Skipping Out On The Bill!

[Pepe']

Actually I can't imagine skipping out on the bill.

I was always in trouble for tipping to much.

My wife fixed that straight away...

[qwertz]

It can work the other way. Like the girl clearing my table, a little drunk or high, I think. She dropped two glasses, came back to clear up the mess and neatly slipped a bill for 110 B in my bin. When I queried it she started crying and said that they were my glasses from my table and if I didn't pay it would be docked from her pay. Maybe some of these bill dodgers have had similar experiences and have no pity. BTW, I paid after telling her it would have been polite to clear it with me and not just assume.

[PaulUSA302]

When I was staying at a very nice service APT. I was leaving 100B a day for the maid. One day I broke a glass and a bill was slipped under my door. So I reduced my tip to 40B a day and paid the 80B for the glass.

One funny thing was that when I went to a restaurant with some Thai friends, a waiter didn't want to wait on us because we only wanted drinks and not a meal. After our drinks I went to leave a tip of about 30B. My friends looked with shock and horror and had me remove 20B from the tip so I would not reward rude behavior... Now I did not know the waiter was rude because I don't speak Thai.

I am one to wonder if us visitors are going to create a backlash with the general public with our "Life Changing" tips? I remember in Pattaya there was a Thai lady waiting for a Baht Bus to stop for her. I noticed they would slow for me and watch to see if I wanted to get on but none would stop for her, so when I caught-up to where she was standing, I stood beside her. A baht bus stopped she got on and I continued my walk.

This happened some days after I was at a private party and somehow the conversation became that of Farang, status, money, high-headed'ness and looking down on the Thai people. It was a conversation I could relate to because I heard it all my life.... Just adjust it for the white/black struggle here in the USA.

It can work the other way. Like the girl clearing my table, a little drunk or high, I think. She dropped two glasses, came back to clear up the mess and neatly slipped a bill for 110 B in my bin. When I queried it she started crying and said that they were my glasses from my table and if I didn't pay it would be docked from her pay. Maybe some of these bill dodgers have had similar experiences and have no pity. BTW, I paid after telling her it would have been polite to clear it with me and not just assume.

[qwertz]

Yeah Paul, re. "Life Changing" tips.

The girl's attitude was, no problem, farangs have too much money and should pay for everything. If she'd explained it to me in the first place I would have covered it without question as a tip but I still wonder if some guys who skip on their tab have become cynical because of this attitude and are making their own statement. I must admit that I find the standard of service in many beer bars over there is abysmal. Guess I've been spoiled by the good service over here.

[Shrubbery]

In March this year while I was in Samui, I was having a beer or 3 in one of the girlie bars in Lamai. An Aussie guy came to the bar, had a couple of beers while chatting to 4 or 5 of the girls. Then he decided to "ring the bell". The girls all opted for Bacardi Breezers. He kept on chatting away to them and had another couple of beers.

When he got his bill he refused topay for the girls drinks. 150 Baht each. His reason, "he did not know what ringing the bell meant".

After some discussion with the cashier, he offered to pay 600 Baht leaving the bar short some 300+ baht.

[DirkGently]

Well it is good to see it is not just me that thinks skipping out on the bill is wrong. The main reason I despise those that do it is this. In my home city if you visit one of the big chain bars and leave, the establishment takes the hit. Here in Thailand the shortfall is made up out of the staff's wages. Call me a 'luvvy' if you will, but I cant steal out of their pockets.

It is just the level that people will stoop to that makes me mad. The story that prompted my thread was about an older guy who lives here (I hope he reads this) who refused to buy a drink because he just wanted to use the bar as a place to cool off. The staff pestered him to buy a drink so he left. He left and was seen fishing a beer bottle out of a near-by bin so he could tell the staff he had bought a drink. That is not being a cheap Charlie, that is being a cheap <deleted>.

Sure, I have had bad service and crappy meals here in Thailand and have complained bitterly, but it is never so bad that I want to steal from the staff.

Is it a lack of morals or a lack of knowledge? Maybe these tossers don't know that the shortfall fall from there bin is taken out of the girls pockets. I suspect, however, that it is a case of they feel that they are better than these brown people.

Imagine the difference between being called a tw@t or a good bloke being only 300 baht. Which would you choose?

[DrFisher]

I never had this problem in Chiang Mai however I know in my home country (USA) if you are not happy with anything from a meal at a restaurant to a candy bar they ask for "the unused portion" if you consume it you bought it.

[technocracy]

I also witnessed an Israeli man hopping the skytrain turnstyle.

... and that surprises me how?????

The most obnoxious, bunch of cheapskate ######s ever!

I saw some of them attempting to barter over the price of using the Internet in Luang Prabang here in Laos. I mean 1 hour for 6000kip (approx 30p) just ain't cheap enough is it!

[DirkGently]

Yes, we can all tell Israeli tales about how they will go insane over a 1baht increase in the price of water at a restaurant over the local 7-11, but this is not the place for them.

I had rather hoped my thread would reach some of the people who do this and possibly stop them, instead of being closed because somebody insults members of the Jewish homestate that may, or may not, shame themselves by arguing over 500 kip in laos over a Tuk-Tuk or being forced to pay a deposit in a hotel in Vietnam because they are not trusted.

Anyway, the bar in question does not have too many israeli's because the minimum price for a drink is 39 bhat.

[Totster]

Well said Dirk...

Lets leave the stereotypes out of this shall we....

totster

[peter991]

One way to make sure your bar bill is not padded is to use a coloured pen, circle the amount and place your initials on the bottom of the bill. Indicate to the waiter what you are doing and why you are doing it.

That way, you only pay for drinks you have ordered when it comes time to settle the bill. I do that quite often and have never had any problems.

Peter

[Jim Abbott]

check bin dodgers are rare and part of the business. The real crime is the mass policy of making servers pay the shortfall. these barowners should be hung in mass for this policy

[bkkmadness]

One way to make sure your bar bill is not padded is to use a coloured pen, circle the amount and place your initials on the bottom of the bill. Indicate to the waiter what you are doing and why you are doing it.

What exactly do you say to them?

"I'm just circling the bill amounts here so you don't try to cheat me later."

[Prakanong]

One way to make sure your bar bill is not padded is to use a coloured pen, circle the amount and place your initials on the bottom of the bill. Indicate to the waiter what you are doing and why you are doing it.

That way, you only pay for drinks you have ordered when it comes time to settle the bill. I do that quite often and have never had any problems.

Peter

I was in the Philippines the last two weeks for business and in some of the bar's you had to sign each and every bar chit

This was a good idea I thought in the type of bar's where they may need it - you can not really argue with your signature!

Then again - someone from my company must have signed my signature in the hotel for a meal - they got the room right and even the first name I never use but made the mistake of writing it out when I use only initials ;-)))

Strange as its all on expenses and we are not skinflints!

[qwertz]

check bin dodgers are rare and part of the business. The real crime is the mass policy of making servers pay the shortfall. these barowners should be hung in mass for this policy

Good point JA. It's callous and unfair but very effective at stopping the bar staff from slipping drinks to their friends and relations when nobody's watching.

[StateSix]

One way to make sure your bar bill is not padded is to use a coloured pen, circle the amount and place your initials on the bottom of the bill. Indicate to the waiter what you are doing and why you are doing it.

That way, you only pay for drinks you have ordered when it comes time to settle the bill. I do that quite often and have never had any problems.

Peter

I was in the Philippines the last two weeks for business and in some of the bar's you had to sign each and every bar chit

This was a good idea I thought in the type of bar's where they may need it - you can not really argue with your signature!

Then again - someone from my company must have signed my signature in the hotel for a meal - they got the room right and even the first name I never use but made the mistake of writing it out when I use only initials ;-)))

Strange as its all on expenses and we are not skinflints!

They do that in the Kings/Queens bars in Patpong also. Errr, ahem, at least that is what I hear

[meemiathai]

I am so used to farang's bad behaviour that I really am not very surprised.

I have noticed in farangland they have their mouths shut even when being fed with shit but they complained about almost every bloody thing here in Asia. I am not sure but it really gives me an impression that they think they are superior to Asians.

And it is the constant denial of farang bad behaviours by farangs that pisses me off.

[Maigo6]

If anybody sees any farang trying to trick or cheat their way out of a bill, speak up. Ask him if he needs to borrow the money.

makes sense..........

[Maigo6]

A GF once told me she had a customer in her bar who finished his drink , announced he

wasn't going to pay as he had no money and asked "what're you going to do about it?"

She whacked him over the head with a glass ashtray.

Nice girlfriend..

[Maigo6]

It can work the other way. Like the girl clearing my table, a little drunk or high, I think. She dropped two glasses, came back to clear up the mess and neatly slipped a bill for 110 B in my bin. When I queried it she started crying and said that they were my glasses from my table and if I didn't pay it would be docked from her pay. Maybe some of these bill dodgers have had similar experiences and have no pity. BTW, I paid after telling her it would have been polite to clear it with me and not just assume.

She get's those glasses at the market for 10 Baht each, she pulls that scam 5 times a night.....

A fool and his money.............

Edited April 28, 2007 by Maigo6

[Maigo6]

I have noticed in farangland they have their mouths shut even when being fed with shit but they complained about almost every bloody thing here in Asia. I am not sure but it really gives me an impression that they think they are superior to Asians.

Yep, how many people after a bad meal in their home countries will say " I know the food was crap, don't say anything, we just won't come here anymore "

And in Asia, they will moan like crazy at the slightest infraction.

[pitrevie]

I was eating at Grapinno's in the Amari Watergate and the waitress there related how a well dressed woman at the end of her dinner announced that she was going to the toilet which is some distance away from this particular restaurant but on the same floor, they never saw her again. It isn’t only happening here; my Thai friends in London received a letter from a family who had eaten the night before at their restaurant complaining that their young son had been violently ill following the meal. My Thai friend was advised to ask them for some evidence such as a doctor’s certificate and never heard from them again. However another Thai friend who works at the Bluebird restaurant, a rather up market restaurant which attracts a more affluent type of client told me that they have a regular stream of letters claiming that they have been taken ill following a meal at the restaurant. I have a Thai friend who used to work in one of those exchange booths in Pattaya. He told me of the time he changed a rather large traveller’s cheque only to be called in by his manager and told it had been stolen. The money was repaid through his salary (and no he didn’t ask me for it). A few months ago I was given my bill for my stay at a very nice hotel in Krabi. I had booked the hotel through a friends travel company and I was given a good discount. The bill was well under what I had been told to pay so I took it back to them and asked them to check. The young girl had miscalculated and of course I have no doubt she would have made up the shortfall. I have deliberately left out the nationalities of the offenders, believe me they make a good geographical spread. I am sure the people who do this don’t give a d##n that the people who have to make up the shortfall in most cases are not earning a great deal in the first places.

Edited April 28, 2007 by pitrevie

[kmart]

I am so used to farang's bad behaviour that I really am not very surprised.

I have noticed in farangland they have their mouths shut even when being fed with shit but they complained about almost every bloody thing here in Asia. I am not sure but it really gives me an impression that they think they are superior to Asians.

And it is the constant denial of farang bad behaviours by farangs that pisses me off.

I don't think so, it's definitely your own inferiority complex. Want some cheese with that whine?

[Loz]

It can work the other way. Like the girl clearing my table, a little drunk or high, I think. She dropped two glasses, came back to clear up the mess and neatly slipped a bill for 110 B in my bin. When I queried it she started crying and said that they were my glasses from my table and if I didn't pay it would be docked from her pay. Maybe some of these bill dodgers have had similar experiences and have no pity. BTW, I paid after telling her it would have been polite to clear it with me and not just assume.

She get's those glasses at the market for 10 Baht each, she pulls that scam 5 times a night.....

A fool and his money.............

Dude, you crack me up. That is the single funniest post I have read this week! not just because its probably true but because it is just so matter of fact.

Ps. I just figured out your name for the first time too... DOh!

[qwertz]

It can work the other way. Like the girl clearing my table, a little drunk or high, I think. She dropped two glasses, came back to clear up the mess and neatly slipped a bill for 110 B in my bin. When I queried it she started crying and said that they were my glasses from my table and if I didn't pay it would be docked from her pay. Maybe some of these bill dodgers have had similar experiences and have no pity. BTW, I paid after telling her it would have been polite to clear it with me and not just assume.

She get's those glasses at the market for 10 Baht each, she pulls that scam 5 times a night.....

A fool and his money.............

You're probably right, M. I just can't stand dramatics and I pay in these cases just to avoid further embarrassment, it's so small time. But your cynical view tends to reinforce what I said about people who skip out on their tabs when they know scams like this are being run.

Edited April 28, 2007 by qwertz

[Loz]

I am so used to farang's bad behaviour that I really am not very surprised.

I have noticed in farangland they have their mouths shut even when being fed with shit but they complained about almost every bloody thing here in Asia. I am not sure but it really gives me an impression that they think they are superior to Asians.

And it is the constant denial of farang bad behaviours by farangs that pisses me off.

Yup, I hear that! The worst part of thailand is sharing space with the Westerner ( hate that word, farang) who clearly thinks he is a "cut above" the natives. Cnuts!

phrases like "you see, back in..... this would never happen!" gov back theree, you shysters!! leave LOS for those who don't want to change or "infect" it with questionable values and practices...

[Maigo6]

Want some cheese with that whine?

No decent bleedin' cheese in Thailand either.......................

We Brits can turn any post into a moan............

[Jet Gorgon]

Gosh, D&Ds (Dine/drink and dash) are endemic to the restaurant/bar biz. 20 years ago, I used to chase D&Ders outside the club where I worked. This cheating happens everywhere. I had to pay for the runner's bill, and that was in libertarian Canada. Then the government dinged me for not claiming all my tips but never discounted the D&Ds, etc. 555

[Neeranam]

Ps. I just figured out your name for the first time too... DOh!

me too.

Maigo, you lying ****

Always thought it was Magoo due to hime being old and bald.

Edited April 28, 2007 by Neeranam

[soundman]

I skipped a bill the other night - on purpose...

Went to Villa supermarket in Tong Lor the other night. Parked the car in the carpark out the front. Unloaded the kids & went to the car park attendant to get the parking ticket. He told me he had given it to my wife & as I had been busy with the kids I didn't think twice.

After 10 minutes we came back with the shopping, hopped in the car to leave. Reached the ticket box, asked wife for ticket, & she told me I must have it because she didn't even see it.

Uh huh...

The attendant comes over with a big smile on his face & asks for the ticket. I told him he didn't give us one. He replied "oh yes I did, I gave it to you". I replied that he did not give it to me,that in fact told me he had given it to my wife. He replied that he had definately given it to me, & because the ticket was now lost I had to cough up 200B "lost ticket". At nightime there is hardly any traffic in & out, & with his cronies giggling in the background I realised it was definately a scam. I couldn't be bothered argueing, so I just drove off.... Not like he could really do anything about it. Idiot.

Cheers,

Soundman.