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BigDUSA
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If you live here full time, one should learn the language and many of these problems tend to go away. I agree the level of customer service outside the P4P business is generally abysmal. "We don't need no stinkin customer service".
When ever I fly Thai I try and not think about Thai maintenance.
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 11:04 am on June 20, 2005
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DaffyDuck
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Quote: from hypershade on 4:09 pm on June 20, 2005
GNC: I walk in a nutrition store and ask if they sell ZMA (a very common supplement for athletes). The guy (who looks like a stick) has no idea what I am talking about. Then I ask him which Whey brand he recommends based on my current diet a workout schedule. Again I draw a blank. This guy works a nutrition store, but doesn’t have the faintest clue about nutrition.
Well, I hate to point out the obvious, but you run the chance of getting the same kind of 'expertise' in the US, where the guy working in the nutrition store knows nothing about nutrition; where the guy working in the sports store knows nothing about equipment; where the guy working in a computer store knows absolutely nothing about computers.
As you said yourself, incompetence runs rampant in the WORLD, so you singling out the Asian culture, because you happen to currently live in Thailand, and were in the PI previously, seems a bit disingenious.
Besides, in my opinion, the perceived incompetence that you describe has more to do with the people hiring these folks, than the ones doing the work themselves, IMO (more on that later).
Taxi drivers: don’t get me started on these f***wits. Besides the fact that they only speak their own dodgy dialect and are extremely rude at any time of the day, they have no idea where anything is.
Never had an issue with taxi drivers - the only times when the guy didn't find the place I wanted to go, I myself had no idea where it was, and it turns out that the address did not actually exist -- but the guy made a gow-awful effort to find it.
Pharmacy: I go to a pharmacy to buy medicine against a cold. I ask for anti-biotics and coughing syrup. The woman hands me liquid vitamins for children and pills against a sore throat.
Actually, as Broken Leg pointed out with the usual lack of tact, she might have been doing the right thing - colds are virally based, and hence no amount of anti-biotics will make any kind of difference (you use ABs for germ or bacteriological infections, not viral afflictions). She most likely handed you vitamin C, and lozenges... meaning, she understood what your problem was, but KNEW that ABs make no difference, and chose NOT to rip you off by giving you what you asked for.
and despite your insistence:
Why, thank you for that riveting update, but in the PI,anti-biotics (i.c.amoxycelin) is available everywhere and ALL doctors prescribe it ALL the time. In the provinces, it is the ONLY thing they prescribe, whether you just had an operation or if you were bitten by a giant spider. Both based on personal experience.
I believe you that 'physicians' in the PI will prescribe you antibiotics for a cold -- does that make it right, or does that simply mean they don't give a shit? Furthermore, extensive prescription of antibiotics will only result in two things: acclimation to antibiotics for your body (i.e. less effective when you DO need it), and super-germs that are immune to antibiotics (because people inherently are idiots and stop taking the antibiotics the moment they feel better -- all they did is wipe out the weak microbes, and leave the stronger, more immune ones, to survive and breed... It's a global problem -- both human stupidity, and more and more resistant strains of microbes)
Gym: Aside from the common bodybuilders/personal trainers, the “fitness assistants” at the gym have no idea how most of the equipment works, let alone that they know something about nutrition, diet or supplements. Even the personal trainers perform most of the exercises incorrectly and - even more stupefying - explain the exercise incorrectly at their clients.
Slightly better in the US, though my trainer at my residence in BKK knew the equipment, and had a solid understanding of nutrition.
I guess the root lies in the fact that they are all tremendously underpaid and hence have no professional motivation whatsoever. What a sad life it must be to wake up every day to go to a job you don’t like, with no ambition or drive towards your future.
Now, now, we all agreed to stop talking about Yurune and other dearly departed... 
Seriously, the fact that people are underpaid has something to do with it, but the root cause of the problems you perceive, I believe, lies rather in the fact that their employers are satisfied both in hiring people at the lowest pay rate, and then neglect to properly train them. My impression of Thais, in general, is not that they are demotivated, or layz, or take no pride in their work - quite on the contrary - but for the most part insufficiently trained (most likely because the person that hired them is also not trained, etc...)
I see a lot of Thai owned and Thai run business' that are extremely well managed, with competent employees - and it's not farang business that are better or worse, either -- it really depends on the vision and leadership of the business owner, that sets the pace for a particular business, all over the world.
Now, I wonder how all of that compares in India, or Cambodia, or Russia... or France.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 1:25 pm on June 20, 2005
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MarkC
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Taxi drivers: don’t get me started on these f***wits. Besides the fact that they only speak their own dodgy dialect and are extremely rude at any time of the day, they have no idea where anything is.
===========================
Sounds like most of the taxi drivers I've had in NY, LA and SF. (They're much better in Boston, though.)
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 8:03 pm on June 20, 2005
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BigDUSA
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One taxi driver took me from the Sheraton Royal Orchid up past the Victory Monument and then down to Patpong. I told the BG who spoke excellent English to tell the guy to f*** off. Tourist police came over and asked what's wrong when he heard what the driver did. He told me not to pay and made the driver move on.
f***ers are the same all over the world except London they know the city.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 8:18 pm on June 20, 2005
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Abrak
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HS,
You are always looking at things from the 'only half full' point of view. In terms of service I think everyone gets a pretty good bang for their buck.
Quote: from hypershade on 4:09 pm on June 20, 2005
:
GNC: I walk in a nutrition store and ask if they sell ZMA (a very common supplement for athletes). The guy (who looks like a stick) has no idea what I am talking about.
GNC is a disaster here because of the law. You cannot get say... their mega multi-vit because it contains various substance (probably something like seaweed) that hasnt passed the equivalent of the Thai FDA
Taxi drivers: don’t get me started on these f***wits.
And dont get me started on taxi driivers. The taxi fare hasnt changed for 13 years while say the price of petrol has trebled. The cost of running a taxi is Bt1200/day and these guys are getting a max of Bt1500/day in fares. No wonder the business attracts so many dodgy people.
Pharmacy: I go to a pharmacy to buy medicine against a cold. I ask for anti-biotics and coughing syrup. The woman hands me liquid vitamins for children and pills against a sore throat.
Yeah the pharmacist knows nothing and is paid to be a shopkeeper but for the price of a decent meal you can go and ask a trained doctor if you really need to know.
Gym: Aside from the common bodybuilders/personal trainers, the “fitness assistants” at the gym have no idea how most of the equipment works, let alone that they know something about nutrition, diet or supplements.
Try the Wellness centre at Bumrungrad.
And while you might think it is all a bit depressing for them think of it this way. Every thing in life is relative and most of these people are doing better than their parents and their parents, parents. And that makes them feel pretty happy about themselves.
My guess is that if you really wanted it all the western way you wouldnt be living here.
Now dont get me started on the price of a decent bottle of wine...
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 8:27 pm on June 20, 2005
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hypershade
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My sincerest and deep-felt gratitude for some truly valuable replies, gentlemen.
Quite a relief also that the amount of thoughtful and educated responses outscored the thread f***ers.
I guess it is true that after 6 years in these parts I have forgotten how terrible it can be back in Europe. I love SE Asia with all of my heart and consider it my home (far above Europe), but sometimes this incompetence gets to me.
I guess that the adage: “If you want it done right, you will have to do it yourself” is valid all over the world.
My guess is that if you really wanted it all the western way you wouldnt be living here.
Right on, brother!
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Bangkok Women : Meet Beautiful Thai Girls
Posted on: 10:28 pm on June 20, 2005
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Broken Leg
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Yes I think it would be most unusual to find a westener here that didn't feel some frustration as some time.
However, I think there are maybe certain simple things we can do to try and make it a little easier without too much effort, the main one being educating ourselves.
For example you mentioned "save-face Maddness", earlier in the thread. I would suggest gaining a thorough understanding of how face originated as a concept and how it was deemed valuble to society, and also how it became a part of Thai culture. I doubt it would make you agree with it but it certainly will give you understanding.
When living in Thai culture I really believe from my own personal experience that ignorance is not bliss.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 3:36 am on June 21, 2005
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Golden Star
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Then again, in many respects, service in Asia surpasses that of the West.
I am in finance and the level of unprofessionalism and idiocy that I sometimes encounter is mind-boggling. I don't know how things work in Bangkok, but I am sure that SE Asians don't have a monopoly on incompetence.
I was always pleasantly surprised by the levels of service on BKK Airways, Silk Air, etc. I mean, I was on a 1-hour flight on United Airlines (which was 7 hours late because of an airport weather-related delay) and the assholes didn't even give us pretzels! The flights are (wo) manned by old hags. Compare that to a trip on Silk Air (also 1 hour) where all passengers got a hearty meal, a newspaper, and the flight attendants are great eye candy.
Public transit in cities like Bangkok (e.g. BTS) is superior to public transit back home; cleaner, more efficient, and far more pleasant in general.
I think that the frustration of farangs in BKK mainly boils down to a language barrier. For instance, I grabbed a taxi near the Vinanmek Palace (the teak mansion) and tried to get the driver to go to the nearest boat station. After 5 minutes of gestures and him trying to desipher an English language map, he apologetically asked me to get out. I grabbed another cab and just told him to go to Grand Palace and I walked to the boat pier from there.
I am sure that proficiency in Thai could eliminate a lot of daily issues for farangs.
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Thai Girls : Meet Active Thai Girls
Posted on: 7:41 am on June 21, 2005
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