By Sage Lee
When I was about to make a payment to my phone bill, I left the bill together with my wallet on the desk to fetch my cell phone before I head out during lunch time. Lunch time is usually the only time for me to make any household payments- telephone, internet, etc. The colleague, who was going to go for lunch with me, just picked up my bill and started reading it.
Immediately I was offended. It was more of an invasion to my privacy by reading my bill without my permission. So I told her, "Please don't read my bill."
She then started flipping my telephone bill back and forth saying she only wanted to make sure that my bill was not overdue and that it was payable at the bank. After several "MORE" readings to it, she then "proudly" confirmed with me that yes, my bill was payable at the bank and it was not overdue. Even though I knew she was just trying to cover up for her doing and looking for a step-down, I pointed out to her that it was MY bill and I KNEW the due date. Further more, for the last one year I had been paying the same bill at the same bank without any problems. This "kind-hearted" colleague of mine then said, "Oh, well then, I didn’t know." Well, of course you didn’t know because IT IS MY BILL NOT YOURS! This colleague also had a history of "instructing" me on how to operate an ATM machine and took the bank receipt for me.
Under normal circumstances I would have no problems of dealing with what people so called “Thai Culture” and “Thai People”. Do not get me wrong, I do not dislike Thais and never meant to disgrace these “smiling people”. However, because of my colleague, who happens to be a Thai in a rather unfortunate manner, it leads me to believe that perhaps Thais have no sense of privacy. Unfortunately, I never had more opportunities to know more Thais out there to argue with my impression of such.
Working with this colleague of mine who happens to be a Thai, not only was she very interested in my love life, but also my personal life and matters. She always wanted to know what I was writing about, whom I was chatting with, and why I was smiling. She was also interested in the food I ate, the snack I picked and the outfit I wore. Honestly, I had no problems with all of such behaviors. So you are curious, sure. But one day, she really stepped out of the line.
It was an ordinary day. We came to work as usual and I needed to withdraw money for my rent. As usual, I informed my colleague that I was going to stop by the bank for some cash to pay for my rent; therefore she could go ahead and get food if she didn’t want to wait. My sweet colleague told me she would go to the bank with me. Of course, she had to hold my arm; even her fingers were icy cold because of the over-worked office air conditioning, another Thai culture thing. Don’t ask. When we arrived at the bank’s ATM machine, I inserted my card and keyed in my pin number while my kind colleague stood behind me. When I was ready to punch in the selections- Language: English; What Would You Like to DO? Fast Cash…my Buddha-like colleague started offering me “instructions”.
“You don’t read Thai. Choose English.”
“How much money are you going to withdraw?”
“Choose this one.”
“Do you want the receipt printed?”
I pretended she wasn’t even there. I pretended she was part of the machine.
Then she took my card and my receipt slit after I finished the withdrawal and started reading my bank receipt.
What did I do?
I flipped out. Hey, I had no choice.
I strongly believe in privacy should not be invaded by any reasons or under any circumstances. Even just a minor action makes a great offense. Respecting others’ privacy is respecting others. The matter of privacy IS the matter of respect. I do not think anyone would appreciated it if someone was trying to read how much money you have left in your bank account or how many phone calls you made last month. How would you like it if I grab your credit card bill and start reading and studying it? Not that you were going to purchase anything embarrassing of course.
Privacy isn’t just someone’s email or letter or journals, it is also the personal information, social circle, shopping list, household bills; it is EVERYTHING about a PERSON. That is why it is called “PRIVACY”.
Have a little respect, will you?
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