how to make a good impression
You have just arrived in Bangkok and been invited to lunch by important Thai clients. You want to make a good impression. So as you wait in the heat outside the restaurant, you thank heaven you wore the smart ‘executive’ shorts that will let your legs breathe and allow you to make clever conversation.
Your hosts arrive, smiling broadly, and their first thought is probably that you weren’t dressed by a Thai. You would have been told that shorts are for the beach. In the West, if you dress inappropriately, it reflects on you. In Thailand, how you dress expresses your regard, or disregard, for the person you have come to see.
You follow your first impulse to show off the tight-gripped vigour of your famous handshake. You could have saved it. Thais don’t judge people by their handshake, nor greet each other with one. Thais wai, clasping their hands together as in prayer, touching their face and smiling broadly. Of course Thais are familiar with Western ways and will extend a hand to you even if you don’t. But learn how to wai—the subtleties of it say so much about Thai culture.
The Thai food is served, with rice and many dishes to share. You fill your plate, trying everything, showing your hosts you’re no culinary snob. Your hosts, meanwhile, sample only one thing. When it is eaten, they try something else, pausing often to talk. You will feel like a glutton.
So, with a full plate you eat and grin and compliment the chefs as you fork food into your mouth. You might notice your companions are eating differently. Thais use a spoon and fork. That’s where the similarity to the West ends. Except in some hotels acquainted with our peculiar habits, or in Western restaurants where they serve things best negotiated with prongs, never put a fork to your lips. Use it to mix and move food to the spoon and, with your right hand, put that in your mouth. In Thai cooking, meat is cut up into small pieces. Cutting knives are unnecessary.
That was a good meal. So good, in fact, you cleaned your plate, lapping up the last bit of food. Your mother would be so proud, because in the West a clean plate is indeed a compliment to the chef. In Thailand, it is an insult to your hosts’ generosity. Never clean your plate or searchingly scrape the serving dishes.
But don’t worry, you probably haven’t lost the business deal. Thais are very forgiving of foreigners. They know you will make mistakes and won’t mock you, even when your back is turned. They’ve seen it all before. Too often.