Please drop the price

This is where our community discusses almost anything! While we're mainly a Cambodia expat discussion forum and talk about expat life here, we debate about almost everything. Even if you're a tourist passing through Southeast Asia and want to connect with expatriates living and working in Cambodia, this is the first section of our site that you should check out. Our members start their own discussions or post links to other blogs and/or news articles they find interesting and want to chat about. So join in the fun and start new topics, or feel free to comment on anything our community members have already started! We also have some Khmer members here as well, but English is the main language used on CEO. You're welcome to have a look around, and if you decide you want to participate, you can become a part our international expat community by signing up for a free account.
JanKrohn
Expatriate
Posts: 77
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 12:19 am
Reputation: 1
Germany

Re: Please drop the price

Post by JanKrohn »

Rich Khmer business people earn a lot more than the average expat English teacher, or Filipino or Vietnamese workers. Still the business people pay less/nothing, just because they're Khmer. Who owns all the hundreds of thousands of Lexuses and Land Rovers? All Cambodians with an average wage of $80?

In Europe, people under a certain income usually get a discount at public transport or visiting public places like zoos or museums - for the reason they have to live on a low income, and not based on their passport.

When the Caltex employees were on strike, the union leader was asked in an interview, why Sokimex employees, who are roughly under the same working conditions, were not striking. The surprising answer: Caltex has foreign ownership, but the Cambodian owner of Sokimex could not afford paying his employees fair rates.

(Right, Sok Kong doesn't need to pay fair rates because he is a national of a country with the average wage of $80...?!?)

The "foreigner always pays the bill" attitude is one of the few extremely annoying traits of Cambodian culture....
SinnSisamouth
Expatriate
Posts: 2068
Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2014 1:23 am
Reputation: 8
Ireland

Re: Please drop the price

Post by SinnSisamouth »

that can be said for the USA "the customer always pays the wages" , wot with that tipping thing.

I know it means service is unparalleled in the western world but why don't they just give them more fookin money in the first place?
i am on these blocked lists;
pucketrichard
hotdgr
sailorman
rozzieoz
stroppychops

:fuckyou:
TheGrinchSR
Expatriate
Posts: 1263
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2015 6:12 pm
Reputation: 12

Re: Please drop the price

Post by TheGrinchSR »

JanKrohn wrote:Rich Khmer business people earn a lot more than the average expat English teacher, or Filipino or Vietnamese workers. Still the business people pay less/nothing, just because they're Khmer. Who owns all the hundreds of thousands of Lexuses and Land Rovers? All Cambodians with an average wage of $80?

In Europe, people under a certain income usually get a discount at public transport or visiting public places like zoos or museums - for the reason they have to live on a low income, and not based on their passport.

When the Caltex employees were on strike, the union leader was asked in an interview, why Sokimex employees, who are roughly under the same working conditions, were not striking. The surprising answer: Caltex has foreign ownership, but the Cambodian owner of Sokimex could not afford paying his employees fair rates.

(Right, Sok Kong doesn't need to pay fair rates because he is a national of a country with the average wage of $80...?!?)

The "foreigner always pays the bill" attitude is one of the few extremely annoying traits of Cambodian culture....
The trouble with this argument is that it is infantile. Offering poor people benefits is a good thing (and one European countries offer directly into the wage packet in many circumstances - to their own citizens that is). Not charging an entry to Angkor Wat, for example, means that even the poorest Khmer can go for free. Means testing that benefit - would cost far more money than just letting a few rich Khmer go in for free too; so it makes it easy to administer when all Khmer get in for free.

The English teaching expat is in Cambodia by choice. If they don't like paying to go to Angkor Wat - they are free not to do so (it's not their heritage anyway) or to leave the country if they feel so aggrieved and then get a job back home (in say McD's) that pays more, so they can afford it in the future. Whining that there are rich Khmer and thus all Khmer (most of whom are not rich) should be penalized for this is simply ridiculous.

It may not be fair but life's not fair. You might want to check out the costs of applying for a visa (which will often be rejected out of hand) for a Khmer to visit Europe, the US, or Australia, etc. when compared to the costs of a one year visa for pretty much anyone arriving in Cambodia clutching a little cash. That's not fair either but that's how the world is.
"If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever." - George Orwell
JanKrohn
Expatriate
Posts: 77
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 12:19 am
Reputation: 1
Germany

Re: Please drop the price

Post by JanKrohn »

I'm sure the Caltex owner feels pretty infantile that the union forces him to pay his employees a lot more than the competition. Surely, it was his own choice to invest in Cambodia, create jobs etc.

I'm not complaining about having to pay a couple bucks to see Angkor. I'm complaining about an attitude that barangs are seen as walking cash cows (not by every single Khmer; I know a lot of Khmers who are not at all like that; but the general tendency in society).
TheGrinchSR
Expatriate
Posts: 1263
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2015 6:12 pm
Reputation: 12

Re: Please drop the price

Post by TheGrinchSR »

JanKrohn wrote:I'm sure the Caltex owner feels pretty infantile that the union forces him to pay his employees a lot more than the competition. Surely, it was his own choice to invest in Cambodia, create jobs etc.

I'm not complaining about having to pay a couple bucks to see Angkor. I'm complaining about an attitude that barangs are seen as walking cash cows (not by every single Khmer; I know a lot of Khmers who are not at all like that; but the general tendency in society).
Sure. Now we're supposed to pity the multi-national which came to exploit the geoarbitrage of jobs to the lowest bidder and then found out people expected them to pay a bit for that? In a nation where you can write your own tax bill (in exchange for a small consideration in cash to the taxman) - they got off pretty lightly all told.

I lived in Cambodia for 4 years - I never encountered a belief that barangs are walking cash cows; something which is not true in Thailand (where that is simply all we are).
"If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever." - George Orwell
JanKrohn
Expatriate
Posts: 77
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 12:19 am
Reputation: 1
Germany

Re: Please drop the price

Post by JanKrohn »

Don't pity the MNC. Pity the individual investors who want to build up SMEs, and have not enough contacts to be able to write their own tax bills. I've seen a few of them go bust in the last 4 years, after receiving for example a "corrected" tax bill that assumes a fictional salary for the barang managers based on what they would be earning in Singapore etc.
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], Amazon [Bot], EmpatheticUnicorn, Google [Bot] and 1255 guests