Just came back from a restaurant that I went to have dinner with the kids as the wife is working.

When we finished, I asked for the bill.

The waitress comes back and gives the bill to one of the boys, 15 years old.

The boy, points at me so the waitress passes me the bill.

I pay and she comes back with the change and gives it to the boy again.

The boy again points at me and finally she gives me back my change.

This is not the first time this has happened to me.

Either I am in a restaurant or in a shop and pay for their services the change are handed back to my wife.

Many times I have asked why and what I get back is a stupid smile.

So many times I was tempted to tell them……look you stupid thing, I paid you I expect the change to be handed back to me and not the other person that is with me.

What is that for?

Thai culture again?

Thais being shy with foreigners?

Or Thais ignoring foreigners treating them as invisible?

Has that happened to you?

How do you feel about it?

They know an ATM only gives money out ?

We don't exist here, we are merely coming to life when with other Thai whom act as validation.

Today I went to complain because my moban is not providing me with the same bus service as Thai people.

The officer had to call my landlord, and talk to it about it. He does not know much about it but he's my Thai representative.

Also many people jump queues in front of me... I don't exist...

They know an ATM only gives money out ?

Bingo... Subtle, but shows contempt of the foreigner...

What is that for?

Thai culture again?

Thais being shy with foreigners?

Or Thais ignoring foreigners treating them as invisible?

All them plus stupidity.

Weird. They give me my change.

In fact, sometimes they even give me the change when it was my wife that paid.

When I go eating with my wife, I get the bill and point to my wife.

If there are more people (company eating) she often points to one of our staff who likes to stick to details to check the invoice. And almost always he finds some things that were not consumed and will be deleted from the invoice without any complain.....

(10-20 people who eat and drink.....and something, of course mistakes happen, always some things get added (but never anything forgotten)).

Costas how many times have I told you that you should wear trousers when you go out. Your skirt only confuses them...

We don't exist here, we are merely coming to life when with other Thai whom act as validation.

Today I went to complain because my moban is not providing me with the same bus service as Thai people.

The officer had to call my landlord, and talk to it about it. He does not know much about it but he's my Thai representative.

Also many people jump queues in front of me... I don't exist...

"Today I went to complain because my moban is not providing me with the same bus service as Thai people." ... that is really strange and, to be honest, I don't really understand how that could happen.

Could you explain some more please?

If you can converse in thai, take those kids or your missus with you to a governmentagency and see if they actually talk to you about an issue related to your dearself.

OP, you're getting an idea of what they really think of us.

Who's 'us'?

Do you speak passable Thai?

There is a fruit vendor I've been buying from for years here.

He was busier than usual but I got in line.

A group of Thais came up and got in front of me, I sincerely think I was literally invisible to this group.

I wasn't going to fight but the vendor didn't react either (I might have made an issue of it if I thought he cared as he's the boss there).

From a business POV, weird, as I just walked away ... not worth the wait.

These things happen here, and yes of course it is a kind of racism. You can't fight it, you can't change the "culture" here on how so many Thais view (or don't view) foreigners. Either accept it as part of the deal of living here or make yourself crazy about it.

Oh well!

hmmm

i always get my change when i pay.

corner shops to 5-star, they always give it to me first.

Happens to me when im out with the wife I pay they give her my change,I always try to give right money now or near as I can,jumping ques yep happens to me I just do it back, also had the opposite though people letting me go first,the thing that gets me is children staring at me and pointing and shouting as if I'm some sort of elephant man lol

It could be that the waitress was shy or it could have been a sign of contempt/that you are a sub-human ATM.

I tend to think it was more likely that she was shy if this is out in the sticks and more likely a sign of contempt in a touristy area.

Costas how many times have I told you that you should wear trousers when you go out. Your skirt only confuses them...

He might actually get a decent Twirling Dervish going with that outfit...

I have had a simular problem with the wife. , The wife and i go out to eat together, We both order together. but a few times the waiter has brought my meal before the wife's, I sit there waiting for the wife's meal to be brought but it does not arrive i just sit and sit, waiters come up to the wife and ask is there a problem with the meal, I say yes its cold now because its bad manners to start to eat before your wife, that usually gets a few stupid looks from the Thai waiters and i make them take the meal back because its cold. Is it me .

I have had a simular problem with the wife. , The wife and i go out to eat together, We both order together. but a few times the waiter has brought my meal before the wife's, I sit there waiting for the wife's meal to be brought but it does not arrive i just sit and sit, waiters come up to the wife and ask is there a problem with the meal, I say yes its cold now because its bad manners to start to eat before your wife, that usually gets a few stupid looks from the Thai waiters and i make them take the meal back because its cold. Is it me .

You're expecting western style service in a Thai restaurant?

I have had a simular problem with the wife. , The wife and i go out to eat together, We both order together. but a few times the waiter has brought my meal before the wife's, I sit there waiting for the wife's meal to be brought but it does not arrive i just sit and sit, waiters come up to the wife and ask is there a problem with the meal, I say yes its cold now because its bad manners to start to eat before your wife, that usually gets a few stupid looks from the Thai waiters and i make them take the meal back because its cold. Is it me .

You're expecting western style service in a Thai restaurant?

More like normal business acumen.

More like normal business acumen.

Normal in the west, perhaps. Restaurants here tend to bring out each dish as it's cooked, rather than serve the whole table at once.

We generally order food to share rather than a dish each, so we just start tucking in to whatever arrives first.

More like normal business acumen.

Normal in the west, perhaps. Restaurants here tend to bring out each dish as it's cooked, rather than serve the whole table at once.

We generally order food to share rather than a dish each, so we just start tucking in to whatever arrives first.

Shades of grey....shades of grey.

If you don't like the way they do business go back to hellas land, no one is pointing a gun to your head and forcing you to live in some remote village. Nearly all your posts involve bashing Thailand, Greece has some great villages, what is the reason that forces you to stay in Thailand?

If you don't like the way they do business go back to hellas land, no one is pointing a gun to your head and forcing you to live in some remote village.

Hmmm....you are a Turk......if i remember correctly.....

Costas, same happened with my daughter and me - first time she was about 7-8. Menus to her, food to her, bill to her, change to her. I was totally ignored, I did not exist, to the point that even when I ordered in Thai this bimbo answered to my daughter. I felt totally humiliated. A 7-8 year old child with her father and I'm not worth even looking at. No excuses, no young country girl excuses, no shy in big city excuses, no me shy farang excuses. She deserved the dressing down I gave her afterwards. I was with a Chinese colleague from HK in a foreign theme bar. Waitress spoke to her in Thai, so I politely said my friend is not Thai and does not speak Thai. Yet still I was ignored and the waitress kept going to my friend and speaking Thai, and I had to interrupt several times to draw the conversation back to me to interpret. How <deleted> stupid. And so another dressing down and lecture about rudeness, sigh. A pity, cause she was cute .

If you don't like the way they do business go back to hellas land, no one is pointing a gun to your head and forcing you to live in some remote village.

Hmmm....you are a Turk......if i remember correctly.....

Indeed I am, my Turkish friends frequently bash Thailand also, I tell them the same thing, go back to Turkiye if you don't like it here. People go through funny stuff like visa runs just to stay here and yet they bash the country, I don't get it!

^^^ It's called letting off steam, in a place (this forum) where we're not going to get our heads kicked in by a dozen brave soldiers of Thainess. In expressing displeasure to said subjects, it's called "education". It helps them to improve their work skills so they can earn bigger tips.

You're going to 'educate' the whole country to do things the way you feel they should be done? Good luck with that.

The way I see it, you have two choices. You can accept that things are different here and adapt accordingly, or you can sit there and get angry because they're not doing things the way you think they should. While your dinner goes cold.

The next time they treat with Thainess you need to introduce them to one of the old Greek Customs