Another Honest Thai

[GuestHouse]

Dropped my wallet as I got out of my car lastnight.

A motorbike taxi driver sitting near where I parked picked it up and followed me into the restaurant to return it.

In my wallet Bht5000+, credit cards, Amex, Visa card, UK and Thai Driver's licence, medical insurance, Wirk ID etc etc stuff that if list is a major headache.

The fellow flatly refused the Bht500 reward I offered him, simply responding 'glad to be of help'.

As we left the restaurant we passed this honest young man and his pals at the Moto Cy' stand happily chomping on the Pizas I sent over for them.

Fire away.

[HeavyDrinker]

How dare you corrupt their culture/diet with pizza...etc...

Next thing you know there'll be KFC and McDonalds all over Thailand thanks to people like you....

A simple Som Tam would have done the trick.

You obviously have no idea about the culture.

Yours

Mr Dayley Mayle

[DocN]

Well done, taxi- guy, well done GH!

[chiang mai]

Good result all round, well done to all.

[Crossy]

Over the years I have noticed that many Thais will not accept a monetary reward for an additional service or honesty but will happily accept a gift (mainly food) often of lower value.

The gas man who lugged a full cylinder up 10 floors during the floods (we had no mains power [so no lifts] in our condo for 6 months) wouldn't accept a tip, but he and his assistant happily slurped a couple of cold Changs.

Is this a cultural thing or have I just been lucky with the people I meet and interact with?

[mca]

Over the years I have noticed that many Thais will not accept a monetary reward for an additional service or honesty but will happily accept a gift (mainly food) often of lower value.

The gas man who lugged a full cylinder up 10 floors during the floods (we had no mains power [so no lifts] in our condo for 6 months) wouldn't accept a tip, but he and his assistant happily slurped a couple of cold Changs.

Is this a cultural thing or have I just been lucky with the people I meet and interact with?

I noticed this myself and asked a few Thais that I used to work with about it.

They felt that in some situations with their fellow Thais the feeling was a case of pride and " I've got enough money I don't need yours" even if they weren't wealthy.

Of course this is a load of <deleted> as we all know all Thais are dishonest, lying, money-grabbing thieves. ( copyright Thai Visa Forum 2013 all rights reserved)

[willyumiii]

Even a blind hog finds an acorn from time to time!

There are a few acorns out there!

[Nowhereman60]

There are many honest and good people here. About 6 years ago I was in a market buying veggies. When I got home I noted my wallet was gone. I assumed it was in a songtail I took home. Two months later I am back in the same market and this woman comes up to me and wants me to follow her. She takes me to her stand and gives me back my wallet with all the money and credit cards, nothing missing. She didn't want a reward but I gave her 1,000 baht and my wife called the local radio station to report on this person honesty.

[chiang mai]

Even a blind hog finds an acorn from time to time!

There are a few acorns out there!

I don't know which is worse, that you called the Thai person an acorn or that you refered to Guesthouse as a blind hog!

[yourauntbob]

nice to hear a positive story.

[jbrain]

, simply responding 'glad to be of help'.

You're sure that is what he said?

Must have happened in London then I guess

Edited May 16, 2013 by jbrain

[candypants]

Over the years I have noticed that many Thais will not accept a monetary reward for an additional service or honesty but will happily accept a gift (mainly food) often of lower value.

The gas man who lugged a full cylinder up 10 floors during the floods (we had no mains power [so no lifts] in our condo for 6 months) wouldn't accept a tip, but he and his assistant happily slurped a couple of cold Changs.

Is this a cultural thing or have I just been lucky with the people I meet and interact with?

nope, it is the norm.

[pattayadingo]

Over the years I have noticed that many Thais will not accept a monetary reward for an additional service or honesty but will happily accept a gift (mainly food) often of lower value.

The gas man who lugged a full cylinder up 10 floors during the floods (we had no mains power [so no lifts] in our condo for 6 months) wouldn't accept a tip, but he and his assistant happily slurped a couple of cold Changs.

Is this a cultural thing or have I just been lucky with the people I meet and interact with?

They do feel they get 'Merit' for a job well done. For many it seems the harder the job or the more honest they are, the more merit they get for this. Money being an insult in these cases.

In the past, I've given money and when they first refused it, I'd say it was to buy a beer as I had none at home. Then it seemed acceptable.

Be it true or not, they believe they will be rewarded in a far greater way in the future and that can have a profound effect on them.

Merit does seem to count a lot more to many honest hardworking Thai people, especially those brought up to visit the temples regularly, give their 20 Baht to the temple and have the monk give his blessings.

I suppose we would call them old fashioned but they seem a lot happier with their lot.

Well done to the honest m/c driver GH mentioned. We hear too many negative stories here that when we hear a positive one it seems we are more surprised than not.

[JLCrab]

I routinely tip Thai men for the small things they do as favors or otherwise with a cold bottle of M-150 which they gladly accept -- but I'm guessing they would almost be insulted if I handed them a 10 baht coin.

Edited May 16, 2013 by JLCrab

[joepattaya1961]

How dare you corrupt their culture/diet with pizza...etc...

Next thing you know there'll be KFC and McDonalds all over Thailand thanks to people like you....

A simple Som Tam would have done the trick.

You obviously have no idea about the culture.

Yours

Mr Dayley Mayle

Who says that it wasn't a som-tam pizza?

Pizza Company even has a tom yum gung pizza: http://www.pizza.co.th/?gclid=CLX-2tLWmbcCFU0u6wodSmoAeQ#/menu/Pizza/

[PalMan]

Outside of "public service" jobs and foreigner-infested places like Pattaya and Patong, this is the norm and should be expected, lots of times over the years taxis have returned property worth millions of dollars, much less millions of baht, including jewels and raw cash.

I've personally had four incidences of lost property in taxis being returned to me, in one case at great personal inconvenience and expense to the driver without my taking any action, plus once my man-bag stolen from Nana disco was returned to me by the girl's employer at her (totally unrelated) bar the next day, with every bit of cash intact plus B1,000 extracted from her salary as a fine.

Those expats claiming these are exceptional events are associating with the wrong sorts of Thais, they are more the rule than the exception, and in my opinion much more the case here than back home. There are other ways where our cultural definition of honesty makes Thais seem less so than us, but this isn't one of them.

Edited May 16, 2013 by PalMan

[Berkshire]

Nice story, GH, and nice of you to reciprocate.

And as others have commented, this is more the norm than the exception based on my experiences in Thailand.

[kevvy]

wow it is great to hear a nice story , why dont we hear more of them as there are plenty of wonderful thai people in this wonderful country

[Beetlejuice]

In a way, our guesthouse comments is a form of Thai bashing.

A Thai man does a good honest deed and guesthouse decides to create a whole thread about the event, as if we should all be astounded that a Thai could be so capable of such good deeds.

I wonder if a similar incident had happened to guesthouse in Farangland, whether or not he would have bothered to have publicized the fact? The mind boggles.

In my lifetime, I have had people go way beyond the point of duty in helping me and others that have done me down. I could create a whole forum on my dealings with people experiences. Problem is; would anybody be interested?

[HeavyDrinker]

How dare you corrupt their culture/diet with pizza...etc...

Next thing you know there'll be KFC and McDonalds all over Thailand thanks to people like you....

A simple Som Tam would have done the trick.

You obviously have no idea about the culture.

Yours

Mr Dayley Mayle

Who says that it wasn't a som-tam pizza?

Pizza Company even has a tom yum gung pizza: http://www.pizza.co.th/?gclid=CLX-2tLWmbcCFU0u6wodSmoAeQ#/menu/Pizza/

Whoosh!!!!

[fletchsmile]

In a way, our guesthouse comments is a form of Thai bashing.

A Thai man does a good honest deed and guesthouse decides to create a whole thread about the event, as if we should all be astounded that a Thai could be so capable of such good deeds.

I wonder if a similar incident had happened to guesthouse in Farangland, whether or not he would have bothered to have publicized the fact? The mind boggles.

In my lifetime, I have had people go way beyond the point of duty in helping me and others that have done me down. I could create a whole forum on my dealings with people experiences. Problem is; would anybody be interested?

Congratulations on finding the cloud in the silver lining. A true TV member

Cheers

Fletch

[rene123]

Helping others is reward in itself. Some people forget this. Some live their lives that way. I have an elderly mentor that taught me that and have experienced it first hand. I think many Thais really do follow Buddhist ways. Not all modern Thais have followed western perverted ways.

[geronimo]

I think we should move away from categorising people by nationality. Human beings are what they are and due to their uniqueness, there are all sorts of people out there. Sure a culture and society will entrench behaviour patterns but a good person is just that regardless of where he or she comes from. Nice to see you meet the nice ones!!!

[PaullyW]

Helping others is reward in itself. Some people forget this. Some live their lives that way. I have an elderly mentor that taught me that and have experienced it first hand. I think many Thais really do follow Buddhist ways. Not all modern Thais have followed western perverted ways.

White Western Apologists are interesting.

Doesn't Christianity have any similar 'good stuff'? In all the countries I've been in, including numerous Western ones, I've encountered plenty of people who did 'good' things and who did not accept reward.

[PaullyW]

In fact, I've experienced more kindness in the US and Canada and Oz than any other places I've ever been. Here's something to mull over.

[GuestHouse]

In a way, our guesthouse comments is a form of Thai bashing.

A Thai man does a good honest deed and guesthouse decides to create a whole thread about the event, as if we should all be astounded that a Thai could be so capable of such good deeds.

I wonder if a similar incident had happened to guesthouse in Farangland, whether or not he would have bothered to have publicized the fact? The mind boggles.

You are right BJ, the mind does indeed boggle.

[Somtamnication]

Stop it! All these positive posts about the locals is freaking me out!!! I am being left confused and mumbling.

[mrtoad]

Over the years I have noticed that many Thais will not accept a monetary reward for an additional service or honesty but will happily accept a gift (mainly food) often of lower value.

The gas man who lugged a full cylinder up 10 floors during the floods (we had no mains power [so no lifts] in our condo for 6 months) wouldn't accept a tip, but he and his assistant happily slurped a couple of cold Changs.

Is this a cultural thing or have I just been lucky with the people I meet and interact with?

I have noticed this on many occasion - some food or some drinks are always happily received, maybe being given money is a bit impersonal, or appears cheap. Either way, a nice story from Guesthouse.

[Fred B]

Nice story, GH, and nice of you to reciprocate.

And as others have commented, this is more the norm than the exception based on my experiences in Thailand.

Yes, it seemed such a very common experience, I wasn't sure why it warranted a thread, but, whatever.

[PalMan]

In fact, I've experienced more kindness in the US and Canada and Oz than any other places I've ever been. Here's something to mull over.

-

Working or donating to "charities" or consciously committing random acts of kindness upon strangers is certainly virtuous, but to my mind has very little to do with the topic at hand, which is refraining from stealing, an instance simply doing the right thing in your day-to-day life.

I doubt very much this could be measured, but if it could I doubt even more that Thailand wouldn't come out well ahead of most of our home countries.

Of course I could be wrong.