Doonagirl Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 I was shopping on Phi Phi the other day and was amazed at the lack of thoughfulness shown by a couple of older foreigners who picked up a pair of pants I also had my eye on. As I had been to Phi Phi before the tsunami hit the island I could really appreciate the destruction it had caused and was not about to bargain for anything with the locals.I stood back and listened carefully at the conversation the starting price was 300bht which to me is $10, the two women looked at each other spoke in a foreign language and offered 150bht, the shop assistant said no so the two women looked at each other and walked out. Those pants were mine! I walked over pulled out 300bht and thanked the assistant who smiled and thanked me back. The pants look great they are the most comfortable pair of pants I own, not to mention the cheapest. Karma! The thai people have gone through such a terrible ordeal and still are and you do not hear then complaining yet a couple of old women who's pants are obviously too tight can cpmplain over a $10 pair of pants! What goes around comes around xoxoxoxo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 The guide books encourage bartering & generally, in most situations, thai vendors would expect a bit of friendly banter & a drop in the price. Also a lot of tourists think they HAVE to barter otherwise they haven't got a good bargain! But as you said, after the tsunami people need money & 300 baht for trousers (in england, pants are underwear ) is cheap at any time, so those women could have been a bit more thoughtful but good for you for getting a bargain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoastnative Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 My take on this and I could be wrong is that the vendors aren't the ones hurting the worst. The owners tend to be non-thai and doing pretty good by Thai standards. Plus they are getting these knock offs manufactured for almost nothing in bangkok and then selling them to the tourists for whatever they can get. Believe me, they don't sell it if they don't make at least 20-30%. I know a young lady that has a vendor biz selling swimwear to the tourists. She buys them at 150 bht and sells them for 250 to 450 bht each. Not a bad business. If you want to help the real poor that are suffering then donate some money to organizations that feed and clothe the poor. That's way the money goes directly to those in need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doonagirl Posted December 12, 2005 Author Share Posted December 12, 2005 My take on this and I could be wrong is that the vendors aren't the ones hurting the worst. The owners tend to be non-thai and doing pretty good by Thai standards. Plus they are getting these knock offs manufactured for almost nothing in bangkok and then selling them to the tourists for whatever they can get. Believe me, they don't sell it if they don't make at least 20-30%. I know a young lady that has a vendor biz selling swimwear to the tourists. She buys them at 150 bht and sells them for 250 to 450 bht each. Not a bad business. If you want to help the real poor that are suffering then donate some money to organizations that feed and clothe the poor. That's way the money goes directly to those in need. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I guess what I was trying to get across is that we take a lot for granted. I come from one of the luckiest countrys in the world and wouldn't stop to consider how much the vendor's are making on their sales when buying from Phi Phi, its all still extremely cheap and the standard of living there is no where near mine at home. In retail you should actually get back 100% on your sales, so 20-30% isn't really "making a living" by any standards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommieroo Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 exactly why thailand is getting like spain. with the help of u americians its great, flash ur money ect and then the mild stone is set. oh so what there has been a tsunami, but do u understand how much money has been pumped into that, from donations. well thanku what a stupid post, i hope other people will catch my drift on this, infact i no they will. thanks to folk like u they will be a mc donalds on every island soon. its true about u yanks u are so thick tom ENGLAND Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ourmanflint Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Whoa there fella... where did that come from...? Stay away from the mushrooms old boy they're dangerous!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sylvafern Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 (edited) its true about u yanks u are so thick tom ENGLAND You're British???? I could make comments about your level of intelligence if I were that way inclined (which thankfully I'm not) .... doonagirl's nick name implies she's probably not even a 'yank' and even if she is, I doubt that makes her 'thick'! Weird post! PS - doonagirl - know what you mean, though. Sometimes it's hard not to wonder about some tourist who are desperate to get something as cheap as possible. Bargaining is the norm in most places, but it's true vendors won't sell if they're not making some sort of profit .... so in this case, it was their loss and your gain! I just wish I could fit into pants (also used in antipodian (sp?) countries as well as the US) made in Thailand! Edited April 11, 2006 by sylvafern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdinasia Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 OK ... I fail to see the issue here .... People see something ... they see the price ... they decide the price is not acceptable and make an offer .... the offer is rejected ... with no counter offer so they leave ... oh wait ... could the issue be they tried to buy something the OP wanted first? Really ... who is anyone to decide what is being too cheap when it is in an accept or reject the offer situation ... (Unlike tipping ... where it is easy to see who is too cheap) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seonai Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 BEING THICK OR BEING INTELLIGENT..... HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE COUNTRY YOU COME FROM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2long Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 #1 Stop moaning, you got the pants. You could have complained if they HAD bought YOUR pants! #2 Donating money to big charities doesn't mean it goes straight to the poor. There's so much bullshit and beaurocracy that lots of it gets dissolved. Give to small charities, or directly to the poor. #3 Lots of us don't like Yanks, but they're not to blame for everything. If you really are from England, please sort your language out, or claim to come from somewhere else! #4 The people of Phi Phi do very well, but also need help so long as they're not a big company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redrus Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 Doona is Ozzie for a duvet if my memory is correct. Lets stop slaggin eachother off eh, the lass in her very first sentance only asked for "a little thoughtfulness...." Pass it round....! redrus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dive_mistress Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 exactly why thailand is getting like spain.with the help of u americians its great, flash ur money ect and then the mild stone is set. oh so what there has been a tsunami, but do u understand how much money has been pumped into that, from donations. well thanku what a stupid post, i hope other people will catch my drift on this, infact i no they will. thanks to folk like u they will be a mc donalds on every island soon. its true about u yanks u are so thick tom ENGLAND Why has Spain gotten like SPain? I never knew Spain was a popular destination for Americans. They say only like 8% or 19% of us even have passports! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlRedEyes Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 I was shopping on Phi Phi the other day and was amazed at the lack of thoughfulness shown by a couple of older foreigners who picked up a pair of pants I also had my eye on. As I had been to Phi Phi before the tsunami hit the island I could really appreciate the destruction it had caused and was not about to bargain for anything with the locals.I stood back and listened carefully at the conversation the starting price was 300bht which to me is $10, the two women looked at each other spoke in a foreign language and offered 150bht, the shop assistant said no so the two women looked at each other and walked out. Those pants were mine! I walked over pulled out 300bht and thanked the assistant who smiled and thanked me back. The pants look great they are the most comfortable pair of pants I own, not to mention the cheapest. Karma! The thai people have gone through such a terrible ordeal and still are and you do not hear then complaining yet a couple of old women who's pants are obviously too tight can cpmplain over a $10 pair of pants! What goes around comes around xoxoxoxo Speaking of foreign languages. As you obviously don't know what language it is, what knowledge have you of what a similar pair of pants might cost them 'back home'? 'Back home' may be Zimbabwe. You judge with absolutely no knowledge of them. Or the vendor. As you say, what goes around, comes around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verzenden Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 its true about u yanks u are so thick tom ENGLAND And so are you English folks! I came across this report last week, will take you some time to read it but fascinating i think. I'm very sick too! I'm Dutch, according to this report I'm the sickest. Open the PDF file on top of the page, hope u got a DSL connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verzenden Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 And so are you English folks! I came across this report last week, will take you some time to read it but fascinating i think. I'm very sick too! I'm Dutch, according to this report I'm the sickest. Open the PDF file on top of the page, hope u got a DSL connection. Thick / sick, oops, well whatever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylar Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 Thick / sick, oops, well whatever Fooli sik!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doonagirl Posted October 29, 2007 Author Share Posted October 29, 2007 I wrote this post to express my sadness over 2 women being rude to a thai person who was working on Phi Phi after the tsunami. I went to Phi Phi to help put my money back into their pockets and was shocked that these two women who were certainly not from Africa but a country whose currency gets twice as much as mine at the thai exchange. The comment about how do I know how much pants cost in their country is really stupid I have been around the world many a time and have a fair idea about the cost of clothes in other countries....the two women moaning about the price of the "pants" (this is an ozzie term as I am australian not american thats a hot tip for the guy who wrote the post saying I was a yank, mate you are a racist) upset me and was plain and simply rude. I don't care about vendors and how much they "make off tourists" for goodness sake Phi Phi had just about been wiped off the map and these women couldn't spend an extra 150 baht (1 and a bit euros to them). Maybe I am a bit naive but I have a good heart and was trying to get my point across that we should look after each other, as there is no room for rudeness in this world. I cannot tolerate people being unkind to others and my post was not about how much the pants cost etc but really about being nice to people especially when they have been to hel_l and back. So anyone who wants to waste their energy bagging out my post be fairdinkum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seonai Posted October 29, 2007 Share Posted October 29, 2007 Closed - no explanation necessary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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