Originally Posted by
bkkmfj2648
Since I am still fairly new here in Thailand as a recent retiree - I would like to share with you my first Thailand New Year's Eve period to get your feedback.
Being in the holiday spirit, I decided to take a personal initiative where I would prepare and give each condo staff member a personal card from me saying how much I appreciated their professional service and as a new retiree here that they make me feel special, welcome, and belonging to a great condo complex. Firstly, I had to find money cards. These are easily found back in Europe and in the USA during the holiday season. I had great difficulties finding something equivalent. I traveled over to Pattaya city and walked around until in a Mr. DIY shop at the Pattaya Avenue complex I found ornate Chinese money cards (as the Chinese New Year will arrive at the end of January) that were perfect and super cheap. Then onto my home computer to write the perfect thank you message in English and then to translate it from English to Thai and then back from Thai back to English to see what could be tweaked to make sure that I deliver a correct and meaningful message. Then the printing of the messages in both English and Thai that would fit into the size of the small money card envelopes. Then the ironing of the baht bank notes that I collected so that they would feel crisp, clean, and new. And then the assembly of the complete package - illustrated in the below photo collage.
Before heading over to Bo Win for the above mentioned house blessing I went around lunch time downstairs to the main floor where the hive of activity is by our condo workers and I started to distribute them to everyone I could find. And when I could not find someone the staff were already calling them from their work duty station to come to the lobby to collect their holiday note gift. The smiles on their individual faces and kind words in their limited English - truly made my holiday the best!! In fact, one of the security guys - every time he sees me he taps his shirt pocket (as he showed me that he stored my note in his pocket) and says thank you - I will never forget you. Truly a blessing to live here as a new retiree.