As I was coming out of the building where they issue driver's licenses at the Morchit office, I was approached by a British man. The conversation went like this:

Old Bloke: Hi, what country are you from?

Me: Thanks, I don't need any help. I'm finished here already. I'm leaving.

Old Bloke: I realize. But what country are you from?

Me: I don't really have time to chat. What is this about?

Old Bloke: No, I just want to know what country you are from.

Me: East Bumbfulk

Old Bloke: Wow, East Bumbfulk, I am from Great Britain. Our countries are allies.

Me: Right, did you need some help with something? Because I don't have time for this.

Old Bloke: No, I would just like to be friends with you.

Me: Right, well as I said, I don't have time for this. Bye.

Obviously I am not sure where all this was leading, but I don't imagine he was genuinely wanting to simply befriend other foreigners as they came down the stairs in this government building. He said he didn't need help with anything and it seems like an odd way and place to start up friendly conversations.

So if this character approaches you there be weary and obviously don't get into any financial dealings with him whatsoever.

Thanks for the heads up , im heading there thursday , maybe he will see me leaving and try the same , i will have a few staff with me so maybe if he does i can let it play out just to see where he was going with this, just to hear more .

Please do it Strap. I would be curious where the rub is with him. I just didnt feel like wasting the time. If its a major con attempt then it might be worth reporting him to police. I wasn't dressed in full business attire though. So if you are in full office clothes with staff he might not approach. Also, I didn't notice him when I arrived, but that doesn't mean he wasn't there for a while. It's as if he was waiting to meet me at the bottom of the stairs when I reached the ground floor though. He wasn't very spiffily dressed though so maybe he was hoping for a hand out. Still, a strange place to be hunting for a mark.

its starnge you so hot and bothered by this!

should have said in thai or lao that you dont speak english, that usually works,unless of course your unlucky and he can speak them

@OP Perhaps he was just having a long day at the Transport Office. He might just have low social skills, but has decided to be brave in life. Maybe he wants to chat to somebody because he is bored and he wanted to pass the time and you looked approachable.

It is OK to let people know you are busy, that is your prerogative, but don't you think that you might have been a little cynical in your approach?

Perhaps he was waiting for a friend/wife who may have been conducting business in the office. The op sounds a tad cynical.

As generous with my time and energy as I like to be, I've found those who approach me out of nowhere in the LOS are rarely the sort it's productive to get to know, often scammers or whackos or both.

There are plenty of charity cases that need our help that we come across in our normal daily life, just because someone's a fellow honky or even a compatriot doesn't make them any more deserving than our fellow but local human beings.

should have said in thai or lao that you dont speak english, that usually works,unless of course your unlucky and he can speak them

I start speaking Russian..........usually scares the sh*t outta them!!

I took my time to post this occurrence to try to help forewarn other foreigners in Thailand about a potential risk. I could of course not bothered. A friend forewarned me about posting anything on TV and said don't waste your time doing anyone any favors for the people on there. Nonetheless I posted it anyway thinking there was some merit in sharing my experience about a potential threat. In return for trying to help I get called a number of insults. Pathetic. Well, lesson learned. This was the first and now the last time I will ever offer any knowledge, information or experience I have to the general public about Thailand.

Must be terrible feeling intimidated by an old fart.

I took my time to post this occurrence to try to help forewarn other foreigners in Thailand about a potential risk. I could of course not bothered. A friend forewarned me about posting anything on TV and said don't waste your time doing anyone any favors for the people on there. Nonetheless I posted it anyway thinking there was some merit in sharing my experience about a potential threat. In return for trying to help I get called a number of insults. Pathetic. Well, lesson learned. This was the first and now the last time I will ever offer any knowledge, information or experience I have to the general public about Thailand.

Warning! Sometimes people you don't know may want to talk to you!

A number nonsense baiting posts have been removed. Why do so many people have to be so cynical so much of the time.

Sounds like he was going to ask you for some money, thanks for the warning. There are a lot of these guys around Thailand who want other foreigners to support their beer and lady habits. If he asked you where you are from in a bar or something that is a different story, but outside a government office is just strange.

I always rely that I come from Foodland. Its amazing how many Patong bargirls say they have a friend from there.... we dont even have a Foodland on Phuket (unfortunately)

Just appears to be some nice old guy trying to be sociable and making conversation.

Some years ago I used to make attempts to be polite if I saw another ex-pat with a Hi or just to start a small chat. Not everywhere but usually if in a situation similar to the OP when he was in that driving license building, just to help pass the time and be sociable. But most times I received the same responses as that nice old guy, so these days I just look the other way because it doesn’t work. Nothing to do with feeling obliged to acknowledge another white person, but it can be pleasant having a quick chat with another English speaker, especially considering that we are a very small minority here in this foreign land and it doesn’t mean that any of the parties will be expected to exchange phone numbers or become bosom buddies just because they are or the same race or nationalities.

Even if the OP had no interest in conversing with the guy, there was no need for the uncouth and sarcastic answers. He could have just replied; sorry would love to chat but have an important appointment and then just walked away. If any farang tries to start a chat with me, I will always respond politely if I have the time. Sometimes the experience can be quite pleasant and it`s no skin off my nose, it`s costs nothing.

Thai people, complete strangers stop and chat with me often and I am always happy to respond and be friendly. It`s all part of the culture here. Many Thais will ask me, bpai nai? Meaning where are you going? At first I believed this was being intrusive and thought, what’s it got to do with you? But this is how I had been taught and brought up to believe in the West, but over here this is the norm, part of the way of life and culture and now never take offence from this.

The OP is one of those people that I categorise as the self-righteous, full of his own importance, who not only feels no need to be charming, but also enjoys throwing in a bit of sarcasm to give greater effects to his offensiveness. In fact this is really an indication of pig ignorance, but perhaps their best friends, if they have any? Failed to tell them. And this is one main reason why I have acquired a low esteem viewpoint and low tolerance levels towards other ex-pats here and prefer to avoid them. I would truly hate to have one of these anti social, rude and obnoxious farangs as a neighbor. If that were to happen, I think we would be neighbors at war in a very short time.

Edited November 14, 201213 yr by Beetlejuice

Well said, Beetlejuice. I'm much the same as you in this respect, though living out in the sticks I only really get the chance of a chat on my visits to Immigration. Met some nice chaps there, and it does help to pass the time away.

A number nonsense baiting posts have been removed. Why do so many people have to be so cynical so much of the time.

The real cynicism is in the OP.

Seems to me he was rude to a bloke who quite possibly simply wanted to have a chat with someone.

Where do you come from? is hardly a scamming question.

Thank you all for the very kind words about the "OP". The OP has learned so much about its person from all the profound and extremely insightful conclusions made by other posters about the OP. I hope you please continue to bless myself with further enlightenment.

Me: I don't really have time to chat. What is this about?

or

Me: I don't really have time to chat. Good day sir.

Thank you all for the very kind words about the "OP". The OP has learned so much about its person from all the profound and extremely insightful conclusions made by other posters about the OP. I hope you please continue to bless myself with further enlightenment.

I think you may have gone a bit over the top, it doesn't sound like he was aggressive, and given his location hardly likely to be on a scam.

I originally came from a rural part of The UK, and pretty much everybody in our local village and local town would acknoeldege one another, and speak, even if they didn't necessarily know you. When I moved to the Big City, I hardly knew any of my neigbours, just the houses one either side - most people kept themselves to themselves. I notice, as some others have pointed out, that in Thailand, people do just come and speak to you, ask you where you're going. It really doesn't bother me, and I think there is nothing wrong with making some short polite conversation with someone, and then going on your way. The bloke you talk about, seems like a pretty harmless bloke - and most people get scammed because they are stupid or greedy, as opposed to answering a couple of questions.

And if you all find out someday that this man really was a criminal who successfully wronged/hurt someone, after your turned this all into a big condescending joke about the OP, then wouldn't all of you (who had nothing better to do than try and kill the messenger) feel pretty pathetic?

And yes, let's hope all he wanted was a simple, honest friendly chat. But if he didn't then at least my purpose of warning the unsuspecting was achieved. My experience in these situations in the past has never, ever been positive.

And if the man was from another continent perhaps your reaction to the event might have been different. But why should we racial profile when dishonest people can come from any country in the world?

At the end of the day, we will never know what he really wanted unless I had let him engage me further. But a heed of caution here was my only message. Full stop.

And if you all find out someday that this man really was a criminal who successfully wronged/hurt someone, after your turned this all into a big condescending joke about the OP, then wouldn't all of you (who had nothing better to do than try and kill the messenger) feel pretty pathetic?

You have absolutely no reason to imagine any such scenario.

From your Post all that is clear is that you were approached by a lonely old man who saw a fellow Expatriate and simply wanted to make conversation and pass a few minutes of his otherwise empty day. You responded as though he was Bernie Madoff or Seal Team 6 on a bad day.

Certainly no need for the sarcasm or deliberate rudeness Tyler.

Patrick

Let's see if we can dream up crimes and threats to our person/finances that might be committed by people we encounter -We can then post our concerns on the internet to let everyone know that we believe ANOther person who we don't actually know might be a threat to us all.

Alternatively we could relax, get more sleep and drink less coffee.

The other day the weather report warned that a storm brewing put at sea was going to hit my village. In the end the storm was a false alarm. I was very upset to say the least. So I drank less coffee, slept more, and started making all sorts of sarcastic and condescending comments about the weather caster. I hope I didn't over react.

At least that was on the basis of an incorrect forcast, not some lame unfounded assumptions as per your comments about the guy in your opening post who you know nothing about.

Don't people ever tire of being armchair critics? If any of you go down there personally and chat with this guy, and are able to reach a different, more positive conclusion about him, then all you are doing are making assumptions with even less evidence than I have. If you care so much about proving his kindness and innocence then I welcome you to go and talk with him yourself. Then you can report back with some substance. Until that point your positive assumptions about him are meaningless.

Don't people ever tire of being armchair critics?

Sitting at home writing warnings about the assumed criminal intentions of someone you don't know all because they had the audacity to speak to you.

The critic is?

I never said categorically that the guy is a criminal or was up to no good. My message was only one of warning. Now think about how dumb it is for all of the rest of you to categorically state that the guy isn't a criminal or scammer having never even spoke to him or met him? I'm just glad I don't make assumptions like that about people I've never met. Wait, let me get another cup of coffee even though I don't drink it.