Thai Honesty: Tourist who left 700,000 baht in hilltop restaurant gets it all back

[sitanonchai]

This is fake (set up) news, nobody leaves that amount in a taxi.

Just a way of trying to improve the "good" name of the Taxis. 

[Mavideol]

another TAT marketing gig, they need to improve their image

[Misterwhisper]

While I warmly commend the restaurant owner and his staff for their honesty and having done the only thing that was right and decent in this case, I just DESPISE that obnoxious headline.

 

THAI honesty...?????

 

Why did it have to be THAI honesty??? It just sounds as if honesty were the exclusive domain of the Thai people (and we all know it ain't). Have been browsing similar news articles from around the world just to make sure my outrage was justified.

 

And sure enough: Not once did I come across headlines containing word concoctions like GERMAN honesty, BRAZILIAN honesty, SWEDISH honesty, MONGOLIAN honesty and similar constructs. I just wanna puke!

 

If the the local media is in the opinion that this type of headlining serves any purpose apart from flogging the nationalism card, I wish they would be more consistent in their other news reporting and resort to headlines such as: Thai Dishonesty, Thai Corruption, Thai Criminality, Thai Environmental Destruction, Thai Hypocrisy, just to mention a few. Not going to happen, of course.  

[ParkerN]

Well, the honesty of 1 or perhaps a few Thai(s) is demonstrated anyway, and there probably are a good few of them - for various possible reasons.

 

The test of this though, is why it is newsworthy; if acts like this were as commonplace as some would seek to imply, then it just wouldn't be.

[ParkerN]

32 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

While I warmly commend the restaurant owner and his staff for their honesty and having done the only thing that was right and decent in this case, I just DESPISE that obnoxious headline.

 

THAI honesty...?????

 

Why did it have to be THAI honesty??? It just sounds as if honesty were the exclusive domain of the Thai people (and we all know it ain't). Have been browsing similar news articles from around the world just to make sure my outrage was justified.

 

And sure enough: Not once did I come across headlines containing word concoctions like GERMAN honesty, BRAZILIAN honesty, SWEDISH honesty, MONGOLIAN honesty and similar constructs. I just wanna puke!

 

If the the local media is in the opinion that this type of headlining serves any purpose apart from flogging the nationalism card, I wish they would be more consistent in their other news reporting and resort to headlines such as: Thai Dishonesty, Thai Corruption, Thai Criminality, Thai Environmental Destruction, Thai Hypocrisy, just to mention a few. Not going to happen, of course.  

 

Nail on head. The whole thang is cringeworthy really.

[Jane Dough]

5 hours ago, Sticky Wicket said:

Who on earth goes to a restaurant with 700k in a bag?

I have carried that much but I went directly from A to B with it & I was acutely aware I had it

I definitely didn't stop in a restaurant for a spot of lunch......... and then forget it!!

Clearly you have never eaten Shark's Fin soup.

 

Rooster

[ChipButty]

I was thinking recently we have not had one of the famous taxi drivers stories 1 million baht left on the back seat

[Misterwhisper]

5 hours ago, roo860 said:

I once found a comb in a public toilet.

????

I've found a lot of things in public toilets over the decades. But it wasn't combs. Must've been to the wrong public toilets.

[Tonyt00]

Amazing how many people are so free with someone elses reward money. I think its pretty good to give everyone three days pay, just for being honest, and doing what is right. Maybe that money was very tight, and needed it all to deposit in the bank. Im sure everyone here would have given at least 10k!

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

While I warmly commend the restaurant owner and his staff for their honesty and having done the only thing that was right and decent in this case, I just DESPISE that obnoxious headline.

 

THAI honesty...?????

Most of the Thais I know wouldn't consider Hilltribe people as 'Thai'.

[Ireland32]

10 hours ago, steven100 said:

he's messed it all up  ....  he was suppose to be in a taxi not at a restaurant.

and pretty lousy gratitude .... 700,000 and he gives 1,000 to all staff,  what the cook & a waitress 

1000b each it says

[djayz]

Who forgets a bag with that much dosh in it? 

[evadgib]

2 hours ago, ChipButty said:

I was thinking recently we have not had one of the famous taxi drivers stories 1 million baht left on the back seat

They normally appear the day after a boat has rolled over or tourists have been used elsewhere for bayonet practice.

[Steverino999]

12 hours ago, petermik said:

Hopefully if a foreigner had left the money the result would have been the same......

He should have manned-up and forked over 70K....10% Shame on him for 1) Forgetting the money in the restaurant (most people would have guarded it with their life!) 2) For being a Cheap Charlie 

[dave s]

9 hours ago, Assurancetourix said:

Because you have never seen a restaurant table around which there are a dozen Thai people.
When, at the end of the meal, they get up, they are all more drunk than a regiment of Polish.

They cannot all be stinking drunk, because one of them has to stay sober in order to be the designated driver for the rest of the trip. And the sober designated driver should certainly have remembered the money bag.

 

Oh, wait, no, the government announced over the New Year's break that you can be as drunk as you want, and it's still legal to drive in Thailand ... as long as you drive slowly.

[Duck J Butters]

13 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

Nice to see that there are still some honest people around, but I think if I had stopped to eat whilst in possession of a bag containing that amount of money then the strap would be firmly slung around my neck at all times, even if that made eating a bit awkward. 

That’s not necessary in Thailand as most Thais are super honest in my experience. Been in Thailand 5 years, never once had anything stolen or anything bad happen in general.  Was in Europe over the Christmas holiday. In Paris, I had my passport stolen ( again, this happened to me in Paris about 13 years ago as well ). In Amsterdam, I was robbed at knife point and had my wallet taken. The thief charged $11k to my card. Luckily US credit card companies automatically refund you when you report fraud ( assuming you have good credit ). Europe is full of thieves. Thailand, not so much. I still refuse to lock my door in Thailand. No need. Honest folk.

[White Christmas13]

7 hours ago, sitanonchai said:

This is fake (set up) news, nobody leaves that amount in a taxi.

Just a way of trying to improve the "good" name of the Taxis. 

Are you drunk?

[gk10002000]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Priwat and his money - that he was taking to a bank

So he was a tourist from Ubon, if I understand the article correctly, yet he was taking the money to the bank in Petchabun?  seems like he took a bit of a round about way

[howbri]

Sounds like a contrived story to make Thailand look good.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

strange..i've just concluded my calculations of total amount of money that was stolen from me over the years in thailand, by room cleaners, travel agents, hotel managers, bus rides, ext., excluding ex. girlfriends, and the total amount is around 700,000 baht indeed.

 

another story i remember now is that of a young thai woman who got a nice loan from a farang, 800,000 baht, to open a restaurant with his help.

she went to the bank in koh samui and withraw the amount in cash as he instructed her, and took it back to her hotel room. than she went down for a couple of minutes to buy some groceries. when she returned the money was gone. she could not understand how they knew the money is there. i explained to her that it is called 'cash follow robbery". it starts from the bank , with or without the help of a banker, by criminals who follow large cash withdrawls.  

[Roy Baht]

If honesty were a common virtue, they wouldn't make such a big deal of it when it occurred.

[BangkokBaksida]

2 hours ago, Roy Baht said:

If honesty were a common virtue, they wouldn't make such a big deal of it when it occurred.

Exactly.  Not to mention the fact that one person's honesty (or dishonesty) is not a reflection on the rest of the people who happen to live within the borders of that same country - or in that region.  When somebody returns a wallet in Japan, do we say, "Hm, Asians sure are honest."?  So why would we give all Thais credit for being honest just because this one was?  All we can say in this case is that "This appears to be an honest man."

[ronaldo0]

So he was taking a pile of cash to the bank and then decided to go up into the mountains with a pile of friends for food instead ? Yeah sure ????

[yokat]

What kind of person carries 700k and forget about it ? Someone that probably has much more on hands or carries this amount regularly.

You won't want to touch the cash if you expect some big shot or a shady guy to come look for it.

[teatime101]

On 1/13/2020 at 11:01 AM, petermik said:

Hopefully if a foreigner had left the money the result would have been the same......

Yes, it’s happened to me a few times. Paid 500 instead of 50, overpaid by mishearing, left credit card behind at shop, etc. Plenty of honest Thais. Plenty of honest people, actually - Thai or otherwise. 

[yourauntbob]

On 1/13/2020 at 12:26 AM, fforest1 said:

If he cant give a better reward than this he deserved to lose it all....

First, are sure the money was actually his?  they say he was depositing in the bank, could be company money.

 

Second, rewards are nice but if y our only doing it for the reward then your only a slightly better person who keeps the money 

[scorecard]

But, the photo is not as per procedure, there's no gaggle of cops.