BB
I agree with you mate, and have written several tims before, that the three words MAI PEN RAI are what keep Thailand backwards and crippled. The Asian obsession with saving face just amplifies the problem.
When nobody seems to ever take responsibility or initiative for doing anything
nothing ever gets done, nothing ever changes.
The pool example is a macro level example. The handyman probably went back and reported the issue then because no manager took the initiative and said go fix it he left it as is. The manager wouldnt want to take responsibility for clearing the pool and getting it fixed in case his superior got offended/insulted because he hadn't been consulted....etc etc.
You see this on massive levels in the Post and Nation on a daily basis. PAD/UDD court cases (or ANY court case in fact) that drag on and on and on and on....because the judges sit and do nothing month after month, year after year rather than make decisions. Police that take so long to do anything that the offender is usually in another country before they decide to get active. Endless committes panels and talk shops that just flap on and on and on...nobody doing anything solid because that involves taking responsibility.
I see it every day on the micro level at home. The kids look inthe fridge, having drank all the bottles of water...no cold water. Go to the stack of water by the side of the fridge and take a warm bottle....and dont think to fill the fridge back up. Use the last of the bread, dont think to take any out of the freezer. In the bar sometimes the TV breaks down....we find out when one of us goes in and sees its not working, usually by then it being evening and too late to get it fixed. Ask the lasses why nobody called to tell us at noon when the bar opens...shuffle feet, look down, walk away....And so on and so on.
Its sad and its a damn shame....but no amount of trying will ever change it, because from birth they are taught those three damn words that turn taking the intitiative and having responsibility (rather than just duty) from a virtue to a vice.
I would say that not ALL Thais are like that. Some I know do take initiative and are get goers. They should be lauded and encouraged at every opportunity. Bobby our bar "manageress" is a star, but is rare. Im sure we all here know our own examples of active thais....but how many mai pen rai men do you know who sit and watch the house burn down rather than turn the hose on?
But the TIT responses...W T F???
A kid got injured. Whether TIT or not...the RIGHT thing to do is close the little pool down and fix the issue. The WRONG thing is to ignore the problem, and therefore potentially allow more kids to get hurt.
TIT spells Tit, and trotting it out makes you sound like one
And before I get accused, as I usually do, of being anti-thai and "why are you here" get it in your head that complaining sometimes gets stuff done and is positive, and Id rathers see change than the house burn down.
"Science flew men to the moon. Religion flew men into buildings."
"To sin by silence makes cowards of men."
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Pete 
