Thais are NOT lazy but they get Bored
Pomelo, my wife’s brother, did a really good job laying some slabs on the patio. Took his time to get them level and bedded them in well. He wasn’t satisfied until it was perfect. He certainly didn’t rush the work.
But laying some underground pipes for a watering system did not seem to warrant the same attention to detail. The spoil from the digging was left as it lay, there were leaks from the pipe joins, and some parts of the circuit had not been completed.
Maybe it’s because Thais get fed up and lose interest easily. You hear the word nabeua (boring) more in Thai than in other languages. Maybe it’s because Thais like to impress you with their work when they first do a job for you — first impressions are important to them.
Mai pen rai is another factor. How important is it to get things right? How much does it matter? They look for easy options when they are completing a task. That’s the essence of mai pen rai, it doesn’t matter.
It’s not laziness. Just watching the rice farmers and construction workers toiling in the heat of the Thai day will disillusion you of that perception. More, I think, of “Can I get away with it. Does it really matter?”
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