Inevitably, in the bar world of Bangkok, funny things happen that must be shared. Some stuff I will take to my grave with me because there is no way I can share it without causing some grief for someone - maybe even myself. When it allows, we share a few tidbits about life inside the Bangkok bar world. Funny things happen - things that I never really thought would happen. Kegs vanish into thin air, taxi drivers steal barstools, and people fall in love. Here is some more funky stuff.
Before we get to it though, thought I would mention a few g-club tidbits. ML sent this stuff in - mr g-club himself. Seems there is a magazine tracking the g-clubs and their girls called Modern Night. I have yet to pick it up but I plan to since I hear the pics are good. There is a website that goes with it but it is all in Thai - however the pics are good as well.
I think the mag and the site are put out by the Lord Group. Owners of my favorite Massage joint - Victoria on Rama 9.
Next up is a site put out by the team behind Forte and Pent. Seems they have a few clubs and are trying to push the web side of things. This site has english, event info and some nice photos.
Anyway. Check it out. I still say - yes I know it costs more and I know there is not a direct barfine - but the member club girls and the special girls that put on shows at the member clubs are smoking hot. Some are model quality, approachable and yes - they are putting out for someone. Might as well be one of us? Soon we will have a concerted effort to get to some of the coyote clubs not normally frequented and continue to explore the g-club network as well. So much to do.
Alright. Back to the circus of running bars in Bangkok. Just a small sampling of some of the madness. I won’t tell you which venue, not naming names but hopefully you will still get a kick out of it. My guess is that managing any low wage service staff in the world has its complications but sometimes the nuances of Thailand can add their special touch.
One general employee issue that all owners/managers have in Thailand is that the employees are favored over employers - almost unfairly. Most permanent full-time staff have about 30 personal days per year they can use for just about anything. That is about 2 days a month and can be painful at times if lots of staff don’t show on the same days. It is very hard to fire staff in Thailand unless you have written warnings and evidence on file for things that warrant firing. I am sure we have readers on the blog who know more about this or have more experience than we do but we are learning. Long story short - staff can just not show up for a shift providing they get a doctor’s note the next day to prove why they could not make it to work. FYI - in Thailand - you can pay your local clinic doctor to write you a note for about anything you want.
1. You need to come to the police station:
In general you try to do anything you can to discourage your employees from sleeping with each other. Sure maybe staff will become acquainted on the job and go out after work for drinks but if they develop a relationship it can cause problems. One may not show up to work and the other will not show up on the same day because they are probably spending the day together. So now instead of losing one employee for unknown reasons you will lose 2. If any of the said employees are married then you run the risk of their spouse showing up to your place of business trying to assault their straying spouse on the job. Yes - we have already dealt with this. So employees shagging other employees is just a pain in the ass really but very hard to control.
Recently though we decided to try and deal with it by having a formal meeting about it to discourage this from happening. This way we could say that we officially warned folks and then we could tell suspected individual employees that they needed to knock it off so to speak. So after the meeting we got back to business as usual and hoped we had made an impression. We did but not the one we expected.
In Thailand there is a tendency for Thai citizens to use the police for conflict resolution. Legal matters, employment matters and vendor issues tend to induce Thais to contact their local police man for assistance. Especially if a Thai is having a dispute with a Farang. The Thais assume that when a police dude walks in to deal with something that the Farang will cave and move on. Well - not this group. We got our own police and we know that unless we have actually done something wrong - the police tend to want to back away from the situation when they learn it is not a valid police issue.
So the local station called and said that a complaint had been filed against our business for essentially slandering and embarrassing an employee who was wrongly accused of sleeping with another employee. The person filing the complaint was using the premise that we had unfairly singled her out and that we were accusing her of sleeping with someone that she found to be of lower class than her and that we were out of line. At first I just wanted to laugh. Mostly knowing that the guy had already admitted to sleeping with her, he actually makes a lot more money than she does and that our cleaning lady had seen them in her building together. Yes - Bkk is smaller than you think.
We had a Thai representative go to the station to plead our side of the case and we asked for someone in a supervisory position to get involved since many times these cases are not recognized by the police station but are being sustained by some officer who just happens to be a friend of or a relation to the accused. Turns out the girl had found a distant cousin in the police station to see if he could scare us into siding with her. After talking to someone sufficiently high up in the station and explaining the ridiculousness of the situation, our case was thrown out. The supervisor also berated the girl for wasting our time, his time and the station’s time. She did come back to work but only lasted a few days and has been too embarrassed to come back and get her final check. I may use it to buy some drinks for the cops. Gotta know whose bread to butter.
2. Thai girls like to play around:
As I have mentioned in this post, I think some Thai girls, more than a few, like to bed down guys as they see fit. A bar is the perfect hunting ground for just such a girl. Tons of FOBs, regular expats and random tourists coming in each day. Lots of fresh meat.
So a particular girl stopped coming to work one day and no one could get a hold of her. As mentioned earlier in this post she has 2 days in which she can blow us off but must come in by the 3rd day to explain why and have the appropriate doctor’s note. 3rd day came and she still did not come back. Oh well.
A few days after the disappearance another employee got the scoop. She was shagging one of the staff(seems our meeting had no impact at all), she was shagging customers as she saw fit and she had a Thai sponsor. It seems one night the Thai sponsor got a hold of the phone to see the messages from the other Thai guy and messages from one of her Farang flings. I guess he had enough and broke up with her and she needed to ge out of town. Nice.
3. She was locked in her room why? :
Last one folks. When a staff member does not show we usually assume something has happened and we further assume they are using a personal day. Not much we can do about it. However it is nice if we hear from them to make sure they are okay and to see when they are coming back.
It was not until the next day after her absence that we heard from our employee. Seems her husband had an argument with her and locked her in the bedroom without a phone. She was stuck there all night. Kills me these Thai guys sometimes. She is the primary breadwinner for the house, they have kids, and works her ass off. I really get why so many Thai girls think that even a butterflying Farang is better than your average Thai guy. We may be a pain sometimes but I generally think we still respect Thai women more than Thai men do.
Anyway. Back to the zoo…
ok, far be it from me to tell you how to run your bar, but if the girl worked for you, you should figure out a way to get her check to her. yes, she wasted your time and was a pain in the ass, but paying her what she earned is the high road.
View all comments by rbp
Sorry, but I actually don’t find any of this very interesting to much of your reader audience who are people not owning a bar or dealing with staff from the lower levels of the local work force. Sounds like just airing out dirty laundry looking for an ear. Just my 2 Satang.
View all comments by Bangkok Biatch
Looking at the pics @ bangkokrelax. Well i really can’t see the point of going there. The girls are not better looking than gogo girls, they are just better groomed ala soi 33.
Plus you must pick them up ahahah if i want to pick up girls i can spend the afternoon in the siam area where there will be 100 more girls all sizes and shapes…
I really think those clubs are for rich fishes.
View all comments by RRR
With all due respect RRR you cannot make such claims without actually having been in any of the g-clubs……
You are right - Siam Square is excellent hunting ground, and the g-clubs are not cheap.
But you are also wrong - the girls in the better g-clubs are nothing like Soi 33 or any Go-Go. And this means not just in looks, but in their backgrounds and attitude as well.
I was in Resort g-club on Ratchada a few weeks ago and was surrounded by about 100 girls, most of them better looking than anything I have seen in Cowboy or Nana, very few of them over the age of 22-23.
And, as mentioned on various places on this site previously, if you approach the g-clubs as quick pick up places you will be disappointed.
If you have to entertain business connections frequently in the evenings anyway, they are far more appropriate than other night options in Bangkok. The g-clubs always put on a good show, usually have great music and can be a very good night out with stunning girls as company that, over time, can be bedded. They are FUN, something I think you have to search hard for in the Go-Go scene in Bangkok.
But everything is subjective and everyone has their own opinion. As a Thai girl would say “up to you”.
View all comments by mochalover
Seems employee issues are very similar the world over. They like their time off, know their rights but are unfamiliar with their obligations & can’t stop shagging each other.
View all comments by Wombat
rbp - she missed days she was scheduled to work. Did not call and did not tender notice. So she will be cut pay anyway. Once she decides to leave they are obligated to give a proper notice. She did not of this. Add in time at the police station, other missed days and her general attitude and I have no plans of finding her to give her money. She can come in, apologize for it all and ask for her final pay. My guess is, since she is Thai, she has lost so much face at this point that she won’t ever come around here. Also - if I track her down to give her the money then the other employees will know the Farang bosses are pushovers.
rrr - the website was just for information I don’t think it is a perfect example of all the talent. Siam square is fun but I would rather sit in an air-conditioned building, watch hot girls and bag phone numbers than wonder around siam sweating my ass off and dealing with all the noise pollution and tuk-tuk touts.
ML - good points.
w - agreed. they also don’t respect that their employees need to earn money to pay money. An example. On this 2 day crap after I had it out with one employee I was pissed that another employee did not get my point about people not showing up and not calling. I can deal with not showing if they call. So I said how about I use my 2 days to close the bar without telling any of you and I don’t pay you either. You show up to work one day and the bar is closed but I don’t tell you. They all said they would be angry and want to quit. They don’t like the tables turned on them at all.
View all comments by smitty
“You show up to work one day and the bar is closed but I don’t tell you. They all said they would be angry and want to quit. They don’t like the tables turned on them at all.”
Welcome to the world of the entrepreneur. But you knew that.
It looks to me like you handled it pretty well.
View all comments by The Asian Badger
FYI : i’ve been to g-clubs a few times ( forte,sopranos,neverland), and “I was in Resort g-club on Ratchada a few weeks ago and was surrounded by about 100 girls, most of them better looking than anything I have seen in Cowboy or Nana, very few of them over the age of 22-23.” is total bullshit.
If I feel like socializing, picking up non working girls is just so much more fun. Any mall, bus stop, bar, plaza… and so on is a potential hunting ground.
In G-club you pay a ton to sleep with “non working girls” ( if you are lucky and have spend enough money ) that you can pickup when they are shopping, disco and so on.
It’s like the japanese clubs in tokyo where you pay to have a girl talking with you…
I find it really dull.
Ok the shows are cool
View all comments by RRR
By the way: if you want to bed the hottest possible girls the big massage parlours “VIP books” are the way to go.
You can even befriend the girl and become her sponsor later! like in a g-club! how cool is that!
I feel those clubs are the only for rich fools who are not very good at real life pickups, to find a girl to sponsor.
so :
- gogo / beer bars : get drunk, f***, pay( girls between 3 and 8,5 ) additional options : seduce the girl, get a GF
- massage parlours : pay, f*** ( girls between 3 and 9,98 )
same additional options
- real life : seduce, f***
additional option: get a GF
- g-clubs : pay a ton, multiples times, pay a bit more please kap, seduce the girl cause in fact you haven’t paid enough yet, f*** ( girls between 3 and 9 )
additional option : sponsor her
Make your choice
View all comments by RRR
RRR - I find your view of it all fairly narrow minded and based on how u feel about it all. Which is cool. You are entitled to your opinions - the beauty of a blog with comments.
you don’t like the g-clubs. great. don’t go.
I do. Others do and oh well.
I have beens seeing a girl from a g-club I am not even a member of. She does not want a bf or a sponsor but someone to hang out with from time to time. She is fun, great in bed and no BS.
Each to his own bud.
View all comments by smitty
Smitty : “I have beens seeing a girl from a g-club I am not even a member of. She does not want a bf or a sponsor but someone to hang out with from time to time. She is fun, great in bed and no BS.”
That’s exactly my point, G-clubs girls are available outside of g-clubs. I’m seeing a girl who work at soprano met her in MBK. Her view of G-club customers are strangely close to mine.
View all comments by RRR
rrr - true but some of us still like to go. Great places to take clients and people new to bkk. The entertainment is good and I don’t think it is that expensive if you are not buying armies of lady drinks. we do 4 hours for 4000 baht. We had a great time, bagged a few new numbers and then hit cowboy. Great night out was had by all. So you cut out the club cool but I like going.
View all comments by smitty
I don’t say you can’t have fun there or stuff. But as pickup places those clubs are probably the worst thing ever ( ok islamic jails are a close contender )
The funny thing is I know a few people who bang g-clubs girls and never been to one, the fact that they spend a lot of time with foreigners certainly helps.
View all comments by RRR
RRR - well apparently my views are bullshit and as a member of a g-club I am a complete rich fool.
Each to their own mate. I choose not to similarly abuse you. I can tell you about the girls I too have picked up in MBK and Siam Square and the suburban malls (much better places). I can tell you about the girls I have met in g-clubs that ended up in my place the same night. I can tell you that all you do in a g-club is pay for your drinks you will consume anyway in advance in one lump sum - makes it seem expensive, but over time not so bad. And I can tell you I went on Friday night to Rainbows 1, 3 and 4, Mandarin, Baccara, Shark and Shebas and saw perhaps 300+ girls from the best go-gos in Bangkok and thought there were probably 3 I would shag. I can see ten times that number in one good g-club. But it seems you feel my experiences don’t match your own, so they must be wrong.
Like I said in my first post - up to you.
View all comments by mochalover
Mocha: ahah of course just 3 you would shag… everybody I know must have an awful taste in women then… And such a playboy picking up girls in suburban area ( try paradise at the mall in bankae hard to be more suburban,tell the stunner selling cheap jewellery ( can’t miss her really ) that RRR sent you.
You sound so fake it hurts.
View all comments by RRR
There have been many forums and web sites tracking the Bangkok night scene over the years. Unfortunately, many of them were ruined as flame wars and bitching between posters took over from useful information. Thankfully, the Big Mango board has been relatively free of this kind of petty behaviour.
The posters here are usually civil and choose to respect others views, advice and experiences. By and large, there is the assumption that what everyone contributes is genuine and useful.
Smitty and I in this thread basically are just trying to say that we enjoy the G-clubs and have done well there. That is all. We both have pointed out in this thread and many others over the past couple of years that the g-club scene is not for everyone, and recognize that a lot of folks don’t like them. I didn’t when I was first taken to a few about four years ago.
RRR has decided to label my own posts in this thread as fake and bullshit, and that by going to g-club regularly I must be a complete rich idiot. Why he chooses to post in this manner is a mystery. There are far better ways to express yourself than to denigrate other posters. And in any case, all he is doing is proving our point - there are a lot of people that really don’t like the G-club scene. That is fine….this is a big city and what always makes it so great is the variety of options on offer.
View all comments by mochalover
Usually commenters will weigh in and police this stuff on their own. The only reason I am chiming in here is to say that I personally know mochalover and although I always cry bullshit when he talks of his uncanny ability to bed down virgins - the rest of his stuff is not BS.
I also want to second that we don’t want a rant site but we want an informational site that allows readers/submitters to openly discuss, dispute and add the information that is helpful to others. Disagreeing with anything represented on this site is allowed but keep things above the belt please. No Tyson ear biting either.
thanks all!
View all comments by smitty
Well, I’ve been in town for over a week now and am still looking to ‘get it on’ with one of bangkok’s finest. i haven’t made it to one of the nightlife areas yet, given that I work at night (unfortunately, my working hours are still the same as in the US). So the other day i’m on the skytrain and I see a cute girl. I walk up to her and introduce myself. I don’t understand it - she only said hello and then turned red and didn’t really say much else. I asked her for her phone number and she just smiled a little and looked down. The other Thais on the train were watching me like I was some kind of nut. What the heck? ARe people really that conservative in public? How else are you supposed to meet normal Thai girls?
View all comments by constant boner
cb - funny stuff. She may not have understood what you were saying if she did not speak english. I think the best way for guys to meet normal girls when they don’t speak thai is the online sites. If you speak thai then you might have other options but I would say that I would generally not just ask a girl on the train unless I could tell she was interested, looked like I was close enough in age to her so it does not look out of line and hope for the best. I usually do not approach on the train though and try it in the station area since if she is shy or has no interest in you then this way you and her are not completely embarrassed. Maybe MBK would be a better option?
View all comments by smitty
BTS pickups are mostly a waste of time, try some more open spaces where people are moving, shopping malls are great. Remember to smile and to dress smart.
View all comments by RRR
I want to go to Forte next time I am in Town. How does this work?
MEMBER
20,000 bath/year Free Chivas 12 bottles plus 20 % discount
Do I get 20000 ‘baths’ with girls? Is this 12 bottles of Chivas?
View all comments by AUK
AUK - unless you plan to stay in Thailand for quite a while, I would frankly advise against going to any G-club - there are much better options for short-term visitors. Nana, Cowboy or the Massage Parlors, for example.
But if you do want to check out a g-club, then Forte is a good place to start. It is on RCA but far down from Rama 9 towards Petchburi on the right side as you go in that direction.
I’m not sure if you are kidding or not, but 20,000 bath per year should read 20,000 baht per year, the baht being the currency of Thailand. That is about equal to US$620.
You don’t have to buy a g-club membership to visit most g-clubs. They will let you in for a ‘trial look and see’ evening which is what I would advise if you are not familiar with the g-club scene or do not plan to stay in Bangkok for very long. But you will pay a LOT for your drinks during any trial evening (probably 2-3 times what you might pay in any go-go bar).
Otherwise, you can buy a membership. Although the membership lasts one year, in actual fact it runs out when all the drinks you have on your membership plan are used up. You can negotiate with the sales people about how much booze you get on your plan, including lady drinks. If you do this well, the end result is drinks that cost you perhaps 30-50% more than a normal go-go. Don’t take any notice of what they claim to offer in their plans - haggle. They all need more members these days.
And yes, the membership is usually based around the number of bottles of Whisky or Chivas you are basically buying in advance, plus a nominated amount of lady drinks plus perhaps time in a private karaoke or entertainment room. You only pay for mixers for the drinks until you use up your lady drink quota and/or your booze.
There are plenty of other posts on Big Mango that tell you a lot more about how to play the g-club scene. But some advice here:
- dress smartly
- be firm about what girls you do and do not want to join your table
- be aware of the difference between the “pretties” who are the hostess girls and the dancers - they cost differently for drinks and the time you spend with them.
- Don’t even think about ‘bar-fining’ any girl from a g-club. It is extraordinarily expensive and not worthwhile because all that it means is that you get to take them out somewhere else that evening. It does not mean that you get to take them back to your room. Work instead on getting phone numbers to see during the day, on nights off (most g-club girls only work a few evenings a week)or hang around until closing time to go on partying at the after-hours scene.
- very few of the girls in the g-clubs take money for sex - unlike Massage Parlors, Nana, Cowboy and Soi 33. Some do…..but you have to be bold and ask sales ladies and perhaps frequent customers to know which ones. View these girls as medium to long term projects. This does not mean you can’t pick up and have a g-club girl in your room in one evening (it does happen) but it is rare and you will only get into grief if you treat the girls as if that is what they do.
I view the g-clubs as places to entertain business associates while working on long-term projects with stunning girls. They usually have great shows, guest acts and bands that seriously rock. The dancers are enthusiastic and sexy.
Everyone’s taste is different, but for myself I seem to have become more “Asian” in my tastes the longer I have been in Bangkok. I really only go for very tall, very slim, very fair young girls (below 24) that are reasonably smart (probably going to University in Bangkok), do not come from a very poor rural family and do not have family and sick water buffalo issues or children. It helps if they can speak English reasonably well, have not had sex with dozens of different men in the last year and have the right attitude.
Maybe it is just that I have been lucky, but I have found a rich vein of exactly such girls in the g-clubs. Many others have not, and hate the places as rip-off joints. I can understand that perspective, because I felt the same way myself once (having done business in Japan for many years, which is full of this style of club).
So - to repeat - approach the g-clubs with caution. They are not to everyones taste, but perhaps appeal more to guys staying in Bangkok for a longer period of time that conduct business in the country that involves frequent amounts of entertaining foreign and Thai guests. They are also a good change of scene from the regular spots.
View all comments by mochalover
C’mon… CB has got to be a put on, right!? If he really is genuine then Smitty’s advice is perfect, but I reckon the guy has to be a long term BKK resident whose having a giggle impersonating an FOB. :p
View all comments by werewolf
Hey Mocha,
interested to know your thoughts on forte vs sopranos. I live near the latter, but dont want to fork out unless its the better of the 2 options.
View all comments by the-adventurer
the-a: My 2 cents on Forte vs Sopranos. Sopranos is the top g-club imho but I’ve only been to about five in total. Top notch ladies, amazing service, and first class entertainers. Definitely worth the membership. Forte is no slouch though. Also top notch and if you want to party in RCA the locale is perfect.
Mochalover was kind enough to invite me over on his membership to the Sopranos. My first visit was quite memorable. I couldn’t believe how good the shows were and there were so many world class stunners. My eyes were popping out of my head.
I’m not a big g-club fan but I must admit that it’s a great place to entertain business associates and friends from out of town. Just one more offering.
View all comments by pmmp
Forte vs Sopranos? I’m a member of both, a frequent visitor to The Resort (Ratchada Soi 13) and occasional visitor to Ritz, Caribbean and Pent.
I’d agree with PMMP - to me Soprano’s has a slight edge in terms of lookers, layout and entertainment. But they are both farang-friendly and have plenty of girls who speak enough English to have fun. Each has special nights (dance competitions, model nights, launch parties, visiting music acts) that might mean one is better than the other on any particular evening.
View all comments by mochalover
A few words on g-club membership fees. Each club is a bit different, so lets use Sopranos as an example.
You can haggle to get perhaps 50 lady drinks and 11 bottles of spirit for 30,000 baht annual membership. This means you have one year to use up your booze, after that any you did not consume is lost. If you do use up all your booze before the end of one year, then you need to take out a new membership.
You get about 25 drinks per bottle of spirit. So - that makes about 325 drinks in total for 30,000 baht or about 90 baht a drink…..but you also pay for mixers each evening to take it up to about 140-150 bht a drink. Once the lady drinks run out, you start paying about 250 bht a drink for the girls. The girls might also ask for cocktails and more expensive drinks or ask you to buy drinks for their friends - so watch out and be firm about matters!
If you just drink the mixers, they charge a lot….maybe 200 bht for a glass of coke (!). Beer costs 250 bht a bottle - if you are a member or not. I think you might be able to get a membership that is based on beers rather than bottles of spirit, but don’t know the details.
If you are a non-member, you pay 800 bht entry fee (some people have negotiated this down to 500 bht on slow nights). Even as a member, if you bring a girl with you then you then you also have to pay 800 bht for her entry fee.
It all sounds expensive. But if you negotiate right and control the girls consumption when you are in the club, then it really is not that bad - just that you are paying in advance in one lump sum for your drinks.
But for guys that find 120 bht for a beer in Nana too much, or want to get laid for sure the same night they talk to a hottie, then g-clubs are not recommended.
View all comments by mochalover
FYI. most also have one level down that includes just your booze and discounts - no lady drinks. These work out to be about the same cost as opening a bottle in any bar but you get discounts and the member card. Seems pretty easy deal to me. Also with member card you can book tables, call ahead and seem to get better attention from mamasans and girls.
View all comments by smitty
I live right next to Soprano’s and have never tried it. Reading all these blogs recently I will have to give it a go and take out a membership. Sometimes on my way out to party (about 1-2pm) I see amazingly hot girls in the 7/11 on 26. Going on the quality I guess they come from Soprano’s.
Smitty am with you my tastes progressived very quickly to Asian tastes.
View all comments by Young Royal
Progressed…not sure what that word was I made up but you know what I meant.
View all comments by Young Royal
yr - I say forgo the membership for a bit and try some 7/11 pulls or follow them to the after hours spots. They are there. Saves some membership coin as well.
View all comments by smitty