Blatantly ripped off 1000 baht

[Munger]

In fifteen years of shopping at these sorts of places many times per week I've never never had anything like this happen to me.

So rare, I'm really questioning did this even happen. . .

I hope you don't wait for someone to attack you (or worse) before you accept or believe that it can happen....

This lady was ripped off, why even doubt her story?

BOOSTA, doubts her story because he is a thai apologist. The usual "IT NEVER HAPPENED TO ME". Why do you defend "boosta" ?

[boosta]

I didn't really mean the OP is lying, just that it really is so so rare, taking any preventative measures other than the common-sense ones I've since realized I do automatically (as posted earlier) isn't worth doing, like people that analyze the statistics about airline safety to choose their carrier, as opposed to just avoiding the famously bad ones.

I'm very certain this type of thing happens in Thai fresh markets, other normal places not tourist-oriented, a lot less than across the board back home.

I used to work with a bartender in farangland who was an amateur magician, used to almost double his pay by sleight of hand on busy nights.

[p_brownstone]

Happened to me in the early days of the BTS stations. I was like what, 12 or 13 back then and good thing with my mom (who is Thai). My mom gave me a 500 bill to exchange into 80 baht, with 420 baht to be expected in change. She tried giving me back 20 telling me I only gave her 100 baht. I told her politely that I gave her 500 and that she must be mistaken, then she called me a kid and dumb and that I didnt know the difference between a 500 and a 100 note because "mun gor doo meun gun" (they look pretty similar). I lost it, I remember flipping out (I'm a luk kreung, fluent Thai with the hotheadedness of a caucasian) so I just started a tirade of "ai hea, ai sud, meung ja kamoy ngern gu tummai wa? gu hai meung 500 baht! AOW NGERN GU KEUN MAA!!!" them my mom comes, I tell her the situation and the lady tries to convince my mom that I gave her a 100 note. A security guard comes and my mom tells the security guard to get the manager and the manager comes. My mom reads the lady's name tag and starts refering to that lady by name to the manager. It ended up with the manager threatening to check the security footage and the lady hands me the 500 baht from her pocket. I remember my mom chastising the lady in front of a ton of other patrons and pointing to her face saying "Khon nee ja khamoy ngern khong khun. Lawang wai dee dee." It was awesome seeing a Thai person lose face and couldnt retaliate whatsoever.

But yeah, ripoffs happen all the time.

Your Mum must have been so proud of her potty-mouthed offspring.

Patrick

[invogue]

Sorry that I didn't explain adequately about my tipping at the markets.

This isn't one of the regular markets that you see around with 'middle class' Thai people.

The market stores double as a lot of the peoples homes. Not all of them but evidently some people live in their shops and are clearly poverty stricken.

I bought some pants from one 'shop' where a boy and his mother were sleeping on a bed. The mother appeared sick and the sweet, well mannered 6 year old boy came to serve me. The pants were 180 baht and I gave the boy 200 baht and there was no way I was going to ask for 20 baht change off a 6 year boy or his ill mother.

A very similar thing happened at another shop where there were 2 young children watching a small TV on a dirty mattress in back area of the 'shop'. They were selling papayas for 10 baht each. The kids were under 5 and no adults in sight. I took 3 papayas and gave the kids 50 baht. Again, can you imagine asking impoverished children for change?

I bought a some beans from a really frail old man. He didn't speak English and I don't speak Thai but he spent 5 minutes trying to teach me Thai by pointing to things and saying their name in Thai and making me repeat it. I left a 10 baht coin on his table for his kindness.

I did not get ripped off 1000 baht because everyone in the market viewed me as a sucker, I got ripped off because the lady was an opportunistic theif.

[Salapoo]

Happens in every country.

[benalibina]

Sorry that I didn't explain adequately about my tipping at the markets.This isn't one of the regular markets that you see around with 'middle class' Thai people.The market stores double as a lot of the peoples homes. Not all of them but evidently some people live in their shops and are clearly poverty stricken.I bought some pants from one 'shop' where a boy and his mother were sleeping on a bed. The mother appeared sick and the sweet, well mannered 6 year old boy came to serve me. The pants were 180 baht and I gave the boy 200 baht and there was no way I was going to ask for 20 baht change off a 6 year boy or his ill mother.A very similar thing happened at another shop where there were 2 young children watching a small TV on a dirty mattress in back area of the 'shop'. They were selling papayas for 10 baht each. The kids were under 5 and no adults in sight. I took 3 papayas and gave the kids 50 baht. Again, can you imagine asking impoverished children for change?I bought a some beans from a really frail old man. He didn't speak English and I don't speak Thai but he spent 5 minutes trying to teach me Thai by pointing to things and saying their name in Thai and making me repeat it. I left a 10 baht coin on his table for his kindness. I did not get ripped off 1000 baht because everyone in the market viewed me as a sucker, I got ripped off because the lady was an opportunistic theif.

Well said. Do not listen too much to the people who slag you off for being ignorant etc...

[Salapoo]

Btw, with you giving tips for nothing and being generous they probably took you for a fool. Which by local standards you were. Giving money for nothing? This blokes an idiot, i'm going to take advantage of him.

Welcome to Thainess.

[benalibina]

Btw, with you giving tips for nothing and being generous they probably took you for a fool. Which by local standards you were. Giving money for nothing? This blokes an idiot, i'm going to take advantage of him.Welcome to Thainess.

She is not an idiot, it is a she and not a he, but, in this case, the thai is an idiot.

Welcome to thainess !

The negative part at least.

[Salapoo]

^yup. Be nice and generous and they'll consider a fool and do you without lube.

[arthurwait]

Sorry that I didn't explain adequately about my tipping at the markets.

This isn't one of the regular markets that you see around with 'middle class' Thai people.

The market stores double as a lot of the peoples homes. Not all of them but evidently some people live in their shops and are clearly poverty stricken.

I bought some pants from one 'shop' where a boy and his mother were sleeping on a bed. The mother appeared sick and the sweet, well mannered 6 year old boy came to serve me. The pants were 180 baht and I gave the boy 200 baht and there was no way I was going to ask for 20 baht change off a 6 year boy or his ill mother.

A very similar thing happened at another shop where there were 2 young children watching a small TV on a dirty mattress in back area of the 'shop'. They were selling papayas for 10 baht each. The kids were under 5 and no adults in sight. I took 3 papayas and gave the kids 50 baht. Again, can you imagine asking impoverished children for change?

I bought a some beans from a really frail old man. He didn't speak English and I don't speak Thai but he spent 5 minutes trying to teach me Thai by pointing to things and saying their name in Thai and making me repeat it. I left a 10 baht coin on his table for his kindness.

I did not get ripped off 1000 baht because everyone in the market viewed me as a sucker, I got ripped off because the lady was an opportunistic theif.

Go back at night and see if these people are sleeping there. That is the stall owner.

If you go during the day you're probably more likely to see them sleeping there.

[benalibina]

^yup. Be nice and generous and they'll consider a fool and do you without lube.

Says enough about the 1's perceiving a generous person as a fool !

Reason ?

[boosta]

rather be a too-kind fool and get ripped off once in a while than have the kind of view of the world some display here. . .

[yourauntbob]

I made a drunken mistake my first trip to Thailand, gave a 500 baht tip meaning to give 50. After the receiver did a victory dance, there was no turning back. It happens. You just move on. It's a crappy feeling but who hasn't been scammed sometimes in life for much more than 1000 baht?

Same here, first week in LOS i was in a taxi and the meter was about 80, i pulled what i thought was a 100 out of my wallet and handed it to the driver. he threw his hands up and started saying"no have change" but i saw a 20 note in his hand. i grabbed it and left the taxi. an hour later i realized my 1000 note was no longer there but my 100 note still was :-(

Sucks but it was a 900 baht lesson to be more careful!

[Salapoo]

Gotta love the Thai noobs eh.

[Salapoo]

Cultural lesson 101.

We generally respect kind people. Most locals here consider them as fools and treat them there as.

But hey their smiling and waiing you so they dont think like that at all lol.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Salapoo

[benalibina]

Cultural lesson 101.We generally respect kind people. Most locals here consider them as fools and treat them there as.But hey their smiling and waiing you so they dont think like that at all lol.

Reason ?

[JetsetBkk]

Not that it's your fault or anything, but I think you should change your ATM habits. What I do is is always 3,900, 5,900, 9,900, whatever. In that way you've always got small bills.

Exactly what I do. But most people don't realise you can enter the precise amount if you first hit the "English" button.

I just wish you could enter, for example, 1,980 baht so you can get some 20's.

[boosta]

Where's that "Don't Like This" button when you need it?

[poanoi]

I know...i lend out 5000 to a police when i first came here,

i then had to hire a lawyer to get it back, while the lawyer also needed a 30.000 baht loan.

I havn't seen either since, so u see, you aren't the only one with tuff luck.

And do yourself a favor and split those 1000 notes whenever you go to BigC,

go and buy a lighter at 7/11 if need be

[wprime]

"Has anything like this ever happened to anyone else and can anyone tell me how I could have handled this situation better?"

Never try to buy anything from a market stall without something resembling the correct change,go to 7/11 and buy a can of Coke or bottle of water or something if you don't have it.Although Thais are generally reasonably honest about this,I'm sorry but you must look like an easy target!

Same with taxis as I had it the other day,my Aussie mate tried to pay a 200 baht fare with 500 baht and the scumbag taxi driver claimed he had no change!Luckily I had some so I scrunched it up and threw it at him,he went off cursing but who cares,dickheads like that make it worse for everyone and give all Thais a bad name!

It's very possible he didn't have change, you're lucky you didn't get beaten up for such an act.

Firstly,what's a taxi driver doing not having change for 500 baht?Secondly my mate's a Thai boxer anyway,so there was only ever one person who was going to get beaten up,he was lucky!

Again,he was a complete scumbag trying to scam us,maybe you're a perennial victim,we're not!

If he wanted to scam you there are a lot more obvious ways, if you really think everyone in Thailand is out to scam you, you should really be questioning who is the perennial victim here. Losing your cool, disrespecting the king (scrunching up money and throwing it) and thinking you're safe because your friend is a boxer. You sound American.

[boosta]

Hey watch it, I like a good Yank-bashing as much as anyone but that's low!

[Neeranam]

I'd have to agree. I don't use 1000 baht notes at such markets. I can imagine a scam happening but find it harder to imagine it happening in markets where the vendors recognize a regular buyer.

This is a regular buyer who pays 100 baht when it is 80 baht!

Don't you think these people have some pride?

They already think you are a nut and sorry but if you act like a nut, you'll be cracked occasionally.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Neeranam

[Salapoo]

No no, thai not scam you, we very good people, smile, wai, go to temple, you wrong! YOU WRONG!

[David48]

You should have stood up to her!

She will rip others off even more now

Welcome to Thailand.

The subtle nuances of living here will filter down one day ...

[David48]

^yup. Be nice and generous and they'll consider a fool and do you without lube.

OUCH ... and ... I couldn't decide between the two

.

[pomchop]

I made a drunken mistake my first trip to Thailand, gave a 500 baht tip meaning to give 50. After the receiver did a victory dance, there was no turning back. It happens. You just move on. It's a crappy feeling but who hasn't been scammed sometimes in life for much more than 1000 baht?

Same here, first week in LOS i was in a taxi and the meter was about 80, i pulled what i thought was a 100 out of my wallet and handed it to the driver. he threw his hands up and started saying"no have change" but i saw a 20 note in his hand. i grabbed it and left the taxi. an hour later i realized my 1000 note was no longer there but my 100 note still was :-(

Sucks but it was a 900 baht lesson to be more careful!

Good one. I am embarrassed to say that years ago several times I got all pissed off at several taxi drivers who I accused of driving me around in circles...only to figure out after living here for a while that they were taking me the most direct route because of one ways etc...they were right, I was a jerk.....since then I have learned to keep my mouth shut as things maybe are not always quite what they seem and often what we take as a rip off or insult is really a misunderstanding.

[sustento]

If I'd been stitched up like the OP has I don't think that I'd brag about my stupidity in public. I'd just learn my lesson and move on

[poanoi]

She got attacked by a thief and you are blaming her for stupidity

[benalibina]

She got attacked by a thief and you are blaming her for stupidity

Read correctly before posting.

If you do not understand it, use google translate !

Kapom.

[boosta]

Yes in general you should never consider tipping market vendors.

The OP's explanation seems to be an exceptional situation.

But even if you're "acting like a mark", it's never appropriate to blame the victim.

Our daughters like to go out dressed like sluts these days, does that put the blame on them if a schoolmate boyfriend rapes them?