Troubles with a Thai Woman

I don't think there is a farang in Thailand who got into a relationship with a Thai woman and then did not regret it. This is the story of one of my assistants, whom I will call "R".

My relationship with her was not sexual, strictly business. When she got pregnant, supposedly on the first sexual experience with her boyfriend, she did not want to tell her aged father, so she lived at my place, in a second bedroom, and I treated her like a daughter as her pregnancy advanced.

Nevertheless, she stole a lot of money from me.

She did it in a subtle way: we were supposed to participate in the IT trade show at Muang Thong Thani in July 2006. I worked nights to get Speak Easy Thai done on time. "R" made the arrangements; she said the booth was free, as the Ministry of Industry had a promotion to help small business start-ups, but there were certain expenses.

I paid for a security deposit for the booth, although the rental was free. I also paid for an advertising sign, 300 CD-ROMs with packaging, promotional T-shirts, and 1000 brochures. All together, it was over 30,000 baht. However, "R" said she found a sponsor with her sister’s help (her sister works at the German Embassy) that would help defray the costs.

I worked nights until 3AM to make the deadline.

Then at the last minute, "R" said the Ministry had cancelled the booth; she said they wanted to set up a display honouring the Queen for her birthday.

But the security deposit did not get refunded. The CD-ROMs did not get produced. There were no T-shirts, brochures, or a sign. And there was no sponsor.

One day, "R" called and said she was in the office of the CD-ROM company waiting while they did the final packaging. She called 5 times, every two hours, saying she was still waiting. Next day, no "R" and no CD-ROMs. The day after that, the CD-ROM company called and said, “When are you going to pick up your CDs? They have been sitting here all week.” I said, "R" said she was there waiting for them all day, two days ago. He said, “No, nobody has been here all week. And by the way, they are not paid for yet.”

So I went there, and sure enough, the CDs are sitting there in boxes, waiting. I got money out of the bank and paid for them again, and took them away.

No word from "R".

Finally, she gets in touch and says she has the T-shirts and brochures and sign, but her boyfriend is driving around with them in his van. I say, “Put them in a taxi and send them here, and I will pay the taxi on arrival”. Next day she calls and says she put them in a taxi, and paid the driver for me. No taxi showed up. She said the taxi driver must have stolen the stuff.

This is beginning to sound like a Monty Python sketch.

She also had my notebook computer which I had loaned her for two days. After 6 weeks, she would not give it back.

I got in a taxi with my other assistant, "P", and we drove out to her parents’ area, near Mall Number One. I called her several times, saying I was coming. She did not want to give the computer back. I insisted, saying I was in a taxi and coming to her parents’ house. She panicked, would not let us go to her parents’ place, but met us at the Mall with the notebook. So at least I got that back.

I never did get the 30,000 baht back and I know I never will. Sphere: Related Content