This is an article about 7/11. Well not necessarily the shop itself but rather the culture of sitting outside them.
We might have our gripes about his shop, there’s one on every corner, you’re never far from ye old faithful, and they may be taking away important business from the local Thai counterparts but for some reason people seem to love sitting outside 7/11.
The staff must think everyone is nuts and this kind of behaviour would be frowned upon and discouraged in other parts of the world (one example is hanging around Spar in the UK as a teenager with a massive bottle of Lambrini ‘pear cider’, or for the hardcore just a straight bottle of the cheapest vodka.
Getting underage wrecked and being moved along by the police, thus ending in a brawl etc. Oh our parents were so proud!). But here it seems like one of the ‘things’ to do, quite a natural reaction in fact. You go inside
to purchase some food after a party or a beer or whatever takes your fancy, then you sit on the step (there’s usually a step) outside to eat said food or drink said beer.
This is one of the local musicians larking about with the hats inside:
You will also find, if you are a resident of the island, the waifs and strays of the neon army in the beautiful hours of the morning here. Sometimes they risk their lives by sitting out into the road a bit! Always worth telling them to sit on the ‘step’ instead as no one wants to see these fresh faced youngsters get hurt any time soon!
It’s a cheap way to get drunk with your friends is 7/11. The beer is cheaper than most bars, and after an hour or so you can have quite a large-ish gathering of people with you as people pass, sit, chat and stay. They always have a bin so (generally) there is not much mess around and if you need more supplies then your right on the doorstep of the place!
Mag1c and Bry0 in their early days of 7/11 sitting:
Most popular used to be the main Ban Tai 7/11, they used to have a bench for people to sit on, it was the place to go to see if anyone was about! They have however since removed this bench, probably to try to stop this kind of behaviour!
Do you have any funny 7/11 stories? Have you met any of your now friends at this place? Tell us about them in the comments below!
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