Cheap Charlies?

[bggg]

Here is a cheap charlie for you.

While selling food at an international school event, a man (farang if it matters) walks up and says "oh is the water hot yet" (in the hot water pot) I told him yes, he then asked if it was okay to take the coffee cup and return it when he was done, I said yes. He proceeds to make a cup of coffee adds a few packets of powdered creamer and sugar. He starts to walk away drinking the coffee, I said "anything else for you?" no reply, "just coffee sir?" no reply " okay 1 coffee that will be 10 baht" He turns to me and says "I used my own coffee packet not your coffee" My husband and I were so dumbfounded we couldn't even say anything and watched him walk away.

Our cup, our hot water, our sugar, our creamer, our plastic stir stick!!!!!!! He didn't feel we were entitled to 10baht because he brought the coffee pack That my friends is a cheap charlie!!

[Ulysses G.]

Hey, I did leave a one baht tip!

[bsided69]

I am glad to see this topic. For some time now I have had a pet peeve about some of the postings on TV.com

I have wanted to post about the opposite to 'cheap charlies' - people with money who think that poorer (or cheaper) people have no right to be here.

I remember one post, someone was saying that given the air prices in Thailand, there was not only "no reason for anyone" not to fly Cm-BKK (as opposed to the bus), but there was actually "no reason" for anyone not to fly first class.

And those who condemn people who fight being ripped off for 20 baht (in restaurants etc...) - what planet are you from. Do you just accept theft as a normal part of being farang?

And I remember one other post where someone actually said (or iimplied strongly), that unless someone is able to spend 30,000 baht a month, they shouldn't even be here.

There are too many people (retirees and others) here with just a bit too much money and attitude.

All us farang have a right to be here if the Thai government says so...

And we all have (by virtual of being alive) a right to live our life within our means, and to be careful about our futures (or not to be made to feel bad for not having as much money as some other person).

Just because someone can't plunk down 5 million on a house here does not mean that they are inferior or undeserving.

We all know that financial success is based on luck as much as anything else (just the luck of not being born in Thailand makes most of us here so much richer...). Smart creative hard-working people can suffer in poverty through no fault of their own. Dumb plodders can often strike it rich.

My guess is that those who criticize those poorer than them are not part of any wealthy elite, but rather just rich enough that they must feel they are better than others. Wealthy elite wannabees!

I am not going to be happy if someone overcharges me 20 baht. I will say something, and if I have a choice, I won't pay it.

That is true for five baht too. If someone charges me 15 baht for a coffee that is normally 10 baht, I say something, or I walk away!

I will bargain strongly for something if I feel it is too much. On the other hand, my favourite little joke to play on Thai market people is when they quote me some incredibly cheap price on something (eg.: 35 baht for a shirt etc...). Then I ask for a discount - offering them 34 baht. Invariably the fall apart laughing!

Cheap charlie that I am!!! Thanks for the opportunity for a pre-breakfast rant.

WJ

p.s. - what is the opposite derogatory term to "cheap charlie"? I can think of one that has the initials "A.A.", but won't say it here!!!!!!!

Well said! Im gonna buy that man a beer

Thanks.

I only buy myself Leo, but you can certainly buy me a Heineken!

I was thinking about Archa. A large one though. If you buy a case you can get them for 24 baht each. So ive been told

[Super Hans]

It's actually not that bad a beer, either.

Edited March 10, 2008 by Super Hans

[bruceeverett]

Poor is an attitude. And attitude is everything.

Cheap is a lifestyle choice, whether you have a lot of money or not.

Whether a book is used or not, is not as important as what’s inside the covers.

I will live my life as I see fit, not as others see it.

The better people I have met in this world are below what is the poverty line.

I have been in Thailand over 12 times and loved it every time. I will buy a house before moving to Thailand. It won’t be a house bought to impress others. It will be a house to fit my needs, as I define them. It will probably be in the 1.5-2 mil Baht range, which would be a shack back home. I will live on $1500 US a month, which I would not be able to in the US. From my research I will live as well as I do now. I don’t drink much any more, hate those hangovers, and as I just piss it away anyway. I love Thai food, it is healthier for you. Yes, I have a Thai wife. She is also an American citizen having lived in the US for over thirty years. So she has the best of both Western and Thai attitudes.

Presently I live outside the US, in Saudi Arabia, and have for 7 years. I understand the Expat life and enjoy it. You either have the temperament for it or you don’t. Yes, I did change my life style when I moved here if I hadn’t I wouldn’t be a happy camper. I did change to adjust to the local conditions.

What someone lives on per month does not represent the quality of the person. Deriding someone one because they don’t have as much you or others shows a lack of maturity and good attitude.

“The fact that a fact is a fact, and you can’t change it,

is balanced by the fact, you can change you.”

[Theyreallrubbish]

I found out why restaurants keep the condiments in a basket and bring them to your table when your food comes. Apparantly if the restaurants leave the condiments sitting out they all get stolen.

Who the hel_l steals half a bottle of ketchup?!

[ToonBroon]

I found out why restaurants keep the condiments in a basket and bring them to your table when your food comes. Apparantly if the restaurants leave the condiments sitting out they all get stolen.

Who the hel_l steals half a bottle of ketchup?!

Just joking...a full bottle maybe, but a half!!!

gan canny

[Gonzo the Face]

I found out why restaurants keep the condiments in a basket and bring them to your table when your food comes. Apparantly if the restaurants leave the condiments sitting out they all get stolen.

Who the hel_l steals half a bottle of ketchup?!

He who has only 1/4th a bottle/

[Flatouthruthefog]

I found out why restaurants keep the condiments in a basket and bring them to your table when your food comes. Apparantly if the restaurants leave the condiments sitting out they all get stolen.

Who the hel_l steals half a bottle of ketchup?!

The same guy who wouldn't pay 10 baht because he used his own coffee of course!!

[Ulysses G.]

From what I have observed, these types don't usually steal the catsup in the bottle. They ask for (free) hot water and mix catsup with salt and pepper to make tomato soup. Then they pull a used teabag from their pocket and whip up a cup of tea. They do order one fried egg and perhaps a slice of toast, because it is usually the cheapest thing on the menu and consider themselves to be paying customers.

When I first came to Thailand I met a British guy that everyone called, "Super-Kineyoew, and all of this was part of his daily life on his vacation to Thailand every year.

[geriatrickid]

If it wasn't for us thrift seekers, you free spenders would have nothing to compare yourselves to. Consider those here on weak currencies, many of us have no choice. It is not a sign of moral weakness to make an effort to live within your means. I am not defending extreme rudeness in the name of saving a baht, but am defending standing up for a fair deal. Actually, I don't even think I would fall into the group you would call Cheap Charlies, but I am a bleeding heart who does not judge other human beings who are often just trying to take care of themselves, if they don't, are you gonna?

You are describing a condition of being responsible and living within one's means. Many people with "money" do the same.

I think the issue refers to the hagglers that need to squeeze the last baht out of someone and are utterly obnoxious and odious in the process. I was sitting in a bar this week in CM waiting to meet up with a friend that lived nearby and was in earshot of several longterm CM expats, age 60ish. Amongst their topics of discussion were their house construction projects and the young men they were hiring for sexual purposes. They were actually discussing how much it cost, what their pricing strategy was and that costs were increasing. I was sitting there ready to barf. Then they paid their bar bill of 2000bh (which would have cost 5000bh in BKK). They actually discussed amongst themselves how in the good old days the bill would have been 1000 and not 2000bh, which then led to a the usual moaning and groaning about how costly CM was getting. (I thought I had shed a tear for them, but it turned out it was a perspiration drop.) The fellow that paid made a big thing of giving the vulture server a 40bh tip. As I watched 1 fellow stagger to his car drunk, he nearly tripped over a snoozing soi dog and then proceeded to scream out it. I gave a little prayer that he might drive into the moat and drown.

That to me is the epitome of a cheap charlie; no class, contemptible, and so cheap that a 40bh tip on 2000bh after vultureboy waits on them hand and foot is not considered an embarrassment, but a reward.