It's amazing: the things you learn when you seriously try to learn Thai.
Since I am trying to learn Thai, I have been watching and listening to the TV. Poo has two favorite TV shows: Woman-to-Woman (ผู้หญิงถึงผู้หญิง) and 30 and Still Looking Great (30 Young แจ๋ว). The first show features 4 beautiful Thai women in their 20s chatting, gossiping about celebrities, and discussing fashion. The second show features 4 beautiful Thai women in their 30s chatting, gossiping about celebrities, and discussing fashion and skin-care products.
They are on the same channel, so sometimes I get all 8 beautiful women on TV at the same time. Poo always asks me the same question: "who do you think is the most beautiful?"
I always choose an older woman and say "Thai women get more beautiful as they get older", which seems to make her happy.
Today they were gossiping about foreigners, again. Apparently, there was a survey of Thai workers in the hotel industry which ranked good tourists and bad tourists.
The best tourists? There was no doubt: the Japanese. Why? Because they are polite, they tip well, and they don't complain.
They also liked Norwegians, Canadians, and Germans. Americans tip well, but they complain too much.
The worst tourists? . . . . .
Thais do not get an A+ for racism, so I thought they would pick on Arabs, Indians or Africans; or, if they were singling out white people, Russians.
But, no! The worst tourists are . . . . .
The French!
Why? Because they are rude, they don't tip and they don't speak English.
That shocked me, because I quite like the French.
Then I started thinking: wait a minute, there are only a few French tourists in Thailand, but the place is teeming with Brits. I'll bet those "French tourists" are actually Brits, using their schoolboy French to yell "Mon Dieu!" and "Merde!" at the hotel staff and killing two birds with one stone:
1st: they are getting by on the cheap (not tipping);
2nd: (more importantly from the British point of view): they are giving France a bad name!
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3 comments:
I don't think a Brit person would actually speak in French if they don't have to - they're way too proud of their language.
Actually, I think they were probably talking about the results of a global survey just released. Kiwis came out as tight fisted. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/2579231/Kiwis-stingy-tourists
With us Japanese I think it is the English they prevents us from complaining.
The normal reaction when something goes wrong for us is "Shouganai" which goes something along the lines of:
"We can't help it. This is not Japan. We can't expect them to be as organized, punctual etc. as the people back home"
They are also probably the most gullible tourists in the world, hence topping the tipping list.
I have saved a number a good amount of money and trips to the jewelry shop in Thailand and the Philippines much to the displeasure of the locals who always give me a nasty look afterward ;p
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