Thai Demeanour
• Thais place great emphasis and value on outward forms of courtesy such as politeness, respect, genial demeanour and self-control in order to maintain harmonious relations.
• Many of their rules of etiquette are by-products of the Buddhist religion.
• It is a non-confrontational society, in which public dispute or criticism is to be avoided at all costs.
• To be openly angry with someone might attract the wrath of the spirits, which in turn could cause violence and tragedy.
• Openly criticizing a person is a form of violence as it hurts the person and is viewed as a conscious attempt to offend the person being rebuked
• Loss of face is a disgrace to a Thai so they try to avoid confrontations and look for compromises in difficult situations.
• If two parties disagree, one will need to have an outlet to retreat without losing face.