Crackdown on Foreign Bar Owners 'Talking to Customers'

[superman]

True or not ?

Keep your mouth shut or it’ll cost you a five-figure sum

A well-informed source has told me the people charged with upholding law and order in Pattaya are starting to once again trawl through the bars, mainly the outside beer variety, arresting foreigners for working illegally.

The definition of working has been expanded to the extent that a foreigner can be pinched for simply talking to a customer. Technically, the foreigner could be talking to his brother or a family or personal friend, but it won’t matter.

In one specific case, a bar operator in a soi located off Second Road was targeted. When the avaricious officials said they were going to arrest him for working, he said he didn’t own the bar, his Thai wife did. The paperwork confirmed this. When he then added he hadn’t touched a glass, changed any music, or emptied an ashtray, the peelers claimed he was being clapped in irons simply for talking to another foreigner sitting in the bar. The cost of freedom was 25,000 baht.

My source tells me this is the fourth foreign bar owner he knows who has been given the ‘talking to a customer’ treatment and fined a sufficiently large amount to help keep him out of the cells.

Yes, we all know in most cases the ‘real’ bar owner is indeed the foreigner with the cash, while his Thai wife or girlfriend is just the proxy. That said, there is nothing illegal in being an investor in a business in Thailand. If the foreigner is not physically engaging in any activity that can be performed by a Thai person, then there should not be a problem.

This kind of thing has happened in previous years, but the word is that the plod are struggling to fill their coffers to the extent they formally did, and so out go the hunting parties looking for fresh meat and little bundles of the folding stuff to bolster their retirement fund. Therefore, in order to restore their economic fortunes, while savaging those of others, they are resorting more and more to stretching the letter of the law to help line their fraying pockets.

©Duncan Stearn

Keep your mouth shut or it

Edited to original article: dirtydog

[chitown]

More insanity if it is true. I would not invest a dime in a business in Thailand.

[Bettyboo]

^ me neither, never have, never would... Though, as we know, some chaps/chapesses do make money here - good for them.

Why is reason being used or suggested as being absent?

It's about money and power, as usual... You come here, you set up business in competition with Thais, and you know what to expect from the indigenous population... simple as...

[Davis Knowlton]

Glad to see the BIB is going after important, high profile targets in an effort to fight crime.

[deathstardan]

I'm not making a fortune but I do OK, two years in...

This does seem a little ridiculous though.

[chitown]

I'm not making a fortune but I do OK, two years in...

This does seem a little ridiculous though.

As a company or underground? Personally, I think underground is the way to go. Let the wife / gf run it, skip the tax payments and company set up nightmare.

[deathstardan]

I'm not making a fortune but I do OK, two years in...

This does seem a little ridiculous though.

As a company or underground? Personally, I think underground is the way to go. Let the wife / gf run it, skip the tax payments and company set up nightmare.

[Albert Shagnasty]

^^ agree - until you get big - then do it properly.

[Rural Surin]

More insanity if it is true. I would not invest a dime in a business in Thailand.

Of course, this depends on the sort of business.
One shouldn't be so set in their defined knee-jerk reaction.

[pattayardm]

I can't see how that would stand up in court.

There was a purge a few years ago on Koh Chang. The mafia in uniform err sorry the police made quite a lot of money from farang bar owners based on the "fact" they did not have the correct license to play music. I believe it was called a Grammy license and only applied to Thai music but at the time they said it applied to all kinds of music.

Lots of scared bar owners coughed up various amounts, some as high as 30,000 baht. Then one courageous bar owner refused to pay, asked to settle in court instead and he won the case.

There was a reader's letter about this story in the Bangkok post shortly afterwards.

[dirtydog]

I can't see how that would stand up in court.

It doesn't goto court, they are asked to make a settlement, used to be around 30k baht, down to 20k baht, if they don't agree to the settlement they would be charged, locked up and the bail would be set at around 300k baht, better to pay the on the spot fine.

[Thetyim]

Someone should post it on TV
It will instantly be accepted as true

[dirtydog]

^It is true, or do you mean the music license rubbish?

[FarangRed]

No such thing as a farang bar owner

[WujouMao]

True or not ?

Keep your mouth shut or it’ll cost you a five-figure sum

A well-informed source has told me the people charged with upholding law and order in Pattaya are starting to once again trawl through the bars, mainly the outside beer variety, arresting foreigners for working illegally.

The definition of working has been expanded to the extent that a foreigner can be pinched for simply talking to a customer. Technically, the foreigner could be talking to his brother or a family or personal friend, but it won’t matter.

In one specific case, a bar operator in a soi located off Second Road was targeted. When the avaricious officials said they were going to arrest him for working, he said he didn’t own the bar, his Thai wife did. The paperwork confirmed this. When he then added he hadn’t touched a glass, changed any music, or emptied an ashtray, the peelers claimed he was being clapped in irons simply for talking to another foreigner sitting in the bar. The cost of freedom was 25,000 baht.

My source tells me this is the fourth foreign bar owner he knows who has been given the ‘talking to a customer’ treatment and fined a sufficiently large amount to help keep him out of the cells.

Yes, we all know in most cases the ‘real’ bar owner is indeed the foreigner with the cash, while his Thai wife or girlfriend is just the proxy. That said, there is nothing illegal in being an investor in a business in Thailand. If the foreigner is not physically engaging in any activity that can be performed by a Thai person, then there should not be a problem.

This kind of thing has happened in previous years, but the word is that the plod are struggling to fill their coffers to the extent they formally did, and so out go the hunting parties looking for fresh meat and little bundles of the folding stuff to bolster their retirement fund. Therefore, in order to restore their economic fortunes, while savaging those of others, they are resorting more and more to stretching the letter of the law to help line their fraying pockets.

©Duncan Stearn

Keep your mouth shut or it

Edited to original article: dirtydog

I would quite personally tell them to fuck off. If every foreigner declined to pay the fine, the cops cant arrest everyone can they? All bars will be out of business.

Seems everyone goes soft once they leave their motherland and live in the Far East.

[dirtydog]

They used to go in to bars and ask who the manager was, quite often the staff who was asked would point out the farang owner, the police then have one of the staff as a witness stating the owner is the manager, they then ask to see his work permit, generally he will say he doesn't work, they already have a staff member claiming he is the manager, not easy to get out of that unless you pay on the spot.

[Bettyboo]

^ sounds good in theory...

[WujouMao]

They used to go in to bars and ask who the manager was, quite often the staff who was asked would point out the farang owner, the police then have one of the staff as a witness stating the owner is the manager, they then ask to see his work permit, generally he will say he doesn't work, they already have a staff member claiming he is the manager, not easy to get out of that unless you pay on the spot.

Then the workers need to know that white blokes cant own a business. Its the wife. If the pigs come sniffing, they just have to come back later as the wife is out. Simple really.

[dirtydog]

Sadly the owners like to get too involved and are seen as the managers by the staff.

[WujouMao]

Sadly the owners like to get too involved and are seen as the managers by the staff.

Then they need to stay away and use the net upstairs or something. If you hover around like flies on shit, you're only drawing more attention to yourself and people will get the wrong idea.

Mind you i'd soon get bored if i was upstairs 24/7 watching tv or netting. If the pigs can play games, cant white blokes beat them at their own game? no loopholes?

[Bettyboo]

The workers will do as the police ask them...

The police don't need to be in the right... they are in the business of making money, they are a mafia organization, you won't beat them or scare them off or outsmart them... there's nothing to outsmart, they are not trying to be smart or legal or be policeman in a civic sense... they are out to get money from you; they can and they will and they do and they have been doing so forever - it's cultural, you'll be needing to change the culture to stop it...

You're correct in so much as keeping away 100% will make other bar owners easier targets.

[Lorenzo]

Do EVERYTHING in Thailand on the cheap. Don't buy a bar or real estate .. RENT!!!!

He deserves to be locked up for stupidity.

[raycarey]

I would not invest a dime in a business in Thailand.

having a hard time keeping all your BS straight, eh einstein?

Doing business in Thailand is a DIFFERENT animal than doing business in the West. I had years of successful business experience and lost 1 million baht here

https://teakdoor.com/the-teakdoor-lou...ml#post1692242 (Thais - I have heard it all now)

[Albert Shagnasty]

They used to go in to bars and ask who the manager was, quite often the staff who was asked would point out the farang owner, the police then have one of the staff as a witness stating the owner is the manager, they then ask to see his work permit, generally he will say he doesn't work, they already have a staff member claiming he is the manager, not easy to get out of that unless you pay on the spot.

Then the workers need to know that white blokes cant own a business. Its the wife. If the pigs come sniffing, they just have to come back later as the wife is out. Simple really.

"Ok - the first lesson of working here is this, when asked by anyone about anything, your answer is - sorry i'm new let me find a manager to answer your question"

[socal]

More insanity if it is true. I would not invest a dime in a business in Thailand.

Sounds like a guy that is at risk of losing a job.