Little boy works as Bangkok bus conductor (VIDEO)

[mca]

You blokes don't know you're born. When I was a lad my dad gave me an empty shoe box for Xmas and told me it was an Action Man deserter

[Bazt]

This boy helps to his father (driver of bus), he is not an exploited kid-worker.

Yes he is being exploited and his health and education not being given priority. In the evening a child of his age should be at home and after a bit of homework (fat chance) should either be playing with friends or resting and not doing an adults job till all hours. Not cute at all.

Do you cry from all the shame when you read about the exploitation of the above ?

[harada]

Didn't think that it would be very long before the do-gooders started to condemn this little champion, get a life.

[ratcatcher]

I had a job but had to wait for the legal age in my country. This kids father should be ashamed of himself, have seen this many times on buses, working on a bus is not exactly safe, but then at least he's not driving it!

This topic seems to have brought out proponents of both sides. I agree that in an ideal world this small lad should not be working on a bus, many members on this forum remember part time jobs they had to earn pocket money during their early years. It's not exactly Dickensian workhouse conditions.

However, think of the other side of the equation.

1. He is getting experience dealing with the public

2. He is using his brain and not a calculator to give change to passengers.

3. He is getting exercise and not sitting in front of a PC playing stupid video games.

4. He is probably a lot smarter than many of the kids of hi-sos who get driven to school every day.

5. Does he look terrified of where he is?

6. His father is right there if a problem arises.

7. Being a non-aircon bus, many of the locals probably know him and would look after him.

Yes, a child working on a bus in the UK is a big no-no. But then Englandistan is a developed civilized country eh?

[ratcatcher]

You blokes don't know you're born. When I was a lad my dad gave me an empty shoe box for Xmas and told me it was an Action Man deserter

Shoe box! !!!!!

You're lucky to have had a dad who could afford shoes.

Most of the old farts on here, myself included, lived in shoe boxes or worse, wait for it............

Ay, those were the days.

[jacky54]

He's in a stressful environment

He's probably drop dead tired at the end of the night

Non air con buses are not healthy and he's very likely to pick up infections from the public as well as the air polution

He is probably behind in his education than other kids

We don't know if he is being pressured into doing it

it's illegal and against bus company poilicy

you would not let your son be doing this but it's alright for a Thai!

Edited September 16, 2014 by jacky54

[oldsailor35]

jacky54 is probably one of the present day " gimmie gimmie" brigade. Nothing wrong with that kid doing some honest work. As a 9 yr old in the latter days of WW2 i did farm work and believe me that could be hard at times, but i was happy and do not consider i was being abused in any way. Afterwards i did a very large paper round through the villages on my bicycle which took me all day on saturdays. Once again, i was happy and never felt abused. Trouble with people like jacky54, he has grown up in an age where kids only have to hold their hands out and demand.

[catweazle]

My mom and my uncle were cleaning bricks from plaster and concrete with a tiny hammer and a rusty screwdriver when they were 3 and 8 years old in the ruins of post war Germany. They would load the clean bricks onto their wooden three-wheeled scooter and transport them for about 1km to the man who would buy their bricks at ten bricks for a "Pfennig" (equivalent in today's world is half a cent Euro = 0.8 Baht)... Think about it!

Life isn't a pony ranch, even today, to most children in this world.

While I fully agree that child labour and exploitation of minors is bad, I believe that this little boy deserves admiration for what he does rather than pity. Unless this new and perhaps better "government" finds way to provide some kind of a social services network to its citizens, there will be much more heartbreaking stories about Thai kids struggling to survive to be read about in the future.

Social media has brought this "deficit" to our attention, thank you for that - but now it also is up to official "powers" to implement changes for the better of Thailand's youth. For too long they have been neglected and allowed to simply live "alongside" their parents who were either too busy or too lazy to properly take care of them, thus it is no wonder a majority of them strays off into the unknown and become victims to drugs, gang violence and further neglect.

Thailand as a whole need to wake up and realize that kids are their future! With crappy education, non-existant social safety net and parents who "unload" their children at schools with the same amount of empathy they'd show when sending an empty gas tank to the hardware store for a refill, nothing will change. And given this, the little bus conductor's life most likely still is a much better one than the life of a street kid dying of malaria, malnutrition, aids or leprosy half naked in the streets of Calcutta...

Edited September 16, 2014 by catweazle

[oldsailor35]

For one, it's illegal under Thai law. It's clearly unlawful child labor. The boy should be in school. For those of you who want to romanticize about you jobs in your youth, I suggest that you look at your country's laws on permissible child labor. It's not cute at all.

Looks to me as though it could be evening time on the bus. Are you seriously saying that the kid should be at school all day and then again in the evening. However , nowhere does it say in the article that it is daytime or school time.

[oldsailor35]

Having looked at the video again, i notice that the bus interior lights are on. So wake up all you "should be at school" idiots. Its well after school time.

[oldsailor35]

Of course a Thai will say so what to children being mis treated, but most of them think there is no problem with riding without helmets, drunk driving, having no insurance, chicken fighting, cheating in exams, paying for votes (they say bad until they are offered money) illegal gambling, virtually no health and safety protection when it comes to food, dangerous electrical installations or sub standard education. So what, they just can't be bothered can they!

OK jacky54. Having noticed all that, is'nt it about time that you suddenly realised that you are living in what is virtually 3rd world Asia (forget what Thai authorities say) If you cannot understand, and become distressed by this i suggest you move on as it is not going to change overnight.

[siampolee]

Well Jacky 54 you indeed have the welfare of the child at heart as your posts show indeed a fine offering of platitudes.

Now, are you going to or are you willing to offer assistance to the child and as such his family financially or otherwise to enable the child to avoid the self presumed child abuse that he is suffering, can you will you offer all of us a solution to ease this child's and his family's plight real or imaginary?

Actions do indeed speak louder than words.

Edited September 16, 2014 by siampolee

[BirdsandBooze]

It won't do him any harm. Quite the opposite in fact. When I was his age I did a morning paper round 7 days a week and sold the Evening Standard on Saturdays as well. By my 16 th birthday I'd saved enough to buy my first motorbike.

[oldsailor35]

You blokes don't know you're born. When I was a lad my dad gave me an empty shoe box for Xmas and told me it was an Action Man deserter

Dont mention Bloody Action Man, my 7 yr old swopped all my military medals for an Action Man at school.

[oldsailor35]

He's in a stressful environment

He's probably drop dead tired at the end of the night

Non air con buses are not healthy and he's very likely to pick up infections from the public as well as the air polution

He is probably behind in his education than other kids

We don't know if he is being pressured into doing it

it's illegal and against bus company poilicy

you would not let your son be doing this but it's alright for a Thai!

Its plainly obvious that jacky54 has never heard the old song ........"Always look on the bright side of things" get a copy jacky and play it over and over, you desperately need the advice.

[klauskunkel]

He's in a stressful environment

He's probably drop dead tired at the end of the night

Non air con buses are not healthy and he's very likely to pick up infections from the public as well as the air polution

He is probably behind in his education than other kids

We don't know if he is being pressured into doing it

it's illegal and against bus company poilicy

you would not let your son be doing this but it's alright for a Thai!

yes, all probably true, but...:

He is not at the video game arcade

He is not making "friends" with a gang

He is not staying up all night

He is learning about the relation between work and money

He learns to socially interact with people

...just food for thought...

[spiritrace]

I was cutting grass with an old reel push mower for 50cents a yard when I was 10. He's helping and not doing drugs or stealing stuff.... Good on him!

[Fat Haggis]

Nothing to see here, move along please!!

[pookiki]

For one, it's illegal under Thai law. It's clearly unlawful child labor. The boy should be in school. For those of you who want to romanticize about you jobs in your youth, I suggest that you look at your country's laws on permissible child labor. It's not cute at all.

Looks to me as though it could be evening time on the bus. Are you seriously saying that the kid should be at school all day and then again in the evening. However , nowhere does it say in the article that it is daytime or school time.

How do you know he wasn't working all day, seven days a week? So much is left to speculation by the information in the article. But as the article says and as evidenced by most of the posts on this issue: "none seemed concerned with the issue as illegal child labor." Bring back the "breaker boys"?

[Gunna]

When I was growing up I had a couple of jobs as a 12 yr old. I delivered newspapers and did part time work as a jockey on a softdrink truck. I did this freely to earn my own money and it taught me the value of money. Now kids aren't allowed to have a paper round because of the politically correct brigade

Same here, I worked in a fish and chip shop making chips and then worked in a butcher shop learning to do all sorts of jobs. At week-ends I would help my father on the farm and summer holidays were spent helping make hay and looking after the cattle.

Yes it may have been child labour, but I enjoyed the jobs and it gave me weekly pocket money so I wasn't always asking my parents for money. Plus it helped me learn how businesses work and what a real job entailed. It gave me a work ethic and helped me retire after only 25 years of full time work.

[harada]

I was cutting grass with an old reel push mower for 50cents a yard when I was 10. He's helping and not doing drugs or stealing stuff.... Good on him!

Push mower, luxury, I had to use a pair of shears for 2 bob a yard.

[Chaz1819]

And now you get all the old boys remarking on back-in-the-day blah blah, yawn. I also did a paper round in early teens but was not obliged to do it. Do you think this little nipper and the other poor unfortunate flower kids have a choice! It's wrong on so many levels and if you can't see it... well never mind, go back to sleep, have another beer etc.

Daveaustin, you make a lot of assumptions.

It's only sad if the boy can read English and starts to think the job and time with his father is bad. Blissfully ignorant of others standards, he is able to be very proud of what he does. And of his remarkable ability to make change.

[jacky54]

Some it seems would like to bring back slavery or put children up chimneys again, Charles Dickens eat yer heart out.

[champers]

I hate you Butler!!

[ratcatcher]

I was cutting grass with an old reel push mower for 50cents a yard when I was 10. He's helping and not doing drugs or stealing stuff.... Good on him!

Push mower, luxury, I had to use a pair of shears for 2 bob a yard.

Good God Sir Les, I am surprised you didn't have a pair of sheep to cut the grass.

[pookiki]

I was on a bus several years ago about mid-day. There was a young girl on the bus. By her appearance, she couldn't have been more than twelve. There appeared to be a relationship between the driver and the girl but that was speculation on my part. The girl was so fatigued that she finally went to sleep on one of the seats and the fared went uncollected after that. She was still asleep when I got off the bus. I guess it's ok to pick and choose the laws we want to observe when it comes to children's welfare - especially when so many of the posts seem to think that children who work will be much better people as a result. It also appears that everyone has some type of extra-ordinary ability to determine when children are being exploited or not. The laws on child labor are there for a reason. If you think the child labor laws should be ignored or that it's ok to flaunt the law, where's the limit?

[ratcatcher]

Some it seems would like to bring back slavery or put children up chimneys again, Charles Dickens eat yer heart out.

Oh, you mean the good old days? "Please sir, can I 'ave some more."

Suppose this young man has a mother, who normally works on the bus with her husband, the driver.

But on this day his mother is unwell, so he is helping out.

Suppose this young man has no mother and the regular conductor is off, so he is helping his dad.

He is not forced to work, but maybe feels a duty to help his dad who works hard and there is no-one at home.

This is not slavery and he is not in abject misery judging by his body language and smile.

Frankly if I was a Thai, I'd hire him to work for me, he seems a sensible lad.

If you want to crusade go after the sweat shops and seafood plants that operate under the so-called radar, employing whole Burmese families to cut fish and shell prawns.

To some people initiative is a dirty word.

[jacky54]

I was on a bus several years ago about mid-day. There was a young girl on the bus. By her appearance, she couldn't have been more than twelve. There appeared to be a relationship between the driver and the girl but that was speculation on my part. The girl was so fatigued that she finally went to sleep on one of the seats

I wonder how many on here have ever been on a Bangkok bus, they are used as nurseries by the staff, often where the driver and conductor are married. The poor kids are on there for a 12 hour shift, cute? I don't think so.

[jacky54]

To some people initiative is a dirty word.

To some people child abuse are dirty words, and quite right too!

Edited September 16, 2014 by jacky54

[Stray]

I was on a bus several years ago about mid-day. There was a young girl on the bus. By her appearance, she couldn't have been more than twelve. There appeared to be a relationship between the driver and the girl but that was speculation on my part. The girl was so fatigued that she finally went to sleep on one of the seats

I wonder how many on here have ever been on a Bangkok bus, they are used as nurseries by the staff, often where the driver and conductor are married. The poor kids are on there for a 12 hour shift, cute? I don't think so.

Jacky54, what action have you taken/are you taking to end this alleged situation on Bangkok buses?