Swedish Man Arrested for Allegedly Working at a Bar in Karon

[Olmate]

6 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Is it just me? There seems to be a lot of Swedes getting in trouble in Thailand....

Sweden.. Swiss, Ozzie.. Austrian! Who cares? 

[tmd5855]

5 hours ago, NickyLouie said:

Swedes are basically Arabs.

Thought Norway owned that country at one time....................  Joking........ I know it were the other way around.

 

[scorecard]

6 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Is it just me? There seems to be a lot of Swedes getting in trouble in Thailand....

Yeah, and seems to me that Monday follows Sunday, that's interesting and troubling.

[newbee2022]

7 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Is it just me? There seems to be a lot of Swedes getting in trouble in Thailand....

And don't forget the Brits🤗

[VocalNeal]

3 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

The outdated laws of Thailand

 

The USA is replete with outdated laws, as are other countries such as the UK.🤔 (Just for balance)

 

A pickle is not a pickle unless it bounces

Skateboarding without a license is prohibited

It is illegal to catch a fish with bare hands

Beer is not to be given to hospital patients

It is illegal to walk cows down the street in daylight

It is illegal to be found drunk in a pub

Gambling in libraries is prohibited

Flying a kite in a public place is illegal

 

 

 

[aussienam]

I've met a few expats who have invested into a bar and their partner manages it.  They just sit and build rapport with customers to generate repeat business. So technically not working but just drinking and customers buying them drinks plus the bar staff. 

I've been told they need to be very careful to never lift a finger to help, in case they are deemed working.  Answering the phone to acknowledge a room is available, picking up a dirty ashtray to give it to staff, anything that a bar staff employee could do.  But recommending a drink is deemed working?  I hope there is more to the story than that as this sounds truly lame. 

Imagine you are sitting in a bar you invested in that your wife runs.  A regular comes in and says, "Mate, what do you recommend for something new to drink, I'm sick of beer?"  "Mate, how about a Sangsom and coke?" Thai undercover police swoop in.  Evidence of working!  No way.  

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

explain what reasons

The response is totally obvious except to folks who don't want to see the obvious; Thailand, like most countries, protects it's own citizens by totally prohibiting non-Thais from working in certain industries / professions, and by having a system whereby foreigners have to have a valid work permit to work. Same in most countries. 

[scorecard]

3 minutes ago, aussienam said:

I've met a few expats who have invested into a bar and their partner manages it.  They just sit and build rapport with customers to generate repeat business. So technically not working but just drinking and customers buying them drinks plus the bar staff. 

I've been told they need to be very careful to never lift a finger to help, in case they are deemed working.  Answering the phone to acknowledge a room is available, picking up a dirty ashtray to give it to staff, anything that a bar staff employee could do.  But recommending a drink is deemed working?  I hope there is more to the story than that as this sounds truly lame. 

Imagine you are sitting in a bar you invested in that your wife runs.  A regular comes in and says, "Mate, what do you recommend for something new to drink, I'm sick of beer?"  "Mate, how about a Sangsom and coke?" Thai undercover police swoop in.  Evidence of working!  No way.  

 Wow, what evidence do you have to support this scenario? 

[bunnydrops]

2 hours ago, impulse said:

 

I hope they have more than that...  Though I don't frequent bars, I've occasionally recommended dishes to customers at restaurants.

 

I heard years ago that a guy got arrested for going behind the bar to change the CD at his wife's business. It was assumed that the business stepped on some competition's toes. Locally a guy ran a bar for years without a permit. The Police told him as long as he didn't serve Thais, they would let him do it. His place was a ways out of town. The police bought beer there:)

[ChipButty]

If you ever see a Thai in your bar and you dont know him, then dont move, 

[brianthainess]

He wasn't recommending Champagne buy any chance was he? 

  Hurdy Gurdy

[JayClay]

2 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

one day they "caught" him talking to a customer,  the charge was "entertaining"

 

Is "entertaining" a criminal offence in Thailand, then?

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   I was responding to this 

 

"Guy probably thought the same as you that tourists could just start working."

 

  The guy just recommended a drink to a customer in a bar , he may not have been working there 

If i remember correctly the definition of work by the immigration authorities is very broad and pretty much all encompassing,  something about "exerting your self physically or mentally" you don't even have to be paid.   as  with most laws here it is applied very subjectively, tourist areas generally take the brunt of it , but if you upset the wrong people,  cutting ones grass etc could be risky

     There have been several light hearted reports on TV over the years of various foreigners personally  indulging in rice farming and the like. I doubt there will be many documentaries of that nature in the near future

[Bday Prang]

6 minutes ago, JayClay said:

 

Is "entertaining" a criminal offence in Thailand, then?

in the context of entertaining customers in your own bar , it obviously is,  or it was for him   even emptying an ashtray is fraught with danger as a bar owner

[Bday Prang]

20 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

If you ever see a Thai in your bar and you dont know him, then dont move, 

good advice, 

[KUGS]

3 hours ago, Srikcir said:

When you refer to "Arabs" you are referring to an ethnic group, not nationality. From various sources of different dates (you cite none):

• Ethnic Swedes make up about 80% of Sweden's population; followed by Finns; then people from Bosnia, etc. Arabs represent 5.3% of the total population of Sweden. About a quarter of those Arabs are Christians. 

So "full of Arabs" and "animosity attitude towards Israel" is questionable, if not discriminatory. 

 

That’s not true, perhaps 20 years ago. 

[ChipButty]

47 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Flying a kite in a public place is illegal

 

 

 

Flying your kite is illegal all over the world, 

[alex8912]

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

I don't think that tourists can work...and where did you read he is a tourist?? Besides how many backpackers are travelling around the world and can get small temporarily jobs before travveling further?? Once Thailand had these backpackers too and that was good for the economy as the money they earned was spend mostly here. The backpackers wanted to see the country, but no the army and the governments wanted them out...No wonder that tourism went down since than

They are in Vietnam spending tons of money everywhere! The digital nomads and pure backpackers often look the same now and seem to get on quite well. Vietnam is busting with tourists and the majority I met are skipping Thailand. It's really too bad. 

[ChipButty]

I would say don't pi$$ the farangs off too much, there is many other places they can go and camp out, 

[VocalNeal]

44 minutes ago, bunnydrops said:

I heard years ago that a guy got arrested for going behind the bar

 

This is an absolute no-no. I though everyone knew that.

[VocalNeal]

49 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 Wow, what evidence do you have to support this scenario? 

 

How about a building contractor whose secretary "forgot" to tell him to renew his work permit then told him on a Saturday that there was an urgent problem at a customer's house build. Lo and behold when he got there men with black shoes were waiting. 

I have no doubt the Swedish man was set up by someone and was not savvy enough to know what can be construed as work.                                                                                                   

[CANSIAM]

1 hour ago, aussienam said:

I've met a few expats who have invested into a bar and their partner manages it.  They just sit and build rapport with customers to generate repeat business. So technically not working but just drinking and customers buying them drinks plus the bar staff. 

I've been told they need to be very careful to never lift a finger to help, in case they are deemed working.  Answering the phone to acknowledge a room is available, picking up a dirty ashtray to give it to staff, anything that a bar staff employee could do.  But recommending a drink is deemed working?  I hope there is more to the story than that as this sounds truly lame. 

Imagine you are sitting in a bar you invested in that your wife runs.  A regular comes in and says, "Mate, what do you recommend for something new to drink, I'm sick of beer?"  "Mate, how about a Sangsom and coke?" Thai undercover police swoop in.  Evidence of working!  No way.  

Sounds like you are likely pounding your liver while investing and building a rapport..........

[JayClay]

3 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

knew of a Belgian guy in Pattaya who owned a popular bar, he fell out with his missis and she ended up with a Thai cop who obviously had intentions of becoming involved. one day they "caught" him talking to a customer,  the charge was "entertaining"

 

1 hour ago, JayClay said:

 

Is "entertaining" a criminal offence in Thailand, then?

 

53 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

in the context of entertaining customers in your own bar , it obviously is,  or it was for him   even emptying an ashtray is fraught with danger as a bar owner

 

Now I'm thoroughly confused. Is emptying an ashtray also a form of "entertaining"? Or was the charge actually "working without a work permit"?

[Nick Carter icp]

51 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

They are in Vietnam spending tons of money everywhere! The digital nomads and pure backpackers often look the same now and seem to get on quite well. Vietnam is busting with tourists and the majority I met are skipping Thailand. It's really too bad. 

 

   How many tourists did you actually meet in Vietnam and did you ask them all whether they would be going to Thailand ?

[ikke1959]

2 hours ago, scorecard said:

The response is totally obvious except to folks who don't want to see the obvious; Thailand, like most countries, protects it's own citizens by totally prohibiting non-Thais from working in certain industries / professions, and by having a system whereby foreigners have to have a valid work permit to work. Same in most countries. 

so impossible to get a work permit as a Thai can do everything if he can't... Protecting laws are good, but to block a normal society is crazy.. I am not allowed in fact to work in the garden or paint my house, as I am retired and don't have a workpermit..That is not some professions In Thailand it are ALL professions and jobs..a big difference

[transam]

4 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

so impossible to get a work permit as a Thai can do everything if he can't... Protecting laws are good, but to block a normal society is crazy.. I am not allowed in fact to work in the garden or paint my house, as I am retired and don't have a workpermit..That is not some professions In Thailand it are ALL professions and jobs..a big difference

Why can't you work in your own house....?  🤔

[cjinchiangrai]

"Recommending"? Was he selling drinks or just a customer making suggestions about the menu? It would not be unusual for a regular to suggest things to someone new. You don't need a permit for bar chat.

 

On the other hand it could also be the horrible vocabulary of the posts on this site. What is this guys relationship to the bar?

 

[LivinginKata]

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

so impossible to get a work permit as a Thai can do everything if he can't... Protecting laws are good, but to block a normal society is crazy.. I am not allowed in fact to work in the garden or paint my house, as I am retired and don't have a workpermit..That is not some professions In Thailand it are ALL professions and jobs..a big difference

 

I am not so sure that if in your registered home and not for money or profit then home maintenance and light work should be ok. Ask you mate around to help and offer a few beers .... not ok. Any member care to challenge that, from personal experience ?

[PETERTHEEATER]

Two Swedes and a Swiss man walk into a bar.........

[EVENKEEL]

 The Swedish man was found allegedly recommending beverages to customers at the bar.

 

So now, foreigners aren't allowed to speak. What a sh*t show this is.