Neighbourly greetings?

[Globalist]

In most places in the world I'd say it's considered normal to greet your fellow residents when you meet them on your floor or in the lift in the building where you live.

But in the condo building where I Iive (a sort of mid- to high-end place), I've noted that Thai residents tend to not greet me in any way. In fact they don't even notice I am there. I have seen that other foreigners seem to suffer the same fate. The Thai residents behave as if their neighbours are'nt even there.

Meanwhile, the Western and Japanese residents in the same building typically at least give a friendly nod, and sometimes even happily engage in a discussion about the weather or whatnot.

Is this something typical of Thai culture that you're not supposed to "see" your neighbours (let alone greet them)? Or is it something to do with only "foreign" neighbours, or what?

I'm actually quite puzzled by this, since I have always heard about the Thai friendliness and smiles...

[daveAustin]

Local defense mechanism; potential loss of face through either: addressing someone of higher social standing first, or addressing someone of lower social standing first, or not wanting to look a fool because they don't speak much English, the stigma of talking to a farang if it's a female Thai, or xenophobia. Usually one or a combination of those, but typically always to do with face.

Or perhaps they just don't like the look of you. lol

[rgs2001uk]

They do the exact same with other Thai.

If they were to speak to you in Thai, poot pasat Thai ben mai?

[HeavyDrinker]

If they're not accustomed to Westerners it can be a symptom of their reticence. I personally entertain my neighbour(to the left) with my tremendous farts of a morning as I have my morning coffee and smoke in the garden,if I've been on the cider and had cabbage the previous day they cop for it on both sides and sometimes several doors down.

[Display]

Have you ever lived in NYC its exactly the same in every big city, In NYC if you say hello to a stranger they would nearly call the NYPD on you lol...

[kannot]

Years ago in the UK neighbours would chat and introduce themselves now they rarley speak if ever, neighbours come and go and i never spoke to them.

I went round to two neighbours to say hello, never heard from them again.........must have been the axe and skull mask put them off?

[CharlieH]

Aint got any so wouldnt know.

[kannot]

If they're not accustomed to Westerners it can be a symptom of their reticence. I personally entertain my neighbour(to the left) with my tremendous farts of a morning as I have my morning coffee and smoke in the garden,if I've been on the cider and had cabbage the previous day they cop for it on both sides and sometimes several doors down.

Photo proof or I' calling BS...........no need for smellyvision though....proof would be neighbour going green or projectile vomiting, extreme shouts of urggggggggghhhhhhhhh or similar in Thai or melting of neighbours house.........was that you in Rayong with the toxic gas????

[marko kok prong]

Maybe you could do something like in the Seinfeld episode when Kramer tried to get the building friendly,by sticking up photo's of everyone and their names in the lobby,so you could say like"hi i am Globalist" and he say's hi i am Patorwngtoram Siapoonyaum,,possibly then you can embrace,and step out of the place feeling the world is not such a bad place.

[AYJAYDEE]

they are shy, period

[daoyai]

Same here, but if you break the ice, most like to chat. Try it, you may be surprised.

[krisb]

they are shy, period

Not sure about that.

In the village complete opposite.

[AYJAYDEE]

they are shy, period

Not sure about that.

In the village complete opposite.

depends on the person and how long they have known you. almost all will return a smile but many wont talk until they know you.

[Seastallion]

My soi has two types, and a sub-type; (BTW, I am the only farang in the soi, possibly in the greater neighbourhood).

The first type are like the old couple next door. I wai'ed them when we first arrived, and the old lady was bringing cold drinks and snacks in to us on moving day, which was great as we had nothing and the fridge had only just been plugged in. She chats every day, even though she has no English (except "Good morning" at any time of the day or night), she feeds my fish on the porch, and even introduced some nice water plants. No more than a day or two will pass and she brings over a plate of something she's cooked. I reciprocate (though if it is farang food, she normally palms that off to the temple, lol). Neighbour across the soi is just like her....even went out of her way to invite us on a day trip to the beach. Another neighbour, across and up a bit is the same...will come and practice his English or play guitar with me.

Then there's the sub-group of this type who will always smile and ask simple questions like gin khao leaow yang? (Have you eaten?) or "Have you cooked yet?", but offer no further conversation.

Then the is the other type. They speak to nobody on the soi but keep to themselves. There's a few houses with occupants like this. All the friendly neighbours ignore them too.

[AYJAYDEE]

My soi has two types, and a sub-type; (BTW, I am the only farang in the soi, possibly in the greater neighbourhood).

The first type are like the old couple next door. I wai'ed them when we first arrived, and the old lady was bringing cold drinks and snacks in to us on moving day, which was great as we had nothing and the fridge had only just been plugged in. She chats every day, even though she has no English (except "Good morning" at any time of the day or night), she feeds my fish on the porch, and even introduced some nice water plants. No more than a day or two will pass and she brings over a plate of something she's cooked. I reciprocate (though if it is farang food, she normally palms that off to the temple, lol). Neighbour across the soi is just like her....even went out of her way to invite us on a day trip to the beach. Another neighbour, across and up a bit is the same...will come and practice his English or play guitar with me.

Then there's the sub-group of this type who will always smile and ask simple questions like gin khao leaow yang? (Have you eaten?) or "Have you cooked yet?", but offer no further conversation.

Then the is the other type. They speak to nobody on the soi but keep to themselves. There's a few houses with occupants like this. All the friendly neighbours ignore them too.

I HATE it when someone refuses to generalize

[kandi]

See, that's the thing about it: You point out that nobody is greeting you - and at the same time you do exactly the same. I wouldn't surprise me if your Thai neighbours just started a thread on pantip asking why "farang never say hello" to them. People always tend to think it's only the other part who's doing something wrong. Feel free to break the chain.

Edited June 10, 2014 by kandi

[Globalist]

See, that's the thing about it: You point out that nobody is greeting you - and at the same time you do exactly the same. I wouldn't surprise me if your Thai neighbours just started a thread on pantip asking why "farang never say hello" to them. People always tend to think it's only the other part who's doing something wrong. Feel free to break the chain.

Yes I definitely agree to that in principle. Problem is, you need eye contact to smile to somebody. :-) But I suppose one could call out in any case..