Time keeping

Sirs,

A couple of issues back a reader was complaining about the poor time keeping of certain people he did business with. However, anybody who has domestic arrangements with a Thai partner gets used to this, as things around the household that need doing and are called to the attention of ones partner elicit the reply that they’ll be done ‘soon’ or ‘later’.

Nevertheless it is my experience that buses and trains in Thailand leave on time and in fact keep on time. Having said this though, this is the only country in the world where if you miss the 0800h time signal on the radio to set your watch by, you can switch on the TV and get it.

Yours faithfully,

Roger Womersley

No respect at fast food joint

Editor;

I went to a fast food restaurant near Beach Road on Saturday 21st April at around 9 p.m.

I ordered a double cheeseburger meal. There were some very small pots of sauce/relish by the till and the girl asked if I wanted one. I like the chilli sauce from the dispensers, so I said no thank you.

When my order was being put on the tray another girl put one of the sauce pots on my tray. I saw no reason to tell her to take it back off as I assumed it must have been free.

I went and sat down. Sent an sms to a friend then started eating.

After a few minutes I noticed the little sauce pot and thought I may as well as least try it as it was there.

Literally, a few seconds after I took the lid off and put a french-fry in the sauce, a staff member (female) stormed up to me like a Gestapo officer demanding someone’s ID papers. She said I had not ordered the sauce and if I did not give her 9 baht she would take it away.

I was somewhat in a state of shock, sitting there with my french-fry half submerged in the little sauce pot, surrounded by Russians and Germans and Indians looking at me wondering what heinous crime I had committed, and some female crazy standing over me demanding 9 baht.

I said I didn’t even want it and assumed it was free.

With that, she snatched it out of my hand, picked up the plastic top from my tray, reattached it to the little pot and stormed off leaving me holding the french-fry that was half covered in the sauce.

A German guy sitting close to me remarked that he has never seen such a disgusting display of bad customer service in a (fast food franchise) anywhere in his life.

After having eaten in (this particular chain of restaurants) in nearly 30 countries, and almost every province in Thailand I am inclined to agree with him.

It was an absolute disgrace. For an employee to risk alienating a customer over what probably cost the company less than one baht to produce makes me wonder what other acts of total stupidity that girl gets up to there.

I seriously doubt she was one of the ordinary staff there but more likely a supervisor, assistant manager or manager who felt like playing God with a farang for some reason. I was too shocked to take a picture of her ID badge. If I had done she would probably have demanded I was immediately executed, I daresay.

What did she think she would do with the sauce pot after snatching it back from me? She saw me sticking a french-fry into it (which I assume was her queue to pounce on me after waiting more than 5 minutes until I opened it) so as she put the top back on I can only assume she was going to sell it to someone else. Very unhygienic.

I have lived in Thailand, mainly Pattaya, for very many years and eat in several of these restaurants in Pattaya on a 5 or 6 times weekly basis. I have seen much bad service in Thailand over the years but have never bothered to take the time to write it down. I never seen anything so blatantly petty and downright stupid as what that employee did on that occasion. Just no sense to it. The staff in there are usually quite polite enough, bearing in mind how busy they usually are.

I had many businesses for a number of years in the UK with staff who needed to know about customer service. Anytime I had one who did anything remotely like that girl I knew they were trouble and should be got rid of before they started losing us customers.

She lost her boss one (at least) that day. From that branch anyway.

Piers Rudford

Shame and scandal in Pattaya

Editor;

I was very saddened to learn in the local press about two tourists from Macau who rented two jet skis and ended up with a demand for - wait for it - 100,000 baht for damages to the jet skis. Now we all know what a scam that is don’t we? But what happened, the tourist went to the police station, where - wait for it again - the tourists agreed to pay 7,000 baht - I am no mathematical genius but come on, a demand for 100,000 baht is settled by the tourist paying 7,000 baht! Something smells a teensy weensy bit fishy to me. They were followed back to their hotel by the jet ski operators who attacked and injured the two tourists. I am happy to say they have been arrested, sorry, ‘held’.

‘The case is common assault but in terms of tourism it is a big issue,’ said Provincial Police Division 2 commander Pol. Lt. Gen. Panay Mamen. You sure got that right Pol. Lt. Panya - why, oh why, don’t you do something about it?

I have a friend who lives long time in a hotel on Pattaya Beach Road. He has been observing for a long time how the jet ski scammers operate, moving from one rental location to another on a daily basis so any tourists sitting in the same spot every day are only aware of the odd scam going on, and not that it occurs on a daily basis up and down Pattaya Beach. He has also noted that when the police are called to mediate in the inevitable scam it is always the same policemen, one apparently with a handlebar moustache so he is pretty easy to identify!

My friend and I believe that the jet ski operators take photographs of the jet skis with the renters before they go out; the pictures are then digitally altered at photo-shops in on the scam who erase any signs of damage and hey presto when the unfortunate tourist return they are faced with a before and after situation.

City Hall knows very well the scams go on, the police are aware the scams go on, the Tourist Authority of Thailand know the scams go on, what do they do about it? Sweet Fanny Adams - why is that, one has to wonder.

The Tourist Authority of Thailand have their heads buried in the sand. Do they not realize that visitors to Thailand are far fewer than those visiting Malaysia and Singapore? Do they realize that Myanmar has hundreds of pristine islands in the Adman Sea waiting to be developed now that Myanmar is opening up? As one Bangkok Post Postbag letter ended, “TAT’s duty is not only to lure visitors to Thailand but also to make visitors welcome as guests rather than victims for some Thais.”

I love living in Thailand, Pattaya in particular, and am saddened to see so many corrupt goings on unhindered by any authority who could put an end to such malpractices if there was any will to do so. But there ain’t no financial gain to do so, is there…

RW

Time keeping

No respect at fast food joint

Shame and scandal in Pattaya