bangkok service (no not that kind)

My recent trip to Bangkok was a flurry of eating, shopping and getting wasted. Overall, an excellent experience. But there was just something about some people people and their service that left much to be desired.

When you enter a shop in Bangkok, the people fuss all over you, sparing no effort to parade out whatever they think you want. They are all smiles, probably the kind of service that STB is trying to get Singaporeans to aspire to. The only problem with this approach is that sometimes you really don't know what you want, and you'd much rather be browsing yourself uninterrupted. And at the end of it all, if you don't like what they have, their faces change and they start accusing you of wasting their time.

"You wanted pants I showed you pants!"
"Errr ... but those are ladies pants ..."

or

"I ask you to talk price, you waste all my time going through the materials instead, now you don't want to buy"
Well, first of all we just wanted to flip through the magazines to see design, you were the one who dragged us around the shop to look at various cloth and cutting. And if we can't find something we like, how are we supposed to know how much we are willing to pay?

Most annoying of all, as you are leaving they ask you where you are from. Then they make some derogatory remark about "Singaporeans all like that..." That really gets me mad. What right do you have to generalise and insult my country like that? If I had any second thoughts (which I did sometimes), that is just the sure way to make sure I never set foot in your shop again.

They have some things right: the smiles and the eager attention. But it would be much better a little more attentive, a little less aggressive, and much less begrudging. Hopefully we in Singapore will also pick up the right things.