NiwPix

Good to hear more routes coming to Ubon....but to/from Don Muang again?! Would be nice to get a bigger variety. Even to Suvanarbhumi Airport would've been better than Don Muang. Oh well, nothing is official yet, so lets just wait and see.

Do you know how far in they are with planning the Ubon Tower? In your attachment is the number 1 the fixed location..and what do those numbers 2's mean?

Ronaldo IS the best footballer in the world right now and that is what they were voting for...simple really.....everybody has there opinion but Ronaldo's form and scoring record is astonishing.

Well done and i congratulate him...well deserved.

Before I ask my question I want to say that Ronaldo is a great footballer and as much as I don't like him, he ( and a few others ) did deserve to win.

To my question,

please explain how he is better than Neuer?

If he was German or played in the German league would you be asking this question?

Short answer: Yes

Quite honestly I don't really care where he plays or his nationality. I am just curious how it was determined that a field player / forward is better than a goalie. Overall I think goalies and even more, defenders, get a lot less credit than midfielders / forwards.

Basically it's comparing apples to oranges.

Ronaldo IS the best footballer in the world right now and that is what they were voting for...simple really.....everybody has there opinion but Ronaldo's form and scoring record is astonishing.

Well done and i congratulate him...well deserved.

Before I ask my question I want to say that Ronaldo is a great footballer and as much as I don't like him, he ( and a few others ) did deserve to win.

To my question,

please explain how he is better than Neuer?

And if all else fails, there is a small shop on Suriyat Road ( west of Chayangkun Rd. ) that should be able to do it as well. He doesn't speak english though. But it sounds like the first two options are already good enough. If not, let me know and I'll give you the exact location.

There was a Thread recently regarding the insurance your talking about:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/780396-health-card-for-foreigners/

World of Bacon

I'm pretty sure The Outside Inn in Ubon has bicycle rentals as well. I just don't know if it's reserved for guests who stay there or for anybody.

In Ubon they only stock(ed) them during the holidays ( Thanksgiving / Christmas ). So, if you haven't looked for them recently, maybe give it a try again

I'm quite happy to have a burger on toasted bread and have nice iceberg lettuce here in Big C Chaiyaphum but unable to source beetroot :-( an absolute must for an Aussie burger

The Makro here in Ubon just recently started carrying Beetroots. Maybe check your local Makro again.

Makro in Ubon has whole Butterball Turkeys for ~179B / kg. No card needed. Maybe Makro in Mukdahan have the same deal/price ( assuming there is a Makro in Mukdahan ).

Business owners who're trying to get guests/customers to help them pay their staff what they, the owner, should be paying them in the 1st place, will insist that substantial tipping is some kind of moral duty

Is this a big problem in Thailand? I've never been anywhere where the owner has tried to get me to pay a tip.

Lol. What? You haven't seen the signs they put up in their places of business threatening violence to those not tipping enough?! And they don't come up to you with a gun to your head? Gosh!

Relax. This is about underpaying workers, not physical confrontation.

Let your fingers do the walking. Plenty of posting on TV from BOs declaring their qualifications to comment on this and then stating their opinion. The idea is that some kind of "social pressure", and sour worker attitudes fueled by it I guess, will result in the "wage gap" being filled by hapless, guilt-ridden customers. Obviously, BOs aren't going to directly confront their customers.

In the end, the customer pays the food and beverages he consumed. With that, the customer indirectly pays the staff, the a/c, the rent, the water, China / silverware, the business owner himself, the liquor license fees etc.

Now, off you say the business owner should pay the staff more, who do you think will end up paying for it...indirectly?

I like the system where the staff get minimum wage and based on their skills ( which the customer decides ), get extra "salary" for work well done.

If we pay them a higher salary and don't brutally force the customer to tip, service will be a hit or miss. And finding qualified / good / motivated servers IS near impossible.

Fine, if you want/expect/depend on tipping, then DON'T charge a service charge. But I refuse to pay for the same thing twice. If you can't secure a competitive market-driven wage to your workers, your business plan is fundamentally flawed and you shouldn't be in business. It's YOUR problem, and just plain bad business trying to make it the customer's problem. He can always go elsewhere.

I agree 100%. Service charge should not be added to the bill. It should be up to the customer to decide if their server did a good job or not. Adding a service charge is basically directly having the customer pay the staff salary. It won't motivate the staff to do a good job.

Business owners who're trying to get guests/customers to help them pay their staff what they, the owner, should be paying them in the 1st place, will insist that substantial tipping is some kind of moral duty

Is this a big problem in Thailand? I've never been anywhere where the owner has tried to get me to pay a tip.

Lol. What? You haven't seen the signs they put up in their places of business threatening violence to those not tipping enough?! And they don't come up to you with a gun to your head? Gosh!

Relax. This is about underpaying workers, not physical confrontation.

Let your fingers do the walking. Plenty of posting on TV from BOs declaring their qualifications to comment on this and then stating their opinion. The idea is that some kind of "social pressure", and sour worker attitudes fueled by it I guess, will result in the "wage gap" being filled by hapless, guilt-ridden customers. Obviously, BOs aren't going to directly confront their customers.

In the end, the customer pays the food and beverages he consumed. With that, the customer indirectly pays the staff, the a/c, the rent, the water, China / silverware, the business owner himself, the liquor license fees etc.

Now, off you say the business owner should pay the staff more, who do you think will end up paying for it...indirectly?

I like the system where the staff get minimum wage and based on their skills ( which the customer decides ), get extra "salary" for work well done.

If we pay them a higher salary and don't brutally force the customer to tip, service will be a hit or miss. And finding qualified / good / motivated servers IS near impossible.

Been wondering about that one too. At first I thought they were working on implementing a sewer system ( they have some fairly large pipes laying around there ), since that area is prone to flooding. However, they have also been working on the land as well. Foodland or something like that maybe? Would be nice.

Edit:

Would be nice to get this Thread pinned.

... se mohst difficellt lengwedse tu lörn

I was wondering about that too. Pretty big project.

I heard from a local that's it's to be a huge (International standard) hospital with Heli-pad.

That would be nice...maybe the Bangkok Hospital?

Across the Provincial Electricity Authority Region 2 ( see attached map )

I assume your talking about the hotel south of Central Plaza...which seems to be almost finished. The spot I'm talking about is at the very beginning stage. Could me another big mall? Or maybe another giant Hardware store...we don't have enough here yet

Thats good news .

I have noticed that diagonally across of Home Pro / Central Plaza on the side of the Ratchathani University is something big going on. There were a few diggers ( I think that would be the english word for them ) and trucks transporting dirt. Anybody know anything?

I read the first 4 pages and the last page...and have a few comments of course

1. Why do some people argue if the OP had 8k meal or not? Why is he considered crazy. He had a good evening out with friends...good for him. No need to comment on his expenses.

2. I noticed some saying "I never tip, especially if there is a service charge". If its included you will "happily" tip and if its not included you don't tip? Thats basically promoting restaurants to add a service charge. Seems you would be happy to be "forced" to pay 10%, rather than tipping on service received.

3. Then the ones that say "find a better job if minimum wage is not enough". If everybody thinks like that, you wouldn't have anymore restaurants, grocery clerks, trash collectors etc. Wait, let me rephrase that...you would have them, but the price for your food / beverage etc would go up in order to pay above minimum in order for the staff serving you.

4. The restauranteur should pay higher salary, so you don't have to tip? Fine, lets raise the menu prices 10% and use that money to pay the staff a bit more than minimum wage. However, that won't motivate them to give good service.

5. In the US, the server do get a minimum wage it IS law. Each state has a different minimum wage set. California ( when I left there was $8.50 ). Here is what many do not know. The servers are taxed on there sales ----> tips. Lets say a server sold $10,000 in 2 weeks ( payroll in the US is bi-weekly ), it is assumed they received 15% tip ( $1,500 ). From those $1,500 they have to pay taxes and tip out the bartender, Busboy, Hostess and in some instances the kitchen staff and/or event coordinator. The taxes get automatically deducted from their paycheck, which in many cases leaves a server that worked 60-80 hours in those two weeks with a minimal paycheck ( depending how much they sold those 2 weeks ). Is a server doesn't sell anything in those two weeks, they will get their hours worked x $8.50 with no extra deductions besides the usual social security, witholding tax etc

On topic:

it is an interesting question the OP brought up....especially since their are obviously so many different opinions. I think he did good by leaving some extra...and since he is 20+ years friends with the host, I don't think there are bad feelings...more likely just something to converse about next time around.

If service was good like op mentioned, I think 300 is a reasonable tip to leave ( usually staff split the tips at the end of the night between everyone...even the ones working behind the scenes i.e. dishwashers ).

I am a restaurant owner and "struggle" with the tipping here. My waitstaff are stoked if they receive a tip anywhere between 40 and 100 baht and kind of shrug it off if they don't receive a tip or only very little. My struggle is explaining to them what good service consists of. But I have noticed they try really hard. When they do get that "big tip" for the service, they get excited. It really does motivate them to do even better. It is very important for them to know they got tipped for good service and not just because it is custom. I hate it when crappy service is given and a tip expected....and my staff know that.

By the way, it is not easy to find wait staff here, as it seems to be a looked down upon profession in Thailand. And from what I have seen in Thailand, they are treated like "slaves", unfortunately. Many people sadly don't see that customer service can be challenging and unrewarding, especially if not trained for it.

I wish I could help. I am happy to see / hear that there are parents out there that rather stay home because they know their kid is not up to dining out quite yet.

I am sorry I can't help out. Hopefully you will find a good christmas dinner delivered.

Just a few days ago I saw the Boneless Butterball Turkey breast at Tops in Ubon. I don't remember the size or the kilo price. However they looked like about 2 kilo packages.

Both versions ( flying over kings head and distraction ) are very....hmmm, can't think of a politically correct word for this right now

The wall throws off a lot of glare now. I spoke with the main guy in charge yesterday and he said that it will stay white....no more paintings etc. Lets see what happens and how long it stays white.