Daily Moan

[Stretchy]

Happy birthday.

[Simon43]

Simon, do you have 'no durian' signs up?

I like that hiso sign - need to get one of these.

And another moan for today...

Why do some guests freak out when a snake crawls into their room during the night?

It was only a small snake and not too dangerous. I advertise my place as being 'close to nature', and you can't get much closer than sharing your room with a snake.

They will be wanting me to remove the geckos next

[jamescollister]

Moan of the day, not Thai related though.
Have to renew my Australian passport, run out of pages, go on line, looks easy.
On line application, you fill it out, print it out, take it to the embassy with the documents.

Application, you have to register to get access to the form.
Passport number, DOB, name first and last and place of birth.
All printed in the passport, enter, incorrect details, check for a typo, no, enter, incorrect details, recheck, all correct.
3rd time fail again, locked out.

[thailazer]

I only have two days to respond. Looks like it is getting harder to keep an overseas account these days.

Call the 800 number. Should solve the problem.

Tried that, and they gave me an extension, but they still require a written response. Been banking with the same place for 30 years, ten in Thailand. Had to also point out that the letter did not have an address to respond to. Took the phone gal a while to look that up.

[Latindancer]

JamesCollister : Hopefully you're only locked out for 24 hours, and not until you front up at the embassy in BKK.


You didn't have the keyboard caps lock on accidentally, did you ?

Or perhaps try using another browser ? I have noticed that Firefox is not always good for certain things like this.

[jamescollister]

JamesCollister : Hopefully you're only locked out for 24 hours, and not until you front up at the embassy in BKK.


You didn't have the keyboard caps lock on accidentally, did you ?

Or perhaps try using another browser ? I have noticed that Firefox is not always good for certain things like this.

Don't know what it is, browser, net or just the computer, it's happened before booking plane tickets with a credit card, 3 goes and they freeze the credit card.
Hopefully it is only 24 hour lock out, as there is no mention of filling the forums in at the embassy, on line or posted out.

[panama hat]

Application, you have to register to get access to the form.
Passport number, DOB, name first and last and place of birth.
All printed in the passport, enter, incorrect details, check for a typo, no, enter, incorrect details, recheck, all correct.
3rd time fail again, locked out.

The next bit of inane anal retentiveness is the photo . . . we were sent back three times because the photos weren't right . . . done by the studio the High Comm recommended

[Latindancer]

it's happened before booking plane tickets with a credit card, 3 goes and they freeze the credit card.

Air Asia ? The same thing happened to me booking a ticket with them using Firefox as a browser. I forgot about it and it happened again the next time.

[ltnt]

Been banking with the same place for 30 years,

IRS is looking at foreign accounts and the folks who have them...perhaps...its an Obama thing! Fill out the stupid form and send it in. American Banks have all sorts of reporting responsibility and 30 years means "0," to them...you're a target of suspicion. Dump the credit cards mate and pay cash.

[Sumbitch]

Daily moan from day one. Why can't I have 6-pack abs every day and get a couple of 6 packs of Chang Classic on the weekends?

[jamescollister]

it's happened before booking plane tickets with a credit card, 3 goes and they freeze the credit card.

Air Asia ? The same thing happened to me booking a ticket with them using Firefox as a browser. I forgot about it and it happened again the next time.

Yep Air Asia, Ubon to BKK,

[Latindancer]

Try using Chrome or even that old dinosaur Internet Explorer and see how the passport application goes.....if you can get back in !

[Stumpy]

Been banking with the same place for 30 years,

IRS is looking at foreign accounts and the folks who have them...perhaps...its an Obama thing! Fill out the stupid form and send it in. American Banks have all sorts of reporting responsibility and 30 years means "0," to them...you're a target of suspicion. Dump the credit cards mate and pay cash.

If you don't plan on ever returning to the US, I agree dump the CCs. If you have doubts and do not want to lose all credit history, best to keep them active.

I have a CPA here that I use and email all info to him and I use my parents mailing address. The IRS doesn't need to know where I am. I did this for the 5+ years I was living in Thailand. Works great. I will do the same when I move back. When I finally get to SS age, I will use my US acct and wire money as needed. Keeps the IRS Nazi's away.

[Dillinger]

Robbing translating bastards opposite Brit embassy, 500 baht for 10 minutes work?

Found a place down the road that did it for 300

[VocalNeal]

Just realized the TV in my bedroom is one of those Vampire Power TV's not allowed in UK and it has been consuming power 24 hrs a day for ever.

Me and my size ten carbon footprints.

[Sumbitch]

My U.S. bank acct. debit card got sucked up by an ATM. Leastwise, I was using my Thai bank's ATM (not in front of a branch, unfortunately. I recommend that but don't practice what I preach) and got the receipt (oh, and the money too). They've already gotten it back from me once. It's the fuckin' card. When I ripped the phone number activation strip off, it left a gluey residue that fucks wid the machine's mind. I was watching go in in triple slow time. Shoulda grabbed it while I had the chance. Greed is a major sin.

[VocalNeal]

it left a gluey residue

What WD-40 was invented for.

[Sumbitch]

What WD-40 was invented for.

Thanks, my man.

[Sumbitch]

^^ errr, where should one look for it in CM?

[Simon43]

Moan for today - my fcuking lazy, greedy extended family.

Why?

I am building some more accommodation at my little resort. I need to put down a base slab of reinforced concrete, about 10 metres x 5 metres in area.

So first some sand is put down, then a 'mesh' of metal netting, and finally the cement mix is poured on top ==> all easy-peasy work for general labourers.

Typical day rate for a labourer is bout 350 baht. The work requires no brain, just a little muscle to wheelbarrow the sand/cement/gravel mix etc and pour it and level it.

So I get some of my extended family members to do this work. The sand base was all done fine, as was the metal mesh on top.

Then today, all that needed to be done was to mix and pour the cement mix and level it.

So 4 guys do this work, starting around 11am and finishing at 4pm.

I had previously agreed a fixed cost with the ex of 2,500 baht ==> 600 baht+ per person for about half a day's work.

These guys did the job, (although the top cement looks a bit shallow to me), and then told the ex that it was such hard work, they wanted 1,000 baht each.

This new price was duly relayed to me by ex, who was informed to tell the guys to shove their price request up their backsides and not to come back - I will finish the job myself.

Ex seemed rather surprised at this - but I'm tired of people taking the piss. Apparently, she already agreed previously with them to pay this rate, and she now has to find the difference, cos it isn't coming out of my pocket.

So, tomorrow I am lugging bags of cement etc and doing it all myself. Good way to get fit.

[VocalNeal]

^^ errr, where should one look for it in CM?

7-11 and Tesco Express sometimes . If not they have Sonax in an orange can. Same stuff.

[Sumbitch]

^ Much grass.

[Stumpy]

FFS!!!!. So the Development Assembly group was merged under my umbrella to better align our new product releases over the coming years(I won't be here that long but that's another story). Anyway there is this gal who thinks she is the "Queen of Soldering". So I had a meeting with the 4 new people coming in to my group and explained how I would be aligning them to be more effective and not be removed(since this was the biggest problem). Anyway this gal has had her own little lab. She thinks she is way better than her assembly colleagues(She is not). So when I said she would be moving out of her lab area into the assembly area she flipped out, started crying and went home sick for the day.

This is the fkn prissy shit entitled "Americans" pull off. She is a 30 something Viet gal. She speaks marginal "engrish" and thinks she is indispensable.

Anyway my counter part VP came to me as she complained to him that she does not want to work for me now. I said "She has a choice". I said " She can align or go get in a line(unemployment). I said "she is just a soldering operator". I have 28 of them on 2 shifts, she can resign if she wants but I am not being held hostage by a $17 an hour twit" (Well I didn't say Twit but you know have to be HR sensitive in California)

So its Friday. Lets see if she comes in today. . Does not matter, her work area moves out Sunday.

I told my wife about the incident, She couldn't stop laughing. She said so you are moving her work bench, she cried and went home sick?" She said in Thailand she would have been told CYA!!!!

[Loy Toy]

fuxk the authorites who run things here,

Single phase for 2 days and it cost me 4 heinekens for them to fix the problem that they caused.

Fuck them and the camels they drove in on!

[crepitas]

JamesCollister : Hopefully you're only locked out for 24 hours, and not until you front up at the embassy in BKK.


You didn't have the keyboard caps lock on accidentally, did you ?

Or perhaps try using another browser ? I have noticed that Firefox is not always good for certain things like this.

Don't know what it is, browser, net or just the computer, it's happened before booking plane tickets with a credit card, 3 goes and they freeze the credit card.
Hopefully it is only 24 hour lock out, as there is no mention of filling the forums in at the embassy, on line or posted out.

Sometimes auxiliary software like anti tracking etc can stuff up on line forms etc.Could try disabling if you have any ....took me a week to realise this when booking through an Oz on line travel agency.
Visa cards will be rejected if billing mailing address does not tally exactly I find...problem is with Thai address formats methinks.