Cops zero , annoying flower kids 2

[buddha]

I think that they are hilarious...no doubt they are being exploited and that sucks, but if you make friends with them you can have a good deal of fun. I have seen some of the sales force as far away as the full moon party koh phang nan, same kids that work the bangkok scene. I would rather that they are home in bed and well taken care of, but I feel no reason to scorn them.

 

I also love the smell of the jasmin wreaths, take 'em home toss them in the frig and get a bouquet everytime you open it.

 

I get more annoyed but the guys who sell nuts. One poster once pointed out he was sitting at the gloden beer bar eating free 'bar provided' nuts and the nut salesman wouldn't stop pushing his wares.

 

The most annoying thing is the 'switchblade lighter salesman'. Who wants a push button knife popped open in his face? Why do they always have lighters that look like a penis? Who buys this stuff?

[chuckwoww]

The most annoying thing is the 'switchblade lighter salesman'. Who wants a push button knife popped open in his face? Why do they always have lighters that look like a penis? Who buys this stuff?

 

The economics of this kind of business are quite interesting. Like with telemarketing one must not be discouraged by rejection. A lighter vendor in Pattaya explained it to me once. She got 50% of any sale over the basic cost of the item. She said she only had to make one or two good sales every day to keep a family of four. The worst part was all the walking she had to do. Dern mak.

[Khun_Kong]

BKKdreaming said:

the flower kids are 10x more annoying than any of the other hawkers,

 

Have you been there and seen them in action ?

 

But more to the point they shpold not be selling ANYTHING at Midnight , they should be asleep for school the next day

 

My understanding is that they are illegals and don't go to school.

 

In my neighborhood, there is a little girl who sells flowers, about 6 yo. Her parents run a little food stall sort of near by. She is watched over by the other vendors and is not obnoxious at all. When I spoke to her mom, mom said they are Burmese and child cannot attend school. I offered books, pencils, etc, but mom said thay have them already and she teaches daughter at home.

 

Hard to ever know where the truth really lies and what the true facts are.

[Khun_Kong]

I saw one of the 2 lighter guys actually sell one a couple of weeks back at Big Dog's. Not the swollen cheek guy, the other guy.

 

He sold a giant lighter, with a fresh refill of fluid and a large lighter, looked like it was in a wooden box, for a total of 800 baht to the farang sitting next to me. The guy didn't bargain at all with the vendor, probably could have gotten much cheaper.

[bust]

Khun_Kong said:

 

My understanding is that they are illegals and don't go to school.

 

In my neighborhood, there is a little girl who sells flowers, about 6 yo. Her parents run a little food stall sort of near by. She is watched over by the other vendors and is not obnoxious at all. When I spoke to her mom, mom said they are Burmese and child cannot attend school. I offered books, pencils, etc, but mom said thay have them already and she teaches daughter at home.

 

Hard to ever know where the truth really lies and what the true facts are.

 

I think your probably right. Sometimes it takes a selfless moment to understand these people. There's a couple of them who operate between Suk Soi 5 and Soi 9. Once you actually take the time and have a bit of fun with them you see beyond the flowers and that they are only children trying to make a living.

[lembeh]

 

>see beyond the flowers and that they are only children trying to make a living.

 

Children anywhere, *ever* should not be "trying to make a living".....

-j-

[bust]

Probably a poor choice of words on my part. Perhaps survive may have been a better one.

[Guest lazyphil]

that sounds even worse!

[David_66_UK]

I agree that the kids are a pain in arse - my pet hate are the shoeshiners - I know my shoes are a mess, but I do not care.

 

Used to ignore the kids a lot, because I just did not feel comfortable sitting in naughty bars talking to kids.

 

But sometimes I will end up playing a game or two of Connect 4, and I eventually let them win and they get bought a coke (a real one - NOT a lady drink!).

 

Of course once they see you as soft touch they of course are happy to see you again

 

Most disturbing converstation I had was with a girl of about 10, very limited English (unsurprisingly!) - I figure she wasn't Thai and was curious how long she had been in Thailand / Bangkok and where she came from.

 

Of course I had been drinking a bit so didn't engage brain first - and used my pidgin English to utter the immortal phrase "You stay short time".

 

Unsurprising I guess that she knew this phrase and what it meant, but disturbing that her answer "No Sex" - was part of her limited English vocab.........at that age.

[asiafun]

Oh damn that could have gotten ugly fast. Glad that did not get misinterpreted any further than it did. They would probably love to set someone up for a chance at big baht.

 

Understanding the "no sex" phrase would raise a few eyebrows though. Why would she even consider a short time in the first place even of no sex was involved.