Straycat Posted August 9, 2002 Report Share Posted August 9, 2002 From todays Bangkok Post, IRL version, last page business section. Author: Khun Kriengsak:[/b] Foreign men married to Thai women have different, often mistaken, perspectives about Thai collegues. It is not unusual to see a foreign professional married to a Thai woman from outside the professions or middle class. Don't get me wrong -- I respect people regardless of occupation or social status. But 'social class' is still a very real element here. You would rarely see a male Thai executive marry a waitress for example. Let's say a foreigner marries a Thai waitress who works in a modest restaurant. She [sic!] would advise her husband to be careful in reaching conclusions about Thais based on her frame of reference. The waitress has her colleagues who are busboys, waiters and cooks. But if the foreigner is working in, say, an office environment, he may be mistakenly belived that the people around him would have similiar behaviour, profiles and values as his wife's friends. I have to say this rubs me the wrong way. What the h**** is this columnist really trying to say? Straycat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 10, 2002 Report Share Posted August 10, 2002 I suspect we all know what he is saying. And I think it has been said many times before on this board and other places, albeit from different perspectives. "'social class' is still a very real element here." Don't forget it for a second. It is annoying, but since I am beginning a three day weekend and therefore in a good mood, I will comment on one positive aspect of this unpleasant reality - it creates tremendous opportunities for outsiders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brink15 Posted August 10, 2002 Report Share Posted August 10, 2002 I wonder how ole' Khun Kriengsak-o-sh** would feel about two of Rama V's great-grandkids waiting tables in Tampa, Florida? Would they not be accepted at his posh office soirées? "What mere waitstaff, here, breathing the same air as such a important Thai as myself?" No, Hi-So waitstaff, and Mum Rajawongse to boot. I bet if we went back to Kriengsak's great-grandfather we would find a mere ricefarmer. Maybe Kriengsak wouldn't associate with his own great-grandad if he were still alive today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straycat Posted August 10, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2002 ROFL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 10, 2002 Report Share Posted August 10, 2002 Post deleted by DoxyBlue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted August 10, 2002 Report Share Posted August 10, 2002 I can tell you KK is going to get a lot of mail this week-end. I would only tell him, well, get stuck in your well-ordered ideas about social proprieties in LOS, we farangs are light years ahead, we don't care and we think it's another prerogative we have over you. Sure, we may make mistakes based on a wrong assumption, everybody makes mistakes..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brink15 Posted August 10, 2002 Report Share Posted August 10, 2002 DB, Thanks. I just despise arrogant, condescending, upper crust, class-snob piles of steaming turd like Kriengsak. I dealt with them all the time in the dive industry. The shop I worked for on Phi Phi had a liveaboard boat for wealthy Thai divers. Our manager, funnily enough with the ubiquitous name Somchai, was a great guy. Very fair with us and happy to help us assimilate into the Thai environment. Several of these groups of Hi-So Thais treated him like dog shit. "Somchai, ao nam keng, reao, reao." "Somchai, ao beer dee-o nii nah." Like a friggin' servant, which to them I'm sure he was. I won't even go into what they thought about the longtail boat captains, sea gypsies, or other Southern Thais. I had a few as students. Dumb as posts. A scuba class has very basic physics and physiology. Any high school student should breeze through it. After several of these Hi-So students with degrees from Chula or Thammasat failed the quizzes, I asked Somchai what's the deal? Somchai told me many of these people had daddy buy their degrees. Sorry this is turning into a rant. It's a touchy subject for me. This is not a blanket slam of all Hi-So Thais. Just a certain subset. The two people working in Tampa, I mentioned in the first post, are great. About as Hi-So as you can get, very nice, not condescending at all. It just goes to show you can't buy class; you have to be raised with it or learn it. 'Nuff said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickman Posted August 10, 2002 Report Share Posted August 10, 2002 This is what so many of us allude to when we post about the consequences of someone in a good job either marrying, or spending a lot of time with someone who is from a lower social class. No, none of us like it, but this is quite simply how Thailand is... Stick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted August 10, 2002 Report Share Posted August 10, 2002 Stickman raised an interesting point. I had a Thai teacher here (in the USA) who was working on her PHD in Physics at Cal Berkeley, an absolutly beautiful girl, with a great personality, she could have had any guy here she wanted. One day she was quite distraught. Apparently, her long time BF was upset that she would soon "out status" him by having a PHD from a U.S. University no less, to his BS or whatever degree from a Thai University. Non of us understood it at all. To me, I would be proud to boast I had a PHD GF or wife, as I would feel it would reflect positively on me, but evidently not in Thai culture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straycat Posted August 10, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2002 Yeah, I agree with you. But it sucks -- and it sucks big time! I am however surprised to see someone who is obviously well-educated, most probably spent considerable time abroad (unless have a real knack for the English language) and who is dealing with 'guavas' on a regular basis* write something so incredibly stupid & shallow... Read those two paragraphs again. Carefully. It's a point of view which is not a sound one. Straycat * KK, who not only work for an English language newspaper, is also some sort of consultant for farang working in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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