Swiss Barber Arrested for Illegal Work and Taunting Thai Police

[msbkk]

He had a work permit but not to work as a barber. That's the difference. I also had a work permit in the past to manage my export company. I was told by my lawyer that this is only for management, not for typing letters or packing parcels. As we know officially foreign restaurant managers with a work permit should also not serve food.

Edited June 26 by msbkk

[theblether]

1 hour ago, n00dle said:

 

 

 

He is not a barber he is a qualified stylist with credentials and experience out the wazoo.  

 

As for who? Women who want their hair professionally colored pay that much.

 

Proper dye and treatments can easily cost that much, then there is the cost of the expertise required to apply it.

It is a process that involves multiple steps and takes several hours. In the West similar service can cost several hundred  dollars easily

I had a girlfriend whose bi-annual highlights and cut cost over 10k baht in Bangkok a few years ago and she would come home with an additional few thousand baht worth of shampoo to maintain it. She thought it was a bargain compared to what she spent in the UK.

  

 

£400 is the going rate for hair colouring and styling in Glasgow ( for ladies ), so she's correct. We men don't understand how complex hair colouring can be, and how emotionally invested women tend to be in their hair.

 

Local barber charges £8 for pensioners although I have heard as cheap as £5. Standard rate is £12, which is up from £8 pre-pandemic. Local barber says footfall is down about 20% since covid. He made an interesting point when I asked if the price rise had anything to do with that. He says takeaway delivery drivers earn £100 on a quiet night, £150 busy nights. Employees would rather do that than hand about a salon all day, so if he dropped the price - no barbers. 

 

I've got to say, the fast food delivery industry is astronomical in the UK, 

 

 

[tomacht8]

Overall, many of the labor laws are outdated and some are downright xenophobic. Just think, for example, of all foreigners who are married to Thais. If the Thai spouse has a small business, the foreign spouse is generally prohibited from helping out even minimally. Even if the foreign spouse tries to get a work permit, the bureaucratic hurdles are so high, complicated and costly that in many cases it is not economically viable and the effort is not worth it.

 

Or think, for example, of the many English-speaking pensioners. Many would like to teach Thai kids better English, even for free, for a few hours a week. Forbidden.

 

Or consider the construction trade. Many Thais learned the job through trial and error. I recently had 3 “self-trained” electrical Thai professionals come to me for a grounding potential measurement. None of them knew how to do it.

 

The fact that foreigners have specialist knowledge, other techniques, other tools, etc. and that international knowledge transfer can be enriching in general,  unfortunately exceeds the imagination of many Thai Lawmakers

Edited June 26 by tomacht8

[AustinRacing]

7 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

 

 

The police were not very diligent in this case then.

 Not to mention several complaints were made. The fact that a general instructed a colonel to take action suggest opportunity for a photo shoot was the main motive for police. 

[theblether]

1 minute ago, AustinRacing said:

 Not to mention several complaints were made. The fact that a general instructed a colonel to take action suggest opportunity for a photo shoot was the main motive for police. 

 

Or the local police used this guys shop and didn't want to shut it down. 

[Kinok Farang]

4000 bhat for a haircut.

Fuuk me rigid.

[tandor]

14 hours ago, dougieboy said:

"Catch me if you can.........." Smart!

..and catch you, yes we did...next!

[Tropicalevo]

12 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

Overall, many of the labor laws are outdated and some are downright xenophobic. Just think, for example, of all foreigners who are married to Thais. If the Thai spouse has a small business, the foreign spouse is generally prohibited from helping out even minimally. Even if the foreign spouse tries to get a work permit, the bureaucratic hurdles are so high, complicated and costly that in many cases it is not economically viable and the effort is not worth it.

 

Or think, for example, of the many English-speaking pensioners. Many would like to teach Thai kids better English, even for free, for a few hours a week. Forbidden.

 

Or consider the construction trade. Many Thais learned the job through trial and error. I recently had 3 “self-trained” electrical Thai professionals come to me for a grounding potential measurement. None of them knew how to do it.

 

The fact that foreigners have specialist knowledge, other techniques, other tools, etc. and that international knowledge transfer can be enriching in general,  unfortunately exceeds the imagination of many Thai Lawmakers

 

Or perhaps Thailand is correct.

Look after your citizens first, expats and tourists second.

[Sydebolle]

On 6/26/2024 at 2:51 PM, andygrr said:

If you look at the website for Oliver Twist hair you will see he does hair colouring in vibrant colours, this can get expensive so 4,000 is not expensive. Thai's in Bangkok will pay a lot more.

Noted with interest but his pricing for the services provided is not the issue.

The issue is (most likely), that the local barbers hear that he gets 500 - 4,000 and the locals are jealous. Getting hair dyed costs X (I have no clue, never did it and shall not venture into this uncharted territory now); maybe he provided a service not available elsewhere. Maybe the local hair dressers serve ladies on dye requests but are not familiar/heard of gentlemen wanting the same service. I would assume that a Thai lady never forks out anything more than possible 1,000 Baht for a hair colouring job - and walking through Bangkok it is evident, that Thai ladies tend to dye their hair. 

If it is dyeing (hair colouring) then a legal wizard might take that particular paragraph of the alien business law apart. Cutting hair and dyeing hair is not the same. Irrespective of all I assume that the little brown one will solve the problem as the dirty farang from faraway Switzerland had a work permit. Misunderstanding of allowed scope of work or similar will be the back door out. 

A clip (https://www.facebook.com/OliverTwistHairdressing/videos/1035206179875291/) showing Oliver Ehrat at work also refers to the fact, that he is teaching a Thai lady the tricks of hair styling - does his work permit include teaching; does he have a Master's Degree in teaching? 

How embarrassing; do the clowns know that the internet can also be accessed outside Thailand - asking for a friend? 

Edited Friday at 02:50 AM by Sydebolle
Added content

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, Sydebolle said:

Maybe the local hair dressers serve ladies on dye requests but are not familiar/heard of gentlemen wanting the same service.

Many Thai men dye their hair - black.

That is one reason as to why you do not see many grey-haired old men.

One Thai guy that I have known for more than 20 years, always had black hair. Until Covid.

His business died during Covid (his customers were all tourists). He needed to save his money to live so the dye jobs stopped. He now has a full head of white hair.

[Sydebolle]

1 minute ago, Tropicalevo said:

Many Thai men dye their hair - black.

That is one reason as to why you do not see many grey-haired old men.

One Thai guy that I have known for more than 20 years, always had black hair. Until Covid.

His business died during Covid (his customers were all tourists). He needed to save his money to live so the dye jobs stopped. He now has a full head of white hair.

I looked at the culprit's Facebook site; the average Joe does not go there for anything. He also trains Thai students in all those hair cuts which are known as "vintage" - never got the "vintage" part though. 

Oliver Ehrat seems to have survived the pandemic, unlike the uncle you were referring to. Yes, the Swiss broke the law by working in a "Thai only" profession but he certainly did not grab a single Baht from any other local Figaro - as far as I can see. The whole hype will cool down anytime soon - like everything else in this country!