Embassy rudeness leaves orchid expert wilted
The difficulty of Thais acquiring foreign visas has long been an issue, and some embassies make it so hard to apply for travel permission that even leading stand-up comedian Udom "Nose" Taepanich joked about it in his one-man shows.
But no one is laughing at the latest case of consular coarseness, which involves an elderly and highly respected professor who wanted to go to Germany.
The ordeal of Rapee Sagarik, |92-year-old professor of horticulture and founder of the Thailand Orchid Society, was posted on Facebook by his personal nurse Kloz Hirunburana.
“You’re old already. Why do you want to go to Germany?” an embassy staffer rudely asked the gentleman. “Do you have proof of life insurance or a medical check-up certificate?”
Professor Rapee didn’t answer but Kloz, who accompanied him in the interview room, clarified about his status in society, mentioning that he’s an adviser to the Department of Agriculture.
This annoyed the staffer, a man in his 30s, who then asked: “Why didn’t you bring a letter and your salary statement?”
Kloz replied that that the professor’s advisory role doesn’t generate a salary. As for the medical papers, Kloz explained that they had stopped at BNH Hospital beforehand but the doctor who takes care of those matters was not in, and then they had to rush to make their embassy appointment.
“I said that he has a life insurance policy and travel insurance that he uses regularly but the embassy man showed a long face before saying that the documents were not ready so he couldn’t precede with the case,” Kloz wrote on a Facebook post that has since gone viral.
But in the process of shoving all the paperwork back at Kloz and the professor, the bureaucrat brightened up at the sight of a letter from Lips magazine. “Oh, what has it got to do with Lips?” he asked, and Kloz replied that the publisher was the sponsor of the trip as Prof Rapee is also an adviser to the magazine, and he would be writing an article.
Professor Rapee, who up until that point had been silent, then rose from his chair. “Are you Thai? Why are you so impolite? I have been to Germany and helped the country. Last year, I went to Dresden for business about Thai orchids,” Rapee said before abruptly leaving the room.
The staffer followed him and changed his tune. “Okay, we can accept your application. You should go to do a finger scan.”
But was too late. “I don’t want it anymore,” Rapee replied. “There is no point in talking to you if you have no respect.”
Since the story has been shared, other prominent Thais are coming forward to report similar experiences.
The Drama-Addict page, which has more than 670,000 Facebook followers, pointed out that embassy staffs by and large aren’t service-minded, and are pretty much rude across the board. The page also re-posted a Facebook account from last November by internationally known classical-music conductor Trisdee na Patalung, who went on at length about the rudeness of embassy employees.
Like Prof Rapee, he thinks the Thai staff at the embassy have no respect. “She ‘threw’ my photo,” Trisdee complained. But after she saw an invitation letter from the embassy, the staffer suddenly sweetened her tone.
A few, perhaps embassy workers themselves, are siding with the embassy staffer. “I blame it on his secretary, who did not prepare the documents well enough,” said Karun Tuangputeh.
But most are siding with the professor because they can all relate – seems everyone has a story about embassy effrontery. And the problem isn’t so much all that gosh darn paperwork, it’s the staff who seem to be “unnecessarily” rude.
