Thai people
Time is not money. Money is not the most important thing in one's life.
For Thai people, time is not money. You can be late, can not finish your work on time and so on, and nothing happens to you. You will be forgiven. Because of that, there is no stress and competition in the workplace. However, I see people working all the time. In our canteen, owners of food shops come at 6 am and leave after 5 pm. They charge 60 cents for a meal consisting of rice, meat, and vegetables. I don't know how much remains for them after they pay for the meat, produce and rent for their place.
They are hard-working, but never in a hurry.
For a Westerner, it has drawbacks sometimes. When my home internet connection did not work, I called and was told that the reparation would be done the next week. I said that it is too much to wait until the next week. I went with one of my colleagues to the IT service. He talked there and the IT people promised that someone would go to the guest buildings after work and do the reparation. When I came home I had an internet connection. Later I understood that is not correct Thai behavior. Thai people would wait until the next week and would not push, as I did.
Honesty
I have never seen such honest people. They do not try to deceive you or steal.
Once a week in the morning we leave empty bottles for the water with money on the top of the bottle. When we come back, we find bottles with water. No one has ever stolen money.
I left my laundry basket near my door with payment for the last time. The next day I found everything clean and ironed when I came home. I pay the bill the next time. I had never seen the woman doing this work until one event. I owed her 94 baht. I put 100b in the basket. When I came home she was waiting for me at the door, showing me the bill in her hand. I didn't understand what she wanted. I gave her 6 b more and what? She insisted. I looked at the bill and saw that it was a 500b bill. The 500b and 100b bills are very similar, with the same portrait of the king, only slightly different in color. In the morning, in a hurry, I had left 500 instead of 100. She gave me the 500 back, took 100, and left.
One day. one of my colleagues asked me why I always keep my balcony door open? Do I use the air conditioner? I did not know that my door was open. I opened the door some time ago, drew the curtain over, and forgot. My apartment is on the ground level, so anyone could have entered. The university is in a park. All the time in the park there were people gathering leaves or cutting branches on the trees. They certainly saw that the door was open, but no one entered.
In a shop, I wanted to buy a jacket. I asked for the price. It was 750b. I tried, liked it, and paid 750b. The shop woman gave me back 50b. I asked my colleague why she did it. The response was that the jacked cost 700b. She had told me 750b in case I wanted to bargain. Then the price would be reduced to 700b. It was a private shop. I think in many countries no one would worry, bargaining or not, and would just take the 750b.
Tips
Tips are not expected but accepted.
Not all times, however. There is a bus here that goes through the university and outside to the market and food store. One day I did my shopping and had a big heavy bag. The driver did not leave me at the stop but brought me directly to the guest house. I tried to pay him two tickets (20b) instead of one, but he did not accept it.
Only once was I asked for a tip, but not directly. We went rafting on a mountain river. There live tribes that speak their own languages. Many of them know Thai and some of them English. The villages make a living by selling handicrafts to tourists. We rafted with two boys, both from the Lisu tribe. One of them knew English well. He talked all the time, telling stories about how poor and hungry he is and how small his salary is. Not all of his stories were true. If he came from such a poor family, where did he learn English? Nevertheless, we gave him a tip. Anyway, it was much milder than my experience in Egypt. In Egypt, our guide told us that we should not give tips to our drivers because she had already tipped all of them. When we got on the carriage, the driver told us: “The tip is 1 euro”. At the end of the trip, I gave the driver $1. He got very angry and shouted at me: “You did not listen to me! I said one euro! I will not take it. Give me one euro!” I borrowed 1 euro from another tourist and gave it to the driver. It was the price to leave the carriage.
No racism
Here in the North live many tribes and people from neighboring countries. They came here when there were hard times in their countries. Many Chinese came at different times. Here refugee camps were organized for Vietnamese during the war and for Cambodians during the time of Pol Pot. Many refugees remained here even when they could return to their countries.
Politeness
One Westerner told me the following right when I arrived:
- Never ask Thai people for anything. They are so polite! They never will tell you “NO” even if it is inconvenient for them.
I thought about it after that. Can they forgive anything? I doubt that. In my life, sometimes I have told myself that I will forgive everything, no matter what. But I could not. At some point, I could not bear anymore and left. How can the Thai solve such a problem?
I asked the Westerner about the secret the Thai know and I don't.
“There is no secret,” said the Westerner, “They just avoid you after that. That why I told you: Do not ask for anything!”
I think he is wrong. They are just normal people like all of us. They forgive you for the small mistakes and may avoid you for the bigger ones. Any person coming to another country makes mistakes due to cultural differences. I think I have made mistakes, but I have not seen that people are avoiding me. Though some may be.
Time is not money. Money is not the most important thing in one's life.
For Thai people, time is not money. You can be late, can not finish your work on time and so on, and nothing happens to you. You will be forgiven. Because of that, there is no stress and competition in the workplace. However, I see people working all the time. In our canteen, owners of food shops come at 6 am and leave after 5 pm. They charge 60 cents for a meal consisting of rice, meat, and vegetables. I don't know how much remains for them after they pay for the meat, produce and rent for their place.
They are hard-working, but never in a hurry.
For a Westerner, it has drawbacks sometimes. When my home internet connection did not work, I called and was told that the reparation would be done the next week. I said that it is too much to wait until the next week. I went with one of my colleagues to the IT service. He talked there and the IT people promised that someone would go to the guest buildings after work and do the reparation. When I came home I had an internet connection. Later I understood that is not correct Thai behavior. Thai people would wait until the next week and would not push, as I did.
Honesty
I have never seen such honest people. They do not try to deceive you or steal.
Once a week in the morning we leave empty bottles for the water with money on the top of the bottle. When we come back, we find bottles with water. No one has ever stolen money.
I left my laundry basket near my door with payment for the last time. The next day I found everything clean and ironed when I came home. I pay the bill the next time. I had never seen the woman doing this work until one event. I owed her 94 baht. I put 100b in the basket. When I came home she was waiting for me at the door, showing me the bill in her hand. I didn't understand what she wanted. I gave her 6 b more and what? She insisted. I looked at the bill and saw that it was a 500b bill. The 500b and 100b bills are very similar, with the same portrait of the king, only slightly different in color. In the morning, in a hurry, I had left 500 instead of 100. She gave me the 500 back, took 100, and left.
One day. one of my colleagues asked me why I always keep my balcony door open? Do I use the air conditioner? I did not know that my door was open. I opened the door some time ago, drew the curtain over, and forgot. My apartment is on the ground level, so anyone could have entered. The university is in a park. All the time in the park there were people gathering leaves or cutting branches on the trees. They certainly saw that the door was open, but no one entered.
In a shop, I wanted to buy a jacket. I asked for the price. It was 750b. I tried, liked it, and paid 750b. The shop woman gave me back 50b. I asked my colleague why she did it. The response was that the jacked cost 700b. She had told me 750b in case I wanted to bargain. Then the price would be reduced to 700b. It was a private shop. I think in many countries no one would worry, bargaining or not, and would just take the 750b.
Tips
Tips are not expected but accepted.
Not all times, however. There is a bus here that goes through the university and outside to the market and food store. One day I did my shopping and had a big heavy bag. The driver did not leave me at the stop but brought me directly to the guest house. I tried to pay him two tickets (20b) instead of one, but he did not accept it.
Only once was I asked for a tip, but not directly. We went rafting on a mountain river. There live tribes that speak their own languages. Many of them know Thai and some of them English. The villages make a living by selling handicrafts to tourists. We rafted with two boys, both from the Lisu tribe. One of them knew English well. He talked all the time, telling stories about how poor and hungry he is and how small his salary is. Not all of his stories were true. If he came from such a poor family, where did he learn English? Nevertheless, we gave him a tip. Anyway, it was much milder than my experience in Egypt. In Egypt, our guide told us that we should not give tips to our drivers because she had already tipped all of them. When we got on the carriage, the driver told us: “The tip is 1 euro”. At the end of the trip, I gave the driver $1. He got very angry and shouted at me: “You did not listen to me! I said one euro! I will not take it. Give me one euro!” I borrowed 1 euro from another tourist and gave it to the driver. It was the price to leave the carriage.
No racism
Here in the North live many tribes and people from neighboring countries. They came here when there were hard times in their countries. Many Chinese came at different times. Here refugee camps were organized for Vietnamese during the war and for Cambodians during the time of Pol Pot. Many refugees remained here even when they could return to their countries.
Politeness
One Westerner told me the following right when I arrived:
- Never ask Thai people for anything. They are so polite! They never will tell you “NO” even if it is inconvenient for them.
I thought about it after that. Can they forgive anything? I doubt that. In my life, sometimes I have told myself that I will forgive everything, no matter what. But I could not. At some point, I could not bear anymore and left. How can the Thai solve such a problem?
I asked the Westerner about the secret the Thai know and I don't.
“There is no secret,” said the Westerner, “They just avoid you after that. That why I told you: Do not ask for anything!”
I think he is wrong. They are just normal people like all of us. They forgive you for the small mistakes and may avoid you for the bigger ones. Any person coming to another country makes mistakes due to cultural differences. I think I have made mistakes, but I have not seen that people are avoiding me. Though some may be.
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