Is It Standard Practice To Charge For Broken Glass At Restaurants?

[philw]

Probably my fault for being drunk in charge of a 5 yr old.

Oh dear philw

What have you done, the self righteous brigade are going to be coming after you now.

Yeah,Little fellah escaped and is now 20.......

Still haven't docked him for the drums........

It was really funny, escaped parental attention ( we were all drunk early afternoon ) got behind the quite hi class kit at Saxaphone and proceeded to demolish it..

Management and staff were very understanding, which is my point.

[crazygreg44]

Well I'm an adult, and I have broken glasses etc here - knocked off the table during the evening etc - easy to do especially when the table is small and loaded with plates as Thais tend to do. I have never been charged. I think in that case I would have just held back the tip. It doesn't matter that its only 45 baht - its my 45 baht. Having owned restaurants in the UK and a cafe here, I would never charge for breakages (unless intensional, which has never happened as yet). Restaurants and cafes usually have stock enough of such items and they wear out or become dated well before we run out though breaks - its cheaper to buy them i bulk. Also, big things like the Koi in the above example should be covered under the insurance, if I added half a million baht to your bill for somehow knocking over or breaking the fish tank, would you pay it? Most people do not like being conned or taken for a ride, once bitten, twice shy - pissing off a regular is just plain stupid - ESPECIALLY for 45 baht!

Maybe you should have handed her 500 Baht extra ad flipped the table over.

Fully agreed ths one !!!

[DP25]

The charge for towel gambit isn't that rare and they don't usually ask. It's OK for tourists who are one offs but I usually don't want the towel and it's a cause of stress to stop them before they pop the seal without asking, so I am less likely to repeat visit a place like that. Sometimes there is even a charge if you managed to stop them, they just assume you took it.

I've never been charged for the moist towel after a meal. With bathroom attendants it is a different story

[simon43]

It's the norm in many Thai-owned businesses for staff to have to pay for any breakages that occur, if the customer does not pay for them. It's also the norm for the staff to have to make up any shortfall when cashing up at the end of the day. (This explains why 7/11 staff count out your change 426 times before handing it over to you...)

Simon

[Beetlejuice]

The solution is very simple.

When the breakage was included on the bill, the OP should have insisted on speaking with someone in charge and stated exactly how he felt about having to pay for the bowl. If the restaurant declined to take the item off the bill, then the OP pays it and just never visits that place again. Same if the owner was not available and had to pay for the bowl.

As the OP said; he and his family are regular customers at that restaurant and that business would lose 1000s of bahts in profit and tips from the OP and his family by non-custom over a period of a year.

This is Thailand; there is always plenty of other restaurants eager for our custom.

[Kilgore Trout]

Well who do you want to pay, the staff who are responsible for breakages? You are the one responsible for your families actions until they are old enough to take responsibility yourself. I presume you at least helped clean up the mess your child made by throwing the food on the ground.

Its called collateral damage and resturaunts should expect this and figure it into expenses. How many times have they used that bowl successfully in order to make a profit? Another example of Thai business practice shooting itself in the foot.

And clearly you don't have any children do you?

[Kilgore Trout]

I am asking to satisfy my curiosity. If the business norm here is to charge for accidental breakage then so be it.

Maybe I should of kept it simple and said if I accidentally break glassware is it norm to be charged or will it be excused instead of my sob story.

There is no right or wrong answer and I'm not looking to justify my situation on why I shouldn't been charge.

Anyhow the answer is clear.... expect to be charged in LOS.

thanks

45 baht ??

One of my kids wrecked a $2000 drum kit in Saxaphone all those years ago.

Probably my fault for being drunk in charge of a 5 yr old.

I think you said it all pal; drunken slob takes 5 year old to bar. Be glad you are in LOS, many other places your children would be taken by the state as you have clearly stated that you are an unfit parent.

[bobbin]

Somebody broke the bowl.

Was it the staff? No.

Was it your child, under your supervision? Yes.

Who should pay? You.

One of the many costs of child-rearing....

[TheWalkingMan]

Tacky business practice.

I would think that being in the restaurant business a certain amount of breakage should be expected and if a customer breaks a glass or a plate, no big deal. The replacement cost should not be added to the bill.

I know, some of the posters feel that the customer should pay, but I have never heard of the customer paying in The States or Japan. It should be considered the cost of doing business as it was an accident.

Some of the customer service skills exhibited by some of our glorious posters is amazing.

TheWalkingMan

[bunta71]

IMO, you are responsible for your toddlers actions. Have him/her climb over the aquarium and tilt twenty half million Baht worth Koi's over across the floor would result in the action of making you responsible to the damage. Why would a minor event like breaking a glass which you allowed your todler to "play" with - and adult would have taken proper care - make you less responsible for your actions ? I'd even say, if I was the owner of a restaurant and watch you drop a glass in the middle of having a jolly good time, I would just neglect it on the bill. But if I watched you to pass things to a toddler who in my opinion is not trained enough to give proper care, I would even walk up and ask you to keep an eye and a chain to your still-stupid kid or pay the bill for broken things.

I am sorry I might sound a bit harsh but I was educated in such a way that we children were not allowed certain things to do my parents didn't think we were old enuff to perform. Like playing with things which don t belong to us, or pulling at animals, or like running about yelling like pirates on a attack, in a restaurant when we were not the only guests.

What you described can happen to you in any part of the world, depending on the view of the restaurant management. 45 Baht ? it is the equivalent of 1 and half a buck, if you rate it worth a discussion, sorry you are wrong in a restaurant, better eat at home where your kids are allowed to touch and smash things up to their like because you are such a coward not to educate them to some degree of manners

The kid dropped a plate..... in a restaurant.....and it makes the OP a terrible person who doesn't discipline their kids.

Bloody hell pal!

I have an eight year old who has grown up so far in Thailand. When at a restaurant here the drink that a small child orders will usually come in a very tall, tapered down very small at the bottom. A glass that will tip over with merely a glance of ones eyes. I used to ask if they had a shorter, more suitable glass for the child and if not I just ordered a towel and waited for the spill...

[slapout]

To the op, yes some of the restaurants here will bill for any and everything. When I saw the staff giving a ceramic/glass blow to a 2 year old, I being such a diplomatic person would have asked if they gave their babies who are on the bottle a glass bottle full of milk. Anticipate the potential results prior to accepting or doing anything is advice I was given a long time ago. It can be a mine field out there, even for those who have been here decades.

[MSingh]

I just bought a small restaurant and actually today was first day of business. We would not charge a customer for accidental breakage, especially a regular. Seems like rather foolish business practice IMO.

Yeah but you're obviously not thia or obviosuly don't have the menatlity of one or let your Wife or a Thai in a position of authority, make decisions over you..

[DougLee]

Took lea dee has plastic cups for kids, your waiters were too lazy to walk an extra few meters to get them. i would not have paid. They gotta be dumb as hell to give a small child breakable stuff. It,s like at fuji, if you sit with a child they will put EVERYTHING in front of the child instead of the adult. Making sure the baby will make everything fall on the floor. Then 5mins later they repeat the same dumb stuff at the table next to you

[fletchsmile]

Yes standard practice, particularly at that end of the market. It's fair enough really - It was your fault not theirs, so why should they lose out? OK the UK may not always do that, but that doesn't make the UK right and Thailand wrong.

Remember the name of the restaurant is "cheap and nice". Your bill would probably have been only a few hundred baht, so they're not making big profits per meal, as their business model is "cheap and nice". If someone bought a single item and smashed the container, that would mean a loss thru no fault of their own. From a free market perspective, if they covered all breakage costs, that would need passing on to customers generally and increasing the price. You might have a point if you'd just dined at a 5 star hotel, paid several thousand baht and added on 45 more, that would just show them up for lacking class and being cheap

We have young kids too. Many restaurants provide separate plastic for kids. Many don't though. That's not always the full answer anyway as they can and do still knock over an adults glass, and I'd prefer not to eat out of Mickey Mouse or Doraemon plastic utensils

Yes I cringe a bit when they look like they'll knock something over, and they often do. I expect to pay if they break something. My worry is more they break a glass and hurt themselves.

One quid for a glass is no big deal. It's a Thai way to get used to, and not really worth changing your restaurant for

[Berkshire]

Yes standard practice, particularly at that end of the market. It's fair enough really - It was your fault not theirs, so why should they lose out? OK the UK may not always do that, but that doesn't make the UK right and Thailand wrong.

Remember the name of the restaurant is "cheap and nice". Your bill would probably have been only a few hundred baht, so they're not making big profits per meal, as their business model is "cheap and nice". If someone bought a single item and smashed the container, that would mean a loss thru no fault of their own. From a free market perspective, if they covered all breakage costs, that would need passing on to customers generally and increasing the price. You might have a point if you'd just dined at a 5 star hotel, paid several thousand baht and added on 45 more, that would just show them up for lacking class and being cheap

We have young kids too. Many restaurants provide separate plastic for kids. Many don't though. That's not always the full answer anyway as they can and do still knock over an adults glass, and I'd prefer not to eat out of Mickey Mouse or Doraemon plastic utensils

Yes I cringe a bit when they look like they'll knock something over, and they often do. I expect to pay if they break something. My worry is more they break a glass and hurt themselves.

One quid for a glass is no big deal. It's a Thai way to get used to, and not really worth changing your restaurant for

Good and balanced post. I would imagine that if you were to walk into a Mom and Pop china shop and accidentally break some expensive china, their policy may be different than a large department store. I'm not sure if it's standard practice in Thailand as I've seen glasses being broken and no charge levied to the patron. But even if it was, it doesn't make it right or wrong and as you say, just because they do it a certain way in the UK doesn't make the Thai practice wrong. As a parent, I'd take full responsibility for the actions of my toddler and certainly wouldn't take offense at a 45 bt charge.

[joe84330]

Well who do you want to pay, the staff who are responsible for breakages? You are the one responsible for your families actions until they are old enough to take responsibility yourself. I presume you at least helped clean up the mess your child made by throwing the food on the ground.

preposterous. if you ever ran a restaurant it would be easy to identify now by the "gone out of business" sign on the door.

[hawthorne]

No personal experience with breaking anything in a resturant or too drunk to remember not sure which. I never heard of anyone every being charged. I think it is justified though. I always wondered why supermarkets, grocery stores do not charge customers for breaking objects in isles or their kids pull things off and they break on the floor and are never charged. I think the supermarkets are more justified in charging but a little off topic.

[chuang]

Why get upset over 45 baht....if your child sits on a chair in the restaurant, the chair broke down and the child is injured...just laugh it off or you sue the restaurant, i think this happened in most farang countries....they sue..

BTW " good to see nice to touch, you break you buy i break i cry "

[slapout]

Parenting is a continual learning experience and the op has learned a lesson. As a father of 4 kids who went thru the terrible 2's both here and the real world, we learned to ask for a high chair at any restaurant. We carried biscuits for the kids when they were that age or gave them tidbits of what we were eating. The tray of the high chair was their landing zone for the fool and we sure did not give them anything breakable to eat from or play with. A metal spoon was about the extent of their playthings and that was removed when they started banging on the tray. When it was required we as parents would even take turns eating so one could watch the little quick handed varmints. As the children/parents grow up, instances like this will be eliminated or at least reduced. Saying this, the restaurants here probably see breakage by children quite often and their charging is a good reminder to the parents to keep the kids in check.

[Wallaby]

I would have thought that if you run a restaurant business then you must factor in a certain amount of breakage as just part and parcel of professional business life.

You asked for plastic, they gave you ceramic. I don't think you should have been charged. I don't think the amount charged is the point, more the act of charging you at all.

I wouldn't have kicked up a stink about it though, I guess I'm one of those bad patrons that don't complain, just don't give feedback and never return.

I do like the idea that when paying the bill just don't include a tip and if you feel so inclined just hold up the amount you were going to tip and tell them it was going to be there's until they charged you for the breakage.

Mai pen rai.

[JurgenG]

Normal tip is 20 Baht. If you're not happy with the 45 baths charge, just don't give any tip and don't come back.

At the end it cost you only 25 B (no big deal !) and you make your point

Don't sweat the small stuff ... and here particularly it's a very small stuff

[angiud]

Breakage is a part of the wider general decay/consumption of every stuff, appliance present in a restaurant.

So, IMHO, a broken glass/plate is not chargeable to the customer.

And not so nice too.

But Thai point of view of course is different. Don't thinking over today, for most of them is not important if a customer will come back.

[kjhbigv]

I just asked the girlfriend.

Her reply "Yes, of course you have to pay".

I just asked the girlfriend exactly the same thing and she said 'no, unless it was expensive bowl'.

[kurnell]

I have taken my kids to restaurants all over Thailand and they have smashed, scratched, stained and generally damaged many different things and we have never been charged.

[metisdead]

One post containing useless criticism removed.

[philw]

I am asking to satisfy my curiosity. If the business norm here is to charge for accidental breakage then so be it.

Maybe I should of kept it simple and said if I accidentally break glassware is it norm to be charged or will it be excused instead of my sob story.

There is no right or wrong answer and I'm not looking to justify my situation on why I shouldn't been charge.

Anyhow the answer is clear.... expect to be charged in LOS.

thanks

45 baht ??

One of my kids wrecked a $2000 drum kit in Saxaphone all those years ago.

Probably my fault for being drunk in charge of a 5 yr old.

I think you said it all pal; drunken slob takes 5 year old to bar. Be glad you are in LOS, many other places your children would be taken by the state as you have clearly stated that you are an unfit parent.

What planet are you from , may I ask ??

[Xircal]

45 baht!!?? I'll repeat that; fortyfive baht...

I guess the only problem here is who to laugh at; the restaurant for charging or the farang who complains about it on TV.

Fortyfive freakin baht!!? I mean, call the police....

I don't think the OP is complaining about the cost, but rather the principle of the thing.

I wonder if a Thai would have been charged had his toddler had broken something.

[GuestHouse]

Had the bill arrived omitting the charge for the broken crockery would the OP have offered to pay?!

[philw]

Had the bill arrived omitting the charge for the broken crockery would the OP have offered to pay?!

45 baht...............

This thread is amazing.

[nocturn]

Think the OP's point here is that in farang land it would not happen. BUT, in USA most restaurants add 15% service charge and indeed in some UK places they do similar, also most tip handsomely which would cover any breakages, Perhaps here they are used to tight non tipping customers.

Then i am sure the op's point is moot. The OP is not in "farangland"

We are talking about less than 2 bucks, my daughter as a two year old brushed against a top heavy cermaic sculpture that was the largest of a set of three. It was insanely precarious and about 2 meters tall in the center of the lobby of the president park which houses that crappy man u pub. You had to pass it to reach the toilet.

They held me until the police came and extricated 9 grand.

The statues are since gone. I once went back to ask the receptionist where the other two went and she said "They fall over too much. All broken"

Perhaps you should find somewhere else to eat. The staff couldnt care less how much you spend there, they dont see any of the money.