Strangeness on the bus (1)

I hopped on the bus to get to a young Thai friend's place yesterday, just a five minute ride. I bought a ticket, that was no problem. I could see nowhere to sit, but I was about to get off anyway. However, search as I might, I couldn’t find the bell. Everything just looked - white.

The day before, in a different kind of bus, I located the bell in time to tell the driver I wanted to get off. However, I did not press it hard enough. It did not sound, so the driver kept going – which meant a 100m walk back in the blazing midday sun. Finding the bell, then, was an urgent task.

The ticket woman was right behind me, so I turned and asked. 'Where is the bell, please?' No response. Maybe she didn’t hear. I asked a second time, and still no answer. I laughed. What is this? Has the kingdom suddenly started speaking French?

I asked her again, and this time she mumbled something, before turning her back on me. Now people in the bus were starting to watch, if they weren’t already staring at the unusual sight of a farang on their Thon Buri-side bus.

I asked again. I could see in her eyes that she heard me, but she couldn't bring herself to speak. Panic! A foreigner!

Rather than answer my question, she left it hanging in the air. The woman walked right past me, the length of the bus, back to the safety of her seat opposite the driver. The fact that I was a passenger seeking help came second to her need not to embarrass herself. Most Thais, if they don't know English, just speak in Thai. Not this one.

Thankfully, a woman passenger could see I was having problems, and asked me what I wanted. I asked again in Thai, just as I had the ticket collector. She pointed me to the bell. I rang it, and when I reached my stop stepped off the bus.

Outside, before the bus pulled away, I made a show of taking down its registration number. Maybe the ticket-collector woman noticed. Later, I wrote a letter of complaint, which I have now sent to a public complaints box at Kom Chad Leuk newspaper’s website. I hope they chase it up for me.

My young friend thinks I am being too harsh. ‘She was probably just scared,’ he said.
I was not impressed. ‘Imagine if it had been you, and the driver kept going past your stop because you couldn’t find the bell,’ I said.

I marvel at the determination of such people. When she encounters a word in English on a street sign or in the media, does she try to blank it out? Pretend that nasty reality moment didn't happen? Maybe she is one of the many Thais superb at reading and writing English - but has never let a spoken word pass her lips.

In the letter, I said if the woman was not willing to talk to passengers with a foreign face, then she should not be in the job.

‘Readers are probably laughing at my small commotion in the bus, the scene of a rattled foreigner chasing the ticket collector up and down, the passenger wanting information, the collector just as determined not to give it.

'But I hope her employer reminds her that she has a duty to help passengers. If she still can’t bring herself to talk to foreigners, she should change jobs. I am sure others would be happy to take her place,’ I wrote.

now, see part 2