westofhere
Surin Legend
John,
It's a no win situation. As a Thai your wife does not like the confrontation. The way they handle it, usually, is to pay up, leave, and never go back and give their custom again to the place. They'll tell their friends and complain to friends and family, basically warning those they know not to go there as well. Generally speaking. They seem to pick and choose their battles differently than we farang do.
Basically I would pay, leave, and tell my wife "Well, we'll never go to this place again will we honey?" She will totally agree with you.
The thing is the staff are not at fault in this scenario you describe. The staff are also not able to do any 'discounting' actually, and would likely have to pay any difference if they did out of their own pocket, or all of it if you just refused to pay and walked out on the bin. The 'boss' will get his money no matter what. I would like to know which Korean BBQ place this was, so I can avoid the place. I doubt they will be open long though if this happens frequently.
These places survive because they are cheaper than hell. And they use the cheapest ingredients and needed materials they can get away with.
The one Korean BBQ I used to go to with my wife and family is the 'Ah Ee 2' which is on the road where the schools are, across the street from them just before the traffic lights. (Ah Ee 1, the original, is the place near the Chevy dealership up by the 'Surin King' traffic rotary monument, across from the 'lake' where the paddle boats used to be.)
As Coco said, you are damned if you do and damned (in your wallet at least) if you don't. Mainly the best option is to take it on the chin and move on. You know your wife. If she hates this sort of confrontational complaint and it upsets her, and you don't want her to not speak to you, then keep that in mind when running into this sort of stuff. I choose my battles as well, depending on how much it will cost me.
The 'principal of the thing' does not seem to be a Thai cultural trait. They have different principals. (Mai pen rai my ass!)
Remind me to tell you the story of the rotary saw and the weed whacker I bought at Makro when they first opened here in Surin when I see you Sunday at Norby's.
Cheers,
Mike
Agree. It is standard practice here that if a patron refuses to pay, the funds come out of the employees pocket, whether it be a person who slips by a hotel receptionist and bails on the bill, or a patron who refuses to pay because they were not satisfied with their meal.
This scenario is different. We were at a Fuji in Bangkok some months ago. I ordered one dish, but canceled it with the waitress while she was taking my order because i saw something else that i was more in the mood for. Here is where the communication breakdown comes in. I end up getting both dishes even though I had canceled the original one. I politely told her to take back the canceled dish. She looked kind of puzzled and nervous. My wife took me aside for a second and told me that she (waitress) would probably get charged for it. Needless to say i was a little miffed since I know I canceled it, but kept both dishes and ate half of the "canceled" order. Next time i will have them read back the order before they put in, so mai bpen rai.
As far as my wife giving me the silent treatment, well sometimes that actually works in my favor. Just saying.
