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Cheap Charlie


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There were so many old grey headed and bald headed balloon chasers there it was amazing. When the chow line was called open they rushed the doors and a line a good 20 yards long queued up from outside the bar to inside. A long line. Within 15 minutes there was nothing but scraps. I saw some of these old cheapskates go up 2 or 3 times to get food,

 

 

...The line was 20 yards long...... and within 15 minutes all that was left was scraps.....

 

YET some of these geriatric old cnuts....had managed to amass HUGE plates of food....AND go back 2 or 3 times.....in a period of 15 minutes.....

 

.... I call BS......another "Thailand Story".....

 

The new owner of Private Dancer is a good friend of a mate of mine in Bangkok....has been known to have a drink or 2 at the Soi 8 Pub......

 

He's nobody's fool....would not be "turning it on"....without a return....

 

There's no such thing as ....a free lunch....especially in LOS

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"I hear it is why Los Cabos had to discontinue their Friday night buffet ..."

 

Los Cabos never stopped their Friday night buffet. The restaurant was evicted! I never saw that big a crowd there for the freebies anyway, more tourists that old coots. Also, the owner said the people staying away during the flooding really hurt, even though Sukhumwit stayed high and dry.

 

p.s. Anyone remember The Other Office on Patpong? Malloy, the owner, put out a sandwich spread for lunch - like an old fashioned bar in the US. Order a big mug of beer and make yourself a sandwich. It drew in folks who stayed for a few drinks at a time when no other bars in Patpong were even open. Good guy to talk to. That was long ago ... and Malloy is long gone. :rip:

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Was in Pattaya last week for the funeral for member Ian. There was a 'party' for his send off at a gogo bar in Walking Street. It happened to be on a day where the manager has a 'free food' night. There were so many old grey headed and bald headed balloon chasers there it was amazing. When the chow line was called open they rushed the doors and a line a good 20 yards long queued up from outside the bar to inside. A long line. Within 15 minutes there was nothing but scraps. I saw some of these old cheapskates go up 2 or 3 times to get food, and some had piled plate upon bowl filled with food in a stack to bring back to their chair. They ate like they were starving and hadn't eaten all day. Looked like a fucking Zombie movie. Disgusting behavior. I'd be willing to bet the manager doesn't see these guys all week until the free buffet night, and they never buy more than one or two drinks while there. The balloon chasers are scumbags. The true 'cheap charlies' of the expat community.

 

I hear it is why Los Cabos had to discontinue their Friday night buffet (and many other places that did the same for their regular customers). Too many balloon chasers showing up, spending hardly anything, and eating all the food so the regular spending customers, and even those from here who met on Friday nights and who spent some good money there during the meet up, had to fight for a burrito or taco.

 

Balloon chaser = cheap charlie = scumbags The ugly side of under funded expat retirees and douchebags. No self pride at all, and a 'hurray for me and fuck you all' attitude.

 

Wrong on Los Cabos.

 

The owner of Los Cabos was well aware of the Balloon chaser = cheap charlie = scumbags that descended upon a pub on Soi 22 that had a great "free" food the last Friday of every month.

 

Any and any that came to Los Cabos more then paid for the "free" food with their purchase of drinks, usually by the pitcher, not by one drink at a time.

 

It was the flood that killed Los Cabos. The flood came but customer stopped coming strictly due to the flood.

 

...and, the free food went on until the last Friday that they were opened, it never stopped.

 

At out Friday night chit-chat table, usually orders were placed from the menu. We asked for a Friday Night Chit Chat platter, which would be a little bit of everything, as samplers....and we paid for this!

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Owning beer bars, the real cheap charlie cunts were the ones who wanted to barfine your top girl or girls right at the start of the night and never even buy a drink. Worse were the ones who met a girl one night and then you never saw the girl or the punter until the fucked off back home or died, as once happened.

 

When I started out, the balance of power was still in the hands of the bar owner. There were more girls than jobs and the internet was something we knew a little about and they hadn't heard of. Girls getting sponsor money or saving a million or more were largely figments of the imagination or true Pattaya legends. Over time the balance of power changed to what it is now, where girls most decidedly have the upper hand and they dictate the terms of business.

 

Thus, if you get some tourist who wants to abscond with your top money earners for a month, you just end up taking it on the chin because there is nothing you can do about it; nothing sensible that is.

 

As for food, I did a lot more in Naklua but in South Pattaya I ventured a little into the sandwich game, simply to keep bums on seats that might not return after a trip to McDonalds etc. In the end I stopped bothering because the demand dried up to make it uneconomical. As for free food, I ran loads of occasional mass feedings, the most famous of which was for the crew of the Abraham Lincoln which ended up a private party and even their commanding officer turned up for the group photos.

 

In latter years groups started to expect free food for having their meetings there but all too often, it was an overplayed hand and fewer numbers than estimated turned out and the general spend was way down. Chucking a couple of thousand baht down in food needs bills north of 5k just to break even and ideally you'd like well north of 10k to make it worthwhile.

 

My fears are that the number of cheap charlies will rise dramatically in the future as falling FX rates and rising inflation eat into once passable pensions, now just about breadline cases. Remember that Bt65k income is a pension after tax of over £1500 a month, which is about the take home pay of your average worker.

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