Waitress kept all the change

[StreetCowboy]

3 hours ago, Mitkof Island said:

I NEVER eat where there are other foreigners or a English menu NEVER. But then again avoid any places like Pattaya, Koh Samui, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Udon Thani, or Khao San Road. Guess what ? 99.99999 % of the time i have few if any issues with the Thais. In my opinion the foreigners in these places attract problems like a magnet.

We all need reasons to feel better than others.  

What happened to you the 10 millionth time?

[Shaunduhpostman]

 

What is so ingenuous about Thai style is that they really know how to rig these humiliating passive aggressive pay back to the bad farang games, and often a main component is the  ingredient that  you don't really know whether a short changing or being ignored and not served or not given a bill, the usual is just them spacing out and forgetting or becoming distracted or not. That may be all it is that your waitress is absent minded. But The ambiguity that gets baked in is really the salt in the wound. If you feel convinced that the short changing was deliberate, and you feel like risking deportation, your face all over Facebook and  Thai Visa headlines "Foreigner Short Changes a Restaurant 15 Baht! Refuses to Pay!" and even the target of a nationwide man hunt spearheaded by Big Joke and/or the wrath of her big brother and his cronies or whoever, why not just head right down to the restaurant right now with loads of change, order something and when it comes time to pay leave an amount that is 15 baht less than what is due and wait around for your waitress to come back and ask for the remaining 15 baht. Or put her in the position of being really petty by shorting the bill 2-3 baht. As Chief Joseph or one them injuns once said when facing certain defeat at the hands of General Cusstard or whoever, "Today is a good day to die (over 15 baht)". I wouldn't even bring up the past times you've been short changed and return the humiliation and ambiguity and simply cooly feign confusion her why she thinks 15 or 2-3 baht is so important? You can almost bet she does think it is important and that you give the money to her and I think you would have made your point whether you decide to relent and pay or take things up a notch a not pay. I guess the point is, don't forget that you can play them back if indeed they are taking the mickey. I remember at the office where I worked with one other westerner, we had cheekily been nagged for months to treat the staff of 6 Thais to a lunch ordering a Pizza Hut feast. We had the money and they didn't, it wasn't fair! One guy I could never tell if he was sincerely really angry that we hadn't bought the whole office lunch or if he was just playing. He'd shout at us sometimes. "You never buy lunch for the Thai staff!" We would just crack up laughing he looked so angry. We were paid so much and they weren't. Boo hoo! I don't know what got into me and my colleague but he got into feeling sorry for them one day and he twisted my arm a bit, "come on! It will be something different, lets treat them to a lunch feast like they have been nagging us! they can invite their friends over from the other offices and we can cheer things up a bit around here." I agreed and we gave them 2,000 baht budget or so and told them OK they could order food for all of us. When the food and the guests arrived from the other offices, they laid out the spread on their side of the office and placed a small salad on my desk and one on my colleagues desk. The rest of the food was meat pizza, chicken and other things that both my Aussie colleague and I could not eat because both of us were vegetarian. We asked had they ordered the vegetarian pizza and other things we could eat. "No. They not have." My colleague and were clearly relegated to our cubicles with the placement of the salad on our desks away from the others. They had the music blasting laughing and chomping and yucking it up with their freinds. They were jubilant at having made us pay for their lunch and party and they didn't even have to invite us.  My colleague and I just shook our heads, they were so much worse than we ever imagined. Just, thanks for the money, later fools! We were not feeling good at all so we left the office and had lunch elsewhere. When we got back they weren't there. The office was still a mess, chicken bones paper cups of half drunk Pepsi being wasted all over the place and crap all over. One of the points of contention in the office was that the Thai office workers had convinced the manager not to trust the farang with keys to the office. We had to wait for a Thai to be at work to unlock everything in the mornings. Sometimes no one showed up for work until 2-3 hours after we were supposed to be in the office and we simply had to stand in the hall and wait. Now we noticed that several of them had all left their keys on their desks. we were both finished with our work mostly so we just f****d off, closed the doors and left for the day.  We played it off the next day like we had no clue what had happened, "Yeah...we came back from lunch and we couldn't get in! Someone had closed the door! We were locked out! Oh my god! So we went home!" They had gotten locked out and they had to get a locksmith over the next morning to make copies because everyone's keys were locked inside. Just what they had told us, "We can't make copies of these keys for you because locksmith can't do it. Its special lock! Sorry na!" That was fun rubbing that one in, "the Special Lock!" jokes.

[StreetCowboy]

Brevity is the soul of wit: Wilde Shakespeare

 

EDIT
Self-doubt, the soul of truth

[pellets]

On 2/27/2019 at 12:02 PM, spidermike007 said:

No, it is 15 baht, since he was already planning on leaving 20 baht. But, I get your point. Unless stated, one cannot assume it is a tip. At least not here. In the US you get attitude for giving less than 20%. A $100 meal, and attitude for a 500 baht tip! 

Can agree to that, BUT Thais (almost) never give ONE BATH tip!

[moonseeker]

This happens often. Staff just needs to be explained / trained  by boss. These people are mostly untrained with limited views & education. Sometimes it is arrogance.....Mostly ignorance. 

No reason to be upset for most of us, who have been around. There are much more annoying issues. And looking at some of the quality tourists, I feel sorry for the staff often, too. MS>

[Jaxxper]

Great post ! I get 20-25 minutes of entertainment reading the comments to stuff like this whilst I'm waiting to take my daughter to school. Keep up the good work. Got to be worth Thb 15 of anybody's money !????

[SheungWan]

When I hear the refrain "Its the principle of the thing......" I just know its going to be a story about small change.

[SheungWan]

21 hours ago, JaiLai said:

I have never ever received a tip for doing my job.

Make sure your pencils are always sharpened.

[SheungWan]

On 2/27/2019 at 12:02 PM, spidermike007 said:

No, it is 15 baht, since he was already planning on leaving 20 baht. But, I get your point. Unless stated, one cannot assume it is a tip. At least not here. In the US you get attitude for giving less than 20%. A $100 meal, and attitude for a 500 baht tip! 

20 baht tip on a 400 baht meal. Fantastic.

[petedk]

On 2/27/2019 at 1:35 PM, Traubert said:

That's almost 1GBP. Shoot the bitch.

Or nearly 2000 CDF (almost a years salary for those people!!!!!!!!! so I am sure they would be happy)

 

Why does everyone have to compare with USA or UK? This is Thailand and the cost of living is different.

 

In this case it is the principle of the matter.

I recently ate in a so called western style restaurant and when the bill came, the waiter took out his pen and circled and underlined the words "service charge not included". I must admit I was going to tip 40 baht for a 300 baht meal, but when he did that I simply refused to pay. It isn't a place I have been to before and will never go back as in fact the service and food were not that great.

[elgenon]

On 2/26/2019 at 11:43 PM, Golden Triangle said:

I'm not quibbling about the amount, it is the principal that the waitress automatically decided that she would keep the 35 baht, and yes I know that waitresses don't get paid a fortune, that's her problem for failing in her education or life in general not mine, if she were an intelligent sort of person she wouldn't be waiting tables would she ? It is the assumption that she is entitled to keep the change, nothing more nothing less.

Not everyone has educational opportunities. Education costs money. Maybe she is saving for a future education. Many possibilities but probably didn't have the opportunities I did. Or maybe not that smart but doing the best she can. Many possibilities that you couldn't possibly know as you have already judged her.

 

However, I do agree with the jist of your post. I should be given my money to do with as I please. It is the principal. I personally like to give the money to the server to keep. But then, say I paid for my beer and expect 10 baht change. When she brings me the 10 Baht, I will put 20 baht in her hand. If she doesn't return the 10 Baht, oh well, the bar gets 10 baht.

[brokenbone]

3 hours ago, SheungWan said:

When I hear the refrain "Its the principle of the thing......" I just know its going to be a story about small change.

why should i give away money ?

if they arent bringing my food/drinks, they havnt kept their part of the deal, and i just wasted time.

do you understand that the deal includes delivery ?

no honey no money

[SAFETY FIRST]

20 hours ago, Jingthing said:

21 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Oh dear, was it the French Bakery you spoke highly about recently, the one located in Jomtien Complex?

You used to love that bakery and tell everyone how wonderful it was.

Jomtien Complex no existe. 

Ha, ha, who are you kidding?

 

There is a sign above the management office (Jomtien Complex) 3 shops down from the bakery.

 

We all know you love the new sign “Jomtien Walking Street” but it will always be Jomtien Complex.

 

[pellets]

On 2/27/2019 at 8:56 PM, Golden Triangle said:

Some of the countries I have lived/worked/travelled through,

 

UK

Northern Ireland

WHEN did N-Ireland SEPARATE from UK?
I have lived a couple of yrs in N-Ireland, and - at least that time, it was a part of the UK...

[bbko]

On 2/28/2019 at 8:59 AM, Blue Muton said:

I'm with the OP for standing up for his principles.

Standing up?  He folded to a waitress, to timid to call her over and ask for his rightful change.   The notion that she wasn't available or appeared busy,  is a joke.  If by standing up for his principals you mean a keyboard warrior, then ok, he wins that one, myself I would have called her back and in the most polite way got my money back.  Maybe the waitress learned many farangs are afraid to raise the question of "Where's my change?"   

[Spidey]

3 hours ago, bbko said:

Maybe the waitress learned many farangs are afraid to raise the question of "Where's my change?"   

Or just couldn't be bothered for an extra 15 baht.

[spidermike007]

18 hours ago, pellets said:

Can agree to that, BUT Thais (almost) never give ONE BATH tip!

Neither do most Europeans! But, you are right about Thais. My wife has gotten used to me giving tips, and she has traveled in the US, so she knows they are expected there. But, when I eat with other friends, who have Thai wives or girlfriends, I can tell how bizarre the whole concept is for them. Even when I leave 20 or 40 baht, they cannot believe it. And they encourage their men to NOT leave a tip. I tend to scold them, and let them know how incredibly cheap they are being. They do not like that, as the truth can be painful to bear!

[sanemax]

7 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Neither do most Europeans! But, you are right about Thais. My wife has gotten used to me giving tips, and she has traveled in the US, so she knows they are expected there. But, when I eat with other friends, who have Thai wives or girlfriends, I can tell how bizarre the whole concept is for them. Even when I leave 20 or 40 baht, they cannot believe it. And they encourage their men to NOT leave a tip. I tend to scold them, and let them know how incredibly cheap they are being. They do not like that, as the truth can be painful to bear!

When you give tips in Thailand , the owner is likely to think that he is pricing the food too cheaply and he will raise the price

[NanLaew]

On 2/28/2019 at 2:03 PM, scorecard said:

Guess you don't like foreigners.

Sociopathy... it's not for everyone.

[NanLaew]

On 3/1/2019 at 12:02 AM, Jaxxper said:

Great post ! I get 20-25 minutes of entertainment reading the comments to stuff like this whilst I'm waiting to take my daughter to school. Keep up the good work. Got to be worth Thb 15 of anybody's money !????

Agreed.

 

But what on earth was poster #154 on about?

[Spidey]

7 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Agreed.

 

But what on earth was poster #154 on about?

He left his paragraphs at home.

[scorecard]

On 2/28/2019 at 11:32 PM, moonseeker said:

This happens often. Staff just needs to be explained / trained  by boss. These people are mostly untrained with limited views & education. Sometimes it is arrogance.....Mostly ignorance. 

No reason to be upset for most of us, who have been around. There are much more annoying issues. And looking at some of the quality tourists, I feel sorry for the staff often, too. MS>

There's a point, maybe boss has policies but do the staff follow them?

 

Often no.

 

Plus maybe another waitress is pushing (ignoring any policies from the boss) for all staff to keep all change?

 

 

[atyclb]

a sadly comical followup. in a pub where the servers never said thank you or even nodded their head in gesture when receiving a tip, just acted as if it is their god given right of entitlement, i stopped tipping telling them the reason.   recently at the same place since there was a new gal server i left a tip, still no thank you but her face lit up when she saw the MONEY. happiness via money but no thought to thank the source of it. again i have been at thai venues numerous times and i have yet to encounter such behavior.

[GreenerGrass]

You start of saying your not a cheap Charlie, then you go on to say that you are a little pissed off that she took 35 baht. Approx. 1$ are you on medication. Excuse me but what is the big deal there is no principle when it comes to 1$. The girl gets paid buttons, she served you and your girl. It's really sad that you felt the need to post this. Your point is she felt she was owed it and took 

On 2/27/2019 at 2:43 PM, Golden Triangle said:

I'm not quibbling about the amount, it is the principal that the waitress automatically decided that she would keep the 35 baht, and yes I know that waitresses don't get paid a fortune, that's her problem for failing in her education or life in general not mine, if she were an intelligent sort of person she wouldn't be waiting tables would she ? It is the assumption that she is entitled to keep the change, nothing more nothing less.

You feel a little pissed because of the principle, is she entitled to a 1$ tip and to automatically take it rather than wait for your good nature, not being a cheap charlie. Yes I think she is, unless the food/service was bad. If things like this get you even a little pissed you should get your heart checked.