Thai attitude to foreigners: An all time low?

[pattayadude]

On 12/3/2018 at 1:30 PM, morrobay said:

If anything thais should be more friendly toward foreigners in the tourist areas since that is there lively hood. For some strange reason they want to have it both ways.

 

I am afraid it will get worse before it gets better. The political division in Thai people is fueling the resurgence of Thai nationalism which has a sizeable public backing and it trickles down to their negative attitude towards the expats and visitors IMO. There was a good reason for the military takeover in 2014

 

[tifino]

the white fella will always never be again trusted (all painted with the same tainted brush) , thanks to the legacy of the French almost 126 years ago when they invaded Koh Si Chang

(not far enough away from Pattaya)

Edited December 5, 2018 by tifino

[morrobay]

4 hours ago, pattayadude said:

I am afraid it will get worse before it gets better. The political division in Thai people is fueling the resurgence of Thai nationalism which has a sizeable public backing and it trickles down to their negative attitude towards the expats and visitors IMO. There was a good reason for the military takeover in 2014

 

Yes the expats have to put up with it for now. It sure looks like alot of the normal high season visitors have decided not to put up with these  bad attitudes though.: Just took a songkow all along beach road and considering its December and no beach chair/beach access from about soi 10 to walking st.  the remaining  areas to North contained  very few Europeans with about 25% chairs with thais , the rest empty. It used to be packed with Euros at this time of year.    The best way to deal with it (above) is minimum contact , except of course with your Thai girlfriend/wife.  The businesses along second rd are living on air it looks. The highest density/activity anywhere  are in the 2 hour waiting  lines of thais  in their cars for T21 parking. I guess that mall will do allright since thais do not seem to mind 2 hour wait.  

Edited December 5, 2018 by morrobay

[wprime]

It's not specific to towards foreigners, I'm finding people are just in a lousy mood in Pattaya lately and my Thai partner has noticed it towards her too.

 

I'd say there are a lot of factors, overcrowding, traffic, etc, cost of living rising faster than income.

 

Just showing some consideration and friendliness goes a long way to getting a decent response.

[cliveshep]

I make a habit, which my Thai wife hates, of being friendly and jokey with everyone, dustmen (a UK term for "rubber bin men", road sweepers, grass cutters, tree trimmers, motorcycle taxi drivers, sewer cleaners as well as those persons clearly holding down better paid and what some would call more upmarket jobs.

 

To me they are all people in a country that hosts me. What is now happening is that motor-cycle taxi drivers call out and wave at me if they see me out, farm labourers sitting for lunch yell hello as we drive past on our motorbike, not so much in the car because you cannot see in through the tints.

 

This morning the dustcart drove past our house in the village when I happened to be outside in the front parking area and the lads called out and waved as they passed, genuine smiles. The entire crew have now learnt how to say hello in English so I think that is rather nice. After all - what have I got to be snobbish about? 

 

So I find Thais ready to respond to a smile and a respectful waved greeting and more so than the UK folk who are really reserved and suspicious by comparison.

[changside]

On 9/2/2016 at 11:37 AM, impulse said:

I have found that -in general- people's attitude toward me is a direct reflection of how I treat them.  That's worldwide.

 

And no matter how flowery my words are, the vast majority of communication isn't verbal. 

I think that says it all.  I never have problems with Thai people. A smile, politeness and a friendly word makes all the difference. 

[madusa]

On 9/2/2016 at 3:50 PM, elgordo38 said:

Yes I have noticed this to. As soon as you pick up an article and ask the price they go straight to the cash register and feel slighted if you do not purchase. 

The boss screw them up bad if the sale is not good, so the chain reaction starts. You are the cause of her misery when you didn't buy anything and asking a lot questions.  My sympathy is always with them.

The consumer society throughout the world creates this sort of behavior. Do french people in Paris say "bonjour" to me ? I didn't hear any when I was there funny isn't it? A very well known famous tourist city yet no one not even one french say "bonjour" to me that spoil my beautiful morning. I was expecting to hear "bonjour" of course after I spent so much money.  In countryside and villages yes all the time and they smile too. Of course if you speak french they talk to you but only if your french is not rotten. They just cannot stand it when you mispronounce their beautiful language and making too many ugly mistakes.

Perhaps the Thais think "if you Farangs don't come to Thailand it's all right for us, we will go back to the village and grow rice."

Agrarian lifestyle will be good for them in fact good for just about anyone.

[fruitman]

In Icon Siam the staff liked to run away and go hiding when they saw me.....

 

And at BMW they couldn't speak a word english, again!! Now i don't need one anymore, wanted to buy it for christmas.

[Vacuum]

On 12/5/2018 at 6:27 AM, morrobay said:

the 2 hour waiting  lines of thais  in their cars for T21 parking. I guess that mall will do allright since thais do not seem to mind 2 hour wait.

On the other hand, they seem to have a big problem waiting 2 minutes for the red light to turn green at an intersection.

[sambum]

On 12/8/2018 at 10:51 PM, cliveshep said:

I make a habit, which my Thai wife hates, of being friendly and jokey with everyone, dustmen (a UK term for "rubber bin men", road sweepers, grass cutters, tree trimmers, motorcycle taxi drivers, sewer cleaners as well as those persons clearly holding down better paid and what some would call more upmarket jobs.

 

To me they are all people in a country that hosts me. What is now happening is that motor-cycle taxi drivers call out and wave at me if they see me out, farm labourers sitting for lunch yell hello as we drive past on our motorbike, not so much in the car because you cannot see in through the tints.

 

This morning the dustcart drove past our house in the village when I happened to be outside in the front parking area and the lads called out and waved as they passed, genuine smiles. The entire crew have now learnt how to say hello in English so I think that is rather nice. After all - what have I got to be snobbish about? 

 

So I find Thais ready to respond to a smile and a respectful waved greeting and more so than the UK folk who are really reserved and suspicious by comparison.

The first time I came to Thailand (more than 15 years ago) I noticed that - and also on my return to London that when you smiled at somebody you got a "who the <deleted> are you looking at" type of response.

 

Now that seems to have spread here to a certain extent - sometimes your presence is just ignored, or at certain places (Immigration, for instance) from some Thais, the hostility can almost be felt.

Edited December 30, 2018 by sambum

[Rimmer]

Off topic profane posts in Thai removed

[scorecard]

On 9/2/2016 at 1:06 PM, phycokiller said:

was pretty bad 10 years ago, many shops i went into to inquire prices I was told not to come back to because i didnt buy something, and I have observed them swearing at customers as they walk away if they dont buy something. not all were like that and they were naturally the ones that got my business. Im in cambodia now and  they  have no problem thanking you even when you dont buy, just like a normal person would. makes life much easier when you dont have to worry about them letting loose on you. Im not sure why thais are like that, I guess they are just extremely sensitive and easily insulted because they lack the mental faculties to rationally think things through

 

to add to that, Im not suggesting this is an anti foreigner thing, its very likely they do it to each other as well

 

Not true.

[wabothai]

On 12/14/2018 at 7:00 PM, changside said:

I think that says it all.  I never have problems with Thai people. A smile, politeness and a friendly word makes all the difference. 

Until you start doing business with them.

[neeray]

58 minutes ago, wabothai said:

Until you start doing business with them.

That is generally when the relationship gets even better. Cash is king. You are putting cash in their pockets.

[brling]

16 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

Not true.

It is true.  You probably cant accept the truth.

[scorecard]

5 hours ago, brling said:

It is true.  You probably cant accept the truth.

Are you saying that you received the comment 'you didn't buy anything so don't come back' every time you looked at a product, or was it once, or what?

 

And it might help to recognize that you can find a whole array of reactions and attitudes in all countries.

 

Edited December 31, 2018 by scorecard

[bkk6060]

40 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Are you saying that you received the comment 'you didn't buy anything so don't come back' every time you looked at a product, or was it once, or what?

 

And it might help to recognize that you can find a whole array of reactions and attitudes in all countries.

 

Don't mind him I bet he will not respond.

He has a continued documented hate of Thailand and Thais with not one positive comment I have seen.

What a very very sad way to think and live..

Happy New Year to you.

Edited December 31, 2018 by bkk6060

[BritManToo]

On 12/30/2018 at 2:42 PM, sambum said:

The first time I came to Thailand (more than 15 years ago) I noticed that - and also on my return to London that when you smiled at somebody you got a "who the <deleted> are you looking at" type of response.

I found the people in London, when I was living there 2016-2018, universally polite, pleasant and helpful.

[whitemouse]

On 12/2/2018 at 3:48 PM, sirineou said:

People don't like people that dont like them.

 Their opinion of may of as, is directly proportional to the opinion that many of as have of them.

I often see the Thai bashing threads on TVF and am embarrassed by them, I think how embarrassing if my Thai family knew.

  Well, I think they all are beginning to know, 

  

Legitimate criticism is not Thai bashing, it's is a simple criticism, and you shouldn't feel embarrassed. 

 

Your Thai family probably has very strong opinions about foreigners, and you are probably better off not knowing how they feel about us. 

[sirineou]

13 hours ago, whitemouse said:

Legitimate criticism is not Thai bashing, it's is a simple criticism, and you shouldn't feel embarrassed. 

 

Your Thai family probably has very strong opinions about foreigners, and you are probably better off not knowing how they feel about us. 

IMO the constant Thai bashing is not legitimate ,

There was an other thread about Thailand getting easy access busses for the elderly and  the disabled. almost every reply was critical If there was an article on Thailand not getting easy access busses, every reply would had also being critical.

For some , nothing Thais do can is good.  

  I have being coming to Thailand over 13 years now, married to a wonderful girl for close to 10 years (better than I deserve), own with my wife two homes in Thailand, one in the US. Her family is great, no one ever asked me for a penny, the people in our village in Khon Kaen  are friendly, pleasant and treat me with respect.

All wonderful people I never had a problem with.

 Are there problems in Thailand? sure there are, There are problems everywhere!! just different problems. We come here to get away from the problems back home, then we complain why Thailand is not more like back home.

 Very strange IMO. 

Edited January 2, 2019 by Rimmer
Per edit request

[Naam]

41 minutes ago, sirineou said:

For some , nothing Thais do can is no good.

not only for "some". it is ridiculous (sometimes amusing) how packs of poor bashers try to discredit any thread in this forum pertaining to anything "Thai" whether it's population or government and that most of the time clearly without any specific indepth knowledge.

[sirineou]

Just now, Naam said:

not only for "some". it is ridiculous (sometimes amusing) how packs of poor bashers try to discredit any thread in this forum pertaining to anything "Thai" whether it's population or government and that most of the time clearly without any specific indepth knowledge.

I think it says more about them, than it does about Thais

[sirineou]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

IMO the constant Thai bashing is not legitimate ,

There was an other thread about Thailand getting easy access busses for the elderly and  the disabled. almost every reply was critical If there was an article on Thailand not getting easy access busses, every reply would had also being critical.

For some , nothing Thais do can is no good.  

  I have being coming to Thailand over 13 years now, married to a wonderful girl for close to 10 years (better than I deserve), own with my wife two homes in Thailand, one in the US. Her family is great, no one ever asked me for a penny, the people in our village in Khon Kaen  are friendly, pleasant and treat me with respect.

All wonderful people I never had a problem with.

 Are there problems in Thailand? sure there are, There are problems everywhere!! just different problems. We come here to get away from the problems back home, then we complain why Thailand is not more like back home.

 Very strange IMO. 

Sorry for the double negative in the highlighted portion , I just noticed it when Naam replied to it. It should say "Nothing Thais can do is good"

Unfortunately I can no longer edit it , if a Mod can repair it I would appreciate it.

  In the meantime I will hung my face in shame and try to drown my sorrow  by consuming copious amounts of beer 

[morrobay]

On 12/2/2018 at 1:55 PM, geriatrickid said:

Why then is it expected that the locals are expect to greet every farang as if it is a visit from heavens?

 

 

 

Its not expected by anyone here and its not expected for Thais to get 'excited" about foreigners. Thats your  strawman argument: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

But its not really a chicken/egg thing  that is going on here. At least in Pattaya ie - they dislike foreigners. Having said, that with most of the foreigners around here my attitude is at an all time low too. And as whitemouse and myself have noted, constructive criticism is only "thai bashing" by  the thai apologists.

[joeyg]

I've never heard so much BS in my life.  been coming here since 1971.  We used to be treated like kings.  and the land of smiles really deservered it's name .  been living here for about 5 years and I've about had my fill.

[spidermike007]

One has to assume you are talking about Pattaya, Phuket or Samui. Those places are the worst in Thailand, for some of the locals, who are jaded, have very little pride in their environment, and little gratitude toward customers. In many other places, including most of the small town areas, most of rural Thailand, Hua Hin, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and most of the other big cities, I do not find this to be the case at all. I find most Thais to be warm, friendly, helpful, light hearted, fun and cheerful. I also find that they are incredibly intuitive, and very reactive to what you put out there. When I am smiling and pleasant and respectful, that seems to be exactly what I get in return.

 

The nationalism, and xenophobia, is primarily coming from the administration, the army, and immigration policy. That needs to be fixed. That is totally inexcusable, and a very, very poor performance on their part. 

[bkk6060]

On 1/14/2019 at 6:11 PM, joeyg said:

I've never heard so much BS in my life.  been coming here since 1971.  We used to be treated like kings.  and the land of smiles really deservered it's name .  been living here for about 5 years and I've about had my fill.

Maybe too much competition now?

How sad you wasted 5 years of your life to figure that out...

Edited January 19, 2019 by bkk6060

[Jdiddy]

7/11s sure, or any other places that cause the worker to become like a robot

 

 

[fouryesrs]

On Fri Sep 02 2016 at 7:46 AM, beachproperty said:

So you went to a few shops where they didn't say thank-you....And  one laundry shop where the women was busy and didn't kiss your ass.

For a tourist in touristy areas to make generalization about all the Thai's....Well that's just stupid

 

Have lived here for over 10 Years and NO I haven't seen Thai attitudes gradually eroding......But maybe that's because I don't live in a touristy area.

eroding happens only if there was something there that could erode ..

[bigrobtheactor]

I see it too. Crazy. That's why I came to this forum, to see if it was me - or others noticed it as well. It's crazy. I've been coming here since the 80's and had I noticed this earlier would not have returned. It's beyond rude - it's outright hostility and I really can't imagine why. It's startling and not just vendors. Don't we pour tons of needed  money into this place?  What is their problem? Anyone?