How Much Does Thai People Earn.....

[Birdman]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip.

So...what does that girl think now?

[Geekfreaklover]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip.

So...what does that girl think now?

She is thinking - Pattaya !!

Never a good idea to tip too much.

Edited January 13, 2009 by Geekfreaklover

[phoolish]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

The minimum age to work in Australia is 14yrs & 8 months and the minimum wage is about $7 an hour.

And also the question is:

How do they survive on a 8k baht a month??

Some people working full-time in Australia can't even survive on a $1200aud.

I don't know anyone in Australia that only gets $1200 a month for full time work.....Did you mean $1200 per week?Last i checked the unemployment benefits were not much less then $1200 a month...oh wait,that could be apprentices(First year).

My friend's cousin earns about $1400 a month... he has 2 kids and his wife only started working 2 months ago since they need more money to make a living.

As in for 1 person earning $1400 a month is very low since you need at least $2500 a month to survive for the whole month.

As for myself, I earn about $5500 a month working in I.T. and I don't think enough for me since I live on my own and pays $450 on rent.

That's not even including utilities or transport for work. Let's say after I paid all my bills, I am left with $2500.

[jtp]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip.

So...what does that girl think now?

She is thinking - Pattaya !!

Never a good idea to tip too much.

Or MAYBE she's thinking "I wish all people were kind enough to help me"...Kind of low to be a tight wad when i pull up in a new Mercedes...I am more inclined to think i helped her,rather then put her on the path to moral destruction...?Besides,the meal was a total of around 2000 baht,so i think it was only fair.

[Naam]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip. So...what does that girl think now?

the girl most probably thinks "he be lich falang numbah 10 foah shuah jing jing!"

[jtp]

The problem with hanging around Pattaya to much is that you tend to think that every Issan girl is the same...And nothing could be further from the truth...MANY girls would not ever think of doing that... Regardless of how poor they might be.

[Birdman]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip.

So...what does that girl think now?

She is thinking - Pattaya !!

Never a good idea to tip too much.

Or MAYBE she's thinking "I wish all people were kind enough to help me"...Kind of low to be a tight wad when i pull up in a new Mercedes...I am more inclined to think i helped her,rather then put her on the path to moral destruction...?Besides,the meal was a total of around 2000 baht,so i think it was only fair.

Meal costs 2.000, tip is 60.

Girl thinking now: School? Hard work? Marry a farang?

[Geekfreaklover]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip.

So...what does that girl think now?

She is thinking - Pattaya !!

Never a good idea to tip too much.

Or MAYBE she's thinking "I wish all people were kind enough to help me"...Kind of low to be a tight wad when i pull up in a new Mercedes...I am more inclined to think i helped her,rather then put her on the path to moral destruction...?Besides,the meal was a total of around 2000 baht,so i think it was only fair.

2000 times 10% = 200bt tip. That would be fair.

Most people generally do not respect customers that throw around large tips. It is seen as a sign of weekness and, dare I say, a stupidity to be exploited. Of course they will take the tip and be very happy about taking it. But there are other factors at play. Would you leave a waiter in say England a two hundred pound tip?...It's all comparative.

I think it is a bad move. But "up to you" as they say.

[jtp]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip. So...what does that girl think now?

the girl most probably thinks "he be lich falang numbah 10 foah shuah jing jing!"

Are you implying that this girl conned me....Or that i was interested in her sexually?Not everybody here is a deadbeat loser,and if you came up the countryside a little,you would see that there are many women,young and old working on farms,KFC,MK restaurant,for very poor wages,yet none of these people feel the need to sell their bodies....And i have seen some beautiful women in very lowly paid jobs...BTW,i am not suggesting you are a loser,but you have to admit,there is no shortage of them...

[DC1066]

The problem with hanging around Pattaya to much is that you tend to think that every Issan girl is the same...And nothing could be further from the truth...MANY girls would not ever think of doing that... Regardless of how poor they might be.

Well said.

I get annoyed when people over here (UK) stereotype all Thai women as prostitutes, but maybe I should go a bit easier on them when so many people on a Thai forum seem to hold the same view - a country of 60 million people, not all of them want to sell their body in Pattaya or other such places.

Edited January 13, 2009 by DC1066

[Birdman]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip.

So...what does that girl think now?

She is thinking - Pattaya !!

Never a good idea to tip too much.

Or MAYBE she's thinking "I wish all people were kind enough to help me"...Kind of low to be a tight wad when i pull up in a new Mercedes...I am more inclined to think i helped her,rather then put her on the path to moral destruction...?Besides,the meal was a total of around 2000 baht,so i think it was only fair.

2000 times 10% = 200bt tip. That would be fair.

Most people generally do not respect customers that throw around large tips. It is seen as a sign of weekness and, dare I say, a stupidity to be exploited. Of course they will take the tip and be very happy about taking it. But there are other factors at play. Would you leave a waiter in say England a two hundred pound tip?...It's all comparative.

I think it is a bad move. But "up to you" as they say.

Thailand was feudal many years. American soldiers introduced tips in Thailand. Now tipping at a restaurant is normal, but not always 10%. Meal costs 200, tip is appr. 15. Meal costs 1.000, tip is appr. 40.

[Chaimai]

Are you implying that this girl conned me....Or that i was interested in her sexually?Not everybody here is a deadbeat loser,and if you came up the countryside a little,you would see that there are many women,young and old working on farms,KFC,MK restaurant,for very poor wages,yet none of these people feel the need to sell their bodies....And i have seen some beautiful women in very lowly paid jobs...BTW,i am not suggesting you are a loser,but you have to admit,there is no shortage of them...

I think the inference was - and my view would be - that your tip was totally disproportionate.

OK it was like Christmas for the girl but I doubt that she is able to rationalise that you were a one-off kind-hearted, excessively generous individual. No - this is more likely to set a bench-mark for her service-level and the next farang who tips the standard 20 baht will be regarded as a cheap Charlie.

For exactly the same reason I tipped a girl who was earning 15 Baht an hour 100 Baht. She had provided excellent service throughout the evening, chatted nicely to us and was also supporting her studies.

Subjective, of course, but I would argue that my gesture was more proportionate to the circumstances than your 500 baht - which, as some have observed, would cover a bar fine

[G54]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip.

So...what does that girl think now?

She is thinking - Pattaya !!

Never a good idea to tip too much.

I got a good telling off for tipping 100 Baht. Was way too much. Suppose it is for a lady earning 3- 6,000 a month at the Pimarn Hotel. Now I tip 20 Baht and never hear a complaint.

On topic.

The people who work at the sugar factory are on 6,500 Bhat a month this season and down from 7,000 last year. With 3/6 factories closed in this particualr group, no one is complaining.

Restaurants pay crap wages in the main and often less than 6,000 a month. Same with Salons, shops and other places.

[jtp]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip.

So...what does that girl think now?

She is thinking - Pattaya !!

Never a good idea to tip too much.

Or MAYBE she's thinking "I wish all people were kind enough to help me"...Kind of low to be a tight wad when i pull up in a new Mercedes...I am more inclined to think i helped her,rather then put her on the path to moral destruction...?Besides,the meal was a total of around 2000 baht,so i think it was only fair.

2000 times 10% = 200bt tip. That would be fair.

Most people generally do not respect customers that throw around large tips. It is seen as a sign of weekness and, dare I say, a stupidity to be exploited. Of course they will take the tip and be very happy about taking it. But there are other factors at play. Would you leave a waiter in say England a two hundred pound tip?...It's all comparative.

I think it is a bad move. But "up to you" as they say.

Would a waiter in England need my tip??That girl needed that money,and was working hard to pay for her schooling.I really think that if you are doing well,why not help someone that needs it?I know many a farang on this forum wouldn't even stop to help an accident victim,so why would they be expected to help others financially?Happy to throw the money down their throat with alcohol...Luckily we are not all so week,as you put it.

[Geekfreaklover]

The problem with hanging around Pattaya to much is that you tend to think that every Issan girl is the same...And nothing could be further from the truth...MANY girls would not ever think of doing that... Regardless of how poor they might be.

Well said.

I get annoyed when people over here (UK) stereotype all Thai women as prostitutes, but maybe I should go a bit easier on them when so many people on a Thai forum seem to hold the same view - a country of 60 million people, not all of them want to sell their body in Pattaya or other such places.

Agreed.

But it is perhaps not a huge leap of the imgination to conclude that naive foreigners over-tipping young women in low paid serivice jobs may tend to contribute to these said women working in places where there are more foreigners and therefore more 'tips' .

[Geekfreaklover]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip.

So...what does that girl think now?

She is thinking - Pattaya !!

Never a good idea to tip too much.

Or MAYBE she's thinking "I wish all people were kind enough to help me"...Kind of low to be a tight wad when i pull up in a new Mercedes...I am more inclined to think i helped her,rather then put her on the path to moral destruction...?Besides,the meal was a total of around 2000 baht,so i think it was only fair.

2000 times 10% = 200bt tip. That would be fair.

Most people generally do not respect customers that throw around large tips. It is seen as a sign of weekness and, dare I say, a stupidity to be exploited. Of course they will take the tip and be very happy about taking it. But there are other factors at play. Would you leave a waiter in say England a two hundred pound tip?...It's all comparative.

I think it is a bad move. But "up to you" as they say.

Would a waiter in England need my tip??That girl needed that money,and was working hard to pay for her schooling.I really think that if you are doing well,why not help someone that needs it?I know many a farang on this forum wouldn't even stop to help an accident victim,so why would they be expected to help others financially?Happy to throw the money down their throat with alcohol...Luckily we are not all so week,as you put it.

So people in England don't need tips, but people in Thailand do.

Everyone in Thailand is poor and everyone in England is rich, and you are here to save those poor people in Thailand.

Have you been living here long?

[jtp]

Are you implying that this girl conned me....Or that i was interested in her sexually?Not everybody here is a deadbeat loser,and if you came up the countryside a little,you would see that there are many women,young and old working on farms,KFC,MK restaurant,for very poor wages,yet none of these people feel the need to sell their bodies....And i have seen some beautiful women in very lowly paid jobs...BTW,i am not suggesting you are a loser,but you have to admit,there is no shortage of them...

I think the inference was - and my view would be - that your tip was totally disproportionate.

OK it was like Christmas for the girl but I doubt that she is able to rationalise that you were a one-off kind-hearted, excessively generous individual. No - this is more likely to set a bench-mark for her service-level and the next farang who tips the standard 20 baht will be regarded as a cheap Charlie.

For exactly the same reason I tipped a girl who was earning 15 Baht an hour 100 Baht. She had provided excellent service throughout the evening, chatted nicely to us and was also supporting her studies.

Subjective, of course, but I would argue that my gesture was more proportionate to the circumstances than your 500 baht - which, as some have observed, would cover a bar fine

I have never been with a prostitute,so i do not know how much a "bar fine" is.I realise that not everyone is in a position to waste money,especially foreign teachers.But it was proportionate to the level of service,so i will sleep well tonight.But i can see where you are coming from,expecting more from farangs....I guess i will have to think about the next.It just feels so low to be financially stable,and see others struggling to make ends meet.

[Birdman]

Would a waiter in England need my tip??

He is expecting it, but not a 500 POUND tip

Edited January 13, 2009 by Birdman

[Chaimai]

I have never been with a prostitute,so i do not know how much a "bar fine" is.I realise that not everyone is in a position to waste money,especially foreign teachers.But it was proportionate to the level of service,so i will sleep well tonight.But i can see where you are coming from,expecting more from farangs....I guess i will have to think about the next.It just feels so low to be financially stable,and see others struggling to make ends meet.

Nice to see someone with the humility to consider an opposing view - well done tritex..

It does pull at the heart strings to see these (usually) girls literally slaving away to support their education and your sentiment was well-intended. I think my comment was about being proportionate to their income, rather than service. As others have pointed out, there is a sort of 'scale' of tips. A 100 baht tip would, in my view, have achieved the same result as far as the girl is concerned.

[jtp]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

Yeah, i felt bad,i wanted to leave more but i didn't want to set a precedent where it was expected from all farangs.

Imagine you are that girl with that salary and one day a foreign customer gives you a 5 days salary tip.

So...what does that girl think now?

She is thinking - Pattaya !!

Never a good idea to tip too much.

Or MAYBE she's thinking "I wish all people were kind enough to help me"...Kind of low to be a tight wad when i pull up in a new Mercedes...I am more inclined to think i helped her,rather then put her on the path to moral destruction...?Besides,the meal was a total of around 2000 baht,so i think it was only fair.

2000 times 10% = 200bt tip. That would be fair.

Most people generally do not respect customers that throw around large tips. It is seen as a sign of weekness and, dare I say, a stupidity to be exploited. Of course they will take the tip and be very happy about taking it. But there are other factors at play. Would you leave a waiter in say England a two hundred pound tip?...It's all comparative.

I think it is a bad move. But "up to you" as they say.

Would a waiter in England need my tip??That girl needed that money,and was working hard to pay for her schooling.I really think that if you are doing well,why not help someone that needs it?I know many a farang on this forum wouldn't even stop to help an accident victim,so why would they be expected to help others financially?Happy to throw the money down their throat with alcohol...Luckily we are not all so week,as you put it.

So people in England don't need tips, but people in Thailand do.

Everyone in Thailand is poor and everyone in England is rich, and you are here to save those poor people in Thailand.

Have you been living here long?

Matter of fact,i have.So you are trying to tell me that an English person is no better off then a thai person?LOL. I am sure that the pension you receive in England,is far greater then the average wage of a Thai.And you can sit on your arse and do nothing,but still receive a pension,even if you never worked for it.Yes you are right,everyone in England is poor...How long have you been here?? Long enough to have filled your heart with contempt,and blind yourself from the truth.

[jtp]

I have never been with a prostitute,so i do not know how much a "bar fine" is.I realise that not everyone is in a position to waste money,especially foreign teachers.But it was proportionate to the level of service,so i will sleep well tonight.But i can see where you are coming from,expecting more from farangs....I guess i will have to think about the next.It just feels so low to be financially stable,and see others struggling to make ends meet.

Nice to see someone with the humility to consider an opposing view - well done tritex..

It does pull at the heart strings to see these (usually) girls literally slaving away to support their education and your sentiment was well-intended. I think my comment was about being proportionate to their income, rather than service. As others have pointed out, there is a sort of 'scale' of tips. A 100 baht tip would, in my view, have achieved the same result as far as the girl is concerned.

Yeah,i am starting to see that.Always a pain when your heart takes over from your brain.I accidently tipped 1000 baht to a foot masseuse,meaning to tip 100,didn't have the heart ask for it back....

[popmybubble]

I thought this thread was about how much the OP could earn working in Thailand not how much you should tip a waitress

[thesunset75]

I thought this thread was about how much the OP could earn working in Thailand not how much you should tip a waitress

hahaha yes i thought the same now

[jtp]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

The minimum age to work in Australia is 14yrs & 8 months and the minimum wage is about $7 an hour.

And also the question is:

How do they survive on a 8k baht a month??

Some people working full-time in Australia can't even survive on a $1200aud.

I don't know anyone in Australia that only gets $1200 a month for full time work.....Did you mean $1200 per week?Last i checked the unemployment benefits were not much less then $1200 a month...oh wait,that could be apprentices(First year).

My friend's cousin earns about $1400 a month... he has 2 kids and his wife only started working 2 months ago since they need more money to make a living.

As in for 1 person earning $1400 a month is very low since you need at least $2500 a month to survive for the whole month.

As for myself, I earn about $5500 a month working in I.T. and I don't think enough for me since I live on my own and pays $450 on rent.

That's not even including utilities or transport for work. Let's say after I paid all my bills, I am left with $2500.

OK back to the original subject.I have obviously misunderstood your post,were you born in Australia,or migrate there?I ask this because the structure of your sentences are unusual.More likely you did not have English as your first language.I am not picking on you,by all accounts you are no fool.

[Geekfreaklover]

Matter of fact,i have.So you are trying to tell me that an English person is no better off then a thai person?LOL. I am sure that the pension you receive in England,is far greater then the average wage of a Thai.And you can sit on your arse and do nothing,but still receive a pension,even if you never worked for it.Yes you are right,everyone in England is poor...How long have you been here?? Long enough to have filled your heart with contempt,and blind yourself from the truth.

What I am trying to explain is that people from certain countires earn a certain wage in accordance to the job they do and in accrordance to the country in which they work.

I don't have a pension, thanks for the assumption. I am well under pension age, early thirties, and have lived in and worked in Thailand most of my adult life. I do not sit on my arse and do nothing. I work, employ several thai nationals and have a family with two children here in Thailand.

I was simply pointing out that it is not a good idea to over-tip.

And what is this truth that I can't see. The truth of being a naive tourist?

But. yes back on topic. If the OP wants to work in Thailand for a short period, then a English teacher would be the way to go. 40kish and quite easy to pick up work.

Edited January 13, 2009 by Geekfreaklover

[jtp]

yeah,i couldn't live on $1400 a month in Aus.I really think it is going to be hard to get the kind of money you are currently making,in Thailand.But i am pretty sure that a full time job does not pay only $1400 a month in Aus.A cleaner earns more then $2200 a month,a truck driver earns more and so on and so forth.

[Birdman]

I have never been with a prostitute,so i do not know how much a "bar fine" is.I realise that not everyone is in a position to waste money,especially foreign teachers.But it was proportionate to the level of service,so i will sleep well tonight.But i can see where you are coming from,expecting more from farangs....I guess i will have to think about the next.It just feels so low to be financially stable,and see others struggling to make ends meet.

Nice to see someone with the humility to consider an opposing view - well done tritex..

It does pull at the heart strings to see these (usually) girls literally slaving away to support their education and your sentiment was well-intended. I think my comment was about being proportionate to their income, rather than service. As others have pointed out, there is a sort of 'scale' of tips. A 100 baht tip would, in my view, have achieved the same result as far as the girl is concerned.

Yeah,i am starting to see that.Always a pain when your heart takes over from your brain.I accidently tipped 1000 baht to a foot masseuse,meaning to tip 100,didn't have the heart ask for it back....

sorry, but in this case you have to ask for it back.

Why? Low paid workers in Thailand have mostly low education and a minimum of knowledge of the world around Thailand.

You tip 1.000 and she thinks, that all Farangs could tip 1.000. For her you are not the individual tritexengineering, the compassionate one, you are just a Farang.

She would never imagine, that some Farangs abroad or in Thailand as well are poor, because of your tip. If another Farang will not be so generous, she will think that he is mean and she will dislike him, because of your action...

I understand you, but it is a mistake. Thais would never tip her that...

[phoolish]

The 16 year old girl that served me dinner on a riverboat restaurant in Nakhon Sawan was pulling 100 baht per night-That's 100 baht for 6 hours work!! She had to work to pay for her schooling... My tip alone put her 5 days ahead.

You left a 500 baht tip?

The minimum age to work in Australia is 14yrs & 8 months and the minimum wage is about $7 an hour.

And also the question is:

How do they survive on a 8k baht a month??

Some people working full-time in Australia can't even survive on a $1200aud.

I don't know anyone in Australia that only gets $1200 a month for full time work.....Did you mean $1200 per week?Last i checked the unemployment benefits were not much less then $1200 a month...oh wait,that could be apprentices(First year).

My friend's cousin earns about $1400 a month... he has 2 kids and his wife only started working 2 months ago since they need more money to make a living.

As in for 1 person earning $1400 a month is very low since you need at least $2500 a month to survive for the whole month.

As for myself, I earn about $5500 a month working in I.T. and I don't think its enough for me since I live on my own and pays $450 on rent.

That's not even including utilities or transport for work. Let's say after I paid all my bills, I am left with $2500.

OK back to the original subject.I have obviously misunderstood your post,were you born in Australia,or migrate there?I ask this because the structure of your sentences are unusual.More likely you did not have English as your first language.I am not picking on you,by all accounts you are no fool.

I migrated here from Philippines and came here when I was 10 yrs. Been living in Australia for 20 yrs.

Sorry about my grammar... I think I missed some words.

Edited January 13, 2009 by phoolish

[jtp]

I have never been with a prostitute,so i do not know how much a "bar fine" is.I realise that not everyone is in a position to waste money,especially foreign teachers.But it was proportionate to the level of service,so i will sleep well tonight.But i can see where you are coming from,expecting more from farangs....I guess i will have to think about the next.It just feels so low to be financially stable,and see others struggling to make ends meet.

Nice to see someone with the humility to consider an opposing view - well done tritex..

It does pull at the heart strings to see these (usually) girls literally slaving away to support their education and your sentiment was well-intended. I think my comment was about being proportionate to their income, rather than service. As others have pointed out, there is a sort of 'scale' of tips. A 100 baht tip would, in my view, have achieved the same result as far as the girl is concerned.

Yeah,i am starting to see that.Always a pain when your heart takes over from your brain.I accidently tipped 1000 baht to a foot masseuse,meaning to tip 100,didn't have the heart ask for it back....

sorry, but in this case you have to ask for it back.

Why? Low paid workers in Thailand have mostly low education and a minimum of knowledge of the world around Thailand.

You tip 1.000 and she thinks, that all Farangs could tip 1.000. For her you are not the individual tritexengineering, the compassionate one, you are just a Farang.

She would never imagine, that some Farangs abroad or in Thailand as well are poor, because of your tip. If another Farang will not be so generous, she will think that he is mean and she will dislike him, because of your action...

I understand you, but it is a mistake. Thais would never tip her that...

Yeah,but i would feel like the biggest heel ever.. It was a long time ago.

[phoolish]

yeah,i couldn't live on $1400 a month in Aus.I really think it is going to be hard to get the kind of money you are currently making,in Thailand.But i am pretty sure that a full time job does not pay only $1400 a month in Aus.A cleaner earns more then $2200 a month,a truck driver earns more and so on and so forth.

He gets paid cash in hand in a takeaway shop.

Edited January 13, 2009 by phoolish