BANGKOK — Having received an unexpected single-digit hike in their daily wages last month, Bangkok’s street sweepers, toll booth workers, security guards and construction laborers will face a new reality starting in 2008: how to manage their newfound riches.
Some are already dreaming big.
“I will become Thailand’s first space tourist,” said Daeng, a 42-year-old construction worker from Khon Kaen.
“I will purchase an iPod,” said toll operator Charoon Thongchai. “Then I will buy Apple.”
Others are planning on being more prudent.
“I will keep my job, at least for now,” said Ying Toontorn, a garbage collector in Lat Phrao. “It is what I know and I don’t want to change my routine just because of this.”
Street cleaner Numthong Boonsak, who picks up discarded trash in grueling midday heat along gridlocked Sathorn Road, will take care of unfinished business.
“I will start treating my lung cancer,” she said.
Still others are laying low, carefully avoiding the advances of family, friends and neighbors who have heard the big news.
“My relatives have been calling me incessantly asking me to pay for this and that,” said maid Waroonrat Kittikorn. “Now I have hired a team of advisors to divide it all up fairly, with 10-percent (60 satang) earmarked for investment overseas.”
Analysts say the problem is a common one among those who have suddenly seen their wealth dramatically increase. “It is up to them to not get carried away with the windfall,” said financial advisor Jeremy Davies of Fidelity. “Invest wisely and they could see the six baht double to 12 baht, even triple to 18 baht in a few years. Get carried away and that six baht could be gone before they know it.”
