explorer wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:43 pm Another thing you might pick up on. They can do stupid things to try to put it over you. But you can see through their games. Many of them are not smart enough to realize you can see through their games, so the games continue.

clutchcargo wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 3:35 pm The other thing that I guess falls under 'preparation' in terms of preparing for your life is saving money. To buy things, to keep money for emergencies, sickness, for old age, whatever etc

I get the impression many Khmers have the attitude..I have money, so I have to spend it today. And then something comes up later and they have run out of money so they have to borrow money from friend or relative or hock the gold or whatever at the jewelry shop or pawn shop. Often there is little desire to save.

But my eyes opened when I met Mrs Cargo. She had a steady job, some land, money under the mattress, some gold that her mum kept for safe keeping and some cows in the province lol. But.......no bank account! I couldn't believe it..how are you supposed to save I thought.

Anyway, I encouraged her to get a bank account at ABA and get a debit card for ATM withdrawals. So I submitted an application online for her but she was still required to go to an ABA Branch. She took a reasonable amount of money to deposit. Anyway, they asked her a million questions about her status and employment which seemed rather odd coz back home banks are happy to take your money..no questions asked other than verify who you are. Then the bank staff turned to me and asked would I be transferring money into her account every month? I was gobsmacked...I got my back up and said what does that matter/that's none of your business, she's got a deposit and a steady job. But they persisted and to avoid derailing the application and thinking how the hell are they going to monitor anyway, I just said yes. And so, she got her account and ATM card.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share this anecdote coz whilst some khmers don't seem to be good at saving, it seems the banks don't want to make it easy either.

explorer wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 4:09 pm More than one person has suggested that Westerners get more stress. This is not true.

Remember the Cambodian girl who committed suicide after she failed year 12 last year.

Think about the number of people who jump of the bridge and end it.

I was sitting in front of a shop, and a lady walked past. The girl in the shop said, she is crazy. I asked why. She said, because her husband went off with another woman. I questioned her some more. She believed it was a reasonable explanation. She loved her husband. When he got another woman, she went crazy.

There was a similar one in Phnom Penh several years ago. She used to walk around topless. She went crazy because her husband went off with another woman.

There was a man who worked in logging. He was killed when a tree fell on him. His wife became depressed, and after a year died. She left behind beautiful children.

Because of less ability to reason, when things go bad, Cambodians often have less ability to cope. So stress affects them more.

armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Wed Sep 04, 2019 1:43 pm

clutchcargo wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 3:35 pm

Great anecdote. Banks in Cambodia can be variable in their policies and even barangs can experience obstruction (see Freightdog's posts on opening an account). Also, nowadays in the West you can expect to be asked about your employment, domestic situation etc. I imagine your wife's salary is not paid directly into the bank account so the bank would need to ask questions about the job if they want details on file.
Because practice is so variable, the best way is probably just to walk out of the door if one bank is being difficult. Even another branch of the same bank can be fine.