Grumpy old men in restaurants..

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usual suspect
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Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by usual suspect »

Ok you lot..I know I'm famed for my rants on here, so here's one more for you..

When you all go out to dine at any of the town's restaurants, has any of you noticed a growing breed of 'aging moody ex-pats'..?
Generally sit alone, usually happy to sit at a table suited for 4 diners (when there's ample smaller tables).
When the waitress offers the menu & offers to take his drink-order there will be no please or thank you.."Chang Beer, big bottle, don't give me any ice".
After scanning the menu, then rudely beckoning to the table staff to come to him he will want a dish on the menu made HIS way..he will not ask if the cook would mind doing it this way..no, he tells the girl THAT's how he wants it..again in a curt manner..

"Where's the Bangkok Post"? a voice booms out across the dining area..again no manners at all.

Tonight we witnessed a right 'twat'..made a scene that the girl serving had taken his order wrong, got up.. stormed into the kitchen to 'yak' at the cook, the lady-boss showed him his order that he'd comfirmed after the waitress had double-checked with him..never let up that his meal was wrong, then ate absolutely every scrap of his 'wrong meal' paid & marched out!
(Two customers sat enjoying their meals told the boss that he makes a scene everywhere he eats..they'd witnessed this same act from him before!)

OK now those who know me well.. will also know my wife & I have been out of the 'food trade' for a year, & are now back as we were (& my wife's health is now OK again)..
...But what a difference 1 year has made...in the previous 6/7 yrs in the restaurant business, yes..
..we've seen some awkward characters..usually drunk from an afternoon session, but never before has my wife witnessed as many rude & arrogant men coming in to her place as she has recently.

So I'm wondering..Is this the 'new' breed of pensioners Hua Hin has now?
..Are we the only place that attracts this calibre of folk?
..At what point do you risk bad feedback & start evicting/barring them..?

Please understand here the post above is based on past experiences over the last 10 days.
Our staff are very polite, though service may be a bit slower than normal due to staff being 'new'.
So do any of you witness any rudeness while out eating..?
:cheers: U.S.

p.s. Please refrain from mentioning our 'trading name' in any replies, I do not wish to seem like
I'm advertising..Thanks to you. :thumb:
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by oakdale160 »

I have made the comment before. Of all the people that I have met in HH, the most charming, entertaining good natured people have been British. Just a delight to spend a little time with them. On the other hand, most, although not all, of the arrogant, repulsive, disgusting old men that I have observed, rather than met, have also been British,
Their misery and anger is visited on all that they come into contact with. I am particularly offended when they work out their mental health problems on mild, gentle Thai waitresses and others trying to serve them
I have seen a couple of incidents like this and have later been disappointed in myself that I sat there and did not say a word.
What would I do in your place. Ban him from your restaurant,, but before you do that take a photo of him and place it in a prominent place saying that the grumpy old fart is banned.
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by frank1957 »

I may know the chap that has been mentioned in the first post but won't mention names, I have actually seen this guy (if it is the same one) and he is British give bar staff some right grief, and then to cap it all off my wife left a tip when we were out one night and after we left the table I turned around and he was pocketing the tip, I did not know what to say lol needless to say I do not see much of him now.
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Lung Per
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by Lung Per »

usual suspect wrote: So I'm wondering..Is this the 'new' breed of pensioners Hua Hin has now?
..Are we the only place that attracts this calibre of folk?
..At what point do you risk bad feedback & start evicting/barring them..?
I am not sure but I have a feeling it´s the old farts getting older and grumpier as they approach the final curtain.

There is absolutely no excuse for that kind of behavior. While I realize it´s not common for Thais to confront pople, an exemption should be made in his case. Yes, take his photo, post it outside with a note that he is not welcome due to ill behavior. If you can, distribute copies to friends and collegues in the bussiness. That should teach him, as well as potential copycats.
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Pleng
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by Pleng »

You talk of a growing breed, then give a single example.

Are you just letting off steam because this guy has p*ssed you off (which is perfectly fine and understandable), or are you genuinely finding that there's a much higher frequency of rude customers? There will always be people like the guy in the story, who just make a scene for the sake of it. I would like to think they're more the exception than the rule.

Personally, I haven't seen a big increase in rudeness at restaurants and I eat out a lot. But I think it's hard to judge from a customer's point of view. Since living here for the last two years I have only witnessed 2 or 3 obvious incidents of rudeness in a restaurant, so how does one judge if there's an increase with so little to go on. I think it's a question that probably really needs to be posed to other restaurateurs, rather than customers.
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by tonymaroni »

I had a Farang tell me i should finish everything on my plate one time in Hua Hin.
I was having breakfast on Soi Kanjanomai.
I had left some Pineapple pieces that proved to hard for me.
I have a dental condition that is not any of his business.
Along with what I eat, where or how much of it.

Rather rude of him to comment on my plate at another table.
Just another example of a rude Farang.

I see them often, more so than my home country.

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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by dozer »

How about the incredibly frugal farangs.

My wife and I were eating at a Thai/European restaurant a few nights ago and towards the end of our meal, a farang couple came in and sat down at a table adjacent to ours. The waitress came with the menu and then returned with a small bottle of water and two glasses. I then noticed that the woman surreptitiously removed a water bottle from her handbag with what looked like red wine in it and a filled up one of the glasses and then put it down the side of the table, next to the wall.
After a few minutes, the guy got up and left the restaurant, about the same time I got up to make a phone call, leaving my wife to collect the takeaway food she had ordered. Once outside I noticed the guy coming out of the nearby Family Mart with a bottle of beer, he then proceeded to sit outside the restaurant drinking his beer.
On the way home, my wife told me that the owner of the restaurant told her, that she knows about the wine and beer thing and that they come in once or twice a week order one or sometimes two plates of food sit there for around two hours, using the wifi, and then leave with no tip. The owner says that she does not want them in her restaurant; but her English is not good, so too “shy” to say something.
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by hhfarang »

^ I've known a few people here over the years that do similar things like that to save a baht here and there. In some cases it was out of necessity, as they were really broke and barely getting by but trying to still get out of the house once in a while for a meal. In other cases it was actually someone very rich who is just cheap (maybe that's how they got rich or stay rich). I've been chided by other foreigners at my own table for tipping, but didn't let that deter me. They both said only Americans do that and it should not be done here. I frequently, when eating out with friends who do not tip, covertly tip for the whole table when the service was good. I'm not rich, in fact we routinely spend more than my pensions each month to live here and have to dig into our savings, but I don't think I should take that out on the lowly Thai worker who makes a hell of a lot less than I get each month.

... and I frequently get orders that were not what I ordered or are not prepared as I suspected, and unless it is something horrible I go ahead and eat it, while maybe pointing it out to the staff (for training purposes) but saying that it's ok. I don't think I've ever sent a meal back and certainly never stormed into the kitchen. I'd be afraid of getting kniffed or clevered if I did that. :shock:
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by richard »

Just as pubs used to have a tap room, a snug and a lounge and restaurants had smoking and non-smoking sections, consider creating a small cramped section in your place preferable near the toilet with a large sign indicating that the area is specifically for 'grumpies'. Maybe even offer .02% discount.

You could also turn the volume up on the closely located speakers when they started into their food. Nothing like a bit of 'Binta bar hip hop crap' to upset the digestive tracts :naughty:

On a serious note there are a few grumpies around particularly in soi 80 and some can always be found in the mom and pop bars around the districts. They enjoy moaning and complaining. Personally I like to occasionally disrupt their gloom and doom by introducing an air of humour sarcasm and flippancy. Shuts 'em and moves 'em usually.

There are (or were) 2 distinct characters who prowled the bars in soi 80 not too long ago. One is a twitchy Irishman who incessantly moans about Thailand. The other is and Englishman. A teacher of sorts with a voice like a foghorn. The latter I once managed to lever out of Sports Lounge and direct him up the soi. Got a round of applause from the other customers and a kiss from the offended girl.

US , these guys are usually carrying bit chips on their shoulders and are easy to disrupt with some appropriate lip service and a sardonic smile. Trouble is mate you and your good lady are too polite
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by MrPlum »

Watched a party of 10 Chinese eat breakfast at a small cafe by the market, this morning. One bought sausage and eggs, the rest sat and ate take-away food and drinks from elsewhere. The owner looked unhappy but didn't say anything. I don't tend to complain in restaurants, since who knows if the next meal will be spat on?

Sitting near the Kebab shop in MV the other day, I saw one customer demanding more meat (I tend to get too much, rather than too little). His tone was aggressive and objectionable. The staff should have shoved him on the spike.

It is curious. I have never seen anyone, when ordering Pad Thai, or a Thai dish, demand more prawns or meat. Is it because the staff don't speak English?

You see the same kind of abusive tendency at work with bullying of caddies.
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by Big Boy »

MrPlum wrote:Sitting near the Kebab shop in MV the other day, I saw one customer demanding more meat (I tend to get too much, rather than too little). His tone was aggressive and objectionable. The staff should have shoved him on the spike.
More meat is an option when ordering a kebab there - my son has used the option several times. No need whatsoever to get aggressive/objectionable.
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by dundrillin »

Going slightly off topic but I always tip unless the food or service is awful. I do object to the tipping regime in the states though and I really object to certain establishments in the UK that confiscate the tips.
If i do have a genuine complaint I do so in a polite constructive manner. I feel businesses would prefer constructive criticism rather than the person moaning to everyone else.
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by STEVE G »

You see the same kind of abusive tendency at work with bullying of caddies.
That's exactly what these type of people are, bullies. I came across some of them when working for a large British aerospace company some years ago, in middle management positions. They were invariably large and overweight with loud voices and they spent the day bullying their staff around, then in the evening they went to restaurants and did the same to the staff there. They were the most unpleasant group of people I've ever come across.
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by usual suspect »

Well fellow forum users.. There's quite a selection of replies here, & yes the problem-man in my o/p was indeed British, but like
Mr Plum mentioned, we too are getting 'Grumpies' demanding (not requesting) extra chicken, an extra egg, extra cashew nuts etc, then kicking up a stink when charged accordingly.
And yes these folk are indeed practising a form of bullying..maybe they've quickly spotted our new waitress is
rather timid, & has been told to smile & be polite..so our hero sees a perfect in-road to get more on his plate by pure intimidation.. :guns:
(Maybe I need to employ a L.B. as a waitress..foul language & the occasional punch may ward off
the Grumpies.. :naughty: )
Cheers now..U.S. :thumb:
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Re: Grumpy old men in restaurants..

Post by dalmatiandave »

Just appear to be the type of people who are rude in any country they go to where they try to instill their own take on things in their host country. Not understanding the culture or not learning early on that you are always a guest here will lead to this scenario. They can be embarrassing mostly and I tend to ignore them although if I ever saw one of them 'steal' a tip I had left for a deserving waitress then ignore is not a word I would use. Other words would be used but trust me that money would not end up in that old fools pocket.

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