Normal (Dis)service Will Be Resumed

Even though a part of me wanted to stay awake to sample all the delights of ‘posh’ class, the desire to sleep overtook me and the next thing I knew I was been gently woken for my breakfast of yummy yogurt and fruit along with fresh brewed coffee. I looked at my watch and realised I’d been asleep for at least six and a half hours! How fabulous.

Along with our landing cards we were given a ‘fast track’ ticket through immigration, wow the other half really do live well! As a result I was out the other side and looking for my pre-arranged lift within 20 minutes of getting off the plane.

I’d arranged for the hotel to collect me because when I stayed there last year I remembered that my airport taxi got horribly lost and we just seemed to be trapped in the Bangkok traffic forever. This way, even though it was twice the regular cab fare, I figured I’d have a smooth trip to the hotel too. So I waited at the meeting point, and I waited. I phoned the contact number on the email using coins I’d found in my drawer from the last trip, and was told he was definitely there waiting for me. I rang several more times over the next two hours only to be fobbed off with a dozed bullshit excuses.

I have a friend who has lived here for years and he says that one of the most frustrating things about the Thais is that fear of ‘losing face’. By that he means that rather than saying ‘I fucked up’ they will fob you off with all kinds of rubbish excuses and try to make out that you have fucked up. This was a perfect example. The last line the controller gave me was that I hadn’t replied to the email confirming my booking.

I gave up and took a regular cab, saved 500baht, and when I checked into the hotel and showed them my confirmation email for the car suddenly the person - who’d been fluent -didn’t speak or read any English! The best they came up with was the magnanimous announcement that they weren’t going to charge me! I told them they were lucky I wasn’t charging them for the two hours of my time they wasted!

What was interesting is that they whole incident didn’t inflame my anger anywhere near as much as it would’ve done had I been sleep deprived from the flight. They really have no idea how lucky they are that I got that upgrade!