Bullshit jobs and things that go differently here
A narrow concrete road runs in front of our temporary accommodation. Then there is a field with young banana trees and behind it is an irrigation canal with a gravel road on both sides. The bottom layer of that road is on the soft side, so after a rain shower you run the risk of sinking into it.
When it is dark and raining, a moped drives up and down the road along the canal. It took a while before we could interpret this for our illogical phenomenon. An average rain shower here would be considered a huge downpour in the Netherlands, so not something you will drive around in for fun. The moped rider has a spotlight mounted on his head and a net on a long handle. With this he catches the frogs that cross the road in large numbers, especially when it is wet. He then sells it back on the market.
It is just one of the many "professions" that we do not know in the Netherlands. In my blog about the Big Turn I already wrote about the man at the garage who shows you where you can park and who helps you back on the road with a lot of whistling and gestures. You also have such an officer at many hotels, restaurants and official institutions such as banks. At banks you also have someone who opens the door for you, welcomes you, and takes a serial number from the machine for you. And in many shops, after the cash register, at the exit, there is someone who checks your receipt and stamps it. Sometimes there is even someone who walks with you to put the groceries in the car. The boss himself, meanwhile, is sitting somewhere in a corner on a raised platform. If you buy something, the saleswoman walks with your money to the boss and then returns with the change.
We also tended to laugh a bit about it. With such jobs you can keep unemployment low. But yes, you ask yourself, are all jobs in the Netherlands so useful? Well, no. According to anthropologist David Graeber, three-quarters of Western jobs are bullshit jobs. These include jobs in management, financial services, communications, marketing and administration. The “chatting class”, Peter de Waard calls it in his column in De Volkskrant.
The question then becomes which is more useful: a communication consultant who learns how to sell something that is not needed, or someone who opens the door? I'm going for the latter. After all, that door must be open anyway. There is something strange about the bullshit jobs. In Thailand, it is the jobs that have very little prestige and pay poorly; in the Netherlands it is precisely the jobs that yield the most. Which culture is actually the most incomprehensible?
Okay, speaking of differences: this is what we do here, while we didn't do that in NL:
- Wash disposable containers before throwing them away (otherwise your bin will be full of vermin)
- Eat with a fork and spoon, unless you eat noodle soup; you do that with chopsticks
- Eating with the (right) hand
- Leave the supermarket cart where you emptied it. (No, that is not anti-social: there are special supermarket trolley return employees. They will no longer have a job if everyone starts doing it themselves. By the way, there are also special supermarket trolley return employees who pull a trolley out of the queue for you and already in the direction of the entrance from the store)
- Do not flush used toilet paper but put it in the waste bin
- Do not drink tap water
- say "tight" behind every sentence (me)
- Say “ka” after every sentence (Mieke)
- Drive on the left
- Double parking
- Triple parking
- Turn left through a red light (you can do that here)
- At a busy intersection, slowly push the nose of your car through the intersecting traffic and then smile and say thank you for being let in voluntarily
- Stay in your car at the gas pump
- Don't rush extra if you are likely to be late (because you are the first to arrive anyway)
- Shower for 3 seconds 10 times a day
- Wash vegetables in bottled water
- Just finding the neighbor coming to pick mangoes from the tree
- That list will continue to grow.
As a final touch, some poetic reflections on the traffic controllers here:
Drive out of here after parking
then the hotel will send thai gentlemen,
that every time
(even without traffic)
very busy gesticulating.
Many Thai here earn their money
by blowing their whistles loudly.
As soon as possible
goes such a Thai man
to whistle loudly.
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You have a fresh, pleasant, correct and humorous view of Thai society! You enjoy here and that's how it should be. 'Man do not worry!' need not be told to you…..
Thank you, Tino. The things that are different here than we are used to are an inexhaustible source of inspiration. I recommend everyone to observe the basic rule that we agreed upon before we moved to Thailand: “No matter what happens, we are not going to get annoyed.” Judging by your last sentence, it seems to work. I hope you can do the same in Ljouwert.
Indeed Francois.
Good basic rule.
If you are annoyed by everything every day, you will ultimately only spoil your own quality of life, and usually also that of those in your immediate environment.
Completely agree with you because many compatriots who have settled in Thailand are annoyed and therefore want to impose most of the habits, customs, values, norms and rules that are used in their home country on Thai society.
Meanwhile, grumbling and complaining to their home country that they 'flee' from the Netherlands precisely because of those listed reasons...
That basic rule is a good rule of life. Whether you are or live in the Netherlands, Thailand or elsewhere, don't get annoyed. That doesn't mean you have to like everything or that you sometimes can't stand on your stripes, but it doesn't mean you have to worry about all kinds of trivial things.
And that coming too late? That's not too bad. How many employees in Thailand or the Netherlands can afford to be late for work on a regular basis? And with social appointments, well around the time is fine. You try to be on time but sometimes you don't succeed, that minute earlier or later doesn't matter.
Seize the day, smile, live.
In the Netherlands, the bullshit jobs are indeed the best paid. Managers are often not only superfluous, but even a burden on the company. Employees who are productive often enjoy the work more than they do any good.
I don't understand how so many employers still don't understand this.
Better that people like that are used as customer service employees, like here in Thailand.
Let those useless figures keep the door open or hand over the supermarket trolley to the customer and collect it from them after use.
Seems a lot more useful to me than staff who already know what to do and 'manage'.
Not so long ago, staying in your car at the gas pump was also quite normal in the Netherlands. Then your oil and coolant were also checked for you while filling up. And if your windows were very dirty, a sponge and squeegee went over it.
Nowadays people prefer to sit behind bulletproof glass at the gas pump in the Netherlands.
Here I don't see them crawling away behind bulletproof glass for the time being.
Being late has already taken over the youth in the Netherlands. Especially on Mondays, hardly anyone seems to arrive on time anymore, and on Tuesdays especially XTC users are often nowhere on time.
I'm always surprised that the Dutch complain that Thai people never get anywhere on time. The shops here are always open on time.
If I need a mechanic for something here, he is always there today or at most tomorrow. Think about that in the Netherlands. Next week you will be the first. If you are lucky.
Showering for 3 seconds 10 times a day seems a bit excessive to me. I shower, just like I do in the Netherlands, twice a day. Only difference is that I usually do that here with cold water.
Not much has changed in my life since I live and work in Thailand.
Moderator: Generalization about foreigners removed.
I assume you mean windshield washer fluid. Checking the oil when you have just driven makes little sense and trying to open the coolant cap when the engine is hot, you only do that once :-).
Your comment about providing housing and benefits to every foreigner who comes forward shows that on that point you are mainly guided by what everyone says, rather than by the facts. It is a pity that a blog that is intended to look at things with a wink is drawn into that negative discussion in this way. I hope other commenters don't get caught up in that. That really spoils the fun in writing.
Francois, I think some of the commenters themselves don't understand what nonsense they are writing. It makes me laugh: complaining about foreigners and then living abroad myself. Where they are now a foreigner themselves. How bizarre.
Going back to the Netherlands also shows little sense of reality. Because his cradle has been in a rich country such as the Netherlands, he can now live in Thailand. A luxury for which you can only be grateful to your homeland.
In reply to Michael.
quote:
'………I pay a lot less tax because the government doesn't support hundreds of thousands of freeloaders from all over the world with our money.'
1 Refugees are not freeloaders.
2 Per inhabitant, the Dutch pay an amount of 100-150 euros per year for the reception of refugees
3 Thailand is also home to several hundred thousand refugees. Many have lived here for over 30 years. The Thai state contributes to the costs (land, health care and education), probably less than in the Netherlands, but Thailand is also a lot poorer.
4 The fact that you pay less tax here has nothing to do with the costs of refugees or freeloaders.
5 I have always paid tax in the Netherlands without much grumbling because I knew that it usually ended up well. That is different in Thailand, where 20-30 percent of the state money gets stuck in corruption.
So take your pick in this regard: the Netherlands that helps all people? Or Thailand where only the top layer fends for itself?
And then that “from our money”, while he proudly claims that he pays much less tax in Thailand.
I think you are not seeing something quite right.
The man in the car park who tells you where to park is also a guard for the cars.
The man at the exit also checks whether you have paid for the groceries.
The stamp on the receipt ensures that you do not walk back in with your receipt and pick up the groceries again.
The woman at the door of the bank may also help you fill in the forms.
There are still many older Thai people who cannot read and write.
And so for most professions there is a reason why it exists.
Once at the Macro, my groceries were checked as usual and they saw from the receipt that I had paid too much for the water. Instead of 9 they had paid for 10 bottles. Well it's not much, but I did get my baht paid back after a whole paperwork.
At BluPort in Hua Hin there are always two men at the entrance and exit of the parking garage. They are friendly, smile broadly when you look at them and they point you to the entrance…
I had ignored them at first, but this week I decided to observe them and take a look… hence the smile on his face…
Would I be able to find the entrance without him?
Nice lists where I like to add the lady next to the driver in the Song-Thaew to take the coins and simply throw my laundry down from the balcony to the girl from the laundry.
The lady in the Song-Thaew is there in the first place to prevent her husband (the Song-Thaew driver) from cheating. I don't know if that's actually true, but I've read that once, it sounds plausible.
Rather for the convenience of collecting the fare, I think.
Although there will be those who will come along to make sure that there is also an income and the daily income does not disappear due to gambling or other pleasures..
They also drive with us in LatPhrao 101.
Costs 7 Baht.
There the lady for receipts sits in the back with the passengers with her box of coins to display. Saves the driver a lot of time.
At the bluport huahin they also take the ticket from the machine for you to open the parking garage barrier. Would you think that the machine is superfluous ☺
Three jobs added:
– a man who comes to check the garbage cans every day (usually in the evening) whether there is stuff in it that still generates money (such as plastic bottles) or can be repaired or traded
– the man in the Tesco who pulls full shopping carts over the threshold at the end of the slowly ascending escalator when the brakes are released
– a university employee who goes up and down the elevator all day with all kinds of papers to take them to another department or to pick them up again (the administration is still largely done by hand here)
The man/woman who hands out parking passes at Central after registering your license plate and driver's license.
The same role, at big-c, but without registration.
And in both cases even more employees who take the steps again.
I believe that all those jobs were created to keep the system going.
Don't think many people know that many of those jobs are done out of sheer poverty.
Collecting valuable garbage (plastic, cardboard, cans) or playing parking attendant at a restaurant. The latter are often unpaid jobs and those men / boys have to rely purely on the tip.
I have deep respect for those people who try to support their families in this way.
In a capitalist system, the market (demand/supply ratio) determines the jobs. If a company sees money in a manager, he will be there. If he/she turns out to be superfluous, the competition will make the job disappear. It is inevitable that managers know how to sell themselves well. Criticism from below is often indispensable in this process. A country therefore has an interest in critical citizens. There are no taboos, but they often get in the way. People who complain that you 'hang out your dirty laundry'
an intense petty bourgeois argument, you come across too often (also here). In addition: the government becomes too big, then the market principle no longer works. The Soviet Union proved that, and every communist experiment anyway.
Hidden unemployment was once called that at my school in the geography class. companies or wealthy families, who pay a few people a small salary for small jobs. In a country without social services, that is a beautiful thing. When I think of Mr. Ting in the Soi where I used to live.
I think he got 200 or 300 baht a day? For 12 hours in his uniform, with his whistle, to help departing cars merge into traffic. And keep a watchful eye on the parked cars. He was happy to contribute at home, happy to have a job (he was just over 60), and even proud of his uniform. I just hope that someone tipped him off every now and then, because in the end you have to rely on that. Of course there were those who looked down on this man with his whistle, who made snide remarks. This is how man shows himself. 'What you say you are yourself' I learned earlier. And also that whoever points with one finger at another, also points three fingers at himself. They were invariably not heroes who looked down on him.
mr. Among other things, Ting brought social contact in the Soi, I always greeted him every time, he always greeted me back with a big smile and saluting, fingers on the cap. We joked whenever possible. When it rained he came running with an umbrella to borrow. If I had a lot of groceries, he would take over half and walk with me for a while. He made sure that my super beautiful girls next door walked to and from home through the rather dark street, day and night, in complete safety. and saw to it that a tuktuk driver let them go nicely. If he occasionally saw me coming home slightly intoxicated, walking, he would walk with me to my front door. Not because I sometimes gave him a pack of cigarettes or an energy drink, but because he took pride in guarding the neighborhood around the parking lot, which his boss paid him to do. A proud friendly man with what I only now understand a bullshit job.
Those who easily judge negatively must feel very elevated. Sad.