I like that even if I go to a big global-class Capitalist business like Starbucks...as long as it's in Thailand, I can be greeted with a warm familiar smile and greeting. Everywhere here is like the Cheers bar. The 7-11 on the corner, the ice-cream shop down the street, the noodle street stall, all these places are where "everybody knows your name, doo doo doo doo da da." I'll walk into the noodle place, the lady will just smile a genuine smile and repeat my usual order "roast duck on white rice, extra rice, no egg." All I have to do is smile back and say "krup".
But why is it that every establishment has a "mom and pop family store" feel to it? Maybe one reason is because the employees work there for hours that break labor laws in the US. Whether you go there early in the morning, after lunch, or late at night, you can expect to see the same people. And not just Mondays and Fridays, but every day. Well, sometimes once in a while you won't see one of them when you go, but either way, none of them are strangers if you go on a regular basis.
But maybe the more important reason is because of the shopping-mall culture of the US. Middle-class Americans work during their 5 working days in order to earn their right to glutinous consumerism on the weekends...at massive places like Wal-Mart, Circuit City, Filene's, etc etc. All the employees will be strangers to you, and you'll be a stranger to all of them. Here, people usually get their daily necessities from a local mini-mart, their daily coffee from the local coffee shop, and their noodles from their favorite local noodle shop. They're all small. Big shopping malls are special trips for common Thais, and only frequented regularly perhaps by the rich.
5 comments:
hey,
thanks for your eprop on xanga. and don't worry, i think before committing to something "radical" or "militant" :)
QJ
hope all is well! i can't wait to graduate...
what are you saying? you like the familiarity you get as a consumer while these people work outrageous hours!? you evil evil capitalist you.
Hmm... that's an interesting thought you pose. It also makes me question if our experience is skewed cuz we come from major metropolises in America? One would imagine somewhere in... say, small town Kansas, life would be personal like you described? I remember during college in upstate NY, it definitely was. Everyone smiled & said hi to you. Even at the local WalMart, people learned your names! It seemed very strange when I first got there. Strange but welcoming. However, I also recall in that small community, it ended up being alienating because everyone knew who everyone was. They might not have really known you personally that well, but they assume they knew just because they could identify you. And that also meant everyone was up in your business, lots of rumors, and no respect for someone's personal space. There's definitely a trade-off...
Well Marx argued that Capitalism was dehumanizing in that it removed all meaningfulness from work, making workers just easily-replaceable cogs in the industrial machine.
So for me, I don't benchmark exploitation on whether work hours are less than or greater than some magical number determined by the government. I base it on whether the worker finds meaning in his/her work. So I'd prefer a guy working non-stop at a mini-mart that he owns (like this guy I know who you can wake up in the middle of the night if you want to buy something...he owns his shop and is the only employee, almost 24/7) who sees the same familiar faces everyday whom he can have light-hearted conversations with. This is less exploitative, in my view, than the worker at a supermarket at the checkout counter who only works 20 hours a week, but deals with total strangers that complain to him nonstop and whom he can't converse with or whom he doesn't give a damn about.
Hmm....I wonder though the motivation behind such customer service is rooted between small-business owners vs. corporate environments. There's a world a difference when you are empowered to make decisions and each decision has an direct impact vs. the feeling of helplessness and not really seeing any benefit in your kindness.
Btw, nice head shave. Although I wouldn't shave the eye brows...those don't grow back!
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