Ibrahim Jabbari
On the rare occasion a Thai person says no outright, it means a firm no. Maybe is a safer, face-saving option, which probably means no, but may mean yes. Yes, however, doesn’t always mean yes. Thai people don’t like letting others down, and will sometimes agree to things even if they don’t want to or have no intention to actually follow through on what they said. Plans are often fluid. It’s also quite rare for a Thai person to say they don’t know something, for example when giving directions. Rather, you may sometimes be told what a person thinks will make you happy at that particular point in time to save disappointing you or being unable to help, rather than thinking ahead about a greater inconvenience or disappointment later down the line.
