When is a child not a child?

[eyecatcher]

You would think after 7 years of running a spa we would have encountered pretty much every problem, after we have coped with a power cut at night and 15 customers on the table and a few more running around me naked, we of course had the famous music police and me giving them the complete runaround, we have had the usual pedantic customer complaints and then theres the smell of a dead rat that could be anywhere upto 10m away that we need to mask. Then there was the time I chased a customer 200m down the road after he stole the box we provide to keep the customers jewelry safe!

Cue the first ever customer “try on”

Children, we have had loads and loads of kids getting a massage over the years and we have generally given them a decent discount for no other reason than its better than having the little buggers running around making a noise and me giving them all a bollocking.

You get the interpretation of a kid in your head so when the phone call arrives from a customer asking if there is a discount for kids naturally the wife says yes.

Family arrives with 3 kids for a foot massage. The kids are 15 years old?

Well you laugh and think they are taking the piss or trying to take advantage and the wife is asking me to quickly write something (for the future) clarifying what we interpret as a kid.

I tried to refer to some typical ones…ask them if the airline charged them as a kid ,have they reached puberty; are these kids under 1.2m, are these kids old enough to have sex.

Upshot is, after all these years we now have to make a small notice to say a discount will apply to children under 12 years old only.

As a parent would you try to squeeze a discount for a 15 year old child.?

[blackcab]

Or spin it the other way. Offer a decent discount for a child if accompanied by a paying parent - but on a slow day of your choosing.

 

Could you aim for tired, stressed out mums and give them time out, safe in the knowledge that their child was ok and relaxing next to them?

 

If your staff work on commission perhaps you could give each a percentage of the combined payment so neither loses out.

 

Just a thought.

[amexpat]

I dunno.  I took a "temporary girlfriend" to my spa and tried to pass her off as my granddaughter.

Didn't work. 

[taotoo]

Kid = under 18 or so by law, no? If you want to define it otherwise you should have done so (like the airlines you mention). Hopefully you didn't annoy them too much with your attempt to withdraw your offer.

[NanLaew]

A lot of parks, aquariums and other tourist attractions define the child's eligibility by height and have a simple ruler marked against the wall at the payment point. Seems to work for places that predominately have Thai families visiting and saves fart-arsing around with ID cards and the like.

[cyberfarang]

Personally, I think the OP is taking a great risk by allowing young children to be massaged. Wide often for exploitation if any parents shout; inappropriate touching!

 

I would not allow children under the age of 16, unless being massaged in the company of a parent or asked to see ID cards to prove they are over 15.

 

Up to the OP, but I wouldn`t take the risk.

[scottiejohn]

14 hours ago, eyecatcher said:

a few more running around me naked,

If people are running around naked I do not think any children should be on the premises unless in a totally secure area away from the bare flesh.

[WildBoar]

A child is not a child when he can dive a kilometer in a cave.

[eyecatcher]

22 hours ago, amexpat said:

I dunno.  I took a "temporary girlfriend" to my spa and tried to pass her off as my granddaughter.

Didn't work. 

Not surprised, you're only 42

[eyecatcher]

21 hours ago, taotoo said:

Kid = under 18 or so by law, no? If you want to define it otherwise you should have done so (like the airlines you mention). Hopefully you didn't annoy them too much with your attempt to withdraw your offer.

There was no attempt to withdraw the offer, I am far too long in the tooth to know the value of any customer no matter how cheap, but as I say after 7 years it tells you that most people would be reasonable and understand when their child needs a childs portion and to be honest it seems more than pedantic for someone to try it on and also for us to be talking about creating a new rule.

[Hummin]

 

FAQ - AirTickets

Which are the age group categories of the passengers for the airline companies? 

•    Adult passengers are considered to be from the age of 12 and older.

 

Should clear up for the most of the tourists who come by air!

Edited July 16, 2018 by Hummin

[Hummin]

Do you charge extra for xxx cm and xxx kg? 

[eyecatcher]

17 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

Personally, I think the OP is taking a great risk by allowing young children to be massaged. Wide often for exploitation if any parents shout; inappropriate touching!

 

I would not allow children under the age of 16, unless being massaged in the company of a parent or asked to see ID cards to prove they are over 15.

 

Up to the OP, but I wouldn`t take the risk.

You are correct, and this was something we both insisted on from day 1; we also limit children to foot massages and a very limited Thai massage only with the family present and no curtains. I take your point anyway.

[eyecatcher]

2 minutes ago, Hummin said:

Do you charge extra for xxx cm and xxx kg? 

This afternoon I started welding together a new massage table, no really.....because I am balled off with me having to go and repair the wooden bed after xxkg customers have been on their together with our xxkg therapists.

My latest instruction were.....ok if we get a group in, choose the smallest customer and send the smallest customer to do the job!!

 

to answer your question, no we don't, but its very very noticeable how much extra oil is needed on a fatarse(xxxkg)

[eyecatcher]

10 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

If people are running around naked I do not think any children should be on the premises unless in a totally secure area away from the bare flesh.

At that time the only child running about and enjoying it was me

[eyecatcher]

11 minutes ago, Hummin said:

 

FAQ - AirTickets

Which are the age group categories of the passengers for the airline companies? 

•    Adult passengers are considered to be from the age of 12 and older.

 

Should clear up for the most of the tourists who come by air!

for what reason are they clarifying this..... A child no matter what age is charged full price if they occupy a seat.....aren't they?

[Hummin]

50 minutes ago, eyecatcher said:

for what reason are they clarifying this..... A child no matter what age is charged full price if they occupy a seat.....aren't they?

Good question and yes same price for the seat most of the routes and with the different airlines. Slightly differences. Buss and train is 16 year, and some amusements parks it is 15 years, or above 140 cm. I guess you just have to see what others do, and find your own solution to your question. It is easy to piss off some potential good regualar customers with an unlucky approach with your pricing. 

Edited July 16, 2018 by Hummin

[taotoo]

2 hours ago, eyecatcher said:

There was no attempt to withdraw the offer,

Then I'm not sure why you started telling them about airlines etc.

[eyecatcher]

45 minutes ago, taotoo said:

Then I'm not sure why you started telling them about airlines etc.

well, that was me sounding off to the wife on a secondhand conversation, as you do, without knowing the full facts, but she contacted me because she was taken aback as well which is very surprising for her.

[scottiejohn]

13 hours ago, eyecatcher said:

At that time the only child running about and enjoying it was me

So nice to be young at heart!

[Formaleins]

On ‎7‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 8:49 PM, NanLaew said:

A lot of parks, aquariums and other tourist attractions define the child's eligibility by height and have a simple ruler marked against the wall at the payment point. Seems to work for places that predominately have Thai families visiting and saves fart-arsing around with ID cards and the like.

Don't mention the height rule! The parents will be hacking their kids legs off at the knee to get a 5 Baht discount.

[Parsve]

If we look on to be old enough to have sex, the law here says sixteen (If it is not about having sex with a farrang, then it is 18). But as I see it, you can do like everyone else. You decide what you think is a child when coming to your company.

[Dante99]

22 hours ago, eyecatcher said:

A child no matter what age is charged full price if they occupy a seat.....aren't they?

No.  Child fares are less than adult fares and the child occupies a seat, except for babies, don't know about how that works.  Perhaps not all airlines but the 3 I use regularly are and have been this way for many years.

[terminatorchiangmai]

Under 12 its a kid, above 12 charge as an adult !

 

[dotpoom]

Too long to read all your OP...but it has been my experience in Thailand that a "child" ceases to be a child when it is over a certain height (don't ask me what that height is).

[gbswales]

It is for the business to determine what age they consider a child to become adult.  People under 18 are to varying degrees treated as "children" - for example they cant get credit cards in most countries.  Though my children are now fully grown I would have expected the discount to apply to a 15 year old unless it stated otherwise because at that age they are not working and have no other income to support them.  If the sign said children under 12 then that would be fine but if it just said children then I considered them children as long as they were still at school

[cornishcarlos]

9 hours ago, dotpoom said:

Too long to read all your OP...but it has been my experience in Thailand that a "child" ceases to be a child when it is over a certain height (don't ask me what that height is).

 

So midgets get discount for life ?

[junglechef]

On 7/17/2018 at 8:17 AM, scottiejohn said:

So nice to be young at heart!

 

Childlike or childish? ?

[scottiejohn]

2 hours ago, junglechef said:

 

Childlike or childish? ?

Both I hope! 

[Peasandmash]

i feel sorry for your poor wife. clearly, she does all the heavy lifting.  does someone with a small foot or small bum pay differently than someone with a large foot or large bum?  like they say, small minds run small businesses. when you're wife wants to work less and make more have her send me a message.