John Galt Presents: Freedoms And Self Regulation

Prior to my arrival in the Thailand, I lived in California; San Diego to be more specific. It's a beautiful place. During my stay there I always had a motorcycle. Some of the best riding weather in the world is in California.

One day I parked my bike near the curb, as I typically did. Bikes are allowed to park on public roadways with curbs in the correct direction of the traffic. On one particular

day, I remember the road being slightly inclined and that meant that to make the bike sit more securely on it's kickstand, I had to angle the bike a bit; not much, just a bit. The next day I come out to ride, and I had a parking ticket. Much to my surprise, there is a limit to how many inches either wheel can be away from the curb. The limit was 18 inches and I exceed this on one of my wheels by 3 or 4 inches. WTF? I was hot. I wrote the traffic office complaining that this $50 ticket was extremely unfair. I reasoned that if I had my car there, I would have certainly legally taken up a full 5 feet by law so what was the problem with my motorcycle taking up 3 feet instead of 2 feet 8 inches? I told them this slightly inclined areas required the bike to be reposition to provide the maximum amount of safely so the bike would not fall on someone accidentally (the bike weighed 400 lbs). But, they wrote me back saying -- the law is the law.

I was really upset also because in my mind there was some fat ass lazy donut munching officer out there who was making 40 or 50k a year to stop his cruiser and pull out a damn measuring stick to check my tire. The bike was obviously responsibly parked, but this guy made an effort to snag me on a some ridiculous rule that certainly was written with nothing to do with how my bike was parked. These are the types of rules that make you hate the west.

In the west, it can seem like a large part of our lives are regulated, taxed, and inspected. One of these days California is going to figure out how to build a toilet that complains when you waste toilet paper. Good grief and let's not forget about carrying around plastic baggies so you can pick up the dog shit when you take your German Shepard out for a walk.

Thailand certainly has lax laws and it's not just the law itself, it's more of the enforcement of that law that is very relaxed. My attorney here told me many years ago, the "law is weak". This gives you a false feeling of freedom. You have this sense that you can do anything. It's a miss-leading feeling.

The mystique of this feeling is further enhanced with the readily available night life. I tell westerners frequently that being immersed here in the tourist areas can be intoxicating. It can really numb you to reality. All at once, you think you can do just about anything you please and society will tolerate it.

Look at it this way, a westerner comes here having grown up with a life full of regulation. Then when he (or she) steps off the plane, their normal moral compass is free to spin wildly in favor for a more hedonistic experience. Moreover, a fair number of foreigners begin to really believe they are people of great power. They will step on you without fear of reprisal. This can happen and it does happen. And I am going to tell you of one of my experiences when it did happen.

I'm going to present to you a classic case of a farang who has let his extended Thailand freedoms go to his head. This account is 100% true and I recall it to the best of my abilities here. And my recollection of this incident is pretty damn good. I present this to you as a warning to the newcomers to Thailand so you will be more aware of what CAN happen when you first start off in the Kingdom.

I know that some of you out there think that I live each week to "fry" other farangs. Keep in mind that I started off this web site because StickmanBangkok.com was messing around with the news and trying to affect a friend's business. So, the original purpose of this site was to draw attention to farangs doing shady things. It should not come as any shock to you that today I am yet again making comments about a farang that flat out did me wrong and tried to hurt me. I have always taken this experience as a lesson, and now I pass the lesson on to you. If Mr. Wade is a bit peeved that I have brought this up after all these years, well, tough, he should treat people squarely and he would not find himself the subject of an article like this one. I think this story is an excellent example of how even the most ethical and honest looking farang can turn on you and try to screw you over just because they think they can.

Please keep in mind that I have not had ANY contact with this gentlemen since January of 2002. So, don't know his current mental state. I only know that based on the internet, I can see that he is still in business with the same wife and I assume his office is still located in Jontien. He may have turned over a new leaf since our little conflict, but somehow I doubt it.

He struck me as the classic Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde farang who given just a few years in the kingdom, a working knowledge of the Thai language, he then proceeds to run over well meaning people just for the reason that he knows that he can. This is the unfortunate side effect of having more freedom from law (and perhaps in this case, a wicked insecurity about dealing with computer technology.)

This type of behavior is certainly embarrassing to me as Clayton is (or supposed to be) a fellow American.

I arrived in Pattaya in Nov of 2001. I packed up all my belongings and had them shipped over. They were in transit at the time. I reunited with a bar girlfriend who I had met 4 months earlier and together, she and I rented an apartment on Soi Yamato. The upper level room and rooftop patio was being offered by a gentleman named Steve who ran a small computer shop on Soi 6 (he additionally has control of this Soi Yamato location). I set up my business in this rented apartment and my paperwork and work permit were in progress at the time.

One day my landlord called on me (knowing my technical background). He told me that he had a customer who needed some help with his database at a local business. I met the guy immediately he told me that his database at his business was unusable and he needed emergency help to get it back to into shape. I think I went in on a Saturday to do this for him - and I was successful. I do believe he paid me immediately for this one day of work. I think he offered me 1k baht for that. He further asked if I would be interested in helping him do other work. So, I said yes. I was one of the new guys in town and I was eager to make friends. I just assumed foreigners were good to each other and honorable, etc. So this seemed like a good start.

This guy was of course is Clayton Wade and he is the director (and I assume still owns) Premiere Homes on Jontien Beach road. He told me about himself. He talked his background as a fencing instructor. Told me about how his dog's name became "Chok Dee", etc. I was in his office a number of times and had met his wife. He treated me like a friend. I had a good feeling from this guy.

He had a small Microsoft Access database that he was unhappy with. He asked me to link it into a user interface so that he could use it in the office for presentations. I also expressed a desire to display it on his web site. I agreed to help. I think I asked for 600 baht a day for my time and I gave him a number of hours per day. I also estimated what I thought the job would take. Clayton agreed. Some of the work was done in his office and some of the work was done at my apartment. (note, the pictures here were taken a month or so after this incident because my things had arrived by boat subsequent to my experience with Clayton).

I rented the third floor above the "Angles of Sleaze". (That bar has been renamed since that time.)

Clayton called me on the phone about 2 weeks into the project on a Saturday (a non-working day for me) and said he had some concerns about the work and asked to have a meeting with me. I agreed. He had not previously been to my apartment but he said he was in the area and asked to stop by and I gave him very specific directions to my place. I met him down stairs and I invited him in. He sat down right on the left hand side of that couch in the picture above. And he opened his mouth and suddenly he was yelling at the top of his lungs at me. The foul language was flowing like a river. He said another guy had told him that I had put a virus on his computer. He claimed that I didn't know what I was doing. He just cursed me in a manor that I had never quite experienced before. I'm not partial to hitting people but I can assure you that the average Joe in the US would have probably decked him right then and there. He wasn't even listening for a response, he was just yelling and yelling. He obviously didn't come there to reason with me. He just blew his top without warning. I didn't let it last long because I promptly showed him the door which was just 5 feet from where he was sitting. Luckily, I didn't have to get physical with him. He proceeded to the door on his own accord. I told that I knew what he was doing. He didn't want to pay the money. He was smart ass and said he would come back and put leave the 6k in a bar cup downstairs. That was his way of talked down to me.

But, it didn't stop there. He hovered across the street down stairs on the street. I saw him from my balcony. I immediately called an advisor who I had hired to "advise me" on my business affairs. I was a little nervous. I was only in the Kingdom about a month at this point. My advisor helped calm my fears. He gave me the scoop on how to handle the situation.

Clayton was basically hanging out across the street waiting for me to come down. I didn't know what he had in mind. But, inevitability I had to come down and I did probably 30 minutes to an hour later (once I was off the phone with my advisor).

Clayton came right up to me in a fair aggressive manor and faced me off right in the middle of the street in front of everybody. I'll never forget that. We were almost directly across from the "Dog Bullocks". And he tried to suck me into starting a physical confrontation with him, but I had already been warned by my advisor that the Police will take into custody the first person who is seen starting a brawl, so I kept my posture defense and I didn't give him what he wanted and he didn't make a move on me either. I knew he spoke the language and he would have an advantage over me with the police. I moved away from him and went one my way that day. But, that guy came back several days in a row to cause trouble for me. He even tried to bad mouth me at the bar downstairs thinking that manager was my landlord (which of course he was not). That manager downstairs told me to send him the message "fuck off". I believe he called me and bitched about me having a copy of his database. I wrote him some harsh email and at about a week later things cooled off and in the end, he had accomplished his goal of keeping the money. It was only 6,000 baht. It was hardly worth losing any sleep over. What concerned me more what that I thought he was my friend and I gave him some trust. I did good work for him. I treated him right and he turned on me unexpectedly and tried to hurt me.

I just did not expected that Clayton would do this to me. I knew I was doing right by him. I had full confidence things were moving in the right direction and that he would certainly be a great client to have. But, I made a mistake with Clayton Wade. I never got a recommendation for him from others who really knew him first hand. I had no clue that he was prone to mood swings and completely outrageous temper. (I was told this by others later who had heard what he had done to me).

Let me also make something really crystal clear here. If he had been successful in his plan to provoke me to strike him first in the street - do you know how that would have turned out? Let me dial you in --- He would have called the police and explained that I started a fight. The witnesses nearby would have confirmed my first action. The police would have then been in a position to charge me with a crime and good'l Clayton would have said no, no -- I'll settle for money. He would had the power to rob me with the help of the police. That is how many disputes get settled here - with cash. Oh, he is a sharp one. I wonder how many other unsuspecting farangs have been swindled by our clever Mr. Wade.

Being in Thailand requires you to network with friends with whom you have built a relationship with. That will help you great deal. You'll find better dealings that way. (doesn't' this type of scenario sound like what happens inside prison to some extent?) Here, where the law is week and foreigners feel greater freedoms, they may turn on you because they think they can get away with it. And in many cases they are right; they can get away with it. This is the fundamental problem with lax laws and unregulated communities. It can at times feel like the wild west. So, be very cautious and don't trust any one person heavily. Spread your reliance out among a number of people who you feel are friends. Ask around about people and I also suggest you find an advisor who is has been here for a while and who knows the ropes. You may consider hiring this advisor to help you get set up. Just be cautious.

Remember this in January of 2002. A shortly after this point I had one other "incident" with 2 farangs who nearly accosted my girlfriend and I and (I'll tell you that short story at another time.) So, I was beginning to see that Pattaya could really end up being a place that was trouble. And the troubles really didn't come from the lady boys down the street (I always respected them and they never bothered me), it seems my largest problems came from farangs who didn't behave themselves very well. So, by Sonkran of that year, I packed up everything and moved to Nakhon Phanom where I am today.

Now, lets take this same premise about lax law and look at other situations that is much more harmless. I want to give you couple of simple examples of how low regulation inside a community hurts you and the country.

Here are two vendors at the local night market. They both sell juices. There are a number of products here but the one I want to talk about is orange juice. Now, back in the US, you much mark the value of the juice. You must easily identify the it's content. If it's just partially juice, the carton is label "Orange Drink" and it posts the juice content by percentage. It's it pure Orange Juice then the carton will say that too, but here, there are no enforces laws about selling the juice.

About a year ago both of these people had signs up proudly declaring they offered "100% Orange Juice" but after talking to them, they confessed that what they had priced for normal consumption was not 100% - it has water and processed white sugar added to it. They said is was about 80%. Their 20 baht bottle was watered down. When I purchased the real 100% juice I had to pay about 40 baht for it and I watched them squeeze it right in front of me.

But, here is my point. Consider if you will that you set up a new cart at this market and you decide to sell 100% orange juice. And you buy a full automated machine that reduces your work load and you can afford to sell it for 28 baht a bottle. So, you set up your cart and you post a sign saying -- 100% orange juice for 28 baht. Now, your juice tastes better so you begin to make inroads in the market place and you take away some customers from these 2 people above.

What they will do is increase their juice to 90% and then post a sign claiming 100% and mark the price at 25 baht a bottle and through lies, they will steal your customers. There is no one here to make them tell the truth. They don't get into any trouble for it. The average consumer doesn't really know that they may water down the product. So, you lose your customers and what are you going to do to make a correction?

You'll be forced to lie and add water and sugar to your product as well, and you'll end up having to reduce your selling price to 25 baht a bottle.

And they will respond further by changing their content back down to 80% (back to the original low concentration). Because they know 80% is the cheapest they can dilute the product and still have customers who like the taste. And you'll either match them or go out of business. because everyone looks like they have the same product.

All of you will be lying out the product, and customers will basically know it, but the customer won't trust any of you in your claims of quality. In the absence of that assurance of quality, the customers here typically buy the cheapest product.

NOW, no company wants to make the 100% product and effectively the industry is limited and the customer lose out but not having a better product to select.

See, just how damaging the lack of law can really be? It's destroys the quality of the market place and keeps companies from enhancing their products.

Imagine if you will if this scenario was played out in the medical drugs market. Imagine the harm that might create.

Another really big issue is the theft of intellectual property. Here is how it works on a country level. A small entrepreneur opens up a restaurant. He may have cash, a nice location and business sense, but he may lack talent in the kitchen. So, what happens here (and this is semi-common) is that the owner will spend good money and hire a talented chef. And through the course of time, the owner will acquire that chef's recipes. The chef wants to advance; she wants to make better money, and she may want to negotiate her position as the business becomes more successful, but the owner, has her over a barrel. The owner can, and often does, fire the chef, keeps her recipes and then hires a less expensive new cook to replace her.

This is a sad way to run a business. But it happens... and companies suffer for it. It undermines a good work ethic in the work force.

This is real example of a situation that occurred in a company. I don't know all the details first hand, but I have the general story. A worker was given the money to pay the liquor bill at a go-go club. This was a trusted worker. He paid this bill monthly, but the manager of the club somehow didn't verify that the bill had actually been paid. So, after a few months, the liquor company came to find out where their money was. And guess, what, that employee left the go-go bar never to be seen again. He got away with about 500,000 baht.

The police were not able to find and prosecute this guy. Furthermore, this could have been a joint effort between this worker and the manager to defraud the owner of the club -- but who knows?

In any case, the police working within the confines of the law are too weak to do much about it. Everyone loses in a situation like this.

I personally would like to have my company www.AsianSignals.com, donate some equipment to the local university. I would do this so their technical programs would be strengthened and they would end up educating better students who someday might might work for my company. There is a problem. People are stealing equipment out at the new university. They are losing things like laser printers, and fans and other supplies. And the major problem is, that the police either can't catch the thieves or they won't prosecute them. So, how is the university going to grow and help the local community if they can't keep control of their equipment and resources? No one is going to donate if they suspect that the administration is lax in keeping their resources under control.

So, you can see, the lack of law and the freedoms that you feel here in Thailand certainly go both ways. You may enjoy feeling unencumbered because you have low regulation, but you will suffer issues with quality of product you buy and you may also be charged high prices that you may not know about (like getting ripped off on over-priced condos). You may also have others take advantage of you and bully you and steal from you. The the list is much longer than this....but I think you see the big picture.

This is just a funny comment about Stickman. This week I heard from yet another one of his readers. He says:

Its so funny I was reading further on your site about the stickman and about the wine he picked up. When I first made my mind up to come over I had no idea what to expect or even where to stay. So I sent him (Stickman) an email asking of a decent hotel near where I could get around and not fear for my saftey too much. He told me about the grand president and thats where I ended up on my first trip . Getting back to my point I asked him if he needed anything from the US little did I know that whats here is too there . But anyway he said he likes good whiskey so I said cool I ll bring you a bottle of Jack Daniels thinking again probably not much Tennessee whiskey in Thailand . He told me he could get that over there so I brought him a 5th.of Dickel which is made very close to where JD is made but not exported and a few of those dollar bottles. Emailed him when I got here he called me. Chatted for a few and said he was busy all week but had wished we could have gotten together for a drink . I left the stuff at the front desk...

So, the tend it -- Stickman is afraid to meet his readership. Is he paranoid? Does he ever show up at the desk and find that no gift is waiting for him?

Certainly, Stickman makes efforts to refine his gift choices. Certainly he makes the effort to make it down to the front desk of your hotel to pick up "the booty" at some point. It just happens to be at a time where you're not there.

I wrote once before about someone bring wine as a gift for Stickman and he didn't make the time to meet the giver. Here is a Stick reader who noticed my piece about the wine and repeated his similar story.

Does anyone else out there has a similar story? I think this is funny. Just how many gifts has Stick received "At the front desk"? By Galt count - 2 so far.

I have been considering for a while now to run a photo contest. People seem to like a photo contests. But, mine will be a bit different. I'm considering offering a cash prize for photos of MangoSquash-Dave.

I'm sure David will be up in arms about this concept. But, he likes to publish information on me all the time. He was the first to break the story on my identity about 3 months ago. He didn't ask the community for advice, he just did it. I'm sure he felt that this was his god given right. But, I don't operate the same way. I like to get some feedback on issues like these from the community.

Would publishing photos and perhaps his full name violate David's right to privacy? OR, if he is freely and opening displaying other people's faces on his site and verbally assaulting them, should we not have the same freedom to post his face on in the internet as well?

Is David serving the public's best interests in being concealed? Or, would making his identity known create an even playing field to those whom he chastises?

Let me tell you people, I like to do things right. We are not talking a little 500 baht prize (former Stickman weekly photo contest prize). I would put enough cash to make this very interesting indeed. (I won't disclose the amount at this point because I would rather have feedback that is unbiased from money)

Alternatively, I also though it would kind of be fun to get a couple of shots of Stickman doing his bar-girl investigations, but I think the best choice to start with would be the "Help MangoSquash-David Out of the Closet" contest.

We would have 3 place prices of hard cash. You would need to designate a PayPal address to receive the payment. The photos would primarily be judged by the public and voted on. Extra weight would be added to those photos that arrive first. The content would run for 6 to 8 weeks or longer until we came up with a clear set of winners and reasonably verified David's true identity.

What do you think people? Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down. I'll post some of your responses either next week or the week after. If you have a comment about your reason for the Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down, we'll post some of those on-line here in the coming weeks.

I'm in no rush with this idea. I'm just considering the value of it. Thanks for your input.

This going to seem a little goofy but when you are out and about in Thailand you have to keep an eye on that ketchup bottle or you might come up with chilli sauce on your fries.

I only real way to tell them apart at first glance is to carefully look at the pictures on the labels.

The color of the product is slightly different, but sometimes in a restaurant in a lower lighting condition you are not to going to see that color difference.

As you can see here, this is a Heinz product. There are a number of international companies here with products. Just recently I notice these names: Johnson & Johnson, Colgate-Palmolive, Nestle, Kimberly Clark, PepsiCo, and Kraft. I did not see Proctor and Gamble. Of course there are quite a few Thai companies who supply a vast amount of consumer goods. Noticeably missing are the beer companies who dominate the US.

Matt has a homestead up in the country and shared a few shots with us. I thought they were worth posting. This is not the Matt with a web site in Bangkok.

Click on the images to reveal their full view. This first image is of a Hindu statue. This is the Hindu God named Vishnu (Pra-na-rai in Thai), he known as the god or power or the god of war. You'll notice that he is holding a variety of weapons. The round item is a saw blade. The Hindus have about 3 main types of gods. Another god is of Knowledge/Engineering, and a third God is of Love. I'm sure there is much more to it that I know, these are just a few of the basics.

The girl in picture here is called "Lady Beauty" because she runs her own beauty saloon in an area local to Matt.

These are fisherman that are typical for the area. They are netting very small fish. I believe they actually eat this fish after being fried whole in hot oil. Most of the smallest animal food like insects and fish, and frog are deep fried in hot oil before consumption.

This image was taken slightly later in the week. I think the numbers are down a bit. People -- People, I promise you will get back down to Pattaya for some naught night life stories and pictures. I'm sure that will wake you guys up a bit. I'm still game for Pattaya so, trust me I'm not getting wimpy on you.

You know, I like to bitch sometimes. It's not my best trait. Its a sour activity and it's not what I want to be known for. Sometimes I feel like apologizing to you, the reader, for taking you on a negative trip. But, this where I am right now in my web-blogging journey. I think this has some value to you - and in this column, I had a chance to "yell back" at Clayton for the terrible way he treated me 5 years ago. He was due some credit for his efforts and I know that he is not the only one in the kingdom and that does people dirty, so I felt this was an important story.

Let me leave you with some better thoughts. Let me tell you about the upside of freedoms here. I run a company. It's my very own (the part of it that Thailand let's me have LOL). This not my first but this one is my most successful. I have the freedom to look out for the best interests of my people. I think I do well for my workers. I offer good wages. My employee retention is very good. I've had 3 quit in 4 years (fired 3). I like to take them to lunch once a week. I try to keep ample supply of free coke in the refrigerator. They work with good tools and quality supplies. I try really had to give them what they need to succeed. Sometimes I walk around the office barking out orders and chastising them for mistakes, but I'm preparing them for "big time" "real world" competition and I see them molding into a formidable team. I see them succeeding and making a future for themselves. They know I'm serious. They have seen some results. With my best efforts, I have never lied to them. I feel they trust me.

I have the freedom to run them over and beat them up, and wear them down and discard them. I can use them up and rotate fresh bodies in here -- and I hear and see this practice around town at other business semi-frequently. That is scoundrel's way to run a business. That is a sad statement. I think that is a losing strategy.

I have a tremendous pride in knowing that I've done the right things by the people -- and they're doing right by me. I'm not forced to treat them right. I do it because I like it. I do it because this the way that I would like to be treated.

You will never feel such a good feeling about doing the right things by people, until you are NOT REQUIRED to do it for them. I think we lost that in the west over the past 50 years when legislation began to dictate to us how we had to treat our employees and neighbors and business associates.

So, I ask you -- isn't this what life is all about? Is there anything more important in the whole world than having an opportunity to do well for yourself AND do well for the people around you because you really want to? -- and NOT because you're forced to do so? Is there anything better than this?

Or should I be putting efforts into trashing Thailand on the web with colorful little essays and doctored photos and stirring up hate? Or should I be taking advantage of stupid farangs with a web site and milking them for their money just because they don't know any better about trusting bar girlfriends?

Or should I act like Clayton Wade and take advantage of people who help me and verbally abusing them when I feel like I can afford to do so?

Guess what -- I have the freedom to do any of these things... and so do you, here in Thailand. Want to find out what you're really made of? Want to know if you are really a Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde at heart?, then come here and see what you naturally like to do without limitation of laws and regulation to constrain you.

Thanks for stopping by --- OH BY THE WAY, the remainder of my Songkran photos were placed in last week's column.