Indian tailors and hawkers

[The Gentleman Scamp]

Do they have any idea how patronising they sound, do they REALLY believe we will fall for that 'Hello, my friend, I remember you' shite?

I have a hot temper so recently on Samui and yesterday/today on Sukhumvit I have tried to be more understanding as I don't really like ignoring people and hate being ignored myself - especially by a woman during an arguement.

Today it happened again, 'My friend, what are you looking for?' - "Bookazine" I replied - AND THIS IS WHAT GETS ME - IT DIDN'T REGISTER ONE IOTA.

Their obseqious pitch is done with so much determination/desperation/over confidence (I doubt the latter) that they don't even acknowledge the answers to the questions they are asking - "Where are you from?", "How are you my friend?", I have sometimes asked 'I'm your friend?? I don't remember you, where did we meet?' or simply replied flatly that I have lived in the area six years or a number of stern comments to show them that this guy can't and won't be sold.

As a reasonably intelligent non backpacker I do find it quite offensive and very irritating, I sympathize with their cause and maybe they are all struggling and maybe business is shite but which is more valid, my anger or my sympathy? ...I have to make a living here too somehow, and I certainly wouldn't open a tailors shop because they have a questionable reputation and are ten a penny, I don't understand why there are so many of them and I never have.

Granted, today I was in my vis run clobber with a little backpack and was probably mistaken for a newbie who lost his way back to Banglumpoo so I witheld my irritation.

On Samui a week or so ago I took Sandra to an Indian restaurant in Chaweng because I felt sorry for them. There was a 400 baht set meal for two and I said I would eat there if they made a couple f changes and it was granted after being cleared by an unseen boss.

The food was very sub standard, the poppadoms bent before they broke and S had 3 hairs in her korma. That time i couldn't be arsed to make a fuss, they just didn't get a tip and as S said what goes around comes around, they will get their karma - maybe a chicken karma with hair in it.... Sorry.

[stroller]

they will get their karma - maybe a chicken karma with hair in it.... Sorry.

I doubt it. There will always be some dumb tourist not putting 2 and 2 together and realise why the place is deserted, or be in a good holiday mood, feel sorry for them and order the 400bt for 2 set meal.

[The Gentleman Scamp]

^ Well it won't happen again will it, I guess they already had the karma - I just fancied an Indian.

You win some you lose some.

[stroller]

Well it won't happen again will it,

How would you know?

You're not going to eat there again - big deal.
Plenty of new tourists pouring in by the ship- and planeload every day.

[Thaddeus]

Indian tailors, especially the ones on beach road that try out various accents and fail convincingly to get one right.

Line them up against a wall, give them the option to return to their land of fathers.

The ones that don't leave..... shoot them.

[jizzybloke]

Agree about the tailors, why do they hold out their hand to you?
The last one was quite insistant that i shake hands then he thought he had me, i'm going this way if you don't let go of my hand you're coming with me. about 40 yards later i'm still dragging him along with me (i'm a fair size) he didn't want to shake hands again!

[Hootad Binky]

Those tailors look upon us as their living, we are theirs, they have a right to us, the river of humanity that goes past the front door of their shop god knows how much they're in debt for. Hence the aggressive sales pitch. To try and think about it rationally or etiquette is pointless.

I too have bought the sympathy dinner, in my case from a desperate Indian guy who opened a restaurant/karaoke on a rooftop on soi 71, soi 3. I was living in Lampthong Apartments and he would wave desperately at me from his window if he saw me on the balcony and then the phone would ring and it would be him beseeching me to order.

[mrsquirrel]

The food was very sub standard, the poppadoms bent before they broke and S had 3 hairs in her korma.

So she's not a shaven maiden then?

[Thaddeus]

Those tailors look upon us as their living, we are theirs, they have a right to us, the river of humanity that goes past the front door of their shop god knows how much they're in debt for. Hence the aggressive sales pitch. To try and think about it rationally or etiquette is pointless.

Very true but it goes against the norm completely. There are many successful businesses in the UK that are created and run by people of Indian origins.

Are the ones in Thailand the inbred idiot cousins who just assumed that people in a tropical climate, live here or visitors, would just impulse buy a suit.

Am I the odd one out here..... If I need something, I'll go out and get it.... if I am on the search for beer or food, no amount of 'awright mate' and shoving pictures of stitched cloth in my face will have their desired effect, the opposite in fact.

Please don't tell me that the average tourist who is already over-heated, possibly with wife and kids in tow actually succumbs to this frequently enough to make it a viable life option. (especially on Beach Road, where the targeting computer of most males is seldom, if ever, set to suit)

[kingwilly]

have you noticed the good indian tailors dont use these dickheads!?

FACT.

[Gallowspole]

I love them - remember going with 2 mates in a tuk tuk from tailor shop to tailor shop getting absolutely shitfaced on free beers. Bought bugger all but 'ooe'd and argh'd' over many designs. Did that for 3 or 4 days after we had missed our onward flight.

[Marmite the Dog]

Try walking up Suk Soi 15 on the left hand side. There's 3 shops selling luggage and one massage parlour. It's bloody hard work walking along that 20 yards of path (unless you're a big bugger and walk straight through them).

The worst lot are the 'Tourist Survey' wankers, who are really trying to sell time-shares. I just blank them. Sometimes they try to walk in front of me, which I don't understand. I mean, would they try to walk in front of a bus?

[benbaaa]

A couple of years back I was stumbling along Sukhumvit in my best shorts and flip-flops, drunk as a skunk, some time after 11pm, and an Indian tailor asked me if I was interested in buying a suit. I would dearly have loved to have thrown up on his shoes. But I just managed something along the lines of "DoesitfugginglooklikeIwannabuyafuggingsuit?" and went on my merry way.

[Blake7]

- I just fancied an Indian.

I'm sure if you offer one of those young chaps enough money he would oblige.

Seriously though, I also feel insulted by their propositions - I mean, do I really look like I would wear a shoddy suit from one of these guys?

[Bexar County Stud]

Maybe it's a bit like email spam - send out millions of "hello, my friend(s)" and they're bound to get a few hits. There's little to differentiate one of these shops from the next, so bullying and sleazing out potential customers is probably the best marketing option they have available.

In 5 years I reckon I've literally walked past hundreds of these shops - but I don't ever recall seeing any customers doing any business in any of them. Think about it...has anyone ever seen anyone shopping in and/or carrying out bought goods from one of these pits?

One of the mysteries of Thailand I think. Maybe these joints are just fronts for other activities.

[Sir Burr]

You're now networking and furthering your career in Koh Samui?

[Happyman]

The only sales pitch I ever fell for like this was in Hong Kong many years ago
A little chinaman with a handcart/ barrow type noodle stall pointed to a sign on his stall - "If you dont eat here we will both starve"
That hit my funnybone so I did - best noodles I have ever had - still there outside "The Beer Castle" bar and I eat there every time I am in town !!

[stroller]

Maybe these joints are just fronts for other activities.

If it was just a front, they wouldn't employ these guys to draw attention.

IChanged some money through a tailor shop once when I was desperate.

[The Gentleman Scamp]

The worst lot are the 'Tourist Survey' wankers, who are really trying to sell time-shares. I just blank them. Sometimes they try to walk in front of me, which I don't understand. I mean, would they try to walk in front of a bus?

Yes I encountered them once again waving their clipboards outside the Landmark, I simply pulled my T-Shirt up behind my neck and sang the first line of 'Cotton Eye Joe' by The Rednecks and they couldn't argue with that.

[dantilley]

The worst lot are the 'Tourist Survey' wankers, who are really trying to sell time-shares.

Best tactic with these guys is just to fill in false information on their forms. The Oriental and the Peninsular will soon tire of being pestered by people asking to speak to Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and hopefully that might help put a stop to this rubbish.

[mad_dog]

I always wonder about their Visa status as most of them speak very little Thai and obviously aren't Thai nationals.

[kingwilly]

for fun shake their hand ask their name, drink their beer, let them measure ya for a suit or 10.

then tell them ya havent got any cash on ya for a deposit but assure them you want the suits by tomorrow!

[between myths]

Many of them are actually Nepali.

[britmaveric]

Thing is they are a bother and I wonder how much business they actually get from being annoying. If I wanted to buy a suit or have some shirts made this would make me less inclined to buy them from those that hassle me.

Funny thing is they see you every fking day and ask you the same fking shite.

[between myths]

They are lackey's who get shit wages. You think the owner or his family are out there in the heat? Basically they are forced to bother people.