BANGKOK -Police in central Thailand’s Nonthaburi province have reported that a Lotus’s Go Fresh convenience store employee is recovering in the hospital after being attacked and slashed in the neck by a disgruntled customer.
According to police, a young man was embarrassed after he tried to take a beer from a convenience store without paying. The staff confronted him about it, then he left. He soon returned with a knife and attacked the convenience store employee, stabbing her in the neck, before running away as blood covered the floor.
On Friday at about 11 pm, police received a call about a knife attack inside a convenience store in Soi Wat Ku, Bang Phut, Pak Kret, Nonthaburi. Officers and rescue workers from the Poh Teck Tung Foundation rushed to the scene.
Upon arrival, they found a large amount of blood and a bloodstained knife, which they seized as evidence. The injured worker was identified as Ms Kanitha Saengchan, aged 32. She had been slashed in the neck and arm and suffered serious blood loss.
Good Samaritans took her straight to Vibharam Pak Kret Hospital, where doctors attended to her injuries immediately.
At the hospital, Ms. Kanitha told police officers that around 9 pm, the man had come in to buy some beer but refused to pay and tried to flirt with a female colleague. Other customers were waiting, so she asked him to pay or step aside, which seemed to annoy him, so he left.
Later, at about 10:45 pm, the same man came back to the Lotus’s Go Fresh convenience store with a knife and started shouting insults at Ms. Kanitha. He then walked straight up to her and slashed her in the neck.
Ms Kanitha tried to fight him off, and with the help of other staff and customers, she managed to get away, while the attacker escaped during the chaos. She is now safe and recovering in the hospital. Police investigators are checking nearby CCTV cameras, hoping to track down the suspect so they can press charges.
Maintaining face is crucial in Thailand’s collectivist society, where social harmony and public image are prioritized. Losing face, especially publicly, is seen as a profound humiliation.
Traditional Thai gender norms often place men in roles where they are expected to project strength, authority, and control, particularly in front of women, who may be seen as part of their social sphere of influence. Losing face in front of women can challenge these expectations, amplifying feelings of shame.
While not all Thai men react violently to losing face, and such behaviour isn’t unique to Thailand, the cultural emphasis on face can amplify these responses in certain situations. Incidents of violence tied to losing face often occur in high-stress environments like bars, where alcohol, social posturing, and public scrutiny converge.
Media and social norms in Thailand sometimes glorify men who “stand up” for themselves, reinforcing the idea that responding aggressively to disrespect is a way to prove masculinity.
A 2019 study on Thai masculinity noted that men in urban settings sometimes use aggression to navigate social hierarchies when they feel disempowered. Younger generations and urban Thais are increasingly influenced by globalized views, which may reduce rigid adherence to traditional face-saving behaviours.
