The "golden" Moment They Lost Your Business

[Jingthing]

It's quite probable that he suffers from a mental disorder such as Bipolar Disorder, and needs medication, rather than "special attention". The same type of thing happened to me in Australia, but as I have a bipolar friend, I recognized the signs in the restaurant owner's behaviour.

Oh, pleeeze, and I thought I was a bleeding heart ...

[mysterybkk]

if you like back home so much then you should move back there.

What an original comment....think it up all by yourself did you???

mommy had to help with that one.

2 people in the same family without a brain. What about the rest of the brood if there is one

well i am curious now as to what was so unreasonable about my comment? here are a bunch of people complaining about how things should be up to western standards and how common sense should be employed when there is no such thing as an internationally acceptable standard of dining.

it would never have occurred to me to complain about the restaurant mishaps here in thailand the same way i dont complain about every other little thing that bothers me.

Edited July 20, 2009 by mysterybkk

[Latindancer]

It's quite probable that he suffers from a mental disorder such as Bipolar Disorder, and needs medication, rather than "special attention". The same type of thing happened to me in Australia, but as I have a bipolar friend, I recognized the signs in the restaurant owner's behaviour.

Oh, pleeeze, and I thought I was a bleeding heart ...

And what is so unreasonable about MY comment ?? You must not have had the same experience as myself. My best friend, who is a really decent and polite person normally, occasionally becomes manic and yells obnoxiously at people, verbally twisting truthful things around to his advantage. I was once berated by a restaurant owner for moving his furniture, and saw the same look in his eye. Briefly, in that particular situation, what he was saying was ridiculous.

It became obvious to me that my initial reaction (to yell back) would be entirely inappropriate, given he was probably manic. This understanding only comes from experience.

What would YOU suggest, Jingthing ? Going and punching his lights out ?

[Bagwan]

lack of hygiene? take a look around. we're not in europe, what do you expect in this country? that every roadside restaurant have a clean kitchen and that they wash their dishes with soap?

With the swine fever problem here don't you think it is a good idea?

i've experienced it all, from hair in my food, to bugs on the table, dogs peeing on chairs and rude staff. so what, i'm in thailand. if i want to live in my sterile little protective bubble i can go move to europe. but where's the fun in that?

Perhaps you meant to write this:-

i've experienced it all, from hair in my food, to bugs on the table, dogs peeing on chairs and rude staff. But where's the fun in that?

[Jingthing]

What would YOU suggest, Jingthing ? Going and punching his lights out ?

Of course not. If he has a medical problem, go to a doctor. His behavior to a potential customer was outrageous and not giving custom to a business which behaves that way is the obvious reasonable response. With whatever due respect, you don't know for a fact he has a medical condition justifying his obnoxiousness. Its your half baked theory, that's all.

This man is a PUBLIC person, the face to the world of his business. And he blew it BIG TIME. Of course if I had personal knowledge of a coworker with a condition such as diabetes which makes people very grumpy if they miss their meal timing, of course I would have compassion at a personal level.

Edited July 21, 2009 by Jingthing

[Latindancer]

OK....hrmph...I see you do understand.

[Lithobid]

My goodness this topic brought the sharks out!

Jingthing- Was at Dukes in Chiang Mai last week, ordered a pizza with my friend. The pizza came really quick (about 5 mins) when it arrived, it was awful. Soggy crust and half melted cheese. My friend who knows one of the managment, calls her over, and explains, this is not enjoyable. Would you believe it, she said "Oh, you ordered it wrong. I tell my customers, don't order this way, you have to order it like that". Imagine ordering toppings on a pizza the wrong way, man, this world get's harder and harder......lol.....snicker.

Cheers

Lithobid

[Soutpeel]

My goodness this topic brought the sharks out!

Jingthing- Was at Dukes in Chiang Mai last week, ordered a pizza with my friend. The pizza came really quick (about 5 mins) when it arrived, it was awful. Soggy crust and half melted cheese. My friend who knows one of the managment, calls her over, and explains, this is not enjoyable. Would you believe it, she said "Oh, you ordered it wrong. I tell my customers, don't order this way, you have to order it like that". Imagine ordering toppings on a pizza the wrong way, man, this world get's harder and harder......lol.....snicker.

Cheers

Lithobid

LOL....in most business schools its taught..."the customer is always right"....it would appear based on a lot of posts here..in Thai business schools it is taught.."The customer is always wrong"....goes a long way to explain why a lot of companies have very little business and others fail outright...

I know a lot of people dont like Singapore, but after a long stint Thailand, I find travelling to Singapore a refreshing change as regards good quality customer service....I shall now bow out and all allow the "If you dont like it, you should leave contingent to have their say..

[mca]

Time to get a grip fellas

you wouldnt even get a decent entree back home for the price you pay for a banquet here.

So going by that logic if you were "back home" and went to buy a new fully loaded S Class Benz but blanched at the price tag and were looking for a bit of discount the salesman would say "Think yourself lucky it'd be double that if you lived in Thailand mate."

[GungaDin]

The hassle of eating out these days due to the low standard of eateries and restaurants in Bangkok has resulted in me cooking a lot more at home, and now I even cook stuff like breads and sausage myself.

Tonight I am having a Salmon steak that has been marinading in champagne vinegar, white wine, fresh dill, black pepper, olive oil and lime, served with a mixed salad and boiled potatoes.

I find myself thinking, "I could do better than this" when I eat out more often these days.

Yeah, Bangkok is world famous for its appalling food. Eating is such a joyless experience in this country.

I'll be tuning in tomorrow morning to find out whether you went with Cornflakes and milk with a dash of sugar, or lightly toasted bread spread with New Zealand butter and rasperry jam. I would also be interested in hearing whether you put milk into your cup before or after the coffee, or whether zzzzzzz

Brilliant!

[buffalobob]

Saw a nice mellow looking restaurant. Had the gf go in and order while I went for a longer stroll along the boardwalk (lovely sunset). She was still looking over the menu when I came in. The waiter came over, gave me a menu, and took away gf's menu and gave a her a new one. Well, our two new menus were in English and Thai and had "Farang" prices. The previous menu was in Thai with "Thai" prices.

We asked the waiter about the discrepancy. He apologized, sheepishly saying it was the restaurant's policy. He motioned to the owner and wife who were sitting at the back of the empty restaurant glowering at us.

Gf smiled, said thank you, and got up and left, followed by me.

When this happens i tell them (in Thai) that i can't speak or read English and that i need the Thai menu. That really fukcing confuses them!

[sanook2me]

The restaurant in all Centrals that the name is in Thai and has a boat shape at the front where they do the cooking..

This one is my local where i go at least 3 times per week normally by myself with a copy of the Bangkok post for a quick lunch.

I have a friend over from England so i took him there for a bite to eat and what did they do...well they served my food with a nice peice of plastic wrapping in the middle of the nam tok mu..... then took over 30 minutes to deliver my mates pad thai! so i had my nam tok delivered first and i had eaten that and finished and they still hadn't cooked his pad Thai...

I asked 4 times for his food !

I showed the waitress the plastic in my food....... khootoot kaaa and walked off...

I went to pay for the food while my friend was still eating as i was a little peed off...showed the girl on the till...khootoo kaaa

Went to the manager who normally says hello and is polite..i told him i wasn't happy and he said khootoot krap...

That was it..... only a flipping khootook..... sorry......

Why was no discount offered for my food with food wrapping inside and what the flip taking over 30 minutes to cook pad thai..!

well its Friday and off to yamsam or whatever its called next door.....

no more...such a shame because they serve namtok, laab and sticky rice in a mainstream restaurant..!

rant over....lost my business over too many khootoots and not enough care!

[Jingthing]

rant over....lost my business over too many khootoots and not enough care!

Yeah, understandable, but their responses were rather typical here. At least they were apologetic and acknowledging a fault. That place has tasty food for a good price; I think I would give them another chance if they have been OK in the past and you had already been a number of times where it was OK.

[Norrad]

The 7 eleven near my place is probably one of the shops I visit the most. I pop in there at least twice a day and the staff know me quite well. Lately though, I have been having a few short-changing incidents. On monday I was short changed 8 baht, I noticed it but didn't complain. Then on Tuesday it was a 10 baht 'mistake', once again I didn't complain. Perhaps the girl felt confident because I didn't complain the first two times and tried to push her luck and she short changed me 50 baht this morning. I complained and the manager came to check and corrected the mistake.

Needless to say, I will now be frequenting the Family Mart closer to my apartment. I will miss the Slurpees though.

[sanook2me]

The 7 eleven near my place is probably one of the shops I visit the most. I pop in there at least twice a day and the staff know me quite well. Lately though, I have been having a few short-changing incidents. On monday I was short changed 8 baht, I noticed it but didn't complain. Then on Tuesday it was a 10 baht 'mistake', once again I didn't complain. Perhaps the girl felt confident because I didn't complain the first two times and tried to push her luck and she short changed me 50 baht this morning. I complained and the manager came to check and corrected the mistake.

Needless to say, I will now be frequenting the Family Mart closer to my apartment. I will miss the Slurpees though.

50 baht is alot to risk short changing even from a 500 spot..... in a 7-11..... dam_n cheek....

sure her calculator wasn't broken..!

3 times is too much in a few days sure something was up with this situation..maybe the till? You know they rely on the till to show them the change required, did you check the money rung up on the till?

[Sargento]

I am seeing an explosion of both farang oriented and Thai restaurants starting to tack on a 10%-15% "service charge". This is in addition to tax and tip. When I find a place that has newly implemented this policy, I tip the staff as I normally do and cross the restaurant off my list. Hundreds more to choose from.

If there is a service charge I never tip. Tipping is adding insult to injury.

I often eat out alone because I eat out a lot. No need for a service charge for one person.

Paying tax? I avoid these places also.