Out to Lunch; Entire Country Shuts for One Hour a Day

[EBlair48]

... and then tagged on the end I added it happened in other locations I've worked in as well for the same co. I.e singapore, australia and malaysia.

I stopped for lunch too, but that's irrelevant because I'm not thai

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk

I submit your company is a "ghost town" for lunch stop for lunch because that's the dismal work ethic the majority of Thai workers bring to a business or govt department.

[Morakot]

Why isn't splitting the lunch shift a good idea?

Because it will unsettle the ghosts and wake the tiger in the jungle...

[JLCrab]

In Bangkok

At twleve'o'clock

They foam at the mouth and run,

But mad dogs and Englishmen

Go out in the midday sun.

-- Noel Coward (1931)

[ggt]

Being out-to-lunch...is synonymous with being Thai...

[Bangkokhatter]

the rare cases of Thai people with a work ethic..? Maybe they are Burmese? Any more pedantic questions that still offer no defense for the absurd habits of the Thai mentality?

If, as you say the whole country shuts down for lunch, who is cooking the lunch ?

A touch pedantic i admit, but your OP is pretty pathetic really and actually not 100% accurate. Where I work we split the lunch break for the staff manning the service calls but the rest do enjoy a communal lunch break. Plenty of factories i visit work 3 shift systems with no shut down, how can they do that if they all go to lunch together ?

You make no mention of being able to do your banking on a Sunday or your shopping 24/7 if needs must. Try doing that in Europe.

The reality is you planned poorly and paid the price and now your trashing the whole country for it.

[wym]

The more "productive" the country the LESS I'd ever want to live there.

Learn to relax dude, more to life than economics and getting stuff done, try enjoying it maybe.

[slapout]

The reason most of the Thai businesses do not split personnel for breaks is it would confuse the entire ''wai'' procedure system that they go through upon return to the workplace. India has the same problem, but they shake hands.

[jpeg]

I've been in Thailand for 18 years..

It didn't take me more than a few months to realize that the national religion of Thailand is not Buddhism.... It is Lunchtime!!

Same. I call it The Holy Hour, and yes, it is stupid 'gin khon diaow mai aroi'. How old are they <deleted>? The Balinese just wander off with a dish of something when they're hungry. ALONE.

[EBlair48]

the rare cases of Thai people with a work ethic..? Maybe they are Burmese? Any more pedantic questions that still offer no defense for the absurd habits of the Thai mentality?

If, as you say the whole country shuts down for lunch, who is cooking the lunch ?

A touch pedantic i admit, but your OP is pretty pathetic really and actually not 100% accurate. Where I work we split the lunch break for the staff manning the service calls but the rest do enjoy a communal lunch break. Plenty of factories i visit work 3 shift systems with no shut down, how can they do that if they all go to lunch together ?

You make no mention of being able to do your banking on a Sunday or your shopping 24/7 if needs must. Try doing that in Europe.

The reality is you planned poorly and paid the price and now your trashing the whole country for it.

Not at all. I trash the country for about 2 dozen reasons.

I made an appointment for 10 I asked about the oil change at that time. They simply are incompetent and/ or obtuse that I was not informed at that time I could not get an oil change. I could have left at 12 noon instead of 1:20 And really why can't they change the oil in a used car? Ialso wanted to have my brakes checked . They may well have made 5ooo more baht off me- if they weren't so inept

They also took forever to prepare the bill- the usual three people crowding around the computer type of " service" They are a service business that has no idea how to provide service because Thailand has a lousy work ethic and it shows quite plainly .

My point is working people, those who have jobs they need to be at cannot run errands on a lunch hour to places they need to visit without taking off work.

If you cannot understand how absurd it is that an entire office staff has to have lunch at the same time, instead of staggering it - in order to serve the public, or customers, then I can only surmise you are defending something quite different than the subject at hand.

I'm reading a lot of personalized mud slinging, and how on earth does Sunday or Europe fit into the subject of an entire country losing millions of hours of productivity every single day working day? what pathetic discourse

I have yet to read an argument for why Thais need to all eat lunch together and why it is such an affront to suggest a better way to conduct business and service.

Edited April 4, 2014 by EBlair48

[bangkokpoppys]

OP - you not been to Spain/France/Italy?

Apart from your Toyota repair, what's wrong with an hour lunch at the same time? Quite social and communal I say.

Perhaps you are starting a TV fire and winding everyone up, or another foreigner wishing everything was like home.

A bit like those Americans (you know the type) who travel the world comparing cheeseburgers in every city. You know who you are.

[louse1953]

Everyone is missing the whole point. The value of a countries output is directly linked to many things including the value of their currency, productivity and so on . By not staggering hours for workers for lunch a great deal of potential output is is poored down the drain.

Its chain reaction . Someone wants to register a care but needs to take time off to do so because they are closed at lunch . So that individual is gone because of that and is not productive. Now lets say that person has a body shop but cannot be there at 1 pm. Another drives their car up for a repair and so on down the line . Its the butterfly effect.

So that one person who you cannot deal with for an hour translates into many many hours of lost productivity .

Thailand can be the force of Asia but fundamental changes must take place for that to happen. I don't think this well ever take place as Thais are not attuned to dramatic change

Thais are Thais,they dont want to be westerners,their ways work fine for them and me,once you know the ropes.The bloody west,what a fine example to follow,i dont think.Many of us are here to escape all the crap the west spews out.

[EBlair48]

OP - you not been to Spain/France/Italy?

Apart from your Toyota repair, what's wrong with an hour lunch at the same time? Quite social and communal I say.

Perhaps you are starting a TV fire and winding everyone up, or another foreigner wishing everything was like home.

A bit like those Americans (you know the type) who travel the world comparing cheeseburgers in every city. You know who you are.

You you you you you you you you you you

Still waiting for a defense on the abysmal Thai work ethic

[seancbk]

it amazes me that they do not rotate staff lunches in offices etc so that someone is always there but then that may just be too sensible for them to process

This comment is not directly aimed at you Seajae, but to everyone commenting about offices having staggered lunchtimes....

I have never heard of such a thing and I'm not sure I'd want to work in a company that tells me I can't go to lunch with certain colleagues because their lunchtime and mine are different.

Every company I worked in from Investment Banks to small privately owned companies, always had lunch hour (or just lunch because sometimes it was more than an hour) for everyone at the same time.

[bangkokpoppys]

OP - you not been to Spain/France/Italy?

Apart from your Toyota repair, what's wrong with an hour lunch at the same time? Quite social and communal I say.

Perhaps you are starting a TV fire and winding everyone up, or another foreigner wishing everything was like home.

A bit like those Americans (you know the type) who travel the world comparing cheeseburgers in every city. You know who you are.

You you you you you you you you you you

Still waiting for a defense on the abysmal Thai work ethic

At a minimum wage of 300 THB a day? Kinda lucky to get what you get now don't you think?

Get what you pay for ring a bell for ... You?

[louse1953]

So seems they do not do oil changes on older cars, only new, " This new caw pwathe" ( with 50-60 staff doing nothing ) so I waited around for an entire hour , an hour and a half really- over lunch break to be told this , when it could have been pointed out to me when I first inquired in the morning.

Is tissue missing from the frontal lobe hereditary, or are they obtuse on purpose?

There's only a dozen or so servicing the two cars, the rest are busy on their i Phones. But I have a pic of their expensive sign and catchphrase that is typically mangled English.

" Take care with Impress" Hold on, ...might make a good thread, too. The Manglish Thread

Even the capitalization is wrong How much did they spend on this facility and they cannot even hire a native English speaker? They probably think they know English better .

Out to Lunch !!

The reason I"m finding this especially annoying is I'm sitting at a new Toyota dealership that has about 70 more staff than are needed today.

I'm getting a tailight replaced that a Thai brat of the age of 13 broke ramming into the rear of my car on his Dad's motorcycle.

So the car is ready, and is sitting in the body shop bay, I'd like to also get the oil changed and the brakes checked too and informed the intake staff of this when I first arrived a few hours ago.

I was told I needed to contact the service bay staff when the body shop was done , and then I could" make an appointment..." for the oil change ( There are two cars getting serviced today 2 cars and 75 staff )

However since it was 12 PM everyone is gone to the back to check their personal communique devices furiously..

Oh wait everyone is back- sitting at their desks checking their devices furiously ..

With Thailand's natural resources, and shoreline to rival a small continent, this nation should be the absolute leader in the region in all aspects - why is it so..... inept?

The people is why- they are a curse upon a wonderful country.

take a picture of the 75 staff servicing two cars andd upload it here and i might believe you .............

I dont know if you realise it or not,but you are living in Thailand,it is you who must adapt and learn the lingo.I dont see a long future for you here with your attitude.If the bloody oil change is that important to you,do it yourself,you slacker,it aint rocket science.My Toyota manager is a pleasure to deal with in both languages and once i did get caught there at lunchtime,so was invited back to share with the workers. Now thats PR.I rekon they would invite you out the exit door.

[bangkokpoppys]

So seems they do not do oil changes on older cars, only new, " This new caw pwathe" ( with 50-60 staff doing nothing ) so I waited around for an entire hour , an hour and a half really- over lunch break to be told this , when it could have been pointed out to me when I first inquired in the morning.

Is tissue missing from the frontal lobe hereditary, or are they obtuse on purpose?

There's only a dozen or so servicing the two cars, the rest are busy on their i Phones. But I have a pic of their expensive sign and catchphrase that is typically mangled English.

" Take care with Impress" Hold on, ...might make a good thread, too. The Manglish Thread

Even the capitalization is wrong How much did they spend on this facility and they cannot even hire a native English speaker? They probably think they know English better .

Out to Lunch !!

The reason I"m finding this especially annoying is I'm sitting at a new Toyota dealership that has about 70 more staff than are needed today.

I'm getting a tailight replaced that a Thai brat of the age of 13 broke ramming into the rear of my car on his Dad's motorcycle.

So the car is ready, and is sitting in the body shop bay, I'd like to also get the oil changed and the brakes checked too and informed the intake staff of this when I first arrived a few hours ago.

I was told I needed to contact the service bay staff when the body shop was done , and then I could" make an appointment..." for the oil change ( There are two cars getting serviced today 2 cars and 75 staff )

However since it was 12 PM everyone is gone to the back to check their personal communique devices furiously..

Oh wait everyone is back- sitting at their desks checking their devices furiously ..

With Thailand's natural resources, and shoreline to rival a small continent, this nation should be the absolute leader in the region in all aspects - why is it so..... inept?

The people is why- they are a curse upon a wonderful country.

take a picture of the 75 staff servicing two cars andd upload it here and i might believe you .............

I dont know if you realise it or not,but you are living in Thailand,it is you who must adapt and learn the lingo.I dont see a long future for you here with your attitude.If the bloody oil change is that important to you,do it yourself,you slacker,it aint rocket science.My Toyota manager is a pleasure to deal with in both languages and once i did get caught there at lunchtime,so was invited back to share with the workers. Now thats PR.I rekon they would invite you out the exit door.

+1 555

[sustento]

OP - you not been to Spain/France/Italy?

Apart from your Toyota repair, what's wrong with an hour lunch at the same time? Quite social and communal I say.

Perhaps you are starting a TV fire and winding everyone up, or another foreigner wishing everything was like home.

A bit like those Americans (you know the type) who travel the world comparing cheeseburgers in every city. You know who you are.

You you you you you you you you you you

Still waiting for a defense on the abysmal Thai work ethic

They don't need a defense. That's the way they do things. If you don't like it up to you.

[thaiguzzi]

Yawn... <deleted>...

[qdinthailand]

Defend the stupidity, defend the absurdness. Defend... , by all means and I shall continue to observe and remark upon the inane aspects of Thailand, which there is a large category of.

Its culture, custom, practicality, not stupidity or absurdness. Why do you expect this country to follow the customs and practices of your home country?

Besides, a lot of the workers are doing 10 hour days, or working 6 days a week, so giving them a 1 hour lunch to maybe complete some personal business seems reasonable.

In Thailand, It may be the farang that are the inane. Just saying...

[wym]

My point is working people, those who have jobs they need to be at cannot run errands on a lunch hour to places they need to visit without taking off work.

If you cannot understand how absurd it is that an entire office staff has to have lunch at the same time, instead of staggering it - in order to serve the public, or customers, then I can only surmise you are defending something quite different than the subject at hand.

I'm reading a lot of personalized mud slinging, and how on earth does Sunday or Europe fit into the subject of an entire country losing millions of hours of productivity every single day working day? what pathetic discourse

I have yet to read an argument for why Thais need to all eat lunch together and why it is such an affront to suggest a better way to conduct business and service.

Because the happiness of the workers is more important than making the customer happy or the employer's profits.

At least in a world that isn't completely run by greed.

I suspect you are American and think the whole world should be run to maximize corporate profits and economic "development".

These things just aren't that important to the rest of the more rational world.

Learn to slow down, relax, lower your expectations and enjoy life - you'll live longer and have some chance of being happy here.

[simon43]

EB, were you at the new Toyota dealership in Thalang (main road towards the airport)?

I was there today, buying a new Toyota 4-door pick-up (I won the lottery..). I also commented to the ex about the <deleted> English 'Take care with Impress'. Must have cost them a lot of money to create that slogan that means nothing in English...

It took about 2 hours to sign all documents. We had to pose for photos in front of the car with a huge foam car key.....

Still, pretty women, lots of guards blowing whistles... I was ... er ... very impress!

Simon

[cooked]

So seems they do not do oil changes on older cars, only new, " This new caw pwathe" ( with 50-60 staff doing nothing ) so I waited around for an entire hour , an hour and a half really- over lunch break to be told this , when it could have been pointed out to me when I first inquired in the morning.

Is tissue missing from the frontal lobe hereditary, or are they obtuse on purpose?

There's only a dozen or so servicing the two cars, the rest are busy on their i Phones. But I have a pic of their expensive sign and catchphrase that is typically mangled English.

" Take care with Impress" Hold on, ...might make a good thread, too. The Manglish Thread

Even the capitalization is wrong How much did they spend on this facility and they cannot even hire a native English speaker? They probably think they know English better .

Out to Lunch !!

The reason I"m finding this especially annoying is I'm sitting at a new Toyota dealership that has about 70 more staff than are needed today.

I'm getting a tailight replaced that a Thai brat of the age of 13 broke ramming into the rear of my car on his Dad's motorcycle.

So the car is ready, and is sitting in the body shop bay, I'd like to also get the oil changed and the brakes checked too and informed the intake staff of this when I first arrived a few hours ago.

I was told I needed to contact the service bay staff when the body shop was done , and then I could" make an appointment..." for the oil change ( There are two cars getting serviced today 2 cars and 75 staff )

However since it was 12 PM everyone is gone to the back to check their personal communique devices furiously..

Oh wait everyone is back- sitting at their desks checking their devices furiously ..

With Thailand's natural resources, and shoreline to rival a small continent, this nation should be the absolute leader in the region in all aspects - why is it so..... inept?

The people is why- they are a curse upon a wonderful country.

take a picture of the 75 staff servicing two cars andd upload it here and i might believe you .............

Change your own oil...it isn't that hard!!!!! Take your car in for the repair one day and the oil change another day and above all learn to relax!!!!

Nice one. I was told that if I change the oil myself, the warrantry would be void. How about that?

[pauleddy]

Pedant's Corner:

An idea, plan, action, theory or something equally abstract can be described as inane. Inane is normally used to describe what a person does, not "how they are". However, it is sometimes, and in my view mistakenly, used to describe a person.

Inane also means empty or vacuous, pointless. It is sometimes used as an uncountable noun-- "the great inane that lies between his ears", although the more regular noun form would be (an) inanity.

INSANE is another adjective entirely. People or individuals might certainly be classified as insane (as can ideas or theories).

Inane is an classic orphan negative. If something is not inane, is it ANE? No, although French speakers will doubtless recognize ane (n.), even though my keyboard won't allow me the luxury of circumflex accents, which makes me feel a bit of an ass.

Eddy

[Nautilus05]

Geez, if this is your attitude towards life, what on earth made you think Thailand was a good place to move to?

Maybe try Germany. They're kings of efficiency over there.

[louse1953]

It isn't a new car, but they could have told me they did not want to fool with a used car when I had inquired specifically about an oil change 3 hours previously. I sat through over an hour of the i-podded lunch hour to have them tell me this.

Truly, must just be odious, I cannot fathom how people can be this unprofessional and dense.

Not seeing the charm of Thais, but I'm not interested in what's on offer, either. I guess if I were I might want to overlook some of the more obvious faults.

How old is your car,mines over 10 years old and service with a smile,and i didnt buy it there either.I rekon they were trying to give you a hint.

Change your own oil...it isn't that hard!!!!! Take your car in for the repair one day and the oil change another day and above all learn to relax!!!!

this isnt my thread but you lose your warranty with any new car if you decide to skip the dealership and "do it yourself '' so it maybe worth doing just to keep the service history in check ........

[cooked]

My point is working people, those who have jobs they need to be at cannot run errands on a lunch hour to places they need to visit without taking off work.

If you cannot understand how absurd it is that an entire office staff has to have lunch at the same time, instead of staggering it - in order to serve the public, or customers, then I can only surmise you are defending something quite different than the subject at hand.

I'm reading a lot of personalized mud slinging, and how on earth does Sunday or Europe fit into the subject of an entire country losing millions of hours of productivity every single day working day? what pathetic discourse

I have yet to read an argument for why Thais need to all eat lunch together and why it is such an affront to suggest a better way to conduct business and service.

Because the happiness of the workers is more important than making the customer happy or the employer's profits.

At least in a world that isn't completely run by greed.

I suspect you are American and think the whole world should be run to maximize corporate profits and economic "development".

These things just aren't that important to the rest of the more rational world.

Learn to slow down, relax, lower your expectations and enjoy life - you'll live longer and have some chance of being happy here.

I agree, up to a point. Sometimes it just needs a word (in my case I could have gone to eat also instead of waiting nearly three hours while the mechanos were out eating and carousing) and I am sure that this comes up EVERY day. I was there, other Thais had been waiting longer than me, and it was because of the farang that had the audacity to complain that they came back to work. It was more than an hour's break. I can wait all day, I can take a tuktuk into town and drink a beer or whatever. Just leaving people there on the assumption that you are too good mannered to complain deserves castration, skinning alive and being tickled with a dip stick. I protest about this stuff anywhere so don't tell me to go back where I came from if I don't like it.

[samran]

Lets see. Someone complaining about lack of service in a country where malls supermarkets and shops are open for the best part from 10am to 10pm, where food and drink can be gotten 24 hours per day and where things barely slow down on a Sunday?

The OP has serious issues.

Edited April 4, 2014 by samran

[sdanielmcev]

Thailand is not the West. And, I'm glad of it. I like the mid-day shut down.

[philw]

The reason I"m finding this especially annoying is I'm sitting at a new Toyota dealership that has about 70 more staff than are needed today.

I'm getting a tailight replaced that a Thai brat of the age of 13 broke ramming into the rear of my car on his Dad's motorcycle.

So the car is ready, and is sitting in the body shop bay, I'd like to also get the oil changed and the brakes checked too and informed the intake staff of this when I first arrived a few hours ago.

I was told I needed to contact the service bay staff when the body shop was done , and then I could" make an appointment..." for the oil change ( There are two cars getting serviced today 2 cars and 75 staff )

However since it was 12 PM everyone is gone to the back to check their personal communique devices furiously..

Oh wait everyone is back- sitting at their desks checking their devices furiously ..

With Thailand's natural resources, and shoreline to rival a small continent, this nation should be the absolute leader in the region in all aspects - why is it so..... inept?

The people is why- they are a curse upon a wonderful country.

I'm sure you will be very happy here.

Love the concept, the Thai people are a curse upon their own country.........

Bit like the yanks and i suppose.

Edited April 4, 2014 by philw

[wym]

Thanks for editing that slur there, pretty unacceptable