Watching the broadcast at a Thai restaurant in Los Angeles, an American customer exclaimed: "What? Is this a joke?"

Like most Americans who consider a coup a political disgrace, he was surprised that Thais had greeted the coup with such a cool reaction.

A young Thai employee at the restaurant was even more surprised. She asked the middle-aged owner, "What is a coup?"

As the young woman grew up in the United States where elections are the exclusive means to change the government, she had no way of knowing what a coup is - something familiar only in developing countries.

However, she knows how the coup can benefit her. As soon as it was reported through international cable channels, the baht plunged to Bt37.75 per dollar. As an employee who gets paid in US dollars, she's effectively getting more baht for every greenback earned.

But right now, she might not be smiling. Since it went off without violence, the coup was not expected to damage the Thai economy. As such, there were grounds to believe that the baht should gain further over the dollar. When the New York market closed, the baht did indeed strengthen.

Anti-Thaksin protesters were gleeful about the coup. People upset by the coup were TV addicts cut off from all their programmes, including UBC.

Luckily, they were spared their mobile-phone signals, giving them a tool to communicate with others when the outside world was so quiet.

achara_d@nationgroup.com