Taxi driver gets staggering 37,000 baht tip in return for a 677 baht ride

[Deserted]

A good day for him.

[Peabody]

8 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

I worked with high-end clients a couple of decades ago and 500-1,000 euro tips were standard.

Did you get those tips for short-time or long-time?  :)

 

[Red Forever]

10 hours ago, MangoKorat said:

What type of taxi was it?  A Porsche?

Perfectly doable if at night or early morning. 

I did the reverse trip the other week: BKK-DMK in 30 minutes.

Taxi fare was 390baht. Fee

[rattlesnake]

8 hours ago, smedly said:

for what lol

 

Anything they wanted and not missing their flight was high on the list.

[rattlesnake]

2 hours ago, Peabody said:

Did you get those tips for short-time or long-time?  :)

 

 

Both!

[rattlesnake]

6 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

To a taxi driver, in Thailand? Or to others, in Europe? There's a very big difference.

 

True, but the poster I responded to stated that nobody gives such tips. That is incorrect. There is a segment of the population for which these are secondary things and what they want is to get from A to B without disruption. I don't know if this was the case with the guy in that taxi, but it is certainly a possibility.

[Woof999]

Why all the negativity on what might have been a job well done rewarded hansomely?

 

The guy made a mistake and went to the wrong airport. He offered the driver a good tip if he made it to Swampy in record time, potentially saving several thousand Euros on new flights. He was rewarded well.

 

It happens. Not often, but it happens.

[Bangkok Barry]

8 minutes ago, Woof999 said:

Why all the negativity on what might have been a job well done rewarded hansomely?

 

The guy made a mistake and went to the wrong airport. He offered the driver a good tip if he made it to Swampy in record time, potentially saving several thousand Euros on new flights. He was rewarded well.

 

It happens. Not often, but it happens.

Makes sense to me. But a poster who has blocked me for being stupid says the passenger was 'out of it' and the driver robbed him and the passenger should come back from wherever he flew to to discuss it.

[MangoKorat]

1 hour ago, Red Forever said:

Perfectly doable if at night or early morning. 

I did the reverse trip the other week: BKK-DMK in 30 minutes.

Taxi fare was 390baht. Fee

I didn't say it wasn't but that's moving some - 2 tolls on Highway 9.  If there's traffic, not a hope.

[bristolgeoff]

If real he got lucky for sure,A mistake by the the person could also be the case.I bet he has allready tried to exchange the money.Lucky taxi driver

[richard_smith237]

20 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

 

I worked with high-end clients a couple of decades ago and 500-1,000 euro tips were standard.

 

'cos 'high end clients'  use meter taxi's in Bangkok to get to the airport.....  hmmmm   

 

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by richard_smith237

[richard_smith237]

In some taxi's the lighting makes it very difficult to clearly see the notes... under certain lighting 100 baht note looks like like the 1000 baht note and I have to be careful especially when three sheets to the wind. 

 

 

This is clearly a mistake... the 'I'll make it worth your while' was in giving what was a ~50% tip....    (i.e. paying 1000 baht)

 

Someone in a huge rush grabbed 2x 500 something notes and handed them over....   completely oblivious that he'd handed over 1000 Euros until it was too late. 

 

I can't believe other have imagined different explanation.

[rattlesnake]

36 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

In some taxi's the lighting makes it very difficult to clearly see the notes... under certain lighting 100 baht note looks like like the 1000 baht note and I have to be careful especially when three sheets to the wind. 

 

 

This is clearly a mistake... the 'I'll make it worth your while' was in giving what was a ~50% tip....    (i.e. paying 1000 baht)

 

Someone in a huge rush grabbed 2x 500 something notes and handed them over....   completely oblivious that he'd handed over 1000 Euros until it was too late. 

 

I can't believe other have imagined different explanation.

 

Maybe, maybe not. You'd have to be very dumb to hand out 1,000 euros by mistake.

 

Statement by the driver from the Thaiger article: “At first, I didn’t want to accept them because they’re unfamiliar to me and I was afraid of getting scammed.” Which implies they discussed it and it wasn't a split second thing.

[rattlesnake]

48 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

'cos 'high end clients'  use meter taxi's in Bangkok to get to the airport.....  hmmmm   

 

 

 

 

 

There are not that many options in Bkk for a business guy who maybe comes out of a meeting late and needs to get to the airport.

 

What I am saying is that there is a population segment for which 1,000 euros is like 10 baht to you and I… but missing a plane (and most likely another meeting) is out of the question. I know how these guys think and talk. Maybe he said "I will give you 1,000 euros" while driving but the driver didn't understand.

 

Or maybe it is something completely different… but as I told the poster I initially responded to, yes, there are guys who give such tips.

[richard_smith237]

50 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

There are not that many options in Bkk for a business guy who maybe comes out of a meeting late and needs to get to the airport.

 

There are plenty of options... I haven't used a regular taxi to the airport in over 15 years (thats well over 200 airport journeys).

 

50 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

What I am saying is that there is a population segment for which 1,000 euros is like 10 baht to you and I… but missing a plane (and most likely another meeting) is out of the question. I know how these guys think and talk. Maybe he said "I will give you 1,000 euros" while driving but the driver didn't understand.

 

'You understand these guys' - thats rather an amusing stretch to attempt to justify the 'tip theory'.....

 

Do you think that someone who can so readily give 1000 Euros away as a tip doesn't have a driver standing by ?... Or someone who's arranged all that for him ?...   if they're really 'high net worth' and that important the company they are visiting arranges all that for them.

 

This facet of the discussion seems ridiculous because it is...   

 

 

50 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

Or maybe it is something completely different… but as I told the poster I initially responded to, yes, there are guys who give such tips.

 

Or, maybe something as obvious as someone dumb enough to go to the wrong airport is also dumb enough to pay with the wrong currency ??? 

Edited November 13, 2023 by richard_smith237

[rattlesnake]

8 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

There are plenty of options... I haven't used a regular taxi to the airport in over 15 years (thats well over 200 airport journeys).

 

 

'You understand these guys' - thats rather an amusing stretch to attempt to justify the 'tip theory'.....

 

Do you think that someone who can so readily give 1000 Euros away as a tip doesn't have a driver standing by ?... Or someone who's arranged all that for him ?...   if they're really 'high net worth' and that important the company they are visiting arranges all that for them.

 

This facet of the discussion seems ridiculous because it is...   

 

 

 

Or, maybe something as obvious as someone dumb enough to go to the wrong airport is also dumb enough to pay with the wrong currency ??? 

 

"This facet of the discussion seems ridiculous because it is..."

What would be ridiculous would be to bicker about something neither of us knows about. I am certainly not going there.

 

I gave my insight based on my previous professional experience with high tippers and responded to the poster who said "no sane person will willing give that much as a tip, no matter how generous they are", which is an incorrect statement.

 

[richard_smith237]

19 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

 

"This facet of the discussion seems ridiculous because it is..."

What would be ridiculous would be to bicker about something neither of us knows about. I am certainly not going there.

 

I gave my insight based on my previous professional experience with high tippers and responded to the poster who said "no sane person will willing give that much as a tip, no matter how generous they are", which is an incorrect statement.

 

 

Fair enough on the no bickering aspect....   What really interests me about such discussions is the mindset that causes someone to think so vastly differently than I.....  hence the digging and questioning - its more to investigate and understand the mind of others than  the validity of the events themselves. 

 

Of course, there are people who tip filthy amounts...   If it were a casino & someone one won, a yacht charter, the chalet host etc...  then of course - people do tip that much (and plenty more).

... but a $20 taxi... thats a very different set of 'tipping circumstances'....  so the mindset that someone might think this is a genuine tip rather than a mistake is something I find interesting.

 

 

 

 

[rattlesnake]

10 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Fair enough on the no bickering aspect....   What really interests me about such discussions is the mindset that causes someone to think so vastly differently than I.....  hence the digging and questioning - its more to investigate and understand the mind of others than  the validity of the events themselves. 

 

Of course, there are people who tip filthy amounts...   If it were a casino & someone one won, a yacht charter, the chalet host etc...  then of course - people do tip that much (and plenty more).

... but a $20 taxi... thats a very different set of 'tipping circumstances'....  so the mindset that someone might think this is a genuine tip rather than a mistake is something I find interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

No worries.

 

This is an extraordinary event in any case. I think both possibilities (mistake and tip) are valid, and I would tend to favour the former, I'm just making the point that the latter is not preposterous either IMO.

[RocketDog]

On 11/13/2023 at 4:27 AM, Tony M said:

Lots of counterfeit 500 Euro notes in circulation. Hope he checked them before trying to exchange them.

 

https://www.bundesbank.de/en/press/press-releases/more-counterfeit-200-and-500-banknotes-in-circulation-760640

What would be the point? He can convert them or not; one easy way to tell-- try it.

[Tony M]

1 hour ago, RocketDog said:

What would be the point? He can convert them or not; one easy way to tell-- try it.

Maybe because if he found them to be counterfeit, he wouldn't have to risk being arrested for trying to exchange counterfeit notes ? 

[ChaiyaTH]

On 11/13/2023 at 8:50 AM, Bangkok Barry said:

To a taxi driver, in Thailand? Or to others, in Europe? There's a very big difference.

Not that big of a difference, I have seen plenty of people pay tips of 5-10-15K baht in clubs in Bangkok too. And those places were not even that high-end. 

 

In Singapore some people tip over 5-10K singapore dollars on a night out.

Edited November 27, 2023 by ChaiyaTH

[mancub]

Wonder if the passenger provided the cash/notes for the toll booths (if required) also ? 

[richard_smith237]

On 11/13/2023 at 10:08 PM, rattlesnake said:

Maybe, maybe not. You'd have to be very dumb to hand out 1,000 euros by mistake.

 

You'd have to be more dumb to pay 1000 Euro's for 677 baht ride.

 

On 11/13/2023 at 10:08 PM, rattlesnake said:

Statement by the driver from the Thaiger article: “At first, I didn’t want to accept them because they’re unfamiliar to me and I was afraid of getting scammed.” Which implies they discussed it and it wasn't a split second thing.

 

No it doesn't... It just implies that the driver hesitated because he was unsure of the currency and afraid of getting scammed.