Breakfast at work and Lod dai mai

Real Thai people having breakfast in Bangkok in December 2006

Last year I was working a contract at a government office here in Thailand. As I was making smalltalk with the staff in English I asked someone what time she arrived at work each day. “7:30″ she said. Wow! What time do you eat breakfast? “About 7:40″ was her response.

I figured she was confused about the time in English, so I followed up with some questions to clear up her confusion. I turned out that the only one in the conversation who was confused was me.

See, I grew up thinking that the normal routine is to wake up, shit shave & shower, then eat breakfast before leaving home to go to work. Having been in a lot of government offices here in Bangkok over the past year, I can now tell you that for the people that work in them, that’s not normal at all.

Each of these large government offices has a cafeteria for staff. The Thais that I have met (and I’m talking about hundreds, not handfuls) leave home early and eat breakfast in the cafeteria after arriving at work; a very different norm than the one I grew up with.

On Monday this week I had to attend an early meeting at a government office. I crawled out of bed around 6 a.m., reviewed the documents I needed to have ready for the meeting, took my shower and got dressed. I looked at my watch and it was only 7:20. I had about 30 minutes before I needed to leave the house. I considered my options and decided to just go early.

I arrived at 8:00 for a meeting that was scheduled at 9 a.m. I decided that I might as well eat breakfast.

Don’t imagine eggs, bacon, toast and orange juice. I had a wide selection of foods to choose from, but they all involved rice, noodles or soup. I finally ended up choosing a pork and green vegetable dish that I don’t know the name of, but which I’ve eaten many times. It has small green vegetables that look vaguely like lima beans (but aren’t) and is very spicy. The dish is served over rice, and you often top it with fish sauce and chopped fresh chili. It was delicious, if a bit oily.

As I sat eating my breakfast I looked around. There wasn’t a lot to see… standard government office cement walls, 30-year old floor, industrial strength tables and chairs. But there were also some vendors selling some items inside the cafeteria. One of them was selling the strings of yellow flowers that Thai people buy and then put as offerings at spirit houses and Buddhist shrines. Next to him was a guy with a bunch of purses and bags on display. It slowly occurred to me that perhaps I should look at his table to see if he had a suitable replacement for my lost wallet.

When I finished my breakfast I wandered over to his table to peruse his wares. He had a fairly wide selection of inexpensively priced wallets. Above each section was a sign with the price marked, and each wallet had a price sticker on it for good measure. They ranged in price from about 60 baht to 450 baht.

I found one priced at 350 baht that took my fancy. It’s not gonna last me a lifetime, but it’ll get me through a few months until I find one I really like. So I reached in my pocket and pulled out a 1,000 baht note to pay.

The vendor said something — it was too loud to hear what he said so I asked him to repeat. The only word I made out the second time was yee-sip, which is ‘twenty’. I asked yee sip arai? to indicate that I hadn’t quite gotten what he said. He tried a third time, but I just couldn’t make out his words so I simply shrugged, said kawtot, mai kowjai krab (sorry, I don’t understand), got my change, pocketed my wallet and went to my meeting.

One thing that’s the same in every country I’ve ever lived in is that you make small talk ahead of every meeting. It’s as true in Thailand as anywhere, so prior to my 9 a.m. meeting I found myself chatting with the people in the room. The Chief of the Department mentioned that she’d seen me in the cafeteria and inquired about the quality of my breakfast. She then mentioned that she saw my buy a wallet and asked if I’d gotten a good price. I mentioned that it wasn’t expensive, just 350 baht, and I took it out and showed it to everyone at the table.

She looked puzzled for a moment and asked what the marked price had been. “350 baht” I answered.

Everyone looked at me in amazement. Mouths dropped open, and for a moment you could hear a pin drop. The moment passed and all hell broke loose as everyone started competing to be the first or loudest to tell me that you never buy anything in Thailand without bargaining.

Now, I know that there are a lot of places I have to bargain, but its not something I enjoy. I defended myself saying that since it was a government office and the vendor had his prices posted so prominently I thought it would be inappropriate to bargain. Another chorus of voices telling me in a variety of ways what a fucking idiot I am.

The boss then said, “Give me your wallet.” I complied. She and another woman whom I deal with regularly stood up and went out together. Of course they were going to the vendor to renegotiate the sale price.

While they were gone, I told the remaining meeting participants that I think the vendor had offered me a twenty baht discount, but because I hadn’t understood him I paid full price. A few minutes later the two women returned holding my wallet and a crisp 50-baht note.

She said that the vendor said that when I gave him the 1,000 baht note he’d tried to offer me a 20 baht discount but I hadn’t understood, so that guess was right. I thanked the ladies, pocketed the wallet and the 50 baht and we started our meeting.

Today I went to Panthip Plaza to fix a minor problem with my computer. The computer hasn’t been charging when I plug the AC power cord into the computer. I could fix it with a ‘jiggle’, so the problem was obviously at the point of connection. Either the cord or the plug in the computer needed to be replaced.

I went to my favorite shop, Notebook House Integration on the 3rd floor, but they were inexplicably closed today. I asked at a nearby shop and they said it would be open tomorrow. I have no way to assess that intelligence, but I knew I didn’t want to wait, so I went upstairs to a 4th floor shop with a sign that indicated notebook repairs were done on site.

A lone man in his fifties sat behind a cluttered workdesk, with notebook computers standing on end side-by-side on shelves around the room — like a library for computers. There were boxes of spare parts everywhere. I was reminded of the old TV repair shops you’d see on shows like Andy Griffith. I wasn’t filled with confidence, but not everyone is neat, and I figured I had an easy electrical problem, so I stood in line behind two other customers.

The guy working in the shop finished with his customer quickly, and I was practicing Thai words in my head in an attempt to find a word order that could communicate my problem… I was confident that my Thai vocabulary and grammar wasn’t going to be up to the job unless this guy was somewhat intuitive. I was just thinking that an actual problem display might be necessary when he looked at me and barked in perfect English, “What do you need? Speak up.”

I had been waiting for him to take care of the guy in line ahead of me, but that’s often not the Thai way, and this guy expected me to interrupt like a Thai would. I described my problem in a few words and he grunted, then promptly ignored me for the next two minutes as he efficiently tested the other customer’s computer.

Soon he motioned me impatiently to bring my computer up and set it up on the counter. He tested it quickly, waiting on two of us at the same time, then pronounced that the problem was with my wire which needed to be replaced. I watched him doing the test, so even though I had thought ahead of time that the computer socket was at fault, I agreed with him and asked if he sold replacements.

Yes, he said. Fifteen hundred baht would buy a cord that would do the trick, or two thousand baht would buy the exact same model cord I already had. Okay, replace it with the same model — the two thousand baht cord.

I started wrapping up my notebook and the new cord and laid the 2,000 baht on the desk. He didn’t touch it. I put everything away — a process that took well over a minute, and when I finished the two thousand baht was still sitting on the table. I slung the bag over my shoulder and stood up. I picked up the 2,000 baht and held it out to him.

He grunted like he was surprised, reached out and took the money. I realized then what I’d done wrong.

The cord didn’t cost two thousand baht. This is Thailand where you always ask for a discount. I hadn’t.

The guy wasn’t picking up the money because it was too much. The cord was probably really 1200 or 1500 baht. It probably felt like stealing for him to pick it up, so he waited until I damn near shoved it in his hands before accepting it.

One reason I like the shop on the third floor is that the lady who runs through prices there does all the negotiating for you. She says, “The normal price is 2,000 baht, but I can let you have it for a 25% discount so your price will be 1,500 baht.” I’ve heard other customers in the shop try to move her lower, but it seems she always gives you her best price up front. Works for me.

But in paying the asking price for the power cord, for the second time this week I’d overpaid for something because I didn’t negotiate. If you count the freelancer from the Nana Plaza Hotel parking lot the other night I guess you could argue that it’s three times this week.

So don’t be like me.!If you buy something in Thailand, always ask about getting a discount… it’s the Thai way. Hell, it’s the Asian way. Maybe these days it’s the global way.
The simplest Thai words I know to use to ask for a discount are Lod dai mai?

Lod (rhymes with boat) = discount

dai = can

mai is like a question mark

Literally translated Lod dai mai means ‘discount can?’

A broader translation would be, “Can you give me a discount?”

The seller may answer Dai for yes, or mai dai for no.

If you want to know “how much?” you can ask:

lod towrai (discount how much?)

or

raka towrai (what is the price?)

But when you are given a price in Thailand, don’t just reach in your pocket and pay the first amount asked.