Yesterday Thai Culture Publishing got a big order for the Speak Easy Thai CD-ROM from a large distributor. They had been working on this for four months, so were pretty happy when the order arrived by e-mail.
However, there were 92 separate purchase orders, and each order had to be packaged separately, with a delivery page and invoice attached. So the girls started wrapping the orders. I just happened to be there at the time.
The company is small and doesn't have a table, but this doesn't faze the girls there, they just spread everything over the floor: CDs, wrapping paper, and string were spread everywhere.
Each order was for 3 to 5 CD-ROMs, which are packaged individually in DVD cases. One of the girls stacked 5 cases, then wrapped brown paper around them, then put Scotch tape along the join. Then she sort of bunched up the overhanging paper at the ends, and stuck more tape on the two lumps. I looked at the other girl, and she was doing exactly the same thing.
Now one girl is 29 and the other 21, and yet it was obvious that neither knew how to wrap a present. So I called a halt and showed them how to cut the paper so it was less than the height of the stack, then tuck the ends in neatly, making a triangle, then folding down both sides and taping the triangle.
Neither had seen this before and thought it was a good trick. Another case of Western culture overwhelming Thai culture, eh? Sphere: Related Content
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