Oh Man! Foreign tourist racks up 50K bar tab after ringing the bell 20 times!

[Benmart]

What a shameless place this has evolved into. 

[firestar]

Riiiiiight I am sure he thought the hysterical screaming and treys of drinks were free... and his Thai girlfriend didn't know what the bell meant either. SMH

 

More like he couldn't handle his drink, played the big man and had buyers regret.

 

BTW if he rang the bell over 20 times at 2000 a pop the bill will be there or there abouts

[firestar]

6 minutes ago, Benmart said:

What a shameless place this has evolved into. 

 

The bells were always here, if you get drunk and do stupid sh it it's on you...

 

 

___________

Edited September 13, 2019 by firestar

[Peterbkk99]

When a customer rings the bell, even once, the waiters or the mamasan should first make sure that there is no misunderstanding. But 20 times?? The mamasan knew very well what was going on. So typical!

 

 

Edited September 13, 2019 by Peterbkk99

[KhunBENQ]

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

2500 baht per bell ring sounds reasonable

Although many bars will clearly state a fixed amount like 1000 Baht and only for the girls.

Drinks for all incl. customers is not the norm.

But 20 rings, at least 20000 Baht. So 14500 was a good deal.

[stevemac]

he's from Oman, muslim country..... muslims don't (are not supposed to) drink alcohol and don't frequent bars quite surprised with the post

Orange juice?

Sent from my SM-G965F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[hioctane]

Why have bells in the bars anyway? Is Thailand the only country that does this?

To make money! Pretty much any country with bar girls have it. Off the top of my head, Phillipines and Cambodia.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BestB]

Is not beer bars ring bell 1000 baht? 

 

So even if he rang it 20 times his bill is still double .

 

Fact that bar agreed to settle for 1/3 of the bill proves bill was massively padded 

[Vacuum]

11 minutes ago, firestar said:

BTW if he rang the bell over 20 times at 2000 a pop the bill will be there or there abouts

If so, the bar owner should've understood that the 'ringer' was drunk, or didn't know what he was doing, and should've stopped/explained to him what he was on to. But greed took over. Sad.

Edited September 13, 2019 by Vacuum

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Nice girlfriend too, he didn't know what ringing the bell meant, and she didn't tell him.

 

Girlfriend for rent?  Probably well accustomed to the world of bell-ringing, and perhaps assuming her date for the night knew what he was doing. He was, after all, from the Middle East, and they all have oil money there....  

[sanemax]

12 hours ago, BestB said:

Is not beer bars ring bell 1000 baht? 

 

So even if he rang it 20 times his bill is still double .

 

Fact that bar agreed to settle for 1/3 of the bill proves bill was massively padded 

The fact that the bar accepted the reduced amount doesnt prove anything , the bar may have accepted cost price or the Police may had strongly suggested that the bar resolves the issue by accepting the amount .

  YOUR first sentence doesn't make sense , but if you was asking wheteher it costs 1000 Baht to ring the bell , no it doesnt

[Totoandlilly]

24 minutes ago, miamiman123 said:

Right let’s keep those Bars open till 4am???

ha! 

Why not ? Bars should be allowed to be open as long as they want, but no music after 1-2 am.

 

this is normal In the rest of the world, unless you come from a nanny state <deleted>hole where you are the governments slave and do what you are told..

 

freedom mister, no one are forced to stay in the city center, in the city center is usually where all the noice is,  if people can’t handle noise, then they should have stayed in a different location, this isn’t rocket science, I prefer quiet environment, that’s why I’m staying in the middle of no where, but I understand tourists want to enjoy their holiday as well.

[BobBKK]

Oman this was bad he thought he was ringing the Bell for prayers?

[Nyezhov]

11 minutes ago, hioctane said:

 

To make money! Pretty much any country with bar girls have it. Off the top of my head, Phillipines and Cambodia.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

They have them in bars in the USA

[Bantex]

I was in a bar a few years intending to have one beer but one customer rang the bell soo many times that at one point I had 7 beers in front of me. He was also pushing 1000 baht notes into the girls bikini bottoms. I heard one girl say to the others (in Thai) that he had just given her a seventh 1000 baht note and another girl told her to hide the notes so he couldn’t see how many she had. Every bell ring was one drink to him, 10 drinks in to other customers, 20 drinks to the bargirls + ??? Staff.

Cheap nights drinking for me.

[Kerryd]

I've rang the bell in a few different bars, a few different times. In one place they used to put the name and date of any bell ringer up on the big mirrors that went around the place. At one point I had almost filled an entire mirror by myself.
At that place they had upwards of 20 dancers and 4-5 servers/cashiers/bartenders (and not many customers normally). An average ring (which was for Tequila shots) would cost 2-2,200 baht. (I think they had a special price for those).

I was making the "big bucks" working in Afghanistan so ringing the bell 2-3 times a night wasn't a big deal. I've gone to some places (like the old Polo go-go bar) and had bills upwards of 17,000 baht on a good night (without ringing any bells).

However, I always checked the bin and in most places, the waitress that was serving me would bring the new bill over and present it to me before putting it into the cup. In fact, they would do that even if I just ordered a single drink for myself (or a lady drink for one of the girls).
I never had a bill "padded" but there were a couple times where I was short on cash. No problem, one of the girls would escort me to the nearest ATM and back, pay the bill and carry on.

But I've also seen punters just wave at the staff when they've tried to present a bill (or just point to their bin cup) and not even look at it. Little wonder some of them are surprised when the night is through and it's time to pay up.

You almost get the impression they think that all the drinks they are buying for the ladies are free or something !

One guy I used to work with in Kabul had a really bad habit of ringing the bell in almost every beer bar he went to. Even when the job had ended and his was living on his savings, he was still sitting in beer bars ringing the bell night after night.

He thought he was "Mr Popular" and that everyone loved him. Well of course they did - until he ran out of money of course. Once the bells stopped ringing, he was just another souse propping up a bar stool.

It's amazing how many friends you have as long as you are ringing that bell. I used to have parties at one bar, until I found out that the manager would tell all his buddies when I was having a party so they could show up and have free food and lots of free drinks from all the bell ringing. He even arranged to have his own "going away party" on a night when I was hosting a big "end of contract" party at his bar so that he and his friends could have a great time on my tab. 
Since then I rarely ring a bell anywhere.

Many places have signs stating that ringing the bell only buys the dancers on stage at the time a drink. Some places have 2 bells - one buys everyone in the bar a drink and the other just buys all the "girls" a drink.

But 99 times out of a hundred, if someone is shocked by their bar bill at the end of a night - it's usually because they weren't paying attention to how much they were drinking (or how many they were buying for others) or they were trying to be the big shot "Mr Popular" with the girls.

In the West they usually make you pay for every round as soon as they serve you. They know that people will try to skip on their bills or make up some BS story to get out of paying it.

By the way - not all Muslim countries are "dry" (no alcohol) and Muslims in many countries drink alcohol. It's just another of the many inconsistencies (or hypocrisies) that many religions have.
As well, not everyone in every Muslim country is "Muslim". A lot may be "Muslim" when they are home as it can be deadly (literally) to be thought of as anything else. Especially if you live in one of the 13 or so Muslim countries where being an Atheist is a crime punishable by death. (Seriously - last time I checked on that which was a couple years ago now, there were 13 countries, all Muslim, where atheism is a crime and the punishment is death.) Being an apostate is also punishable by death in many Muslim countries.
 

I was having dinner with a Muslim guide in Egypt one time. I ordered a meal, then he asked me what I wanted to drink. I was going to go for a soda when he suggested a whiskey, so I had a Jack-Coke instead and he ordered a beer.

I mentioned that I thought Muslims weren't allowed to drink. He smiled, took a swig of his beer and said "We are a little more progressive than some others". They even brew their own beer in Egypt (Stella being the most popular brand it seems).

They have nightclubs in Cairo (and other places) that are mainly frequented by rich Saudis who drive over on the weekends. They drop the wives off at the hotel to go shopping while the men go to the clubs to drink and "play". We drove past clubs that were still going strong at 9-10 in the morning, with parking lots that probably had a million dollars (or more) worth of cars in them.

One of my best friends in Thailand is Muslim. I knew him for maybe 3 or 4 years before I found out he was (is) Muslim. We partied together, played with women in go-gos, he smoked ganja (a lot). He was managing a go-go bar in Pattaya and riding a Harley when I met him
I only found out he was Muslim one day when I was at the bar we were partners in and I ordered a couple pizzas. One was a Meat Lovers and had ham on it. His wife said she couldn't eat it (even though she was actually Buddhist) because her husband couldn't eat pork.

I asked him about it and that's when I found out he was/is Muslim. (And, true to form, he won't eat pork. And hates Israel - because he was told to.)

I know a few other Muslims that are just the same. They drink, smoke ganja, play with women and eat shellfish like there's no tomorrow - but they won't touch pork.
I know one guy though that admits having eaten pork - but he said it was OK because it was "clean pork" and the pigs had been raised "hygienically". 

Meanwhile in Afghanistan, they won't touch shellfish at all and they can't even sell stuff like Windex window cleaner in the country because it contains a trace amount of alcohol ! They used to confiscate booze from foreigners arriving in Kabul - but they ran into 2 problems. They started getting a huge pile of booze in the Customs area of the airport and no one would simply open the bottles/cans and dump them down the drain because they might come into contact with the alcohol (and apparently go straight to hell).
The second problem was - they started noticing the pile getting smaller as stuff started disappearing (pilfered by their own people). Rather than let that continue they decided to stop searching the foreigners.
Problem solved !

In this case, I'd say the guy was probably doing the "I'm the most popular guy here" routine and luxuriating in all the attention that normally comes with ringing the bell. Suddenly the night is over and the bill is totalled and the shock sets in.

I remember the first time my dear old dad rang the bell (at the place where they put your name on the mirror). The bartender poured all the Tequila shots, the girls all lined up to get theirs (and their "tip" chit) and then they all filed past dad, giving him a peck on the cheek before downing the shot.
He had more female attention in 5 minutes than he'd had in the previous 10 (or 20 or so) years, and they were all nubile (legally aged) young things wearing g-strings and a smile ! Lucky the old b****** didn't die of a heart attack right then and there ! (Still miss you dad.)

(Over the next year he did ring the bell a few more times himself but was smart enough to not get carried away with it.)

More than a few punters have fallen into the "I'm a STAR" trap as a result of ringing the bell. If they made people pay for each round of drinks (like they do in the west) there'd be fewer problems. Not sure why they don't do that. I know that they usually keep an eagle eye on the customers to make sure none of them try to sneak out without paying (often while using the "I'm just answering a call on my phone trick" that they seem to think no one else will have ever thought of before).

I've gone to a couple of places where I've ordered a drink, looked at the bin when it arrived and said "that's it for me" before paying the bin, finishing the drink and going somewhere else.
(In one place, I saw another guy order a beer. It arrived, he looked at the bin, put the money in the cup, took a single drink of the beer and walked out. I mean sheesh - at least finish your drink !)

If you can't handle your drink and you aren't smart enough to keep track of how much you are spending, then you deserve what you get !

(I wonder if his female friend did work at that bar - and if she still has a job there the next day ! I imagine the owner won't be too pleased about how it turned out.)

 
 

[RedPill]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Nice girlfriend too, he didn't know what ringing the bell meant, and she didn't tell him

Probably made him ring the bell, you know how the girls always try to bring the guys back to their bar ... good face ????

 

[fasteddie]

3 hours ago, batata said:

he's from Oman, muslim country..... muslims don't (are not supposed to) drink alcohol and don't frequent bars quite surprised with the post

You need to get out more, plenty of Muslims drink alcohol, a Jordanian pilot I once knew regularly drunk all us expats under the table, he even took me up in his Hunter early one morning right after a messy session and proceeded to roll her and fly upside down trying to get me to throw up, he failed.

[hellohello123]

24 minutes ago, sanemax said:

The fact that the bar accepted the reduced amount doesnt prove anything , the bar may have accepted cost price or the Police may had strongly suggested that the bar resolves the issue by accepting the amount .

  YOUR first sentence doesn't make sense , but if you was asking wheteher it costs 1000 Baht to ring the bell , no it doesnt

in my country, if at a bar, some drunk customer says . "I want a dom perignon, dom perignon please, I would like a dom perignon delivered to my table"

 

thats not an automated permission to deliver 3 bottles of dom perignon,

because,  chances are the person isnt going to pay, is going to make a fuss, and isnt worht it for the staff to extort 3 bottles out of him

 

common sense prevails in my country

[ehs818]

Whether you ring the bar once, or 20 times at the same ringing, it's good for only 1 round of drinks. Period. Not 20. <deleted>.  Thanks to the police it was more reasonable. But imagine if the bar staff decided to take it out on the farang. His brains would be all over the floor.

[sanemax]

12 hours ago, hellohello123 said:

in my country, if at a bar, some drunk customer says . "I want a dom perignon, dom perignon please, I would like a dom perignon delivered to my table"

 

thats not an automated permission to deliver 3 bottles of dom perignon,

because,  chances are the person isnt going to pay, is going to make a fuss, and isnt worht it for the staff to extort 3 bottles out of him

 

common sense prevails in my country

But we are not in your Country .

Also , this is a story about a guy buying other people drinks

[hobobo]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

So he was right then, overcharged by nearly 40Kbht.

Police made him pay 14,500bht. 

 

Nice girlfriend too, he didn't know what ringing the bell meant, and she didn't tell him.

And he didn't have enough left for the bar fine 

[Crusader]

As a newbie to Thailand in the early 90's, when bell ringing in bars was very common, I rang the bell in one of the larger bars (then) in Soi Cowboy.  It was not that busy, but on hearing the bell dozens of people came running in from outside...a big bill and a lesson learned.

[JAG]

3 hours ago, CharlieH said:

The Police should have immediately charged the bar owner with attempted fraud ! or extortion, and send a message to others not to try and fleece tourists, obvious they were not being truthful to allow/agree a reduction/settlement of that size.

Oh I should imagine that the police came to some "informal fiscal arrangement" with the bar owner...

[PhonThong]

3 hours ago, batata said:

he's from Oman, muslim country..... muslims don't (are not supposed to) drink alcohol and don't frequent bars quite surprised with the post

Go to the hotel bars in Manila. Plenty of Muslims drinking alcohol. Hypocrisy at its finest.

[sahibji]

2 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Why have bells in the bars anyway? Is Thailand the only country that does this?

to ring in bigger profits.

[AlQaholic]

I thought Muslims were prohibited from visiting bars in Pattaya, out of consideration for their religion.

[Pilotman]

4 minutes ago, AlQaholic said:

I thought Muslims were prohibited from visiting bars in Pattaya, out of consideration for their religion.

To see the answer to your question, just watch our Middle Eastern friends get off their flights at BKK, change quickly from their National Dress into shorts and T shirts and go whoring and drinking to their hearts content. Like a great many professed religious people ( maybe even the vast majority), they are very flexible when it comes to interpreting the rules,

[Pilotman]

20 minutes ago, Crusader said:

As a newbie to Thailand in the early 90's, when bell ringing in bars was very common, I rang the bell in one of the larger bars (then) in Soi Cowboy.  It was not that busy, but on hearing the bell dozens of people came running in from outside...a big bill and a lesson learned.

Why did you do that? I have never bought a drink for someone I didn't know, or care a jot about, which describes most people I ever found in bars. 

[dunroaming]

3 hours ago, batata said:

he's from Oman, muslim country..... muslims don't (are not supposed to) drink alcohol and don't frequent bars quite surprised with the post

Maybe he wasn't a Muslim, not everyone in Oman are.  I do agree about the Thai girlfriend though, who would have been on commission from the bar and therefore no doubt egging him on.

 

As for the final bill, that was negotiated down from the original.  No reason to believe that the original bill wasn't valid, just a practical matter of how much they could get from the punter who would have was, no doubt, claiming poverty!  Of course the bar should have informed the man that the bar bill was growing but hey!