Living among the Thais
Living among the Thais
The first time I visited Thailand was for a brief holiday in 1979. It was not really that well known as a tourist destination. I flew with Thai International and in those days the service could not have been better. It was an excellent foretaste of what lay ahead. As I stepped off the plane there was an almost spicy tang to the air. I have not encountered this anywhere else and it was something that I looked forward to on subsequent visits, denoting that I was ‘back’.
There were no skyscrapers then. If memory serves, the Dusit Thani hotel in Silom road was the tallest building in the capital. Traffic was light unlike the snarling congestion of today. Drivers were courteous to each other.
The Thai people in general were gentle and rather shy of foreigners, though at the same time very curious to know about us. It was an age of innocence and I mean that in the nicest possible way.
As Thailand developed into a major tourist destination, naturally things changed. Hotels were springing up everywhere, causing the first wave of land and property speculation. The support industries that supply hotels with everything from food to laundry services flourished. With the ever increasing number of visitors, tourist related businesses such as restaurants, souvenir and silk shops also proliferated. As the country became more ‘international’ business minded tourists realised the great potential for export from Thailand, particularly with regard to garments.
Thailand is now a major exporter in many diverse areas from clothing and furniture to agricultural products including being the world’s number one exporter of rice. A quick glance of the export figures from 1980 illustrate how rapidly this happened. Between 1980-85 exports rose by 45%. By the year 2000 it was an astonishing 1,952% from the 1980 figures.
Thailand became a magnet for international business and the property and banking sectors boomed.
Even the food was ‘hot’, if you’ll pardon the pun. I don’t know how many Thai restaurants there were in the UK in 1979, certainly very few, but now Thai food has overtaken Chinese in popularity and there is a Thai restaurant in virtually every major town. It has deservedly become a global favourite.
As a result of this explosion of growth, it has naturally had an effect on the people of this fascinating country. It is a far more commercial and consumer driven place now. Everyone, it seems has a mobile phone, even those in the lowest paid jobs. Office workers have to have the very latest mobiles with all the new (and mostly useless) functions, together with the excruciating ringtones that plague us all. Many young people can’t wait to add another car to the choked and polluted roads. Just recently I saw a sleek and sexy yellow Lamborghini being driven around Pattaya stuck in the traffic like the rest of us, going all of ten kilometres an hour.
As the population becomes more affluent and interested in material things, it will be interesting to see how they can reconcile this with their Buddhist beliefs, which teach the opposite.
Apart from the super-wealthy who generally seem a rather miserable bunch, Thai people are well-known for their sense of fun or ‘Sanook’. This extends even to the workplace. If a job isn’t Sanook it will quickly lose its appeal. Thai people must be among the most social of any on the planet. They love to party and embrace almost any foreign festivity from Christmas to Valentine’s Day and even Halloween if there is fun involved.
They love to be in groups for all kinds of activities but especially where food is concerned. A great meal shared, both invigorates and binds them socially. They will frequently call a friend during the day and ask if they have ‘eaten already’ what did they eat and what are you going to eat later? Another very appealing aspect of the Thais is that even the poorest of people will offer to share their food with you to the last morsel without a second thought. It is not only food. Over the years I have seen (and received) countless acts of generosity from Thai people. If you are perceived to be a sincere person, they will go out of their way to help you.
Thais are very tolerant people in many ways. They put up with all manner of foreigners amongst them, never try and force their religion or culture upon them. It is often said that Thai people don’t like conflict and will try to avoid it at all costs. This is generally true and is probably to do with the Buddhist doctrine of taking the middle path, doing no harm or causing difficulty to others and hoping that other people extend the same courtesy. If a foreigner abuses this and becomes ‘ugly’, they will almost certainly come unstuck as the Thais absolutely stick together when this situation arises.
Another thing that is very important (can’t emphasize this enough) is the issue of ‘face’. To live here in relative harmony, you must try to understand this concept, though it is difficult to grasp completely . To a Thai, face is everything. It denotes his or her standing among his or her peers and those perceived to be both above or below them in social standing. It is constantly evaluated and can change in accordance with circumstance. Ignore this at your peril. If you cause a Thai to lose face it will affect the relationship probably permanently. Shouting at them or otherwise embarrassing them in front of their friends or colleagues will be considered unforgivable. If they are working for you they will almost certainly resign and you can lose a valued employee for a moment’s loss of temper on your behalf. Issues like this are better handled in private and without anger.
Knowing how to work with Thai staff, keeping them both productive and content, is very challenging to a foreign business owner. Whatever management skills you may have had in the West, you can pretty much forget here. As a quick example, until recently I had a company in Bangkok with 32 full time and 17 part time staff. In the restaurant section there was one girl that really stood out, very popular with customers, good English, a natural organizer especially when we had parties etc. I was impressed enough to offer her a promotion to be the Assistant Manager. The next day she resigned. It took me a week of speaking to her English boyfriend before I found out the reason. She resigned because she didn’t want to ‘boss’ her friends around (the other girls that worked with her) and so the solution to the ‘awkward’ situation I had placed her in was to leave. In the West, if offered a promotion with a salary increase, resignation is not usually a consideration!
I persuaded her to come back, without the promotion.
Doing business in Thailand is for another article!
It is easy to forget just how relatively new the country is to so many types of business and how many opportunities there are here as a result. Whoever coined the advertising campaign phrase ‘Amazing Thailand’ came up with (perhaps unwittingly) the perfect phrase to describe the Thai experience. There are many times when the Thai approach or reaction to a situation seems to defy logic, and you think ‘Amazing’ as you shake your head in disbelief. Then there are those other times (thankfully far more numerous) when they delight you with their sense of fun, joy of living and their many acts of kindness. Though I have great memories of my own country, the best times I’ve had have been in Thailand and the most interesting part has been living among these ‘Amazing’ people.
