Have you ever wondered what the culture is like when it comes to showing anger in Thailand? In fact, if you know anything about Thai culture at all, you will probably know showing anger in Thailand is a no-no.
Simple fact — for the most part, people just don’t do it and anyone who does is thought of as ‘losing face’.
For westerners, who usually have grown up in a culture where showing anger is the norm, especially when it comes to frustrating day-to-day situations, to be in Thailand and to suddenly have to learn how to control your anger can be very disconcerting.
That is why you will often see westerners, or farangs as the Thais call us, losing their cool and screaming and yelling, while Thais look on in dismay and disgust.
One of the most famous cases of a farang losing their temper and really showing anger in Thailand was one shown in a YouTube video earlier this year.
In it, a western teacher angry that his daughter couldn’t take her balloons on the skytrain lashed out at a BTS train guard and ended up even kicking him.
Now that’s a westerner out of control and, I might add, not acceptable in any western country either but certainly certainly not in Thailand. (see here for video of the full, sorry event).
For more information about what Thais think when a westerner loses their temper and starts shouting, I thought this video was extremely useful (and quite funny too!).
It shows what some westerners think about losing their temper being acceptable (and yep, the guy on the video is rude and obnoxious) and how most Thais would view someone who does it.