I have lived in Thailand for 25 years now and have largely come to terms with the “Thai way” of doing things, but I confess there are still some things which baffle (and infuriate) me.
About 4 months ago I was in a large sort of B&Q store and saw a stainless steel dish drying rack, which was the perfect double of our 20 year old rusty one. “We'll take that”, said I. Pause for checking.... “No have,” says assistant, “come in soon.”. Okay.
Last month saw a repeat performance, so maybe “soon' had merely been optimistic. Today I happened to be in the same store, so thought we'd try again. “No have.” “But you were going to order them”, “Not made any more.” “Okay, so I'll take that one” (pointing to the rack that had been lurking in the same spot for months. “Cannot!” “Why not?” “Got to keep for show!” “But if they are not made any more, why show it?” “Boss says so,” “Okay, I'll ask boss,”
Boss duly appears and explains that the manufacturer requires one of each item supplied to be displayed for show. “Umm, but if an item is out of production, why display it? Why not get rid of it to someone who wants it?” “Ummm.... not my decision....” End of conversation as I was clearly not going to win! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!