Impolite Thai people

[David_66_UK]

I had noticed the door thing as well.

 

However I do remember a few years back I was entering a Dept store (can't remember which one) and they had uniformed doorman on duty who opened the door and saluted - I automatically stopped and looked behind me, expecting someone important.....twas only me

[iuytrede]

Don't know in which part of Thailand the people who complain here about impolite Thais live. I live in Bangkok. Before I spent my life mainly in the company of Chinese, Germans and Americans. Thais in Bangkok are generally - there are exceptions - much more polite than those. Only in Iowa are people even friendlier - but then I should probably compare people from Iowa to people from rural Issarn, which are just as friendly.

 

And saying Thais live in their own egocentric bubble is plain silly. I don't know any people who are more conscious and concerned about others than Thais. If you think that you have no idea about Chinese or Americans.

[liquidflux]

I think it's more of a big city thing than a Thai thing. I've noticed this behaviour around the world.

[asiafun]

I will agree I see this behavior most often in large cities around the world. When I do display kindness..opening doors for others etc they usually have either a look of shock or a look of "sucker...I got mine"

[EasySt]

Maybe some of you guys are getting jaded. Thais are certainly not perfect but looking at the positives, it seems to me Thai society has a lot of things we can learn from.

 

They don't have old folks homes for poor Thai's do they? I am guessing the family willingly takes care of them unlike Farang society where old people seem to be largely disposable. "Throw Granny in the home and forget about her" sort of thing.

 

Also, am I mistaken on my assumption that Buddism and/or Thai society places seniors at the top of the social hiearchy and deserving of the most respect? Like it should be.

[Tiger Moth]

Actually I mentioned that the Thai lady was elderly (and not doing well) just because of this notion of seniors being at the top to the social ladder. Had the Thai lady been young I wouldn't have considered this situation to be soo surprising.

 

I should have also mentioned that the time was 11:15 am so the morning rush was well over and the lunch time rush had not yet begun. I am from New York City and at 8:45 when a million people are trying to get at their desk by 9, it is everyone for themselves and I understand this. But, when the time pressure is off and the people traffic is low, generally people are more polite.

 

I have encountered many instances where Thai people show great consideration and respect for elderly within their family but this in my opinion is a different subject from politeness in daily life.

 

Out of fairness and completeness I will recount another personal experience. Before I moved to the US, I became friends with 2 young Thai ladies who were graduate students at the University in my home town (one of whom was my Thai language tutor). One evening, at one of their apartments, we were about to have a meal and were talking. I happened to be the one talking as the placement of the food was completed and the meal could begin. After a moment or two I interrupted myself to ask why they had not started to eat. They explained that our of repect to me they could not begin to eat until after I had. We had spent a lot of time together and I had taken them for nice meals at restaurants and had paid the check (as the senior, elderly person would). So, I imagine I had attained some level of status.

 

But, the elderly lady I discussed initially was certainly senior, elderly and not doing well. So, it seemed her senior status meant nothing in a general public situation.

 

Anyway, the way she was treated under the circumstances that existed was imploite in my opinion (and, I personally feel that irrespective of holding doors for other people being a Western custom, to the degree this is the case, I still think her treatment was simply impolite).

[gobbledonk]

There are a*holes everywhere, city and country alike, but its so much easier to be an a*hole in the city. A measure of any society is how well it caters for its sick and elderly (groans from taxpayers everywhere), and 'common' courtesy should be just that - commonplace. I reject P127's assertion that we are imposing our own cultural biases on the Thais/Chinese whoever - I have found that random acts of politeness are often greeted with a smile, wherever I am, and I like to think that it has a flow-on effect. That said, when you are scrambling to get past the human tide on a sidewalk in the pouring rain, a lot of the 'excuse me, please' goes straight out the window ::

[thalenoi]

TM,

 

Well yeah, that's the way it is over here and as you noticed, once on the streets, it's only egoism that counts. And this is not Bangkok, but a small provincial town and surrounding villages (I live 15km from town)

 

Thai people we encounter on the streets will always have a nice word for the gf, me the farang, I don't exists, I must be air. It's not different when a thai, be it gf's friends or totally unknown people drop in our place. They don't notice I am around.

 

I have no problems with this, it's their country, I will equally ignore them. The only places where I get noticed sometimes is at a few consumption places where I am a regular customer such as the local minimarket or noodle shop and it's at one-time places where I am asked questions such as "where do you live" to which I respond politely where that is with a smile. To which they reply: "Your thai is very good", which is utterly bullshit because the only person who understands my thai is the gf.

These are the only people I chat with.

 

It's called "integration"

 

Some of them then go a bridge too far, they want to know what's not of their business:

do you have a visa?

do you have a car?

how much you pay for your hose?

why you go farangland?

 

I don't see why a shopowner, who I will never see again needs to know all this.

 

 

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"It's not different when a thai, be it gf's friends or totally unknown people drop in our place. They don't notice I am around."

 

Hmmm, not sure what to make of this.

 

Never happens in my house. Whenever one of my wife's friends come to the house (which isn't that often actually), they *always* say hello (often with a quick wai as well). Most say goodbye as well before leaving.

 

And of course if I am in the same room I will be part of the converstion (if I so desire, which isn't often as the topics are usually not that interesting )

 

Sanuk!

[liquidflux]

I've noticed that as well. Even when many of the people had a hard time communicating because of the language barrier, they still made an effort to do so.