No amount of lazy incompetant disorganised 'service with a smile' will ever surprise me in this country again.. And if an item has any safety aspect whatsoever then I can only advise to check check and triple check, all yourself, and never trust any shit eating grins or mai pen rai comments. Do not take anything as too stupid for them to do or too unbelievable for them to skip.
As I have mentioned in some of my posts I recently had my jeep all refurbed up.. Decided to take it round krabi and lanta and use it a bit more.. Had a great time touring about and today was returning from Ao Nang in Krabi.
Well one of the tasks that the mechanics did during the rebuild was to replace the windscreen.. So I am driving out in krabi, starting a leasurely return journey home planning to take all day. So me and her indoors are cruising along, about 50 - 60 mph or so and the winscreen just implodes !!! Now I have been in cars when the windscreen catches a high velocity stone and shatters but stays in place, this was nothing like that this was an almighty bang then flying shards of mental razor sharp glass !! I caught one in the cheek which sliced in but lucked out considering the possibilities. Spinner again luckily was 100% not a scratch. I had some minor nicks at scalp level and sliced my ankle stopping the car under control so blood started to flow. The jeep only has these convex mirrors so I was having a hard time assessing how injured I was, spinner FREAKs out, crying and wailing, looking at me like I am hanging apart, standard 3rd world brass panic reaction !! Not helping thanks love.. I have blood streaming down my face, on my shirt, in my mouth, spitting lots of foamy blood, I take my hand away from my cheek and it seems like a lot of blood (its not bad in truth) welling up out of this hole but the combo of accident, blood, and most of all not being able to know how bad I was hurt did give me the shakes and dry heaves for a second of two as I pulled my shit together.. Knowing your cut and bleeding (face especially) but unable to know how bad it is or what your reaction and course of action should be was the real kicker !!
Anyway it takes me a second but then I twig whats happened.. The ****ing mechanic muppet has put a piece of plate glass in as a replacement windscreen !!! For the last 1000 miles I have been sitting open eyed and facing a goddamn timebomb. When I consider the possible injuries, sliced face, lost eyes, jugular and other arteries etc it just boggles the mind. I mean hes a mechanic, he has to have known !! He must have just gone down the glass shop and asked for the cheapest bit of plate glass they had.. I will lay money on thats how it worked out !!! I assume he knew the danger that meant to me, as a child would know that whole issue.
Of course as I realize this, is at a time that heart is pumping, adrenalin was flushing through the system, and I was injured.. The thought of choking the little bastard for the risk he put me under was high on my 'things to do list' and I was having a bit of a rage reaction.. Now I have had some time to calm down I doubt I will do anything other than give him a firm verbal roasting but he deserves a cuff round the head in my book, of course the way Thais work is all no confrontation, no anger etc.. No wonder nothing gets solved or done !! Things like this just are another symptom of why Phuket Air dropped off the radar and are blacklisted all over, it will be ok, mai pen rai.
Anyway, we are out of the tourist zone somewhere between Karabi and Phang Nga, a Thai fella on a bike stops and says that the local doctor / medicine man is up the road but I didnt much fancy having it messed with and maybe sewn up by the local witch doctor in ****knowsaburi.. Considered turning back for Krabi hospital but thought sod it.. By the time I did that and messed around finding it I would be wasting the whole day and Phuket was only a couple of hours away.. So I clamped a rag to my face and drove (in the rain) back from krabi with no windscreen.. Quite an trek in a slow jeep with stinging rain and a cut face.
Once we get back on the island I made a wasted journey to the hospital.. The cut had closed and being a glass cut was very clean slice, so by keeping real firm pressure on it for the first hour it sealed pretty tight already and from what I could see had closed up all nice and pretty clean. I had sorted in my mind to just get some paper stiches (setures ??) to keep it closed and it would be fine. When I get to the hospital I explain all this to the first medic / nurse and his instant reaction is to open the wound and look how deep it is / assess it.. I understand this, but it had closed nice and clean and I didnt want him breaking it open and increasing the scar etc.. Despite me clearly saying not to reopen the wound in he kept coming in to do exactly that, over and over hes just smiling and reaching in with 2 hands to grab both sides and I even had to grab his hand as he was just going to do it while smiling and agreeing. Then had the same story with the doc attempting to open it and who wanted to real stitch it.. I debated this with him and had a close look myself in a mirror (at last) and decided against letting him local me and muck about. Doctors the world over dont like being debated or having thier opinion challenged as I guess it challenges thier authority but then you get a Thai for whom thats also a social no no and where most Thais just will agree anything the doctor says because hes the 'official' and he kinda got the **** with me and left. I guess he was thinking awkward bloody farangs always think they know better
so all in all I paid a grand to argue with a doctor for 10 mins but I had some paper setures slapped on there and it fells nice and tight / closed now.. Just take care not to re open it for a few days and I am pretty sure I made the right call.. Not the first time I have had my boat race split and I somehow doubt it will be the last.
Still mad at the mechanic, still not sure how much I should let myself lose it when I give my safety education speech !!! Thais are great people for sanuk.. Great people for sabai time.. But some things they are worse than useless at !!
Anyone know a good car window fitter ??