Is This the Death Knell for the Cheap Charlies in Thailand?

[holy cow cm]

15 hours ago, ExpatOK said:

Thank you. I have a big crush on her and I hear she's single now.  But, alas, I don't have money, nor am I her brother.????

Give it up if your eating pork and rice as you stated the Cheapo expats are doing.

[brokenbone]

Quote

I notice more and more Cheap Charlies leaving Thailand.  No longer do our tales of woe convince the Thais to give us discounts on meals consisting of only pork and rice. No more phony Embassy letters for retirement visas.  And now there is talk of requiring the expensive Thai health insurance for retirement visas, OA class now, but no doubt all classes in the future.  

 

Thailand is moving up, worlds ahead of neighboring Cambodia and Vietnam in terms of infrastructure and western amenities.  Yes, visas there are easy, but living is not.

 

So, is this the death knell for Cheap Charlies in Thailand?  Are we about to become extinct?

========================================

firstly you are going to have to define what constitutes being a 'cheap charlie' ?

cause i always thought it refer exclusively to people that doesnt gives allowances

to strangers and call it 'tip', which is just about every non american,

but it was just about only americans that could get 'phony embassy letters'

so what nationality are you confused about ?

 

secondly i have never seen or heard of any foreigner trying to convince thais

to give discounts on meals, actually i do, i recall a thai woman in a noodle shop

complaining russians wanted to negotiate price for red pork,

but that is the only instance i can recall from almost 20 years

[thaibeachlovers]

15 hours ago, Nebula said:

Agree, and like the west it has started to become. Foreigners, and to be specific westerners ie Western Europe and North Americans, Australians. Could I say they brought it on themselves? The same as those embracing diversity and after the new comers numbers increased... u ll know the story. They brought it on themselves too.

First they started to become unfriendly, like westerners- the smile vanished

then they became greedy, like westerners- money trumps everything else, including the environment

then they started to become PC- no longer do Thai girls smile back- it's more likely to be a scowl, as in the west

then they started to become fat, just as westerners are

Sooooo, if they are becoming more bureaucratic just like western countries, isn't that just because of westernisation?

[holy cow cm]

1 hour ago, dragula said:

glad to see the trash is taken out.....

Looks just like a minotaur.

[mauGR1]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

First they started to become unfriendly, like westerners- the smile vanished

then they became greedy, like westerners- money trumps everything else, including the environment

then they started to become PC- no longer do Thai girls smile back- it's more likely to be a scowl, as in the west

then they started to become fat, just as westerners are

Sooooo, if they are becoming more bureaucratic just like western countries, isn't that just because of westernisation?

I have been having the same thoughts quite often recently, in fact we could be responsible for some of the things we don't like of Thailand.

[1FinickyOne]

16 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I suppose I could be called a Cheap Charlie. My GF cuts my hair for me, and buys secondhand clothes for me. I don't squander money on expensive meals. Just once in a while, as a treat. If I'm buying a big ticket item, I look for the best value, or buy used if it is only a couple of months old.

I don't feel any need to impress friends or neighbors with my possessions. As the last time I was in debt was 1974, my philosophy is working for me.

I regard educating my Thai GF it is better to be a saver than a debtor as a triumph. She gets it now. My father taught me, and I'm passing it on.

yeah, sorry, spending money wisely does not qualify as being a cheap charlie... nor does limiting personal wants... though begrudging a family visit to a national park for 200 baht - - well, that does qualify in my book... 

 

good for you on your thoughtful habits... hope you are not doing the latter... 

[1FinickyOne]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

First they started to become unfriendly, like westerners- the smile vanished

then they became greedy, like westerners- money trumps everything else, including the environment

then they started to become PC- no longer do Thai girls smile back- it's more likely to be a scowl, as in the west

then they started to become fat, just as westerners are

Sooooo, if they are becoming more bureaucratic just like western countries, isn't that just because of westernisation?

Glad to say I just don't see much of this... I smile, people smile back, a nice friendly smile as always has been in my many years here... I do notice that there are many aggressive and radiantly angry-attitude farang here and I am sure they don't get many smiles... but it is quite unfair to say that Thai are unfriendly... when I give out friendly, I get friendly back... 

[LomSak27]

Just now, mauGR1 said:

I have been having the same thoughts quite often recently, in fact we could be responsible for some of the things we don't like of Thailand.

You think that much you are going to get a headache.

 

Could be farang(expat farang) were considered a threat to the system, the P/Nong status respect culture, because they opened there mouth to much. So they were 'discouraged'. It was found they were a good thing to have around to blame things on.  Accepting responsibility for bad things, is a rare commodity in country, now you had a ready made receptacle to dump in. If it started under the red, it morphed to yellow and finally now green. Handy thing to have around and no one has turned it off.

 

Unfortunately it also happened that these foreigners were the original golden goose as regards tourism. No problem "we're teflon they will never know."

 

Well the teflon wore off.

 

Now they are recruiting Chinese, Russians, Indians, Patagonians, Panamanians 

Hope it all works out.  

 

 

[mauGR1]

9 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

Glad to say I just don't see much of this... I smile, people smile back, a nice friendly smile as always has been in my many years here... I do notice that there are many aggressive and radiantly angry-attitude farang here and I am sure they don't get many smiles... but it is quite unfair to say that Thai are unfriendly... when I give out friendly, I get friendly back... 

It depends where you are, i guess. I also have generally a good day-to-day friendly experience, yet, where tourists congregate in high numbers, you can see a change in attitudes.

[ben2talk]

It's getting tighter in some respects - after a Myocardial Infarction cost me 320,000 for 3 days in hospital with 2 stents, I was keen to register a cheaper option.

 

The 'cheaper option' is basically not popular with the hospitals - despite my wife doing the negotiation. The Thai language registration is for Citizen ID only, and there's an English language passport registration.

They say you'll have to go to the 3rd floor for the Premium service (can be equivalent or more expensive than private hospitals)... and it's more by luck (having visited first a new hospital which put us through registration before telling us they have no facilities for Heart surgery) that we found out you can use a Marriage Certificate to register at Thai prices.

But still, through 4 locations/desks/paperworks they insisted farang must go to the 3rd floor.

 

Cheap charlie? 320,000 isn't cheap. The 'cheap' option for my next two stents will be 150,000. Already I opted to avoid the prescription medication from the original hospital - got a list and bought it from a cheaper pharmacy locally. The price was still 7,000 for the first month's supply.

 

Even the cheap medication is more expensive than it would be elsewhere - the cheap 'heart-rate monitor' costing 2400 here would cost around 60% that much in the US, and that's a better version with bluetooth data transfer instead of having to manually record/copy the data.

[BritManToo]

12 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

Glad to say I just don't see much of this... I smile, people smile back, a nice friendly smile as always has been in my many years here... I do notice that there are many aggressive and radiantly angry-attitude farang here and I am sure they don't get many smiles... but it is quite unfair to say that Thai are unfriendly... when I give out friendly, I get friendly back... 

I have no interest in interacting with people I don't know, and probably wouldn't like if I did know.

As my dad used to say, "the village idiot smiles at everyone and everything"

[Olmate]

6 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I have no interest in interacting with people I don't know, and probably wouldn't like if I did know.

As my dad used to say, "the village idiot smiles at everyone and everything"

In union terms “a closed shop” then! Bit limiting don,t u reckon?

[ChakaKhan]

17 hours ago, ExpatOK said:

Thank you. I have a big crush on her and I hear she's single now.  But, alas, I don't have money, nor am I her brother.????

Dont go near Trumps daughter, he already called dibs....

 

 

[petermik]

7 hours ago, BritManToo said:

 

As my dad used to say, "the village idiot smiles at everyone and everything"

But how do you tell which one it is....

[LomSak27]

48 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

have no interest in interacting with people I don't know, and probably wouldn't like if I did know.

As my dad used to say, "the village idiot smiles at everyone and everything"

 

That may play well in Chillingborough, but if you are living in LOS, definitely works against you.   

[Matzzon]

19 hours ago, ExpatOK said:

Are we about to become extinct?

Sincerely hope so. Why in the world would you go to a foreign country, to behave in a lower way than you do in your home country?

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, LomSak27 said:

You think that much you are going to get a headache.

 

 

 

There are some people who enjoy thinking, and don't get any adverse consequences from so doing.

[LomSak27]

34 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

There are some people who enjoy thinking, and don't get any adverse consequences from so doing.

True, however in this particular case, for that particular post  that mine was in response to.  ...  The immortal Teds quote would apply.

 

"If you don't think that good, don't think that much"    

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, kenk24 said:

Glad to say I just don't see much of this... I smile, people smile back, a nice friendly smile as always has been in my many years here... I do notice that there are many aggressive and radiantly angry-attitude farang here and I am sure they don't get many smiles... but it is quite unfair to say that Thai are unfriendly... when I give out friendly, I get friendly back... 

Nothing to do with me. I observed Thais in areas where I was the only farang, and they didn't smile at each other. But hey, make it personal by all means, and imply that it was because I was an angry farang.

Anyway, Thais have smiles for all occasions. No doubt the smile they give you is the "smile for farangs that think Thais are always smiling even if it isn't so".

Have a nice day.

 

PS. my Thai GF of 8 years had the most wonderful smile I've ever seen outside of rural Fiji in the 70s ( that's gone too ). It was like seeing the sun emerge from behind a cloud and made me all warm inside. That was before we started our relationship. By the time we parted ways she had lost the smile, and don't say it was because of me. It was over same period most Thais lost the smile.

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Anyway, Thais have smiles for all occasions. No doubt the smile they give you is the "smile for farangs that think Thais are always smiling even if it isn't so".

Have a nice day.

The smile they give me is the "he's probably got money and I might be able to get some of it" smile.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, LomSak27 said:

 

That may play well in Chillingborough, but if you are living in LOS, definitely works against you.   

In your lifetime of experience of Thailand?

 

Never a problem for me in all my years of living in LOS.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

The smile they give me is the "he's probably got money and I might be able to get some of it" smile.

That was the smile they gave me till I got married. After that it was the "poor sucker got married and will be skint soon" smile.

[petermik]

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

 

 

PS. my Thai GF of 8 years had the most wonderful smile I've ever seen outside of rural Fiji in the 70s ( that's gone too ). It was like seeing the sun emerge from behind a cloud and made me all warm inside. That was before we started our relationship. By the time we parted ways she had lost the smile, and don't say it was because of me.

Come on then enlighten us...why did she lose the smile 

[samsensam]

 

the way the term cheap charlie gets banded around amuses and confuses me; is it an insult or a way someone looks on others in order to feel superior? what is a cheap charlie?

 

i know a foreign guy lives round my way, he wears the same very basic clothing every day, fills water bottles from water fountains and eats at the cheapest food stalls, it's i guess, all he can afford, does that make him a cheap charlie?

 

I know people who have a lot of money but are careful with it, they dont throw it away unnecessarily, they understand the value of money - are they cheap charlies?

 

in the end of the day everyone works hard for their money and how they choose to spend it is nothing to do with anyone else. live and let live.

[Jane Dough]

I think many in Thailand failed to heed the warning when that bar near the end of Sukhumvit Soi 11 (was it?) closed down. 

 

I say "was it" because I never went to "Cheap Charlies".

 

I couldn't afford their exorbitant rates for a beverage.  

 

Rooster

[metempsychotic]

The term Cheap Charlie is archaic hooker slang and if you are still using it the world has moved on without you, Sam as skykab, butterfly, helicopter and boom boom and short time. 

[metempsychotic]

Just now, Jane Dough said:

I think many in Thailand failed to heed the warning when that bar near the end of Sukhumvit Soi 11 (was it?) closed down. 

 

I say "was it" because I never went to "Cheap Charlies".

 

I couldn't afford their exorbitant rates for a beverage.  

 

Rooster

It didn't close, it moved and still does well. 

[thaibeachlovers]

25 minutes ago, petermik said:

Come on then enlighten us...why did she lose the smile 

I told you already but you didn't quote that.

It was over same period most Thais lost the smile.

Same reason all the other Thais lost theirs

[thaibeachlovers]

28 minutes ago, samsensam said:

fills water bottles from water fountains

That's dicing with danger. I doubt they ever change the filters. I only used that water for the fish tank and bought water at 7 11 to drink.

[Lacessit]

31 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

That's dicing with danger. I doubt they ever change the filters. I only used that water for the fish tank and bought water at 7 11 to drink.

I'm a belt and braces person. I buy water from the RO water units, 3 baht for 2 litres. Then I boil it.