A rant about a tip jar is in the same category as a rant about the exorbitant pricing for imported products in Villa Market. Seems to me a simple solution to both - don't agree, don't participate..... :-" :-" The fundamental difference is that paying an exorbitant price for a can of beans is not op...

Why was I expected to tip staff for just doing their jobs???

Tips are always optional, don't get worked up over it.

I've never seen, nor would I give a tip to a doctor's office or hospital or any other professional doing his/her job.

But I wouldn't get upset over it, either.

Correction, (what I've been told...) free medical treatment (30 baht) in government hospitals when you are married for longer than 5 years and have a yellow book. I've been married a dozen years and about a year after I got a yellow book, my wife inquired at the hospital and was told to take a hike...

Today, 29 July, is "wan phaa saa thai haeng chaat" (วันภาษาไทยแห่งชาติ). Thailand National Language Day.

ຂອບໃຈຫລາຍໆ

In my opinion, giving (and receiving) advice regarding Thai officialdom on forums like this is nearly useless. Every visit will be different, even if the circumstances aren't. Immigration, yellow books, driving licenses, children's birth certificates, traffic laws, land office laws ... there is no s...

The release of al Megrahi in 2009 was hailed by Britain as a humanitarian act of compassion. The whole world smelled a rat while the Brits (notably the Scots) wallowed in smug contempt. Now its been exposed that the dying terrorist (he lived for several years) was a key piece in an arms deal with Li...

you have clearly stated the (Gerstle) family "rescued" by Zimmerman was threatened. Nobody has made such a statement. I'm sure that if you look, you'll see that a question was asked. The important clue being one of these nifty pieces of punctuation "?"at the end of the sentence. They are clear indi...

... the media jumped on it and that became the slant. Yes, quite. I go back to Martin Luther individual, judge a man by his character. Ironic isn't it? That's so far from what this case has become. It's nothing about character and all about color. The case is only in the headlines for one reason an...

If I were a juror, I'd be watching and listening carefully. Did you notice how the family rescued by Zimmerman following a auto accident this week were threatened? They've declined any sort of media exposure for fear of being targeted. I reckon the jurors will similarly become targets for merely doi...

Thought we were going to rise above all this? I thought we were a more noble country now. Hope to change. I thought all the illegal and immoral renditions and endless imprisonments were the act of a desperate and vicious presidency past. Yes, I remember the vitriol well. Now we don't catch them and ...

downunder wrote:Stupidety reigns supreme

delicious

"The February 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martion might never have happened if school officials in Miami-Dade County had not instituted an unofficial policy of treating crimes as school disciplinary infractions. Revelations that emerged from an internal affairs investigation explain ...

Ouch.
Keep an eye out for that stealth bamboo.

aggorance Huh? The New York Times July 22, 2013 The decision to jettison the bombs was made with the authorization of the Australian Defense Force , a United States Navy spokesman, Cmdr. William Marks, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He said the chosen location, about 62 miles off Aus...

Charming...

But its OK to sink a retired warship off Hawaii.
Isn't Oz special? That's the sort of hubris and arrogance you accuse the US of.
On yer bike.

http://www.eielson.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/110715-F-HA566-128.jpg A Royal Australian Air Force ammunition Airman attaches a fin to a training munition July 15, 2011, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. RED FLAG-Alaska participants fly against a variety of simulated threats in the Joint Pacifi...

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-120724-kilauea2.photoblog900.jpg Former United States Navy ship Kilauea breaking apart and sinking following a torpedo attack from the Australian Collins Class submarine HMAS Farncomb, on the Pacific Missile Range Facility off Hawaii during...

Ridiculous comparison. Had the guy pulled you out of your car, broke your nose with the first punch and started smashing your head into the pavement, you would be justified in self defense. "Approaching you", "calling you names" or "looking at you strangely" are not justifications for shooting someo...

Wow, a lot of fantasies, not many facts. Catapults are used for launch, not landings. Harriers do not have tailhooks. They're those up-n-down vectored thrust thingamabobs. Aircraft frequently dump fuel immediately after takeoff -- bird strikes and other rtb emergencies. Look up red flag. Its an annu...