[Everwondopedo]

She's having a bad day
The Nation
Published on July 5, 2008

Imagine this situation that reads like any normal day in the life of any Bangkok girl.

You're late for work and the Bangkok traffic is not the only thing that you have to worry about. And just when you start to think you're having a bad day, a traffic policeman stops you for forgetting to wear your seatbelt. The officer asks for your ID and driver's licence. But you don't feel like giving it to him. So you ask him to issue a traffic ticket instead. Then you have an unpleasant exchange with the officer.

The incident happened to a lady in her 30s who was wearing the uniform of a local bank at the time. The exact date of the incident was March 16. The lady, whose name has not been disclosed, was driving her Honda Civic through Pahurat Intersection when a traffic policeman stopped her because she wasn't wearing a seatbelt. The lady, who was obviously in a bad mood, had an unpleasant exchange with the officer.

The exchange was taped and posted on several websites. Now imagine that you find your story highlighted in Khao Sod newspaper as the lead story in yesterday's paper, with a headline saying, "The banker girl scolds the traffic police". Khao Sod thought that your unpleasant exchange with the police deserved more space than other "criminal news", including a bank robbery in Ayutthaya province and news of a boxer who sells drugs.

But your fame does not end there. A TV news anchorman picks up the story from Khao Sod and criticises your manners on his morning talk show, replaying the clip so that a nationwide audience can see how "rude" you are.

Here's the exchange translated from Khao Sod (based on the video clip).

The policeman: "Can I see your ID and driver's licence."

The lady: "I don't have them. I didn't bring my purse. I am late for work. Do you get it?"

The police: "You shouldn't have this attitude. You violated the traffic rules."

The lady: "Why don't you write me a traffic ticket. I will ask my dad to deal with it … What's your name? Come on ... I'm late for work"

The police: "You have to give me your driver's licence before you go."

The lady still refused. The policeman gave up. Then, the officer used his digital camera to record her (in fact, the incident was being recorded before that point) and let her go.

The lady in the news did not resort to any violence nor try to escape the situation. Apart from failing to wear her seatbelt, she might have acted inappropriately by using terms like "goo" and "mung" when addressing the officer and challenging him to issue a traffic ticket. But that's not enough of a justification for the police and certain local media sources to treat her like a criminal.

After the original incident, the policeman showed the clip during a police conference as an example to show how the police should learn how to use electronic equipment to deal with traffic incidents. One of the senior police officers was quoted as saying that, "After the conference, I ordered the policeman to find out who this woman was. And we found that she's a bank staff member under probation period. And her father is nobody - he is not an influential person. She's just a Chinese-Thai."

But the lady's bad luck does not end there. Since then, the clip has found it way to several Internet sites. A 102.5 FM female DJ who was sympathetic to her plight said yesterday morning that she was amazed to find the clip available on YouTube.

After the bank's PR department received this clip about three or four days ago, it checked with the branch where the lady used to work and found out that she had already quit two months ago, meaning she quit after the incident.

However, since the clip had become big news, the bank decided to circulate a notice to its branches informing them that this woman no longer worked for the bank. Khao Sod also investigated her family background. The reporter went to her house to find out what kind of person she was. But she had already moved to an unknown location sometime ago.

This lady's bad day seems like it will never end.