Pattaya underwear sale clerks

[thrillbill]

...you could have fun with this one. Every time I go to the men's underwear section at the new Central Dept. store (Pattaya) there has to be a flock of sales clerks (ladies unfortunately) that gradually walk over to you and just stand there while you are looking at the variety of briefs. (I prefer not to have a crowd looking) Last night my Thai friend and I go there to look to see what is on sale and the same thing happens. He gets pissed off and we decide to go else where . I thought it was just me that prefers no giggling lady clerks watching while you're shopping for underwear, but he didn't like it either. I was thinking the next time anyone goes back there, we should just embarass the hell out of them, and maybe the "flock" of clerks will run away.

Thanks for the info now i know where to go for my 3XL Boxers........ :bis: :bis:

[Smiles]

All big department stores in Thailand are like that, and not just in underwear.
At The Bay in Canada you could literally wait for an hour for any staff to simply appear ... much less appear interested. In Thailand they go in the opposite direction: overkill. At the big Homepro outlet here in Hua Hin at any given hour the ratio of staff to customer seems to be stabilized at about 7-1. Browsing for a vacuum cleaner last week I was immediately surrounded by four staffers, and in the background another four were hovering, ready to immediately jump in and take up the slack if any of the original four were to be overcome with selling-fatigue.
Perhaps this year is a bit different what with the world wide recession starting to kick in bigtime, but even in good times, Thai staff in large chain stores are ~ to a fault ~ omnipresent.

I remember once descending the elevator in (the old) Zen store in the (old) World Trade Centre in Bangkok. It was almost closing time and customers were few and far between. At each level, when one slowly approached the last step and looked out over the store all one could see was a sea of black-&-white uniformed staff standing stiffly at attention, waiting for us to get the hell out of the store so they could lock the doors behind us (finally!) and get on with Real Life.

I wonder what Real Life is to you and your Old Man :hello2: :hello2: :hello2: :hello2:

All big department stores in Thailand are like that, and not just in underwear.... In Thailand they go in the opposite direction: overkill. At the big Homepro outlet here in Hua Hin at any given hour the ratio of staff to customer seems to be stabilized at about 7-1. ....

You've got a HomePro there, Smiles? Wow! Maybe a 7-11 next?

Ditto here, seriously, and incredibly annoying it is too. Normally after being told what I know is completely the wrong information I simply smile, thank them, and explain that I can read, I can see the various products for myself, I have remembered to bring my glasses in case I need them, and that if I need any help I will ask for it. I finally got annoyed recently, however, (unusual for me!) when one over-zealous sales man in HomeWorks actually took the bottle of bathroom de-scaler I had chosen out of my shopping cart, put it back on the shelf, replaced it with a bottle of glass and stainless steel polish and said "This one better". After looking him in the eye for a few seconds, during which time his sales-man's smile gradually faded, I limited my response to "Put it back and go away".

The problem is not so much the number of staff but, as one of them who was actually helpful explained to me, that their commissions vary from brand to brand even within the store - sometimes these are official, sometimes they are just "under the table" payments by a local brand rep direct to the individual sales staff without the store's knowledge. Many don't seem to realise that they lose as many customers as they gain by doing so but, to be fair, a few are very pleasant and some even very good (the staff in City Chain, the watch shop, for example seem to have it just about right in all their branches and their service and after-sales service is excellent).

[thrillbill]

Thanks for the info now i know where to go for my 3XL Boxers........ :bis: :bis:

lol :rolling: Can't help you with that info, I was looking for size M for myself!

[bing]

Another spin on too much help when purchasing underwear might be the way you approach the buying experience. I love to visit the underwear shops in the Royal Garden with a young Thai friend and look over the selection. The clerk will usually swoop down on us and make suggestions. I tend to like the mimimum coverage and the Thai guys look for the more traditional bikini look. It can be an enjoyable several minutes till we choose the perfect item or two for my friend. Then later at the hotel, the experience continues as the chosen cloth is donned and pesented for approval. I say bring on the cute clerks, If two show up so much the better. Sometime a blush will occur when questioned as to which style of underwear the sales person is wearing, but most of the guys are with the program and enter into the banter.

lol :rolling: Can't help you with that info, I was looking for size M for myself!

For a "33" waist"? The contents must be size XS! :rolling:

.... and Bing, I hope the "minimum coverage" was for your "young Thai friend", not for you!

[bing]

Gone Fishing---Heck I would opt for no cloth for myself. You know us tuff guys do the comando thing. What keeps me from doing it, is fear the sirens would start singing of a natural diaster of some sort .

[Smiles]

" ... I tend to like the mimimum coverage and the Thai guys look for the more traditional bikini look ... "
Bing my dear man ... what could be more minimal than bikini-style? Except ... except ... don't tell me you're wearing a string thong thing, Bing? :headbang:

[x in pattaya]

At the big Homepro outlet here in Hua Hin at any given hour the ratio of staff to customer seems to be stabilized at about 7-1. Browsing for a vacuum cleaner last week I was immediately surrounded by four staffers, and in the background another four were hovering ...


Hovering, or Hoovering? Since you lived at that place for over a year now, have you simply opened the front and back doors when there's been a stiff breeze and hoped that would move the larger accumulations of dust?

re:Sales person crowds: That's why one shops at such places with one's friend in tow. It's automatically assumed you speak no Thai and that you are mentally deranged and that all really important decisions are made for you, so all the Thai staff will direct their attention to your friend leaving you to poke & prod without let or hindrance.

It's a bit like being in a wheelchair. Everyone speaks to whoever is pushing the chair and refers to you in the third person, if at all.

Incidentally I spent a hour this morning and another hour yesteday morning pottering about the Kalae "antique" furniture place at Sukhumvit and North Pattaya Rd with tape measure and mobile phone camera and was left TOTALLY ALONE. For awhile I thought no one knew I was there, but occasionally a head would appear around a corner to see if anything was needed. Obviously they were taught not to hover or hoover while customers peruse. Very enjoyable. Unfortunately they sell neither underwear nor vacuums.

" ... I tend to like the mimimum coverage and the Thai guys look for the more traditional bikini look ... "
Bing my dear man ... what could be more minimal than bikini-style? Except ... except ... don't tell me you're wearing a string thong thing, Bing? :headbang:

So presumably you weren't the guy in his 60's / 70's (so they told me!) wearing a little red thing spotted by my partner's cousin and her husband the other day when they were walking along Dongtan beach with my partner - not being used to such things, they told me it was the funniest (and weirdest) thing they had ever seen!

[quiet1]

The young girls working in the men's underwear department is like the women who scrub the urinal next to, and mop around the feet of, urinating men in the mens room.

Do men fit women's brassieres in the lingerie department or clean the women's bathrooms while they are in use (even though the women lock themselves in private cubicles)?

I once had a troupe of four teenage-looking females surrounding me in Central as I looked at men's underwear, so I asked them what they recommended for various size penises (gifts for friends, you see...). Blank looks all around, but at least it satisfied some sadistic urge of mine.