bdw

SamritT, on 2010-09-17 09:29:31, said:

Careful what you wish for. Along with us going home will be the wooshing sound of all those billions of dollars in foreign investment pouring out of the country, along with the tax revenue they generate, not to mention all of the NGOs that operate here looking after the poor and disadvantaged that Thai society and government can't. If you're lucky Cambodia or Burma might come back and take over the country again.

From looking at your previous posts you seem to be the typical xenophobic Thai. If it wasn't for foreigners you'd still be walking around the jungles wearing just a sarong. It's a typical response from someone who spends their entire life in their own Moo bhan watching Thai soap operas and believing its reality.

Thailand is already lo-rung on the totem pole for attracting foreign investment in the region. Then again, you're probably quiet content with two tin cans joined by a piece of string.

Deerculler, on 2010-09-17 10:41:05, said:

Yet another incredibly unthought out opinion. This SO facile  I can't believe people still think this is worth posting!
Just follow that statement to it's logical conclusion - if you have a negative opinion or any criticism of  a country you are living in or visiting, you shouldn't voice but just you should move out.
it has no place on this thread which is about 3G.

Deerculler, on 2010-09-17 10:41:05, said:

is it fair to say that everyone has an opinion??

Why not start the bidding for 5G or 6G? By the time it's all done we'll be up to speed (pun intended) with proper countries and not remaining a banana republic. Oh, and before the "go home" stuff this is my home too.

SamritT, on 2010-09-17 09:29:31, said:

AMAZING Thailand. If we want to have corruption and want to stay in the 20th century (this is the 21st century btw) and keep our people ignorant and you don't like - go home!

THIS IS THAILAND. Don't like, then go home.

quiksilva, on 2010-05-08 19:01:39, said:

I had HD installed yesterday and the HD channels look fine, the Sports Channel is markedly better than the HBO Channel although I think part of the problem is that some of the movies are older movies and were not filmed in HD.

However, the rest of my channels are not nearly as good as they were before. The picture quality is not as sharp and the color is slightly washed out, I'd guess about a 20% degradation in quality. I've already called Truevisions to complain and a tech will be out tomorrow (or at least they said he would). When I switched from the HDMI input that was installed with the box to component video cables, the picture improved, but still not as good as it was before on the non-HD channels.

If anyone can be of help or has any solutions, please help.

Btw, if anyone is contemplating getting HD for the World Cup, we were told that the HD broadcast audio will be in Thai language only. Hopefully she's wrong, but she did emphasize that point before she accepted our order.

I rarely have need to whinge about the usual day to day things that can test you in LOS, but thought id make an exception after visiting a Fitness first gym here in Bangkok. I wont name the particular branch,suffice to say it is was in suburban BK, in a large mall.
I havent even looked at joining a gym here so i thought i would just go along and check out whats on offer and what the facilities were like.

I talked with a very nice polite (thai) girl, not great English but easy enough to understand. She showed me around and I was quite impressed by the new looking gear,cleanliness of of locker rooms, nice lounge ect ect..even had a wall of DVD's you can borrow for two days..give you a few (supposedly) freebies if signing up for a year..all good
So the girl takes me back to a cubicle and talks about the latest promotion and what the possible options were.
I was quite happy at this point and was pondering the five month plan as opposed to the yearly one, as not sure of how long i would be staying in Thailand. I can say i am quite used to usual sales pitch...quote a larger price+ multiple joining fees ect, then scratch out one fee to make you believe you are getting something for nothing..all the usual BS.

At this point the girl asks for my credit card, stating that she will check whether she can offer a special deal for using this particular card.
She wonders off for a little while and returns with another girl. I was not quite sure of her nationality, at first glance she looked like a typical thai but when she spoke it sounded as if she had an American accent, so maybe grew up or uni educated in the US..
I suspect she was wearing those queer contact lenses that makes one look a bit like a cat..quite offputting to me and i dont know why they do that or how they can think its appealing, but each to their own.

Anyway, she goes over all the same details as the other girl has already said, which was a bit tedious. She asks for my passport which i dont have on me. Not sure why she would ask for this but anyway.

Then she says "OK, which deal will you be signing up for today?"

I explain for the second time i am just looking for now, i will not be signing up for anything today. This seems to go way over her head again however, as she goes on about what a great deal it was,how she could only offer this today..ect ect

"SO, supposing you were to sign up today, which option would you take?"

me:..well i guess if were to consider anything, it would be the 5 month plan as i am not yet sure how long i will be staying

"Ok you can sign up today..your credit card please.."

me..well,...err..again.... i am not signing up for anything today

This banter goes on for another 10 minutes with me having to repeat the last line at least another three times.
At this stage ive had enough and just remember they still have my credit card, so it was a strange this girl would ask for it. I tell her they already have my card and id like it back thanks.
She says " but you wait, i will give you a free fitness test for today"

I tell her im not waiting, i dont want any test, and i want my card back.

She goes on to tell me that i am quite stupid for not wanting the free test, it only takes a few minutes...WTF!!!

Give me back my card..NOW

The thai girl is watching all this and is clearly quite uncomfortable with it. She nods and hurries of to get my card. Meanwhile the other one practically takes my hand an forces me over to another room with a few scales and stuff..OK whatever.
They note hieght and age and i get on what looks like a typical scale..

Low and behold a spectacular printout is produced... Apart from all the jargon of percentages of body fat and this and that, it tells me that i need to loose 9 kgs...
funny that, as the last time i checked 78kgs for a guy of 180cms was pretty good...perfect in fact.
I dont know how they could claim this machine can tell you all these details, and i may well be stupid  as she says, but i am definately stupified as to how anyone, thai or otherwise, could believe the validity of this crap.

The thai girls returns with my card, and asks if she can give me a follow up phone call..I say ok but i wont be talking to the other pushy one. She doesnt understand what ive said but im sure the other one does and she pretends not to hear it and storms off.

With this, the thai girl whais and offers multiple apologies and says i can call her and she will give me one day trial for free ok?

Its a shame as the place had great facilities at not to bad a price, but the behaviour of that lady ruled it out for me and id sooner join up with the local no frills joint nearby at the same price than support the wages of this person.
  
I wont even be taking up the free day offer,although they reckon its worth 535 baht to go for one day.

If this person or anyone else that works for FF should ever happen to read this i hope they will realise that this sort of crap will turn away many more potential customers than any harrasment or bullying will ever produce..

The thai girl was quite nice and i suspect doing a good job..to bad she has to put up with this other  ***** daily.

FF..i can think of a few prime words for those letters