A Difference in Service

Location: Pattaya, Thailand

NP: DJ Tiesto - Athena

Mood: Reverent

Being accustomed to non-existent or downright rude Finnish customer service, Asia seems like an amazing place. Manners are reflected in all parts of social behaviour, from greeting people to hospitality and service. We were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of a rare occurrence in a restaurant in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Me, Mika and Tero were sitting in our usual haunt (for the late opening hours and the cheap beer, a jug for 6000 Riel = $1.5, not so much for the food), Skypark Restaurant in Phnom Penh, when we noticed that a local man had passed out in the booth next to ours. He had also puked on the seat and the floor. One of the staff noticed him.

Now, in Finland the following would happen: A meat-headed bouncer would appear, grab the unconscious fellow by his neck and through him out on the street, preferably face-first. It would not matter if it was in the middle of winter and it was freezing outside. All the better, probably! Serves him right, or som nahm nah, as they say in Thailand.

The service was quite different in Cambodia, or anywhere else in South East Asia for that matter. The waiter called a couple of staff members to help him and ever so gently they tried to wake the poor man up. When he was barely conscious, they helped him to the toilet to vomit some more - and mind you, the door to the toilet was open so we actually saw the waiter assisting the man, holding him up because his feet would not carry him and even patting him gently on the back while doing so. In the meanwhile the other waiters cleaned the booth and prepared a make-shift bed out of two other booths in a darker corner of the restaurant! You guessed it: After the toilet episode, they gently escorted the poor drinker to his new bed for a comfy nap where he still lay when we left the restaurant.

In Finland this would never have happened.

Unfortunately it's not all roses in Asia either, or then there's supposed to be a thick chest hair and unchewable meat in a dish of pork with green peppers in Pattaya, Thailand. And the waiter is supposed to charge us extra for two moist towelettes we did not use.

Or the night buses by Virak Buntham Express Travel company from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap in Cambodia are supposed to be undersized, so that you can't straighten your legs, and overcrowded, so that you'll have plenty of company, making sleeping quite difficult.

In general terms, however: Finland 0 - SE Asia 1.