Time to Credit where Credit is Due

[The Dark Lord]

Hi fellow TVF members and visitors. 

 

Far are too often we read negative posts about officials here in LoS. 

 

Time to post something good!

 

no names to be mentioned  so apologies if a little hazy on details but here goes;

 

Annual retirement EoS expired 29th Jan 2017 (Sunday)  but due to postal efficiency not all the pieces were in place on time.

 

Monday 30th , went to immigration with all docs etc in place and showing the usual politeness that one should show others as a matter of course, went into immigration which was packed out with applicants. 

 

Lady official caught my eye and asked, even though she was busy, what I was seeking there ( extension or renewal etc?) 

 

Very briefly explained the slight overstay with apologies and also apologised for coming at 0900 hrs on their busiest day.

 

She indicated to me to just leave my envelope ( containing all necessary documents and passport ) with her and go off for lunch. She would call me later.

 

Around 1400 hrs I got a call from her asking if I wanted multiple exit or single exit or just standard EoS.

 

I told her what I was seeking and thanked her.

 

Twenty minutes later another call, "were we free to come in?"

 

We returned to immigration, were indicated to come forward whereupon I was asked to sign the copies and the application form , two minutes after that my passport, EoS and an already filled in 90 day report form (for next reporting) were handed to me with a huge smile.

 

Never ever in any country or in dealings with officialdom have I had such a wonderful service. 

 

I believe that it may be because I always make a point of doing my 90 day report in person, acknowledging and being polite to all the officials, showing respect in what I wear and what I say has been noted by the immigration team and reciprocation was shown. 

 

Have any any other posters ever met such a great service either with officialdom or in life in general?

 

i am thoroughly impressed but am torn between writing to the boss of immigration (at that centre) to praise the team and commend him on operating such a friendly and efficient office or not.

 

What are the opinions of my fellow TVF members?

[grollies]

Forget the letter. Be glad you had a good experience and keep attending the 90 day reporting. I agree, conservative dress is appreciated by Government Officials.

 

Others will disagree. This should be fun, go on then...........

[Hutch68]

I have found both immigration at the  office or at the boarder very pleasant and helpful I have also found the local plod to be helpful and nice to chat with especially the female ones but then again I am very handsome.

[grollies]

7 minutes ago, Hutch68 said:

I have found both immigration at the  office or at the boarder very pleasant and helpful I have also found the local plod to be helpful and nice to chat with especially the female ones but then again I am very handsome.

What a refreshing change here on TVF.

[opalred]

you want to tell that to cm immigration cec wingers 

[weegee]

That sounds like Hatyai Immigration...and I have found them exactly how you wrote this..

 

[Hutch68]

10 minutes ago, weegee said:

That sounds like Hatyai Immigration...and I have found them exactly how you wrote this..

 

Are you handsome too?

[Odysseus123]

13 hours ago, Hutch68 said:

I have found both immigration at the  office or at the boarder very pleasant and helpful I have also found the local plod to be helpful and nice to chat with especially the female ones but then again I am very handsome.

I have always found the staff at Phibun Mangsahan to be very courteous and helpful and,after their relocation to Sirinthorn,even more so because the place does not seem to be as crowded.I was very sick the last time I did my visa stuff and they worked thru it all in a most professional manner.I would give 'em 5 stars if this was some sort of comparison with the bureaucracy of my home country.

...and I am not very hansum either...lol!

[The Dark Lord]

Dear responders, 

 

firstly thanks for taking king the time and effort to respond especially in such a positive manner.

 

i am sincerely encouraged to learn it was not just a one off but seems to be prevalent in a number of areas.

 

thank you all.

[mesquite]

Where was this?

[saakura]

LOL. A lot of our regular thai bashers are going to be very upset this morning to read all this praise.

[The Dark Lord]

41 minutes ago, mesquite said:

Where was this?

Dan Lee wan - Khorat ( but don't tell anyone... )

Edited February 1, 2017 by The Dark Lord

[chrisandsu]

Done a visa run to Cambodia  once, the Thai side had a middle aged Thai lady who looked unbelievably mean and proceeded in literally throwing the passports back to the people who reached the kiosk before I did . I got there Waid her and asked in Thai how her day was going I got a lovely smile back and my passport handed back with a massive thank you . I always feel if you reflect a bad attitude to

people you will get it back in spades . If you try to understand why someone's having a bad day and just give them a simple smile and ask them how their day is it can make all the difference . Been coming to thailand for close to 15 years and never had a problem.  

[Lamkyong]

did you leave a tip   or was your perfect demeanor  sufficient  ?? 

[grollies]

9 minutes ago, Lamkyong said:

did you leave a tip   or was your perfect demeanor  sufficient  ?? 

Try 'tipping' a Government Employee and see where that gets you.

[Lamkyong]

1 minute ago, grollies said:

Try 'tipping' a Government Employee and see where that gets you.

your views are seen through rose tinted glasses

[chrisandsu]

5 hours ago, Lamkyong said:

did you leave a tip   or was your perfect demeanor  sufficient  ?? 

Being hansom probably done the trick ?

[kevvy]

Lost my wallet 10 days ago . I was so upset as it had my Australian credit cards , medicare , driving license plus alot of money ..

I was more worried about the trouble I would have to go through to get new cards from Australia . I rang my wife and told her and she was upset as well. The money in the wallet was to buy a Samsung 4k TV. 15 minutes later my wife rang me to say someone had my wallet and was waiting for me . I was so relieved  . Then she rang me again and tell me that 10 people had rang her and telling her where to go to get my wallet . The man who found it looked through it and found no phone number so he photo copied my Australian license and posted it on chiang rai news ... I went to the place to meet the man  and he yelled out to me as he knew me from my picture on my license. He handed back my wallet and I was so happy just to get it back , expecting the money to be gone .I looked inside it and there was all my money !! The kind man had posted my wallet on line with a picture of the money as well. I gave him a reward which he refused to take . As he was selling sheets (next the the wholesale market) I brought some and when handed him the money i walked away giving him a generous  tip...

This man gave me new faith in the all people ..

[Odysseus123]

6 hours ago, kevvy said:

Lost my wallet 10 days ago . I was so upset as it had my Australian credit cards , medicare , driving license plus alot of money ..

I was more worried about the trouble I would have to go through to get new cards from Australia . I rang my wife and told her and she was upset as well. The money in the wallet was to buy a Samsung 4k TV. 15 minutes later my wife rang me to say someone had my wallet and was waiting for me . I was so relieved  . Then she rang me again and tell me that 10 people had rang her and telling her where to go to get my wallet . The man who found it looked through it and found no phone number so he photo copied my Australian license and posted it on chiang rai news ... I went to the place to meet the man  and he yelled out to me as he knew me from my picture on my license. He handed back my wallet and I was so happy just to get it back , expecting the money to be gone .I looked inside it and there was all my money !! The kind man had posted my wallet on line with a picture of the money as well. I gave him a reward which he refused to take . As he was selling sheets (next the the wholesale market) I brought some and when handed him the money i walked away giving him a generous  tip...

This man gave me new faith in the all people ..

That is a most marvelous story and would be in any country in the world.

I offer this much more modest instance of Thai generosity but it is still a good one....

 

My ancient motor scooter (long story) has a rather unpredictable petrol gauge and it chugged to a halt in an out of the way spot.After about 5 minutes a Thai family came along in an equally antique pick up and stopped and inquired as to the problem.They then drove off,found a container in a local shop,filled it up,returned,got me started,accepted 100 baht for the petrol-and positively refused any more money-then they drove off in a cloud of dust with much merriment and hand waving...

 

On a personal note I often have to check myself when I engage in Western dualistic thinking-things have to be either black or white,good or bad-and try to understand that the world offers many colours for my appreciation.At the end of the day it is only I that can do this but I do find it difficult to explain why I find Thailand to be so fascinating and have signally failed to convey its "mystery" in photos and Emails back to my own country.

 

Why?Because things have to be either black or white...good or bad..

[Time Traveller]

Yes that's a positive experience, I hope. But the reality is that 99.9999% of the time, an immigration official isn't going to stop in the middle of what they are doing to collect the documents of an overstayer to make the overstay disappear with a new Extension of Stay and NO FINE for the overstay.

So, either you must have a "special relationship" with this immigration official, or the the story is BS.....Assuming it's the former, I wouldn't go forward with singling them out for praise. Senior officials don't like to see their junior frontline staff get too friendly with the people they are meant to be judging.

 

[TerryLH]

"Yes that's a positive experience, I hope. But the reality is that 99.9999% of the time, an immigration official isn't going to stop in the middle of what they are doing to collect the documents of an overstayer to make the overstay disappear with a new Extension of Stay and NO FINE for the overstay."

 

He wasn't on overstay if he went on Monday and his extension had expired on Sunday.

[grollies]

15 hours ago, Lamkyong said:

your views are seen through rose tinted glasses

Went to the Ministry of Foreign Trade for an import permit. Official very helpful, assisting in filling out the forms. Wifey offered him 1,000THB as a thank you to which he said if you don't put that away he'd put the application in the bin.

 

She wasn't offering a bung, just a thank you and have a drink on us.

 

Wasn't until we got in the lift and noticed all the anti-corruption posters.

[Gillyflower]

When I am at Swampy I find them efficient and grim.  However when last entering, I went through Transit.  There were three of them and me the only customer.  Charming, one even going so far as to find out where I had to go next and taking me on the way.

 

I have been down to the Promenada twice for a 30 day ext.  I get there about 7.45 and leave at 9.15.  They are efficient, smiling etc.  I can't complain.

 

Last year at CM airport, it was about 6.15, three of them (again) and me.  Not a soul around. I'mon overstay and it took the three of them to fill in the forms.  I was asked my age in a loud voice.  A little later finally going through, I wagged my finger at the one who had asked and said  "A gentleman never asks a lady her age."  They cracked up and said they would never do it again.  Mind you at that time of the morning life must be dull.

 

I would like to say that when I go through Imm. in Europe, they are just as unsmiling and grim.  The Oz ones are a bit lighter, but I was ushering through two French hysterics.  He even went on to say,  "Glad it's you."  It was the same at Customs.  They were so glad to get rid ofthem that they forgot to ask me any questions.  That was a good thing!!

 

As for all you handsome fellows above.  Good luck to you.  Keep it up!

[ChrisKC]

I have been dealing with Immigration, almost exclusively at Chiang Mai for 14 years. I have had my share of delays but I have never had a complaint to make about any aspect of their service and have found all Members of the staff demonstrating the same level of courtesy, respect and patience as I do. 

[psyvolt]

I've always also dealt with Cm officers, and had a pleasant experience.. I simply smile, be polite, never argue and always thank them for their time. Not one have I had a problem.

From all the complaints I read on here, its almost like so many of the posters actually go out of their way to make it as bad of an experience as possible so they have something to complain about afterwoods.

[louse1953]

I also do my 90 days in person and this helps to get to know each other better.I have never had a problem and get good advice also.If i lived a long way away i would post in.

[louse1953]

On 2/1/2017 at 9:28 AM, The Dark Lord said:

Dan Lee wan - Khorat ( but don't tell anyone... )

Yes,that is agoodun.Us Surin lads had to trek there a few years ago.A 30ish women worked through her lunch time to help me get on my way once.

[geronimo]

Its all about how you present yourself. I've been dealing with immigration for over 3 decades and never had a problem.

[Old Croc]

1 hour ago, TerryLH said:

He wasn't on overstay if he went on Monday and his extension had expired on Sunday.

An overstay is an overstay. He should have made application before the weekend. However, many offices would proceed as described in the OP.

Phuket, the Dark Lord of Immigration offices, once arrested a prominent member of TVF who was a day overstayed because of a delay in getting a replacement passport from his embassy. He was transported to the IDC in Bangkok, deported and blacklisted. He did have a high profile of community protest and probably upset a few in high places. (Or perhaps he didn't wear a suit and tie when doing his 90 dayers?).

 

I guess it's easy to praise staff in small, provincial Immigration Offices where they generally do their job as all should, all the time.  But, many of us in the busy tourist centres dread the annual meetings with our tormenters. Read the threads on the Phuket forum where Immigration get praised if they simply do their job on your first visit, and don't send you back home for a new, invented requirement.

[NoshowJones]

No one is more critical of Thai immigration than me, but I am not critical of any of the individual staff at their offices, I have never had a problem with them, although it sometimes happens that they can get out of bed on the wrong side at times, but that is not limited to Thailand.

What really gets my back up. although it has not effected me, is the way they, or more probably, individual bosses make up their own rules, you only need to see some of UbonJoes answers to some members posts to see that.