cbrer Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 (edited) As for people going out of their way to 'befriend' certain people as it might be to their advantage in the future. I find that disgusting. Who exactly do that? Tell us. Dont just throw it out there. Please tell us who. The people who do. Plenty of them out there regardless of the culture raised in. And when I realized that most of them suffer from severely repressed emotions, extreme Napoleon-Syndrome, and have a poor education outside their conditioning of their place in the World, I found I had very little in common with them and did not enjoy their company. Was this the reason you left your home country? Not sure what you mean. I suppose it's an attempted quip of some sort. I left my country when I was 20 to travel the World while continuing my studies. 12 years later and I'm hitting my half-decade in this endlessly amusing country, with a great family, social-life and work environment. I'm afraid I can't be fake though. Which is probably why I don't like most Thais and they probably don't like me. Luckily I have no need or desire to be around them. Edited November 3, 2012 by cbrer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob7 Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Do not trust anyone in this world except perhaps mum and dad. I hope you don't mean your Thai Girlfriends Mum and Dad ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rsquared Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Do not trust anyone in this world except perhaps mum and dad. Sometimes.....I find it difficult to trust myself.....especially when there is dark chocolate nearby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob7 Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Do not trust anyone in this world except perhaps mum and dad. Sometimes.....I find it difficult to trust myself.....especially when there is dark chocolate nearby. Dark like chocolate, and I'm with you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beetlejuice Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I generally avoid Thai males anyway. I don't really like them and have no desire to socialize with them. Especially if they're in a uniform. I totally agree with you. These police are totally uneducated and a bunch of thugs. They can turn brutal for no good purpose. Here is one of my son’s associates using excess interrogating techniques on a victim just for being only 2 days on expired visa overstay. Absolutely sickening:: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Semper Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Luckily I have no need or desire to be around them. But you still do. Is money so important to you? Can you give a reason why you left your home country, where you could be with like-minded people? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbrer Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Luckily I have no need or desire to be around them. But you still do. Only when I'm paying peanuts for services a few moments per week. Is money so important to you? What are you on about? Can you give a reason why you left your home country, where you could be with like-minded people? I'm with like-minded people here. Wife, Western colleagues, Western social life, house full of Western goods, fridge full of Western food, bar full of Western drinks, but in an endlessly amusing country with weather I like and a complete lack of nanny-state crap (for me). What are you on about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrain Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I generally avoid Thai males anyway. I don't really like them and have no desire to socialize with them. Especially if they're in a uniform. I totally agree with you. These police are totally uneducated and a bunch of thugs. They can turn brutal for no good purpose. Here is one of my son’s associates using excess interrogating techniques on a victim just for being only 2 days on expired visa overstay. Absolutely sickening:: You took that picture from one of your favorite movies ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Semper Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 What are you on about? You're too young to understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 (edited) Some of you guys obviously only know Thailand via web Forums. Or maybe a trip to a Go Go bar once in a while. First time I needed help from my friend: My taxi was stopped in a regular Police check point. The ones of you living here, know what check points I talk about. Turned out the driver did not have a license, plus he was a foreigner. I called my friend, and he arranged for the taxi to deliver me, with an escort. The escort to deal with the driver's license after I was delivered. Again, I will keep you guys posted if my friend wants something from me. now we get examples of wasted favors. what a lot of paranoia and twaddle compose a thread such as this Edited November 3, 2012 by tinfoilhat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modem Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 And when I realized that most of them suffer from severely repressed emotions, extreme Napoleon-Syndrome, and have a poor education outside their conditioning of their place in the World, I found I had very little in common with them and did not enjoy their company. Was this the reason you left your home country? I think I know why YOU left your home country Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travel2003 Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Some of you guys obviously only know Thailand via web Forums. Or maybe a trip to a Go Go bar once in a while. First time I needed help from my friend: My taxi was stopped in a regular Police check point. The ones of you living here, know what check points I talk about. Turned out the driver did not have a license, plus he was a foreigner. I called my friend, and he arranged for the taxi to deliver me, with an escort. The escort to deal with the driver's license after I was delivered. Again, I will keep you guys posted if my friend wants something from me. now we get examples of wasted favors. what a lot of paranoia and twaddle compose a thread such as this Wasted favors? You keep count of favors? You must be the favorite friend of all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fgis Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Who wants a low educated cop as a friend ? Not me for sure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisb Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 God, party with a bunch of cops...couldnt think of anything worse. Do they wanna be your friend now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbrer Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 What are you on about? You're too young to understand. Oh no, I perfectly understand your egg on face sidetracking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisinth Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 @Farangme It depends on your interpretation of friendship. I have a drawer full of business cards and phone numbers (seriously) ranging from judges to traffic policemen. In every case, they were given with a similar statement; "If ever you get in trouble, call me". In every case, it would need to be an extremely serious matter for me to use any one of those numbers. They actually may get you out of trouble at the time, but the debt would be there for ever. As for my actual friends, they are not as many as above and seldom give business cards........ The point of this post being that you can't pick your friends, friendships happens over time from both sides. What you can do is chose people that it is good to know to your advantage, and call them friends! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiRich Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Like most other people or nationalities policemen can not be summed up in one word or one classification. There are good and bad. My personal experience has been and is a good one. I teach most of the local cops sons and daughters at my school and offer some of them a discount on private lessons for their children. It has worked out to my advantage. If a cop who doesn't know me gives me a ticket for speeding or not wearing my helmet. I take the ticket to the police station and the cops there that know me change the fine to 10 baht or if the local cops are having a check point I get waived through even if I don't have my helmet on. My relationship with these cops is just a polite "hello" and I teach their children. As far as hanging out and getting drunk together. Whenever I am asked I decline with an excuse of "I don't have time". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manly100 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 (edited) I have an acquaintance who, at his house, paid a officer every week in money and drinks for assistance in the event of a mishap exposing him to some form of liability or corruption. When his mishap arrived the officer was nowhere to be found. My acquaintance paid out 3 million to avoid prison. He is still recovering from that episode. My other acquaintance had an officer living next door and gave him nothing other than a friendly wave and hello, they exchange cell numbers at some stage but nothing more. Then one night my acquaintance king hit and bashed another drinker in a bar. Realizing he was moments from prolonged confinement he phoned his officer acquaintance and the officer came to the bar as the victim was carted away to hospital. A few words from the officer to other officers at the crime scene and the thing was handled like nothing had happened. He has given nothing for the officer’s help other than to say thanks. He now knows what he can get away with and I expect to see more assaults from him. Edited November 4, 2012 by metisdead : Please do not post using over sized font, font reset to default. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbrer Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 ^ Beautiful social circle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunta71 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I generally avoid Thai males anyway. I don't really like them and have no desire to socialize with them. Especially if they're in a uniform. Why did you come here? Could it be for the non law abiding women? Oh yes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeavyDrinker Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 (edited) As for people going out of their way to 'befriend' certain people as it might be to their advantage in the future. I find that disgusting. Who exactly do that? Tell us. Dont just throw it out there. Please tell us who. People call it "Networking". It's more for people who struggle to be able to operate outside their own sphere of knowledge or influence so need to pretend to make friends with people so they can use them at a future date. I agree with cbrer. It's sad. That said, I occasionally pester my friends when I have a query in their particular field or profession as do my friends pester me when they have a similar query in my field yet they became friends for reasons beyond "what advantage can knowing them be to me?" Edited November 4, 2012 by HeavyDrinker 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacktrip Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 keep your head down, dont get involved with people in law enforcement or power, and dont invite problems and complications. rules of survival that work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 yep, best dont crawl out of the rock you live under. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJohnnyBKK Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 (edited) There's no problems getting out and about in Thai society being as conspicuous as you like as long as your papers are in order and your life legitimate and respectable. But challenging authority, messing around with peoples rice bowls, getting involved in suspect activities certainly do increase the odds you'll run into trouble. Here's (what should be) a completely trivial example I've been collecting information on the quality of education here, building a network of teachers and parents that would like to see as objective as possible information available to parents on the reality behind the PR at the schools that market themselves as among the best in Thailand. Every Thai I talk to about this project starts to talk in whispers and warns me that what I'm doing is dangerous, and I've learned that first I have to teach participants how to use encryption and Tor networks in order for them to feel they can honestly express their opinions. In fact it's quite possible that a mod will come on and delete this message and/or ban me, since teaching people or maybe even publicly discussing such techniques is technically illegal here. So don't tell me it's a free and open society with a true free market, the Consumers Union would be illegal here, considered a dangerous and subversive organization. Good luck competing in the world economy Thais. . . Edited November 5, 2012 by BigJohnnyBKK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farangme Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 Thanks all for the feedback. Sounds like a 50/50 consensus. Guess I'll go with the gut...trust noone. Sent from my PC36100 using Thaivisa Connect App Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgs2001uk Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 @Farangme It depends on your interpretation of friendship. I have a drawer full of business cards and phone numbers (seriously) ranging from judges to traffic policemen. In every case, they were given with a similar statement; "If ever you get in trouble, call me". In every case, it would need to be an extremely serious matter for me to use any one of those numbers. They actually may get you out of trouble at the time, but the debt would be there for ever. As for my actual friends, they are not as many as above and seldom give business cards........ The point of this post being that you can't pick your friends, friendships happens over time from both sides. What you can do is chose people that it is good to know to your advantage, and call them friends! "In every case, it would need to be an extremely serious matter for me to use any one of those numbers" Agreed, I have also been told if it involves drink driving or drugs dont bother phoning, these people have told me, "you have been here long enough to know how things work here, you know the rules abide by them". As for being hit up for 200 baht for a traffic violation, just pay it the same as the Thais do. Which brings me onto this, but the debt would be there for ever. An often forgotten fact about phone a friend is the fact about the Thai being left with a debt that will always be there. These people have told me they wont be beholden to another Thai because of my stupidty. If its a genuine case phone, the best you can hope for is being put in touch with another Thai middleman, jao por type to negotiate on your behalf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJohnnyBKK Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 (edited) An often forgotten fact about phone a friend is the fact about the Thai being left with a debt that will always be there. These people have told me they wont be beholden to another Thai because of my stupidty. If its a genuine case phone, the best you can hope for is being put in touch with another Thai middleman, jao por type to negotiate on your behalf. If your contact has enough juice, and you yourself are important enough to his interests, then anything is possible. If you're an average Joe without much to offer then he won't bother, unless you are truly friends which is of course rare. And I'm not talking about how important you are how much you've got in assets back home, only to the extent you have power-in-use within the local networks does it count for you. Even a lowly English teacher has got enough clout to get off the hook if he's the beloved tutor of the favorite son of the owner of Bangkok Bank, as long as he didn't actually do anything wrong and is just being held hostage by some penny-ante plod. A grand poobah of Wall Street caught snorting cocaine from young boys' cracks won't have juice at all no matter who his friends are, he's going to have to pay full price out of his own pocket. And all these factors are much more important than whatever the letter of the law might be. Edited November 8, 2012 by BigJohnnyBKK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgs2001uk Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 ^^^^^^, to sum up, its the patronage system, and it depends where you and your conact are on the totem pole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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