Making sure it’s understood is sometime not enough

2 Days ago we went for Lunch at Central Chitlom. Then after lunch, a traditional starbuck.

Here’s what happened:

ME: “A coffee of the day, tall size, take away”
Waiter: “Small?”
Me: “Tall.”
Waiter: *typing on the machine* “Small?”
Me: “Tall.”
Waiter: *Fetching a coffee cup and showing me a small cup* “Small?”
Me: *Killer look that says: Are you kidding me?*
Waiter: “Tall!”

His intervention with a small coffee cup was genuine, not even a joke.

Still at a Starbuck, I managed to get a tall coffee and a chocolate bread free. Someone at the counter asked me what I wanted, it made its way to the guy doing the coffees and the original guy served a bread but I never paid the cashier. I waited for a while until I decided they should know that a customer standing in front of the cashier is not here to play toys.

Tip:  If you got to survive in Bangkok, you got to get yourself a killer look. Open anger and rage is not well perceived in Thai society. It’s viewed as a sign of weakness. Not only will you not make your point, you will also alienate every Thai around against you completely, bringing you a lot further away from your goal.

Instead, prepare a few killer look for different situation, one that says “Are you kidding me?”, another one that says “I’m really mad about this” and an extreme one with popping eyes and veins display on the throat that says “I’m thinking of radical solutions to get rid of you”. Every Thai understand this.