[Cob] Thailand

[Stephen Karrington]

> Date: Sat, 19 May 2007 14:00:04 -0600
> From: "Wesley Sandel" <wsandel at gmail.com>

> You forgot to mention that the Thai people are the best in the world.

Yes, I forgot to mention that. The personality factor of Thai's are really
amazing in some ways. To provide some contrast for
people who have never been to Thailand, let me illustrate.

Lets take P-rague, C-zech Re-public in Central Europe where the people are very different
from Thai's in personality traits. Here is one situation as an illustration.

I'm in the checkout lane when shopping in a supermarket in P-rague. As
I'm paying the person is scanning the items and literally throwing
them down the counter which is about 6" in width after you get past
the cashier. After a few items there is no more room to the right. There is no one
bagging the groceries either. They don't "bag" in C-zech Re-public. How the person
expects me to carry out 23+ items in my hands without a bag doesn't
enter their consciousness. They don't ask, in fact they don't talk to me about
anything except what the total bill is. No hello. No thank you. Nothing. In fact,
they don't even look at you at all. They expect you to just disappear
along with the 23+ items after you pay.

Before you leave, since you can't leave without a bag, they start scanning the next
person and if you are still there they are throwing the next person's items along with
yours since you are still there thinking about what to do with all
these items and no bag :)

At this point you have to ask for a bag. The cashier is now a little
irritated because you "asked" them to do something after they rang you
up already. They ring you up for a bag and literally throw it at you.
This is no exaggeration. Yes, they charge you for a bag too. You pack up you stuff,
now in a hurried manner because the next person is standing there waiting for you to exit.

Lets switch to the Thai experience.

I'm in the checkout lane in a supermarket in Thailand. The place is
immaculate. Clean, modern, and super efficent. Not to mention an
incredible variety of products, fruits and vegetables to buy. There is a cashier and
at least one or two baggers. When I say two, that could mean one person
is there to "receive you" and your cart at the cashier counter and they
actually remove the 23+ items from your cart and put it on the counter!

When you first approach they bow their heads with their hands
clasped and say "sawadee krup" or "sawadee ka" for women which means
hello. This is a gesture of respect. You get this all the time:)
Welcome to Thailand!!

Then the cashier rings things up with digital accuracy. The bagger bags it up before
you even know what's going on. After the bill is paid and the items are bagged the bagger is standing
there holding your bags, not allowing them to sit on the counter, waiting until you finish
with putting your change back into your wallet. When you are done with the wallet thing
they hand you your bags and bows yet again and says "korpkhun krup" or "korpkun ka" for women which means
"thank you" and you are on your way.

The thai's smile the entire way through from beginning to end. I won't
bother describing the C-zech's manner of interaction throughout this process.

What a difference!

Did I mention a huge pineapple costs about 80 cents in a big fancy
supermarket and most likely half that in a smaller market? Oh my!

S