Tis the Season to be Jolly.

Season to be Jolly or Silly? Or are they the same type?

I have always held that control never works.  Well, it has never worked for me.  I am saying this in a land where control is such a key factor in everyday life.  The people are both highly controlled and controlling.  At the end of the day, I have to say that, as I look around and experience everyday life here, control still does not work.  End of story for me.  Let me share a recent true happening that may best illustrate my point.

I come home around 7.30pm after a couple of Friday beers with a fellow from church who wants to have a chat.  We are on his bike and he drops me off at the driveway into my apartment building where there is a coffee shop and food stand run by a young, hi-so, Thai woman.  She has two young Thai guys helping her.  Well all seems quite normal on my arrival except that one of the Thai guys keeps speaking loudly at me in a rather stern voice to move the bike and park it.  I keep saying that my friend is going home but the Thai guy keeps at it, while I keep trying to explain.  Eventually, I said in a good natured tone - "Thais are supposed to be relaxed and so relax."  Bad move.

This made the Thai guy incredibly angry with me.  He told me in a very angry tone that I was not wanted in Thailand and that I should go home.  My goodness!  So I went over to him to make a point about their food stall being ill placed and blocking the way.  He then pushed me to which I said - "You pushed me.  Where I come from that is assault and I would call the police."
He said to go ahead, to which I replied  - "Not here as the police are all corrupt."

While I reacted to the guy's anger and arrogance and his drastic ways of dealing with me, I did not lose my cool. I just ultimately said to him -  "You are not going to get me angry"; and walked away.   He was not going to control me. 

As I walked away, I saw the guy's point as there was a taxi trying to get into the driveway.  It just was that I never saw it as the focus was the guy's 'control tantrum' and the guy never said it was there.  That was not his point.

His point was giving an order and reacting badly when it was not obeyed.  This led to some aggressiveness, which was all pointless in achieving anything except to try to make a statement about who is in control.  The better way to go would have been to make some reasonable request in a reasonable tone.  A helpful result could have been the outcome but not to be.  So for now, I walk a mile away from the hi-so woman's coffee shop outside my building and avoid any eye contact.  All thanks to control gone bad yet again.

Best thing to do was what I did.  Move on!  And Ho! Ho! Ho!