Where is the Honesty gone? / Donde se quedo la honestidad?

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Yes, where is it? I am getting a bit tired of being lied to. Customer Service means nothing in some places in Malaysia and although some people may differ with me in Thailand also.
I personally find it rather low and it annoys me, giving me a bad time when I only want to enjoy the country. The lies mainly come from the travel agents (I will not consider them in the same category as their fellow countrymen). Firstly, I don't know if I mentioned it (in a previous blog) in Thailand, to be more precise Koh Lanta, where we bought tickets "TO" Kota Bharu (Malaysia) to later find out that they meant "the border" (Thailand). We found out while we were still in Thailand (Hat Yai) and when I asked the girl behind the counter about this little problem I could not believe what she said to me. "There is no service to Kota Bharu from Thailand, no company operates that route but if tell you that you don't buy ticket. If I tell you, yes yes Kota Bharu, then you buy ticket" I really wanted to punch her lights off. I tried to tell her that if she had told me that no services operate to Kota Bharu I would had bought the tickets to the border anyway. She nodded and told me blatantly that I was not telling truth. In Spain we have a saying that sums this perfectly "The thief thinks that everybody is thief".
The problems that we encountered in Malaysia were more or less of the same kind. This company that seems to have an emporium in Taman Negara ( NKS HOTEL & TRAVEL SDN. BHD) sold us a ticket that should not have sold us. I asked for tickets to Kuala Besut, to take the ferry to Perhentian with a company that we already knew and we were taken to Tok Bali, another ferry pier with only one company serving to Perhentian, The bl**dy Symphony Company another bunch of liers with a fast boat the makes a 45 minutes trip in 2 hours. I just could not believe it. My blood is boiling just thinking about it, so I better stop now. Just don't use this companies in future if you can prevent it, they just don't care.
I sometimes get tired and sometimes ask myself where is the honesty, does it really exists or did I just dream about it?

Eso, eso, donde esta la honestidad, porque para ser sincera en algunas partes de estos países es muy difícil encontrarla. Me refiero mas que nada a los agentes de viajes (a los que no voy a clasificar en el mismo grupo que al resto de sus compatriotas). Atención al cliente no se encuentra en su diccionario ni aquí en Malasia ni en Tailandia. Y personalmente lo encuentro bastante irritante, cuando lo único que quiero es conocer el país y disfrutar de su cultura y gentes.
No se si lo he mencionado anteriormente, en Koh Lanta (Tailandia), por ejemplo, compramos un billete con destino a Kota Bharu (Malasia), sabíamos que teníamos que cambiar de autobuses un par de veces pero nos daba igual. Lo que paso es que cuando llegamos a Hat Yai para cambiar de autobús (o mini autobús) por segunda vez, la chica detrás del mostrador me informo que el autobús no llegaba a "Kota Bharu" (Malasia) sino a "La Frontera" (Tailandia). Cuando le pregunte que como era posible esto, ella toda tranquila me contesto "No hay ninguna companyia de autobuses con ruta desde Tailandia a Kota Bharu pero si te lo digo, tu no compras ticket, si te digo Kota Bharu, si, si!! entonces tu compras ticket" He de ser sincera tube que contenerme, le hubiera pegado dos puñetazos, uno en cada ojo, con mucho gusto, mas que nada por la tranquilidad con la que me lo dijo, al mismo tiempo que mandaba un mensaje desde su móvil, vamos que es lo normal eso de contar mentiras, tralara!.
Cuando le dije que yo hubiera comprado el billete a la frontera de todas formas, si alguien me hubiera informado, la colega me miro y me dijo (con todo su morro) que eso no era verdad.
"piensa el ladrón que todos son de su condición".
Y esto nos paso de nuevo en Malasia dos veces en una semana para ser mas precisos, y es que cansa, y es que a veces te planteas donde esta la honestidad y si en verdad existe o solo lo he soñado.

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Comments

[Jasmine]

I Hear Ya!
I totally know what you mean. We experienced this a bit in China too, although there it seemed like they didn't want us to go more than they did. It's hard to understand, and I'm not sure I ever will. It's so frustrating, you spend half of your trip wondering why they couldn't have just told you the truth and saved you all the trouble. The thing is they know we'll never be back and that what we tell other people really won't affect their business. But hey, at least we know now right? hahaha