Questions in a cab

The other day I had to go to the immigration office on Soi Suan Plu. This place could be the source of dozens of PhD dissertations on intercultural communications - but as my task there was simple and I know the system pretty well, I don't have a specific observation based on my visit to the office. That said, I do have an observation based on my taxi ride from immigration back to my office on Soi Chidlom.

I caught a taxi outside of immigration and told the driver where I wanted to go. I would say he was late middle age with short greying hair, clean shaven wearing an ironed blue short-sleeved shirt. I find that there are basically two types of taxi drivers (this is an international observation) - those that are quiet during the drive and those that like to talk. My driver on this ride was a talker. He started with the standard questions such are how long I've been in Thailand, do I work here, am I married, how many children do I have. This is all pretty standard - in Thailand and in the US.

He then moved on to questions that are relatively standard here - but would be considered odd or inappropriate in the US. Questions like: how old are you, how much money do you make, where do you live (in terms of do you live in a house or a condo). I've been here long enough to not be surprised or put off by the questions - but deep down they still put me on guard.

My assumption, which may be wrong, is that these types of questions are used among Thai people to determine relative positions in a complex hierarchical pii - nong relationship. But to an American they require information that we are very hesitant to share with strangers. In fact, even close friends may never discuss their incomes or net worth. I'll save my thoughts on why this is for another post.