500 baht breakage charge in Restaurant.....

[Jingthing]

You expect the waiter to pay for the glass out of his tip? Classy!

You leave a 300 baht tip on a 7000 baht bill. I am sure they will not miss you.

That's a very good tip in Thailand.

Not every place in the world is the USA.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Jug worth 50bht.

Waitress tells nobody, pockets 500bht.

It's always a scam, usually by the wait staff.

Why you should make the effort to contact the manager, so they can sack the scammer.

(Wait staff made no effort to contact manager or owner).

Next time take a photo of the staff member, so you can show who did the scam.

[ttthailand]

You expect the waiter to pay for the glass out of his tip? Classy!

You leave a 300 baht tip on a 7000 baht bill. I am sure they will not miss you.

It's not like they do anything really except bring the food and the beer. Not great service by any means.

300 baht is a very good tip. Thais in the same place would leave 100 at best or perhaps less. Keep in mind you are also paying 7% tax and 10% service.

[SoiBiker]

You expect the waiter to pay for the glass out of his tip? Classy!

You leave a 300 baht tip on a 7000 baht bill. I am sure they will not miss you.

It's not like they do anything really except bring the food and the beer. Not great service by any means.

300 baht is a very good tip. Thais in the same place would leave 100 at best or perhaps less. Keep in mind you are also paying 7% tax and 10% service.

What else do you expect a waiter to do? Magic tricks?

[ttthailand]

And I expect the restaurant to eat the cost of the glass !

[ttthailand]

You expect the waiter to pay for the glass out of his tip? Classy!

You leave a 300 baht tip on a 7000 baht bill. I am sure they will not miss you.

It's not like they do anything really except bring the food and the beer. Not great service by any means.

300 baht is a very good tip. Thais in the same place would leave 100 at best or perhaps less. Keep in mind you are also paying 7% tax and 10% service.

What else do you expect a waiter to do? Magic tricks?

I expect them to bring the food and drinks ... And I pay a reasonable tip. Exactly what I did.

I would guess that you would have paid an additional 15% or 1,050 baht tip in addition to the 700. Baht service fee and 400+ tax ...

[Jingthing]

I agree. Sounds like a scam to me.

[BKKSnowBird]

He did not say service was included. I don't tip if service is added in for me.

[richard_smith237]

I would not go to a place that charges that much and lets Kids in.Yes i have 2 so forget the standard replys.

Agree. It amazes me how selfesh some people are. Not everyone thinks your kid is cute and even worse when you let them break shit and try to get out of taking responsability.

BKKSnowBird - You've taken that a little far. I don't let my 'kids break shit' an simple accident happened - they do, it could have been you.

I don't consider any other parent who wishes to have dinner out selfish for bringing their children, neither to the majority of restaurants who provide high chairs.

Its posts of similar negative extremity to the above there are comments in other threads that kids should be banned from flying, one comment I saw was that Adults who wish to travel in the future should refrain from having children !...

All in all these posts sum up to being so far towards the opposite end of the spectrum of reasonableness they are extreme in the most.

Other patrons would not have recognised a child was with us until the end of the meal when we got up to leave.

This incident could equally have been me knocking experiencing a moment of minor clumsiness.

AoP wouldn't go to a place that lets kids in... Every single restaurant I have been to also has high chairs - That limits your restaurants down to all but extreme high end (i.e. Le Normandie). I suspect in attempting to make a point you have tripped over a lack of reality.

[namdocmai]

Baby's or enfants don't belong in restaurants in my opinion. Sure not in hi-so places.

I think you should pay for the sauce-bowl and apologise to the table it belonged to.

If we have to pay for breakage then the waiters also have to pay when they spoil my good clothes. I had them spoil food/drinks on my clothes several times and they even wouldn't say sorry for that.

And if we are on this route then i think they also have to offer me free food if they bring me the wrong order, forget to bring me an order or if a dish is cold which was supposed to be warm. I don't want to pay service charge for that but as this is Thailand i don't make any problems if anything goes wrong.

In 5 star places though i do make problems if they give me the wrong order, i see another guest drinking from my whisky and after telling them about swapping the drinks they just swap it back like nothing happened. I refuse to pay full price for a drink that another farang sipped from. (this was in Sheraton Royal Orchid).

[ttthailand]

He did not say service was included. I don't tip if service is added in for me.

Why are you so cheap... I am sure no one would miss your business

Sound familiar ?

[richard_smith237]

Jug worth 50bht.

Waitress tells nobody, pockets 500bht.

It's always a scam, usually by the wait staff.

Why you should make the effort to contact the manager, so they can sack the scammer.

(Wait staff made no effort to contact manager or owner).

Next time take a photo of the staff member, so you can show who did the scam.

I attempted to contact the Manager myself. When I started going to the restaurant it was a single branch. The Manager oversees what is now a chain of 5 of 6 restaurants.

I'm not sure how much effort the waiting staff made to contact a Manager, however, I attempted to contact her directly.

I ensured that the number I was provided with matched an online source / contact. The Manager was not answering her phone for up to an hour afterwards.

The cost was digitised on the Bill - It was clearly a restaurant policy.

The waitress offered to pay half the cost as she also claimed responsibility, I refused as it wasn't her fault it was ultimately mine.

IMO: The insult was made as soon as the charge was presented to me. It was as this point an immediate and irreversible decision was made never to return.

I simply wished to contact the Manager to double check it was in fact restaurant policy to charge for this breakage, also to check that if I didn't pay it was restaurant policy to charge the staff. I wished to inform the Manager of my disappointment and that I as a customer would not return again.

[richard_smith237]

Baby's or enfants don't belong in restaurants in my opinion. Sure not in hi-so places.

I think you should pay for the sauce-bowl and apologise to the table it belonged to.

If we have to pay for breakage then the waiters also have to pay when they spoil my good clothes. I had them spoil food/drinks on my clothes several times and they even wouldn't say sorry for that.

And if we are on this route then i think they also have to offer me free food if they bring me the wrong order, forget to bring me an order or if a dish is cold which was supposed to be warm. I don't want to pay service charge for that but as this is Thailand i don't make any problems if anything goes wrong.

In 5 star places though i do make problems if they give me the wrong order, i see another guest drinking from my whisky and after telling them about swapping the drinks they just swap it back like nothing happened. I refuse to pay full price for a drink that another farang sipped from. (this was in Sheraton Royal Orchid).

A rather daft comment IMO: Are you suggesting that its ok to take our child to a cheap restaurant, but not a decent one ?

This is up to the restaurant. If they have a no infant policy thats fair enough - This however is a restaurant providing high chairs, children are clearly welcome.

I hate to see children running around in a restaurant - this is not and will not be so in my case. I'm sure a time will come when our son is at an age (terrible two's) whereby we can't take him out until he has passed / matured through a naughty stage.

Alternatively many restaurants offer private rooms: We have often taken this option with friends who's children can become a little restless when sat at a dinner table.

[namdocmai]

A rather daft comment IMO: Are you suggesting that its ok to take our child to a cheap restaurant, but not a decent one ?

Yes! Any restaurant more expensive then Mac Donalds is in my opinion not a place to bring kids to, no matter how well behaved they are or how rich daddy is.

I know the Thai also do it that's why i wrote this is Thailand, i will accept anything here but don't think i would come back there if i had to listen to crying or yelling baby's or running children. Also that's why i mentioned that 5star hotel by name here, i hope the manager reads my complaints and will send his personell to a decent hotelscool.

Also in airplanes i can get really annoyed if i have crying baby's near me. Even more annoyed if they are just farang family's going on holiday with their baby's to the other side of the world.

I see children running around everywhere in Thailand, i don't even avoid them no more. If they want to run into my knee's then go ahead and cry, lesson learned i hope.

I also won't eat in restaurants where the chef keeps their baby's in the kitchen, i 've seen them changing diapers on the workbench where they prepare food. Where i come from that place would be closed immediatly but again, this is thailand.

My parents would never let me do anything like that when i was a kid. Also i worked in many restaurants myself ( as a student) and we even refused any customers with baby's/kids.

[Ace of Pop]

As we all know Kids love Fine Dining over Splodgey Stuff. We took ours to places with Caged Areas and Swings , Slides n things.Hated every Minute of It. Thats the price one pays. Never on a Plane untill they sat still and STF UP. But im Old School. Seen and not Heard.Just as they are rearing theirs Today thank Nature.

[richard_smith237]

As we all know Kids love Fine Dining over Splodgey Stuff. We took ours to places with Caged Areas and Swings , Slides n things.Hated every Minute of It. Thats the price one pays. Never on a Plane untill they sat still and STF UP. But im Old School. Seen and not Heard.Just as they are rearing theirs Today thank Nature.

Where in Bangkok is there a decent restaurant (with aircon) that has a kids play area within sight of the indoor tables ?

I'd go regularly if the food was good and the travel wasn't too far.

I'm not going to deprive my Child of seeing his Aunties, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents because some may have low tolerance of infants.

Equally so, I'm not going to deprive my family of seeing my Child. I think its quite unfair and way off balance to suggest otherwise.

That said: If you wish to fly in a Cabin without kids, fly Thai Business Class as Thai Airways Charge disproportionate rates (i.e. THB35,000) for an infant (<2yo) on our lap (flight to the UK).

As a family we've made two visits to the UK already and will make a Third at Christmas. While travelling / flying I make every effort to ensure my child has no or minimum impact on others. On my previous flight I spent an hour in the Galley with my Son in a strap-to-carrier while he decided he was having too much fun and was highly playful. People may have heard my son at times, but he was no more disturbing than the drinks trolley rattling past.

While on the flying with Kids Topic: what of Drunk Passengers, those who insist on talking loudly throughout the flight, those who open the window blinds flooding the cabin with light, seat pushers and kickers etc etc...

If we are to maintain balance in this discussion we ought not to single out infants, half of society on a whole is equally disturbing... in a restaurant, on a flight adults can and often are far more disturbing to those around them than an infant or child. For this I have little tolerance while at the same time accept there is little I can do (it still makes for an interesting discussion on TV.com while I have spare time).

Thus: Why the additional intolerance of Children or Infants - we were all once children.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

IMO: The insult was made as soon as the charge was presented to me. It was as this point an immediate and irreversible decision was made never to return.

I simply wished to contact the Manager to double check it was in fact restaurant policy to charge for this breakage, also to check that if I didn't pay it was restaurant policy to charge the staff. I wished to inform the Manager of my disappointment and that I as a customer would not return again.

I dropped a glass in KFC last week, I didn't offer to pay, they didn't ask.

I did buy another pepsi, 42 bht, at that price I consider the glass mine on every visit.

[richard_smith237]

So far:

89% of people have voted: No - Its not OK to charge the customer for accidental damage in a restaurant.

11% of people have voted: Yes - We should be charged for accidental damage.

There has been some interesting debate, with some very different opinions...

We can't all agree, thanks for keeping the thread well natured.

[richard_smith237]

IMO: The insult was made as soon as the charge was presented to me. It was as this point an immediate and irreversible decision was made never to return.

I simply wished to contact the Manager to double check it was in fact restaurant policy to charge for this breakage, also to check that if I didn't pay it was restaurant policy to charge the staff. I wished to inform the Manager of my disappointment and that I as a customer would not return again.

I dropped a glass in KFC last week, I didn't offer to pay, they didn't ask.

I did buy another pepsi, 42 bht, at that price I consider the glass mine on every visit.

My Wife was amazed when in the UK last month a customer who had just exited the Supermarket to the car park and accidentally dropped a box of bottled beer - Quite a Mess.

The supermarket immediately replaced the box of beer for a new one.

Conclusion: Accidents happen.

Result: Satisfied and happy customer.

I wouldn't expect the same to happen in Thailand (after checkout).... But this again is different from a restaurant situation whereby even after having read the many different opinions on this thread my opinion remains firm in that I don't expect to be charged for minor and accidental breakage in a restaurant.

Edited September 12, 2014 by richard_smith237

[namdocmai]

Samsen Villa Chayaprueck has a play area for kids that can be closed and is in sight. Some japanese restaurants have private rooms that can be closed.

Look this is Thailand, if i had kids i also would bring them but sure i would be very strict to them. I would prefer to eat at home though and let MK or Pizzacompany or the motorcy bring food to my home.

In planes i sure get annoyed by drunks, that even has ended up in fights allready, up in the air. I don't understand why airlines don't put all kids in the back and close a door or something. I would also vote for no alcohol or drunks in planes. I don't see why i have to pay more but 35k baht is a fair price, i 'm sure i can't book a flight to London for that price in business class.

Last flight i had an issue, the guy behind me didn't want my chair to be in sleeping mode because he got a glass of water and said he couldn't put it on the table (which he could cause i showed him with my glass).

But i wouldn't pay for breakage in a thai restaurant. I would offer the table the sauce belonged to a new dish with new sauce and apologise. Or offer them something on my account.

One day the parking-assistant of a big thai restaurant was helping my wife to park, she drove her car against the one behind it because he didn't tell her to stop. Then he just walked away like nothing happened.

No way i would pay any thai restaurant for breakage. They are so unprofessional.

I also cut my feet one day, i broke through the crappy stairs of the swimmingpool in a resort. They didn't care at all that i was bleeding badly. Another time i cut my finger badly on broken tiles in a swimming pool in Pattaya. I hardly could get some iodine from them. While i was at the reception another farang came, he cut his foot open in the pool...no excuses nothing.

I teared my new shorts open on a crappy broken chair at our own swimmingpool, didn't even go to show it to the manager because i could guess the answer allready.

But these days many restaurants or resorts ask European prices or even more then that. Then i also expect the same level of service but i don't make any problems because then my wife gets angry with me. And she is right in that.

[richard_smith237]

Samsen Villa Chayaprueck has a play area for kids that can be closed and is in sight. Some japanese restaurants have private rooms that can be closed.

Look this is Thailand, if i had kids i also would bring them but sure i would be very strict to them. I would prefer to eat at home though and let MK or Pizzacompany or the motorcy bring food to my home.

In planes i sure get annoyed by drunks, that even has ended up in fights allready, up in the air. I don't understand why airlines don't put all kids in the back and close a door or something. I would also vote for no alcohol or drunks in planes. I don't see why i have to pay more but 35k baht is a fair price, i 'm sure i can't book a flight to London for that price in business class.

Last flight i had an issue, the guy behind me didn't want my chair to be in sleeping mode because he got a glass of water and said he couldn't put it on the table (which he could cause i showed him with my glass).

But i wouldn't pay for breakage in a thai restaurant. I would offer the table the sauce belonged to a new dish with new sauce and apologise. Or offer them something on my account.

One day the parking-assistant of a big thai restaurant was helping my wife to park, she drove her car against the one behind it because he didn't tell her to stop. Then he just walked away like nothing happened.

No way i would pay any thai restaurant for breakage. They are so unprofessional.

I also cut my feet one day, i broke through the crappy stairs of the swimmingpool in a resort. They didn't care at all that i was bleeding badly. Another time i cut my finger badly on broken tiles in a swimming pool in Pattaya. I hardly could get some iodine from them. While i was at the reception another farang came, he cut his foot open in the pool...no excuses nothing.

I teared my new shorts open on a crappy broken chair at our own swimmingpool, didn't even go to show it to the manager because i could guess the answer allready.

But these days many restaurants or resorts ask European prices or even more then that. Then i also expect the same level of service but i don't make any problems because then my wife gets angry with me. And she is right in that.

All part of the idiosyncrasies of Thailand... there really is no consumer protection or culture favouring the customer.

Regarding flights:

35,000 Baht was the additional cost of having a child on my Lap in Thai Airways Business Class... The ticket itself for an Adult is 140,00 baht.

On other airline the additional fee (tax etc) to have an infant sitting on our Lap in Business Class is about 10,000 baht.

Thus: IF you really wish to avoid children while flying - chances are people will not be flying Thai Business Class due to the additional (extortionate?) costs.

My Child is generally pretty quiet and happy,... we eat out 2-3 times per week. This incident was a one off.

I'm not interested in eating delivered MK Suki, Pizza hut etc... When I want a decent meal, the only option is to go out to a restaurant and take our child with us.

FoodbyPhone are always late (+1 hr), we've had too many issues with their delivery recently... I've given up on them. Alternatives are also not up to scratch. That said, we do have food delivered regularly (directly from nearby restaurants). My Wife also enjoys to cook.

Going out for dinner is a pleasure, its a luxury, its enjoyable, its one of the things I enjoy about being in Thailand... At least it is until I receive what I consider to be poor treatment.

My Wife too has bumped the car while following the directions of a Parking guard who wasn't paying attention.... I have never paid attention to the the parking guys for this very reason, my car has sensors, I used rely on those.

I won't let Hotel Bell Boys handle my Laptop bag... sometimes they are a little too insistent and I remind them that if they drop it they will be responsible for the laptop... Instead I'll take the responsibility by holding on to my laptop bag.

[namdocmai]

The other time i flew my laptop went trough the scanner, came out and i grabbed it and put it in the bag. Then another guy tapped my shoulder and asked me to show my laptop. He was a passenger. I first wouldn't do it but then he showed me a similar laptop, a Dell and asked if it could be mine....it was mine!

Yes my wife also has parkingsensors now but if a parkingguy let her damage this one when i 'm with her he sure has a problem, i mean his boss actually.

I'm not out to make problems here, no way at all but i won't let them damage my property. I also have loads of insurances for anything that can happen worldwide.

Well going out for dinner is getting less enjoyable the last years, i like the japanese restaurants because everything is perfect there but avoid Thai restaurants, i can't stand the personell anymore. They need to be trained to be a waiter or chef. In the cheapest places i don't care but the higher priced ones have to show me they are professional. I don't expect them to speak english but if i order a steak or so then i shouldn't have to ask for a knife. And if i order flench fly's i expect them to bring ketchup or any other sauce. Even in Sizzlers they don't do that and that annoys me, are you reading farang big boss??

By calling for food i mean restaurants around here who can send it by motorcy taxi, i like that. But mostly i cook myself. My wife has no time for that and also can't cook. Her collegue is now going for the Cordon Bleu cooking course, 300.000 baht for 25 cooking lessons.....go figure.

I blame everything in Thailand on lack of education because that's what it is. Also hi-so i have no idea what Thai mean with that. It means white skin i assume, sitting indoors all day and never ever go outside in daylight. Well up to them.

I also stopped holding doors open for other people, why would i do that? Nobody ever did that for me here. On the road i also drive like an idiot on my bike, nobody respects me so i feel free to do as i like.

But i still like to live here, i got used to everything after many years. Also kids in restaurants, first thing i do is checking where they are and then i ask a table at the other side of the venture.

[csabo]

Locard's exchange principle states that 2 objects in contact with each other exchange particles however small. Effectively, every time you sit in a restaurant chair or use a fork you slowly erode that items mass and overtime wear will show and the structural integrity of these objects will fail. Should you be charged for wear and tear of these items as well? Chairs, carpet, utensils and soy sauce bottles all need to be replaced eventually. That is a business expense. The fact that a soy sauce bottle broke quickly as opposed to more slowly broke down over time is irrelevant.

[richard_smith237]

Locard's exchange principle states that 2 objects in contact with each other exchange particles however small. Effectively, every time you sit in a restaurant chair or use a fork you slowly erode that items mass and overtime wear will show and the structural integrity of these objects will fail. Should you be charged for wear and tear of these items as well? Chairs, carpet, utensils and soy sauce bottles all need to be replaced eventually. That is a business expense. The fact that a soy sauce bottle broke quickly as opposed to more slowly broke down over time is irrelevant.

I explained this to the staff who responded with Newtons 3rd Law...

[Ace of Pop]

Cant quite see why Kids need Air-con,mine have survived intolerable well without it . Do You really mean You Cant.?. As for My Family 30 odd years ago they had nothing much to do, so bugger wasting money going to see them.The ones who cared came here. Sure You're a caring Man, but i was not allowed to leave the table without asking, so i am a complete Fossile in this Spoil the Brat generation.

[namdocmai]

Cant quite see why Kids need Air-con,mine have survived intolerable well without it . Do You really mean You Cant.?. As for My Family 30 odd years ago they had nothing much to do, so bugger wasting money going to see them.The ones who cared came here. Sure You're a caring Man, but i was not allowed to leave the table without asking, so i am a complete Fossile in this Spoil the Brat generation.

How much do you remember from when you were 2-3-4 years old? I only remember when i was 4 and we bought our first dog. Most people remember nothing from that age.

I also wasn't allowed to leave the table, ALWAYS had to wash my hands before eating, eat with knife and fork, no elbows on the table, no tv on, no noises out of your moth, eat with closed mouth and i can go on and on. I stopped with all of that haha.

When i was a kid we always went to the same island the first 7 years, by car. Puking all the trip from being carsic.

Things have changed a lot and i'm not even old.

[richard_smith237]

Cant quite see why Kids need Air-con,mine have survived intolerable well without it . Do You really mean You Cant.?. As for My Family 30 odd years ago they had nothing much to do, so bugger wasting money going to see them.The ones who cared came here. Sure You're a caring Man, but i was not allowed to leave the table without asking, so i am a complete Fossile in this Spoil the Brat generation.

It's me who insists on the Aircon....

AoP, I too was not permitted to leave the table without permission... Many more manners were a strict and also valuable part of my upbringing.

These will passed on to my children who I hope will respect the place and time to relax and / behave formally.

Even with a relatively strict upbringing I'm sure there were many party fouls I was too young to remember...

[csabo]

Locard's exchange principle states that 2 objects in contact with each other exchange particles however small. Effectively, every time you sit in a restaurant chair or use a fork you slowly erode that items mass and overtime wear will show and the structural integrity of these objects will fail. Should you be charged for wear and tear of these items as well? Chairs, carpet, utensils and soy sauce bottles all need to be replaced eventually. That is a business expense. The fact that a soy sauce bottle broke quickly as opposed to more slowly broke down over time is irrelevant.

I explained this to the staff who responded with Newtons 3rd Law...

Haha, touché!! You should have told them Newton was a quack who believed in alchemy and the occult among other nonsense!!

[rgs2001uk]

IMO: The insult was made as soon as the charge was presented to me. It was as this point an immediate and irreversible decision was made never to return.

I simply wished to contact the Manager to double check it was in fact restaurant policy to charge for this breakage, also to check that if I didn't pay it was restaurant policy to charge the staff. I wished to inform the Manager of my disappointment and that I as a customer would not return again.

I dropped a glass in KFC last week, I didn't offer to pay, they didn't ask.

I did buy another pepsi, 42 bht, at that price I consider the glass mine on every visit.

I have been all over Thailand eating in every type of eatery, from roadside noodle stalls to big hotels.

I have NEVER seen Thais being presented with a bill for breakages, I dont doubt the veracity of the OPs post, in fact I can well believe it.

Sounds more like I mentioned in my opening post, a scam or chancer.

For further info I asked Thais who work in these type of places today, they have NEVER heard of any staff having to pay for breakages.

Next time refuse to pay, and see what happens.

OP get on Trip Advisor and trash this place.

[meand]

Its stupid, they probably lost a customers for life.

That is the number one rule, don't lose customers. This is why places like the us are so successful, because they follow that principle.