Guest travelerjim Posted May 26, 2008 Posted May 26, 2008 HAPPY BAR PARTY WEDNESDAY MAY 28th & 2 Specials Last night - a Sunday - I visited Happy Bar in South Pattaya.. located near family Mart... from Sunee Plaza..go to Marina Inn.. turn left on Soi Yensabai... go East about 2 blocks on the left side of the Soi and you will see Happy Bar. The bar was very quiet...Sunday night..but many Thai Staff to please and dance for you on the tabletops. The owner gave me a flyer ad announcing ... TWO SPECIALS: --------------------------------- SPECIAL #1.. HAPPY BOY PARTY WEDNESDAY NIGHT MAY 28th... 2 Show Times (NEW) 10:00pm and 11:00pm Eat FREE ALL DRINKS 99 BAHT! AND THAT MEANS all drinks ARE 99 BAHT! ----------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL #2 Starting Thursday May 29th ... and ALL Month of June... For every CHECKBIN of 450 baht ... you will get ONE VOUCHER FOR 300 BAHT and can exchange 300 baht Voucher for ONE OFF... You can use 300 baht Voucher the same night if you like... NO added charge for an OFF ----------------------------------------------- The owner is trying to help his Staff during this low season... and recognizes that the resident Expats are also carefully watching their monthly budgets... These promotions are the owners way to help everyone ... Staff, Expats & Visitors.. have a good time at Happy Bar :-) The owner also said each of his Staff have original, valid Thai ID cards... and will be available to look at upon request.... (and an added TJ notation: Always check the dates of birth etc...) SMOKE FREE INSIDE CLUB... smoking area outside at front entrance... Happy Bar is one of my favorite places to visit... many new smiling faces await your visit :-) and be sure to check out the upstairs mezzanine floor ... a great place to invite your friend upstairs... relax and enjoy your visit with friends. Quote
Gaybutton Posted May 26, 2008 Posted May 26, 2008 I think these sorts of promotions are excellent ideas and do a good job of bringing in more customers, at least temporarily. Those of you who have been around long enough may remember the old Moonlight Bar on Second Road. Quite often they would hold raffles and the winner would get a free off. If I remember correctly, the raffle tickets sold for 20 baht apiece and you could buy as many of them as you pleased. The boys are suffering from this very low season even more than usual. More and more are showing up at the beach, hoping to hook up with a farang, showing up on the gay Thai hookup web sites, and lately I've been getting three to five calls a day from boys I know, hoping I'll be "available" that day. Believe it or not I just now got a call, right in the middle of writing this. The more the bar owners take an interest in doing something that can help out their boys, along with helping themselves, the better I like it and the better it is for all concerned. Quote
Guest ReneThai Posted May 26, 2008 Posted May 26, 2008 For every CHECKBIN of 450 baht ... you will get ONE VOUCHER FOR 300 BAHT and can exchange 300 baht Voucher for ONE OFF... Normally a boy gets 50 baht from the off fee. This promotion is a rip off for the boys and only the manager ( mick or mike ) gets more money. Customers who order for 450 baht drinks are good customers , the boy must pay 200 baht from his tip to the manager when he returns from a so called free off . This was told to me by one of the boys last week. Rene Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted May 27, 2008 Posted May 27, 2008 I think these sorts of promotions are excellent ideas and do a good job of bringing in more customers, at least temporarily Totally agree and I'll make a point of visiting Happy Bar when next in Pattaya. This sort of promotion has also attracted Malaysia Airlines which is now offering free tickets to KL. The rationale is that they are not flying full anyway and they'd rather get the fuel surcharge and other 'extras' than nothing at all. Quote
Guest travelerjim Posted May 27, 2008 Posted May 27, 2008 For every CHECKBIN of 450 baht ... you will get ONE VOUCHER FOR 300 BAHT and can exchange 300 baht Voucher for ONE OFF... Normally a boy gets 50 baht from the off fee. This promotion is a rip off for the boys and only the manager ( mick or mike ) gets more money. Customers who order for 450 baht drinks are good customers , the boy must pay 200 baht from his tip to the manager when he returns from a so called free off . This was told to me by one of the boys last week. Rene Thanks Rene for the insight...as I had no idea! ...and will talk with the owner tonight about this. I posted this reply on Sawatdee... Will report back tomorrow. TJ gwm... I also saw the posting on GayThailand and will contact the owner tonight to check it out. As for your posted claim : "if it is true then shame on you TJ for publicizing it so much"... I do not buy into your shame on TJ thinking... I have nothing to be ashamed about... I have sought to share information given to me on a flyer on these message boards...to be helpful... and hopefully do all some good... especially the Boys and Staff. If we were to use your logic... NO information would be passed around on these message boards... or in the NEW PG Weekly Report... and that gwm...would be a shame! More later after I see and talk with the Happy Bar owner... Thank you :-) Quote
Guest netrix Posted May 27, 2008 Posted May 27, 2008 Normally a boy gets 50 baht from the off fee. This promotion is a rip off for the boys and only the manager ( mick or mike ) gets more money. Customers who order for 450 baht drinks are good customers , the boy must pay 200 baht from his tip to the manager when he returns from a so called free off . Even if that's true, it's better than the boy paying his own off fee altogether. At least this way he gets more tips in slow season if the promotion brings in more business. But I'm not convinced your information is accurate either. If your conscience is bothering you then give the boy an extra 200 bht. Surely you won't miss the 3 pounds. Quote
Gaybutton Posted May 27, 2008 Posted May 27, 2008 I don't see any reason why Jim should feel bad. First, so far there has been no confirmation of the accusation other than what a boy told ReneThai. Second, he reported information given to him on a flier. It is entirely possible the boy's information is wrong or he had some reason to lie about it to potentially get more of a tip if he is taken off. It is a very common practice for bars to put out fliers. What were people expecting Jim to do? He had no reason to doubt the veracity of the flier or suspect some sort of a rip-off by the bar's owner. When a flier is given out, are people really expecting Jim, or anyone else, to also have to go to the involved bar and have a little chat with the owner before giving the rest of us the information on the flier? Quote
Guest ReneThai Posted May 27, 2008 Posted May 27, 2008 Maybe the boy was indeed telling a lie . I dont know and cannot check it , because I am at home again. I hope someone can check it with other boys working there , or even with the manager, and please inform us here, for which I will be grateful . Rene Quote
Guest travelerjim Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 Maybe the boy was indeed telling a lie . I dont know and cannot check it , because I am at home again. I hope someone can check it with other boys working there , or even with the manager, and please inform us here, for which I will be grateful . Rene Hi Rene... I was going to ask you to chat with the owner and see what you understand...but now you are not in Thailand. I did talk with the German owner last night about this... and tried as I might to understand his English explanations. What I did hear from him is that the boy is to "gift" to the bar 200 baht on his return to the bar ...but ONLY IF the tip was 1,000 baht or more. If the tip was less than 1000 baht...then NO pay to the bar. (I do not know how well this will work...as the boy can say anything... I suspect the boy will pay 200 baht regardless... to keep the Mamasan happy... but the owner denied this to me.) I tried my best to encourage the owner to keep it SIMPLE.. during the promotion thru June, 2008 month.... with NO amount to be due for the boy on his return to the bar... But he kept saying something about the "Mamasan" .. as the Mamasan was being left out of the deal when NO Bar Fine is paid up front. Rene, you are right...the boy gets 50 baht of an OFF FEE. So..for what it is worth..that is about the most I could understand... BUT what I do understand..IS that the boys and bar need our support... as all clubs do now during the low season we are experiencing... IF the boys and clubs are to be there nightly for our viewing and enjoyment... That alone is good enough reason for me to support the Happy Bar :-) See you all there at Happy Bar tonight Wednesday night... Quote
Gaybutton Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 Ok, that makes more sense to me. It also seems fair. Although mama-sans, waiters, bartenders, doormen, etc. are usually not taken off (although at most bars they can be) apparently the owner is trying to see that some sort of pool is collected to be distributed among the employees who don't get taken off. After all, even some of the go-go boys won't be taken off anyway, so some of them will get nothing out of the promotion unless a pool is started. Apparently the bar owner is also going to rely on the honesty of the boys who do get taken off. I suppose there might be better ways to do it, but based on what Travelerjim is saying, it does seem to me that the bar owner really is trying to do something to help these boys and is in no way trying to use the promotion to line his own pockets. It seems to me he's trying to see that all the boys at least get a little something. If that is correct, then I applaud him for it. It also demonstrates something else: Don't jump to negative conclusions. Quote
Guest laurence Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 I don't see how this promotion is helping the boys? A rather convoluted way of doing business. I would rather pay the off fee and have the boy keep all of the tip I give him. I think the expression is "robbing Peter to pay Paul". Quote
PattayaMale Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 I don't see how this promotion is helping the boys? A rather convoluted way of doing business. I would rather pay the off fee and have the boy keep all of the tip I give him. I think the expression is "robbing Peter to pay Paul". I gather from what has been said that if you want to pay the off fee you can do so. If you want to drink 450 baht worth you can do it that way. I hope the promotion gets more people into the bar. I do not know of any other bar that is doing any promotions other than those that have quiz games etc which they have all year long. Which brings up the point. WHY do the bars not do promotions in low season if the owners are really struggling? Or does struggling mean they are not making 400,000 baht a month profit which many make in high season (?). It seems that some of the customers go out of their way to "help" the bars more than many owners. The bars that I go to in the USA were always having promotions. Some even as simple as announcing " for the next 15 minutes shots 25 cents". Here is a link to the Silver Fox in Long Beach: http://silverfoxlongbeach.com Click on events. Why are the ownes in Pattaya not as creative?? Quote
Gaybutton Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 I don't see how this promotion is helping the boys I disagree. If it gets more people into the bars, that helps the boys. Also, if the intent is to share some of he tips to help the rest of the boys, I see nothing negative about that. Most bars do little or nothing for the boys, other than pay their monthly salary. Some bars have been known to cheat the boys out of even that. So, if even a little something is being done, I'm all for it. Pattayamale has a point too. Maybe the reason more bars don't do promotions is because they figure the promotion will cost more than they can recoup. Maybe they feel that even if a promotion does attract more customers, there's not enough customers to attract during low season to make the effort worthwhile. Quote
Guest jomtien Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 Maybe they feel that even if a promotion does attract more customers, there's not enough customers to attract during low season to make the effort worthwhile. And some customers just don't respond to promotions, even in Pattaya where the sighting of a Balloon can cause a stampede! I always go to the bars I enjoy and the greatest promotion in the world couldn't get me to return to one I didn't like. Quote
PattayaMale Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 I understand what GB is saying about less customers to make a promotion payoff. However we do have a good number of expats in Pattaya. Let's see how Happy Boys does. In some bars the price of a drink is 150 baht ($5). The cost of making that drink depending on the drink is 20 - 35 baht (.67 - $1.15). So if a bar sells only 20 drinks, the profit from those drinks is at least $80. (diet coke drinkers contribute a profit of 110 baht or about $3.50 per drink). Off fees and tips add much more to the profit. My friend that owns a bar on a pattayaland soi, has this policy. If a boy does not get offed he gives him 100 baht plus a coupon for a meal at one of the carts in addition to his regular monthly salary. When the boy is offed he does not get the extra 100 baht that night. His monthly salary seems low to me (go-go gets 3000 baht) But even with no offs the boy can make 6000 baht plus 30 meals. His idea of the 100 baht a month is to help the boy budget and also to help encourage him to show up for work. They of course get extra for having a drink with a customer. Some bars use a "fine" system. If a boy does not come to work, shows up late, does not earn enough offs or drinks with a customer; the owner reduces their salary. So many times the boys salary is really reduced and since given at one time.....the boy is broke long before the end of the month. Quote
Guest laurence Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 Each to his own I suppose! I am a regular at Happy and the promotion that appeals to me is the 99 Baht drinks. Every boy who dances at my table gets a tip, the barman gets a tip, the doorman gets a tip and every dancer who entertains me in the upper lounge gets a drink and a very good tip. When I leave Happy the only one who does not have money in their pocket or sock is me! The phony voucher does not appeal to me. My opinion is this voucher business will not attract additional customers no matter how well meaning it is to share the profits of one for the good of all. But then I never chased balloons same same Jomtien. I do like the system PattayaMale mentions of 100 Baht plus food voucher for those who get not offs. I believe other bars eventually just fire the ones who get no offs. Quote
Gaybutton Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 I believe other bars eventually just fire the ones who get no offs. I must say I admire your generosity. To my knowledge, very few bars fire boys who never get offs. They just pay them less. The bar has nothing to lose by letting the boy work there unless he is doing something that is causing them to lose customers. What usually ends up happening is the boys themselves decide to look for greener pastures. I went to the Happy Bar party last night for about an hour, right when the bar first opened. There were only a few boys still working there who I recognized from the last time I was there. Did you go last night? I left about 9:15. I did not stay for the show. By the time I left there were about a dozen farang customers there, and that was about it. I wonder if more people came later, after I had gone. Quote
Guest laurence Posted May 29, 2008 Posted May 29, 2008 I must say I admire your generosity. Generosity, no; Drunk, yes; Happy, always. I have been away from Thailand for a few months but will return soon. Looking forward to being Happy again. Quote
Bob Posted May 29, 2008 Posted May 29, 2008 Generosity, no; Drunk, yes; Happy, always. I have been away from Thailand for a few months but will return soon. Looking forward to being Happy again. Frankly, laurence, I can relate to all of those (I actually rarely drink at home but drink much too often when in Thailand). I don't mind being happy (and probably occasionally drunk and generous too) when I'm back in LOS in October. Hell, only have one life to live.... Quote
MrBill Posted June 2, 2008 Posted June 2, 2008 I must say I admire your generosity. Did you go last night? I left about 9:15. I did not stay for the show. By the time I left there were about a dozen farang customers there, and that was about it. I wonder if more people came later, after I had gone. Happy Bar now has a show? I was there over the New Year Holiday and there were no shows. It wwas a decent place to visit but even at that time, there were only a few customers. Quote
