Argument at S&P Restaurant

[Guest]

:: :: ::

 

Hey walletss,

 

I'm the least serious guy you'll ever know. ::

 

>>>Hey by the way.

Have a Happy New Year!!!<<<

 

You too. ::

 

HT

 

 

 

 

 

[walletss]

" There is nothing in English near the picture" Umm, you're in Thailand. If you are in America, you don't expect to see Spanish next to the picture (well, in some restaurants you do, lol)."

 

You have got the facts wrong. All the pictures have prices on them in English. I said there was nothing under the picture saying there was a 500 gram minimum serve.

 

" Are you American?

When you are in S&P in Panthip, toto, you aren't in Kansas anymore. It's be called Thailand."

quote Gummigut " well thats a real blue is blue if i heard one"

Have a happy new year.

 

[harlequinbkk]

[color:"red"]Let us use a bit of common sense here. I am one person. There was no-one else at the table. 100 grams with my side order of rice is a reasonable serve for one person. I pointed to the menu in agreement to the waiters suggestion of sweet and sour fish. I would expect him to bring me a one serve portion. Have you seen how large a 500 gram serve of fish is when ordered with rice?

Seem logical to you?

[/color]

 

Walletss,

 

It's very logical to me, and you are using common sense here. But in Thailand, there are going to be more screw-ups then you are used to, and if a Thai is the one who screwed up, good luck getting him/her to admit it. You just have to be more on your guard about this. With experience, these kind of incidents won't happen as often. Also, by reporting this situation on this board, you have forewarned the rest of us about this potential misunderstanding. I thank you for this.

 

Harlequin

[Guest]

I would just have paid the bill, leave and never return. THB 500 is not such a big issue.

[Guest]

Quote:

I would just have paid the bill, leave and never return. THB 500 is not such a big issue.

 

I realize that many board members do have this attitude. And I am left admiring your tolerance. May I ask some questions:

- Is this because the amount you get ripped-off is not so substantial compared to your income?

- Is it because you believe cheating belongs to the culture of Thailand?

- Is it because you believe you owe something to every Thai because they let you be their guest?

- Is it because you could loose your face when complaining about lousy service and unfair/unequal treatment? Which face anyway? If one doesn?t complain one certainly loose face in my opinion. ?See this stupid falang??. ?Yeap, on more we could rip-off and he is still smiling.?

- Etc. etc.

 

Please let me make MY point. As tourists we are not just guests we are also customers. We are guests because we might feel invited by the advertisements and all other efforts done by the tourist branch of Thailand to get our attention. But we are also customers because we not get anything for free. Maybe we get it cheaper, but this is for a lot of people the main reason to consider Thailand as their holiday destination. However, we bring money into the country and therefore we are ?welcome? guests and customers.

 

Therefore, as a guest and customer I do not accept to get cheated, not in Thailand and not anywhere else in the world.

 

Another question:

- In which restaurant in your home country would you accept a bill of, let?s say $70, for a family portion of fish you obviously not can eat as you are alone?

 

Nobody I know would do it. But everybody would except to be informed about the possible misunderstanding beforehand. That?s service and that?s like a respected customer should be treated. But as a matter of fact this is just a minor example, but like said above I am admiring your tolerance. I wish my customer would be of the same kind :hubba:.

 

Cheers

 

[gummigut]

"You have got the facts wrong. All the pictures have prices on them in English."

 

Hmmm, Arabic numerals have taken over in Thailand. It is relatively rare you actually see Thai numerals. Actually, I forgot the Thai numeral for seven and a dek dek (server) in the Factory couldn't write it for me as she forgot. So you will almost always see "ENGLISH" prices next to all the pictures and/or thai worded menu.

 

Your post is a very good "heads up" to the custom for others, but I still think you were a bit hard headed as you are the foreigner and didn't understand the custom. I don't view you as the knight in shining white armor who can be held totally blameless in this case. You are asking others to watch out/protect you from your own actions. This may seem logical to you, but to a Thai it doesn't or more often the case, may not even occur for the Thai to think. This is a rote society after all (learning based wise).

 

The principal of the issue (which I still think you are partly to blame) is compounded by the fact that the difference is probably less than an hour's pay for you while it's 2-days for the waiter.

 

<<burp>>

[Auricman]

Hey walletss,

This reminds me of an incident I once witnessed at Kovalam Beach in Southern India. As I was having breakfast at an outdoor cafe by the beach, an American woman had started eating a pancake at a nearby table. She left her table to attend her small son who had wandered off. Quickly a large crow swooped down and grabbed the pancake with his claws and flew away. She returned angrily to her table and insisted that the waiter give her a new pancake free of charge. He reluctantly complied, but when I asked him about it later, he sadly told me that the pancake (worth about $1) would come out of his paycheck. The $1 didn't mean much to the woman who insisted on getting it free, but the waiter only earned $15 a month, so it represented two days pay for him. It wasn't even his fault that she allowed the crow to steal her meal, but he was punished for it. I think that sometimes if we insist on "our rights", it means that someone less fortunate than we are must suffer.

 

[Guest]

I could not agree more with you, for a person to go to a foreign country and get into an confrontation over a 500 baht(isn't that about 11 dollars?)bill for reading the menu wrong is beyond my understanding.

 

It is refreshing to see that there are other people on this board who share my point of view.

 

 

[MaiLuk]

Wallet:

 

Just want to make some guesses (and that is all they are, guesses):

 

1. Farang walks in at closing time, orders fish without negotiating the price first.

 

2. Waiter and whoever make an agreement: lets give the farang this big fish sitting back here, and inflate the grams for good measure (an even 500 grams seems suspect to me).

 

3. Waiter made some baht on this deal, otherwise he most definitely would have asked you before serving you what they claim to be a 500 gram fish.

 

If they came out with a 200 baht bill, I would agree with the other posters, pay up and chalk it up to experience, you should have known. 300 baht, now we're getting close to the cut off where there is a problem, but still payup.

 

But for them to come out and hit you up with a 500 baht check is way out of line and an attempt to rip you off IMHO. I'd like to see the waiter try this on a thai customer. I feel sympathy for the waiter, but since I think he was part of the scam, its his problem if he has to pay. He didn't have to pay out of his own pocket for the entire balance of your check, since it was inflated anyway (guessing again :.

 

So I agree with the way you handled it.

 

Also, disagree with others that we should realize that 500 baht is not alot of money in the west. That point is irrelevant. What matters is that it is a load of money to the folks you are dealing with. Thats why the waiter saying nothing before cooking/serving a 500 baht fish seems extraordinary to me.

 

Another reason why you handled it right (in hindsight): you are now a regular there. You did not lose face, and they will never try it with you again.

 

Final point: just paying the 500 baht and walking out may only reinforce the notion that farang are stupid, which means they will try this again and again. I'm not saying you should refuse to pay, but you really ought to make the bastards know how angry you are. Don't want to be disagreeable with the other posters, but there are some rare occasions where you have to take a stand.

 

Final final point: If it wasn't a scam, you probably would have had to pay the full 500 baht.

 

MaiLuk

 

 

[Shit-Spattered Dog]

" I am not a petty person but my view is that a place like S&P should be more professional in their dealings with Farangs, considering the prices they charge which is plus 10 % for service.

What would you have done in my place? "

 

Eat the remaining dish ( or if unable to than asked for the leftovers to be made to take away and than feed the leftovers to the elephant outside ) paid and left.

Than be very careful next time I ordered there.