Thailand, im absolutly confident that there is basically NOBODY think or even know about Referals and/or long therm at all !

including the successful big enterprices.

(well okay except they are Chinese or have close chinese roots)

[BigC]

guess this is a thailand-wide "probem"

i have talked with uncoutable peoples already ...

like 22 years old, have masters degree ... and complainng the farang get more $ ...

well its because the farang really EARNED the degree

but this is a hopeless topic anyway.

if i tell self named "masters" that you have to be in germany Bachelor for at least 5 years to be even accepted to Master-school in order to bring in some life and work experiences .. this is just answered with no comment at all .. haha

asking this peoples how they feel take responsibility for others in a hig ranking position without even know what the operation is about or what are the companys Goals..

well this things beeing usally ignored ... or questions like this resulting in "the farang know all better" or "get lost" HAHA

Are you Big C??

no i am bigc. having read that post. i am really that bad ?

[BigC]

also a tip. if u use the contracters materials then he has to give u warrentee on his materials. if u supply materials and they supply labour then if they mess up the job. like a whole kitchen full of tiles. then they might not pay you for the new tiles to re do it.

Well not always if they use their materials... heard a story recently that contractor supplied materials (re grouting pool) & it did not work... The contractor blamed the manufacturer /shop for supplying the wrong material, of course the person who had the job done, had to pay for both again!

Agree too, don't pay in full or tip until the job is finished... I found that out with some painters...pleading they had to pay rent... . (silly me! They did not come back!!! ) ....but they lost out in long run because of no referrals ...

it takes a long time on this island to find a descent contractor. at last i have found 1 but he is so over loaded with work that he has to sub let workers to my job. His staff are good as gold but the people he has subbed out are a nightmare. i have become ruthless with them now.

Basically i pay the contractor. he pays all sub contracters and his staff but when i ask the sub contractors to help me with something else. that is when it all goes wrong.

i have a reuptation for completly losing my temper.

1 st rule. either they do it my way which is the right way or they can go home un paid. if they do it wrong they do it again and again. They normally sit in their car and sult for about an hour then they get on with it.

2 nd rule if they are too greedy. i just sya i do not want them to do the job and verbal rip the piss piut of them. they take the piss with prices i take the piss out of them verbally.

3 rd rule. i do not listen or care about there personally lives. they come they work they go home. i realy don't care how many hungry mouths they have to feed. ain't my problem.

4 th they cannot take anything without asking from my land. like bannanas and mangos.

5 th if at the end. I have no problems with them. then i refer them to other people and give them a tip and make them coffees and make sure they have a fan on when it is too hot.

bascially if they are good with me then i am good with them if they mess with me in any way. then they can go home and go back to bed.

I have a good contractor now. I pay him in full for the jobs he does thats if he does a good job. If i have a problem with any of there staff the contractor sacks them straight away or forces them to work until they have worked off their pay.

I did have a problem with some of there sub contractors. The contractors answer was " they try and charge me more because i am a forang. They would not even think of doing the same to another Thai."

I liked their honesty on how other people around them think.

The contractor also told me that the most of his jobs are in surathani. big head ache for him working in samui. nothing is straight down line.

Also had some people here doing some air conditioning work. one of the workers was walking round the house almost as if it was his own. he was whistling at women as they walked by and just taking the piss.

I told him that my house is not a market. Told him to either shut up and work get paid and go home or just go home.

so he left and let the others get on wid there work

[BigC]

basically they do the job right they get paid. they do it wrong then i release the hounds and buffalows