221. Noi is ungrateful
Duff complained to his friends about Noi. Duff had left the music and movie player with Noi but the boy did not seem interested in it.
- Bia can be like that too, said Peter. - Once I bought him a small camera only to be told it was the wrong colour.
- Colour! said Duff. - What has the colour to do with anything?
- You are in East Asia, said Robert Miller.
Robert came into the restaurant in his hotel to join his friends for lunch.
- West is west and east is east and all that, said Duff. - But still. A camera is to take pictures with. A disk player is for music and movies. The use is the main thing. Not what it looks like or what brand it is.
- Which ignores the face gaining, said Robert. - In Thailand the most important aspect of something is not what it does, but if it serves to gain face for the person.
- I am tired of this face talk, said Peter. - Lose face and gain face. Face this and face that. Can’t they concentrate on what is the real issue for once?
- Thais are obsessed with social status, said Robert. - When Duff gives Noi a disk player Noi will hope it is an exclusive brand so he can gain face when he shows it to his friends.
- You know what he said? asked Duff. - He said it had to be a Sony. No other brand would do!
- Face, said Robert.
- Noi claimed that since a friend has a Sony it had to be the same. Otherwise he would be embarrassed to be seen with it.
- Not only face, said Robert. - Also a bit of teenage insecurity and peer pressure.
- I am not going to take that sort of talk, said Duff. - What is next? Must I buy him Prada and Gucci?
- Bia would love a Gucci bag, said Peter and rolled his eyes.
- I thought we were materialistic and obsessed with status in the US, said Robert. - But the Asians beat us.
- I know this Thai-Chinese family, said Peter. - They are middle class people. They asked me for advice about a trip to Australia. For their budget I recommended two weeks, staying in affordable hotels, where to go and what to see.
- What did they do? asked Duff.
- They used same amount of money on only three days in Sydney, staying in a five star hotel and having their picture taken at the Opera. They spent the rest of the time in shopping centres, bought some souvenirs and went home.
- Face, said Robert again. - They want to use the trip to improve their social status in Thailand. They need photos in front of famous landmarks and the name of a high-end hotel. They don’t need two weeks to see the place.
- What a waste, said Duff.
- Visit seven European countries in three days like the Japanese do, said Peter. - They rush from one photo op to the next. The Eiffel tower in the morning, Buckingham Palace in the afternoon. What do they actually see or learn?
- That’s not the point, said Robert.
- I refuse to go along with this face nonsense, said Duff. - Values and knowledge is what counts. Not the surface. If a village boy like Noi can reject a perfectly fine disk player because it is a cheap brand something is wrong.
- Duff the moral crusader against the face concept, said Robert. - Good luck!
- Buddhism says attachment to material and superficial things is bad, said Duff.
- Yes. But the news has not reached the masses yet.
- I don’t care. If Noi doesn’t want the Soken disk player I will use it myself. And he is NOT getting a Sony.
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