The Thai saving face thing gets on my nerves sometimes

[dontcha 53]

I spent most of this afternoon supporting one of Pattaya's beleaguered greedy bar owners rather than sipping my 7-11 Leo amongst the lovelies on beach road.

I was a wee bit on the slightly fucked up side when it came to checkbin time.

I was still sober enough to know what it was going to cost, the bill arrived and it was 580(included 2 ladydrinks).

I gave the cashier 600 baht with the intention of her keeping the 20 baht, she came back with what looked like two 10 baht coins but only thing was one of them was a €2 coin, fuck it she tried to rip me off by what she thought was usless money but the way I looked at it was an extra 84 baht in my pocket.

 

To sober myself up I walked up beach road and up to Tukcom to buy an external speaker for my phone so that I could listen to the radio by the pool without having to stick earphones in.

After a bit of searching I found what I wanted for 200 baht, the saleslady tried to convince me that the speakers that I was buying were no good because they were made in China and that I should buy the nice shiny one that were made in Thailand for 790 baht.

I tried to explain to her that I could buy 4 of the Chinese ones for that price so she offered the Thai product for a discount of 690.

I put the phone jack from Chinese speaker into my phone and turned on the radio on my phone and it worked well with very clear sound, I then tuned in the local radio station from home via the internet on my phone and again it was perfect.

I then tried her supposedly superior Thai speakers on my phone and the radio was barely audible but the internet radio was ok.

She snapped "not possible" so we tried doing it all over again and got the same results.

She took the Thai speakers and plugged them into her I-player to prove that they worked, I told her that the speakers needed to work on my phone and not her I-Player.

I could see she was loosing face, she asked me if I had a Nokia charger to charge my speaker and I said no.

She explained that the Nokia charger came free with the more expensive Thai speaker but I could buy one for the cheaper chinese speaker for 200 baht ........ I looked at her like she had two heads and told her I could buy a Nokia charger for 50 baht almost anywhere so I offered her 60 baht.

She retorted angerly that the price was 200 baht and spoke about me in a derogatory manner to her co-worker.

I smiled and said no thank you ....she was fuming and going on about the farang kin eow

ordinarily I would have left her there with her speakers but fuck it I decided that I would make her lose face.

I went upstairs and got a charger for 40 baht and I went downstairs to tell her where she could get Nokia chargers at a reasonable price, greed got the better of her and she thought she was dealing with an absolute mug .........fuck her and her saving face because she failed to rip me off.

Why do some Thais not see the bigger picture?

Edited March 12, 2011 by dontcha

[gaijin 146]

Not sure if the whole thing was about saving face, more like she just wanted more baht out of you. If you know the going price on things then you're ahead. I don't like getting ripped off either, and I will bargain any chance I get. Some Thais feel like we're obligated to pay them a handsome price for anything they're selling. That's what gets on my nerves.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

she thought she was dealing with an absolute mug .........fuck her and her saving face because she failed to rip me off.

 

Why did you buy a Nokia when you could have got some cheap Chinese brand for 20% of the price?

[dontcha 53]

Why did you buy a Nokia when you could have got some cheap Chinese brand for 20% of the price?

stop being pedantic Tom, it was a charger for a Nokia that the speaker need to recharge ....... perhaps I should have tipped the saleslady that tried to rip me off

[joekicker 53]

I don't understand why you spent so long saving your face from a gal you'll never see again - why not just buy/not buy the speakers you want and eff off?

 

.

[ausmagoo 19]

What is your point dontcha.

 

[Regyai 414]

it was a charger for a Nokia that the speaker need to recharge .......

 

 

Ah ha

 

 

So thats why my 200 baht speaker has died

 

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

.

[ttk 236]

I spent most of this afternoon supporting one of Pattaya's beleaguered greedy bar owners rather than sipping my 7-11 Leo amongst the lovelies on beach road.

I was a wee bit on the slightly fucked up side when it came to checkbin time.

I was still sober enough to know what it was going to cost, the bill arrived and it was 580(included 2 ladydrinks).

I gave the cashier 600 baht with the intention of her keeping the 20 baht, she came back with what looked like two 10 baht coins but only thing was one of them was a €2 coin, fuck it she tried to rip me off by what she thought was usless money but the way I looked at it was an extra 84 baht in my pocket.

 

When the Euro first came out, alot of the vending machines could not tell the difference either. I read that Europe had the balls to tell Thailand that they need to change the design of the 10 baht coin so it would not be a problem.

[highflier 3]

I spent most of this afternoon supporting one of Pattaya's beleaguered greedy bar owners rather than sipping my 7-11 Leo amongst the lovelies on beach road.

I was a wee bit on the slightly fucked up side when it came to checkbin time.

I was still sober enough to know what it was going to cost, the bill arrived and it was 580(included 2 ladydrinks).

I gave the cashier 600 baht with the intention of her keeping the 20 baht, she came back with what looked like two 10 baht coins but only thing was one of them was a €2 coin, fuck it she tried to rip me off by what she thought was usless money but the way I looked at it was an extra 84 baht in my pocket.

 

To sober myself up I walked up beach road and up to Tukcom to buy an external speaker for my phone so that I could listen to the radio by the pool without having to stick earphones in.

After a bit of searching I found what I wanted for 200 baht, the saleslady tried to convince me that the speakers that I was buying were no good because they were made in China and that I should buy the nice shiny one that were made in Thailand for 790 baht.

I tried to explain to her that I could buy 4 of the Chinese ones for that price so she offered the Thai product for a discount of 690.

I put the phone jack from Chinese speaker into my phone and turned on the radio on my phone and it worked well with very clear sound, I then tuned in the local radio station from home via the internet on my phone and again it was perfect.

I then tried her supposedly superior Thai speakers on my phone and the radio was barely audible but the internet radio was ok.

She snapped "not possible" so we tried doing it all over again and got the same results.

She took the Thai speakers and plugged them into her I-player to prove that they worked, I told her that the speakers needed to work on my phone and not her I-Player.

I could see she was loosing face, she asked me if I had a Nokia charger to charge my speaker and I said no.

She explained that the Nokia charger came free with the more expensive Thai speaker but I could buy one for the cheaper chinese speaker for 200 baht ........ I looked at her like she had two heads and told her I could buy a Nokia charger for 50 baht almost anywhere so I offered her 60 baht.

She retorted angerly that the price was 200 baht and spoke about me in a derogatory manner to her co-worker.

I smiled and said no thank you ....she was fuming and going on about the farang kin eow ordinarily I would have left her there with her speakers but fuck it I decided that I would make her lose face.

I went upstairs and got a charger for 40 baht and I went downstairs to tell her where she could get Nokia chargers at a reasonable price, greed got the better of her and she thought she was dealing with an absolute mug .........fuck her and her saving face because she failed to rip me off.

Why do some Thais not see the bigger picture?

 

What does this mean?

[monochromeman 41]

Not sure if the whole thing was about saving face, more like she just wanted more baht out of you. If you know the going price on things then you're ahead. I don't like getting ripped off either, and I will bargain any chance I get. Some Thais feel like we're obligated to pay them a handsome price for anything they're selling. That's what gets on my nerves.

 

It seems a lot of westerners automatically assume it's a face thing even when it's just a money thing. I've noticed this over the years. Probably because they have this "Thailand is a face culture" stuff drummed into them.

 

I also notice the way face is talked about as though it's exclusively a Thai or at least asian thing. It's not. Face is a part of English culture. And probably other European countries, too.

[joekicker 53]

Face is a part of English culture. And probably other European countries, too.

 

North America for sure. Mexicans call it macho. Further north they call it "wachew lookin' at bub?" and even further north they call it "wachew lookin' at, eh?"

 

.

[teelack 9,278]

Dontcha. Its good to have you back but I hope to hell that I never have to share a hotel with you. Are you serious when you wrote this?

 

To sober myself up I walked up beach road and up to Tukcom to buy an external speaker for my phone so that I could listen to the radio by the pool without having to stick earphones in.

 

Here am I feeling a bit delicate and I park myself next to the pool to dry out and recover and to read a good book (Thanks Canterbury Tales) and along come a plonker that believes that he needs to share his music with me.

I am off like a shot and either move as far away as I can or just leave the pool area.

What would happen if everyone wanted to play their music? What would you say if someone parked next to you and at the pool and got his speakers going? Perhaps a bit of Arab drumming music? Come on Dontch.

[jacko 8,762]

Don't sweat the little stuff dontcha.

[papillon 695]

Was she fit?

[VicVegas 70]

It seems a lot of westerners automatically assume it's a face thing even when it's just a money thing. I've noticed this over the years. Probably because they have this "Thailand is a face culture" stuff drummed into them.

 

I also notice the way face is talked about as though it's exclusively a Thai or at least asian thing. It's not. Face is a part of English culture. And probably other European countries, too.

 

I'd say it was definitely a situation of losing face.

 

What would most Western salesmen have done? They would have quickly shifted the focus off of the failure of the Thai speakers and encouraged him to buy the Chinese speakers. Afterall a sale is a sale. She refused to admit the Thai speakers weren't performing as well. She refused to back off on her claim that the Thai speakers were superior. Then she looked even more foolish by trying to sell him an over-priced charger. Epic sales fail.

 

A Thai customer would have let her off the hook by ignoring her foolish behavior, giving her a polite smile and quietly walking away, thus allowing her to save face. Doncha called attention to her mistake and then rubbed her nose in it.

 

In the West we know you can learn from failure and be better for it. In the East they refuse to admit failure because they are so caught up in status and appearances.

[butterflyblonde 30]

I'd say it was definitely a situation of losing face.

 

What would most Western salesmen have done? They would have quickly shifted the focus off of the failure of the Thai speakers and encouraged him to buy the Chinese speakers. Afterall a sale is a sale. She refused to admit the Thai speakers weren't performing as well. She refused to back off on her claim that the Thai speakers were superior. Then she looked even more foolish by trying to sell him an over-priced charger. Epic sales fail.

 

A Thai customer would have let her off the hook by ignoring her foolish behavior, giving her a polite smile and quietly walking away, thus allowing her to save face. Doncha called attention to her mistake and then rubbed her nose in it.

 

In the West we know you can learn from failure and be better for it. In the East they refuse to admit failure because they are so caught up in status and appearances.

 

 

You've posted what I was thinking.

 

It seems the OP's efforts to start a topic on this forum are not appreciated by some, the question is, would they prefer to have plenty to talk about or would rather watch tumbleweeds roll by?

[CheshireTom 1,377]

I'd say it was definitely a situation of losing face.

 

What would most Western salesmen have done? They would have quickly shifted the focus off of the failure of the Thai speakers and encouraged him to buy the Chinese speakers. Afterall a sale is a sale. She refused to admit the Thai speakers weren't performing as well. She refused to back off on her claim that the Thai speakers were superior. Then she looked even more foolish by trying to sell him an over-priced charger. Epic sales fail.

 

A Thai customer would have let her off the hook by ignoring her foolish behavior, giving her a polite smile and quietly walking away, thus allowing her to save face. Doncha called attention to her mistake and then rubbed her nose in it.

 

In the West we know you can learn from failure and be better for it. In the East they refuse to admit failure because they are so caught up in status and appearances.

 

So what speakers did the OP buy in the end? Presumably the cheap Chinese ones. Or not?

[joekicker 53]

In the West we know you can learn from failure and be better for it.

 

Yet, I bet you won't.

 

.

[Stumpdog 11]

Dontcha. Its good to have you back but I hope to hell that I never have to share a hotel with you. Are you serious when you wrote this?

 

To sober myself up I walked up beach road and up to Tukcom to buy an external speaker for my phone so that I could listen to the radio by the pool without having to stick earphones in.

 

Here am I feeling a bit delicate and I park myself next to the pool to dry out and recover and to read a good book (Thanks Canterbury Tales) and along come a plonker that believes that he needs to share his music with me.

I am off like a shot and either move as far away as I can or just leave the pool area.

What would happen if everyone wanted to play their music? What would you say if someone parked next to you and at the pool and got his speakers going? Perhaps a bit of Arab drumming music? Come on Dontch.

 

I'm with Teelack, don't make me listen to your music when I want to read quietly...get some earphones!

[dontcha 53]

I had a look in the phone shops on the 2nd floor in the avenue shopping centre today and the exact same speakers that the saleslady in Tukcom tried to con me into buying for 799 baht (with a final best price of 699 baht) had a price sticker of 359 baht and I am quite sure that you could bargain them down lower.

In the grande scale of things it is not a whole lot of money but it shows how dishonest this saleslady was, I felt like buying 20 of those speakers in the avenue centre for about 300 each and selling them onto her for 400 each.

In general the avenue centre seems cheaper for phones than Tukcom or upstairs at big C, I was offered a dual sim Iphone with an inbuilt tv(fake of course) for 1600 baht and that was her opening offer.

I did see one gobshite being ripped off paying 300 baht for a 49 baht sim card and to make matters worse the clown paid the girl a 100 baht tip to insert the sim...... but I suppose he reckoned it was cheaper than back home and at least the girl will be able to dine in Sizzlers or MK due to fact that she got 400 baht for something that should have cost 49 baht with the sim inserted in the phone.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

I had a look in the phone shops on the 2nd floor in the avenue shopping centre today and the exact same speakers that the saleslady in Tukcom tried to con me into buying for 799 baht (with a final best price of 699 baht) had a price sticker of 359 baht and I am quite sure that you could bargain them down lower.

In the grande scale of things it is not a whole lot of money but it shows how dishonest this saleslady was, I felt like buying 20 of those speakers in the avenue centre for about 300 each and selling them onto her for 400 each.

In general the avenue centre seems cheaper for phones than Tukcom or upstairs at big C, I was offered a dual sim Iphone with an inbuilt tv(fake of course) for 1600 baht and that was her opening offer.

I did see one gobshite being ripped off paying 300 baht for a 49 baht sim card and to make matters worse the clown paid the girl a 100 baht tip to insert the sim...... but I suppose he reckoned it was cheaper than back home and at least the girl will be able to dine in Sizzlers or MK due to fact that she got 400 baht for something that should have cost 49 baht with the sim inserted in the phone.

 

Sim cards are priced on a combination of how long the credit will be valid and how desirable the number is, i.e. you won't buy 084-444-4444 for 49 Baht.

[joekicker 53]

In the grande scale of things it is not a whole lot of money but it shows how dishonest this saleslady was,

 

In what way is it dishonest for a seller to sell an item for much more than (s)he paid for it - even infinitely more as, say, Amazon or Warner Music charge for digital books and music they literally pay nothing to make? Why is this dishonest?

 

I did see one gobshite being ripped off paying 300 baht for a 49 baht sim card and to make matters worse the clown paid the girl a 100 baht tip to insert the sim...... but I suppose he reckoned it was cheaper than back home and at least the girl will be able to dine in Sizzlers or MK due to fact that she got 400 baht for something that should have cost 49 baht with the sim inserted in the phone.

 

Nonsense. Thais cannot afford to eat at Sizzlers or MK. We have established that beyond doubt.

 

By the way: What speakers did you buy?

 

.

[LocalYokul 177]

The only FACE I see is the issue of the salesgal thinkin' that Thai made products are better than those made in China. That's laughable.

[9cisco999 107]

Sim cards are priced on a combination of how long the credit will be valid and how desirable the number is, i.e. you won't buy 084-444-4444 for 49 Baht.

 

 

I realize in the USA certain numbers are reserved for commercial accounts. Are you saying in LOS there's a price structure for numbers such as you listed for a higher than normal price? Any idea what that price might be?

[LocalYokul 177]

I think what he meant was lucky numbers or numbers that are easier to remember would be sold at a premium by the vendor, not that the actual manufacturer/provider would have a different price

 

call it opportunism