KHON KAEN: A serious lapse by Thailand Post ended a man's hope of following his dream to be a teacher, simply because a crucial letter was not delivered.
Sadit Kruangjumpa said Ban Fang post office made an unacceptable mistake in failing to deliver an express letter sent to his home address.
As a consequence, he missed out on his opportunity to become a teacher.
Mr Sadit lives in Bangkok but his home address is in Ban Fang district in Khon Kaen province. He was among those who passed the Education Ministry's test for applicants for vacant positions as teaching assistants.
He was selected for a position under the quota allocated to the Secondary Education Service Area Office, which oversees Phangnga, Phuket and Ranong provinces.
The education office, based in Muang district in Phangnga, sent an EMS letter to his home address in Khon Kaen on July 3 asking him to report for the position in person on July 9.
But Mr Sadit said on Tuesday that he never received this important letter and subsequently failed to report for the job as instructed.
Ban Fang post office claimed they had tried to deliver the letter on July 6, but the postman had to take it back to the office because nobody was at home at the time of the delivery. The post office also said Mr Sadit came to get the letter himself five days later.
But Mr Sadit has security camera footage he says shows that no postie came to his house to deliver the letter on July 6, as the post office claimed. The camera is installed at his house.
Ban Fan post office finally admitted the postman did not deliver the EMS letter because he was newly employed, on contract, and was still getting used to the job. It apologised for his failure to deliver the vital letter.
The post office also sent a letter dated July 11 to the Secondary Education Service Area Office in Phangnga saying Mr Sadit had not received the letter until after the July 9 deadline.
One day later, it sent another letter to the education office admitting that an employee's blunder made the recipient miss the crucial reporting date. It asked the education office to give Mr Sadit another chance.
But that might be too late.
The Secondary Education Service Area Office on July 9 posted a Facebook message and photos showing 11 newly recruited teaching assistants. Three of them had already attended the orientation programme prior to being posted to schools.
Mr Sadit said he was not sure the education office would give him another shot at being a teacher.
"I still don't know the real reason why the post office did not deliver that letter to me," he said. "I missed the chance to be a civil servant, even though I had put everything I had into passing that exam."