"This Is Thailand"

Having read this Forum since 1 January after a friend told me about it I have to say I'm amazed at the lack of subtlety of some of the posters even when making valid points. I have mostly lived away from my country of birth since becoming an adult but I did have the opportunity to go back and work there in my late fifties. I've also worked in Australasia, Europe, the US and a couple of SE Asian countries. Dismissing every "This Is Thailand" type comment as one that comes from a grumbling ex-pat and therefore unworthy of respect simply does not recognize the frustrations that can arise from living in any society, including one's own. I don't watch much television in Thailand so I don't recall whether the BBC program Grumpy Old Men has been shown on BBC Entertainment, but it's a program about a group of articulate Englishmen who are generally pissed off at various elements of life in their own country. They are the same sort of people who some posters here try to denigrate as "grumbling ex-pats". The things that Grumpy Old Men grumble about are shoddy service and silly rules. I experienced something only yesterday, in the First World country where I have spent most of my adult life, from a globally-recognized bank, that set new levels in banking nonsense (and I've seen quite a lot). Had I been in Thailand it would have been a "This Is Thailand" moment. It had nothing to do with being an unhappy ex-pat.

Similarly there are many studies on retirees and single men that show the dangers of loneliness that often lead to alcoholism. You don't have to live in a foreign country, or be retired in a foreign country, to be a retiree spending your life in an alcoholic haze.

So to those "experts" who've lived in 35 countries in 40 years and the equivalent, all I can say is your experience may be wide but as expounded here it's merely superficial.

[elephantspike]

I'll drink to that! :alc:

Welcome to the board, Sathorn.

[x in pattaya]

Having read this Forum since 1 January after a friend told me about it ...

Right and I'm actually the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova.


The things that Grumpy Old Men grumble about are shoddy service and silly rules. I experienced something only yesterday, in the First World country where I have spent most of my adult life, from a globally-recognized bank, that set new levels in banking nonsense (and I've seen quite a lot). Had I been in Thailand it would have been a "This Is Thailand" moment.

Keeping in mind that you are most likely another reincarnation of Thonglor who lives on Sukhumvit and has apparently shifted to Sathorn...


Had I been in Thailand

But then why, if you were in farangland, did you not say "This is Farangland?" ... or "That is Big Banks." ... or "That is Multi-National Businesses."

The fact that the resident cretins, such as you, are labelled "cranky misfits" is because they imply that the problems they moan about are unique to Thailand or make some reference to Thai thinking versus "Western Logic," or suggest Asians somehow fail to measure up to their own drink-til-you-puke Pukka sahib standards. Yes, these problems exist everywhere in the world, which is exactly the point. It has nothing especially to do with Thailand in most cases.

If you have a problem with a bank clerk, which is as likely as not to be your fault as his/hers, why would you then lay the blame on her in terms of nationality or race or inability to think like the chosen race to which you feel you belong?

Those of us who have lived in various places around the world may have gained some insight into common behavior amongst expats wherever they choose to temporarily settle. Those opinions are no more nor less valid than those of a constipated, self-absorbed, schizophrenic malcontent who keeps taking on different identities in a futile effort to conceal his identity. His true identity doesn't lie in the succession of newbie names he gives himself. His true identity lies in the way his self-loathing continues to re-emerge even as he attempts to project that trait on others.

Sad really that a forum in which most participants can act in a civil manner even when disagreeing and where useful information can be shared also attracts those who contribute nothing other than barbed comments or laughable attempts at character assassination.

Since this is supposedly your inaugural posting, why not make some useful comments. You may actually have something worthwhile to say about things in Thailand rather than shooting your alleged virgin wad on a pointless ad hominem attack masquerading as a defense of bigotry.

Sathorn, Thanks for the post. You are so correct! Sometimes the everyday problems seem so large that we assign guilt on something else or someone else. In this case culture. Happens everywhere!

a pointless ad hominem attack.I learn something new every day - describing someone else's analysis as superficial is an ad hominem attack. A remarkable number of assumptions have been made by this X in Pattaya character including that my dealings were with a bank clerk and in person.

I have to assume what my friend told me is true. Newbies are not welcome here. Maybe the owner should put a sign up to that effect.

a pointless ad hominem attack.I learn something new every day - describing someone else's analysis as superficial is an ad hominem attack. A remarkable number of assumptions have been made by this X in Pattaya character including that my dealings were with a bank clerk and in person.

I have to assume what my friend told me is true. Newbies are not welcome here. Maybe the owner should put a sign up to that effect.

I think when you go looking for a fight, you get one.

[x in pattaya]

describing someone else's analysis as superficial is an ad hominem attack.
When the intention of the carping (or as you self-importantly describe it, "analysis") is to criticize an individual, yes, that's what it is.


A remarkable number of assumptions have been made by this X in Pattaya character including that my dealings were with a bank clerk and in person.
The reference to a bank clerk was an illustrative example. I know nothing of your sordid life or the superficial concoctions you offer as points of reference.


I have to assume ...speaking of a "remarkable number of assumptions" being made.


what my friend told me is true. Newbies are not welcome here. Maybe the owner should put a sign up to that effect.

You and your friend ( most people abandon their imaginary playmates by the time they stop bed-wetting) must have fascinating conversations. Obviously with all the information he's supplied you, any signs erected by the owner would be superfluous, if not superficial.

In any event, using a new ID, doesn't qualify you as a newbie.


"This Is Thailand"
Yes, and the person we were addressing lives in the US and is considering living in other parts of the US and possibly one or more other countries. If you're so worried about any comments made in this forum that aren't exclusively concerned with Thailand, the editorial hatchet will be kept quite busy.

I did notice that you didnt mention. Who your friend is? Is he a member on SGT?

Why hasn't anyone responded to WHAT Sathorn first posted?

What is the purpose in trying to drive new members off the board?