Tips for Beer Bar Offs

[Guest fountainhall]

I realise that the issue of tipping must be one of the most common threads in all gay Thailand-related Boards. One area that is rarely mentioned - or I have rarely seen - concerns Beer Bars rather than go-go bars. If you wish to off a guy you like who works at a beer bar on, say, Soi Twilight, what is the likely off fee and the expected tip? And how does that relate to prices in Pattaya?

[Rogie]

The three bars I know best in Bangkok are Balcony, Telephone and Dick's Cafe. Not having ever offed one of their staff I cannot say what might be a suitable amount. I would guess it would be significantly more than from a go-go bar or in Pattaya. Simply because of the location and the fact the, assuming we are talking about waiters, on a busy night one less waiter means the rest have to work harder. What I would do if I fancied one of the waiters at that kind of establishment would be to sound out the manager beforehand, perhaps a day or two before the envisaged off. He could then make suitable arrangements, including briefing the boy and getting his assent. Another tactic may be to chat up the boy whilst he is working and find out if he's likely to be interested in meeting you outside work hours, and get his phone number, although he is probably working long hours and getting decent pay so might well value his time off, his sleeping time, above earning a bit of extra on the side. I apologise if that wasn't what you had in mind FH, I have assumed those places I listed were the sort you meant by 'Beer Bars'.

 

I have only offed a few boys form Beer Bars and they were all in Pattaya, but going back several years now. The off fee was similar to the go-go bars. The tip was also similar, at least in my experience.

[Guest thaiworthy]

The three bars I know best in Bangkok are Balcony, Telephone and Dick's Cafe. . . . I apologise if that wasn't what you had in mind FH, I have assumed those places I listed were the sort you meant by 'Beer Bars'.

 

Rogie, I would not include those places as "offable" establishments in the traditional sense, although it would not be impossible to off waiters from those places under the circumstances and conditions that you mentioned. I imagined FH meant "host bars," as opposed to "go-go." If you look at any of the published guides, they refer to these places as host, rather than beer bars. All of the non-go-go bars listed on Soi Twilight are more commonly referred to as host bars.

 

One area that is rarely mentioned - or I have rarely seen - concerns Beer Bars rather than go-go bars.

 

Everything can be negotiated. If you ask any farang, he will give you his experience which will be a given amount, so will another farang, and yet another, by which you will already have 3 different sets of circumstances and 3 different tips from each. It depends on the bar, the boy, you, and the phase of the moon. I would begin the negotiation with whatever you paid last time and adjust accordingly based on those factors. Nothing within reason is set in stone.

[Guest fountainhall]

The three bars I know best in Bangkok are Balcony, Telephone and Dick's Cafe

 

In my book, these are much more cafe/bars. I was thinking much more of the open-air bars at the start of Soi Twilight and the beer bars like Yaya's common in Sunee in Pattaya.

[Guest thaiworthy]

I think we are getting our terminology mixed up, Fountainhall. In my opinion those places like YaYa are referred to as host bars.

 

Everything is cheaper in Pattaya. Drinks are cheaper, as is accommodation and tip. How much more expensive it is in Bangkok depends on the aforementioned variables. Try not to have a rigid formula in mind, though-- the point is not money, but to have a good time. In my opinion, the numbers in baht are meaningless.

 

I tip accordingly for what I like most. My motto is self-evident. I like to think: Big baht for big butt!

 

Butt of course, that's just me!

[Guest fountainhall]

I have seen them sometimes referred to as Beer Bars and sometimes as Host Bars. The terminology does not matter. The point of the question was off fees and expected tips. I happen never to offed anyone from such bars. So I am merely curious. Is it basically exactly the same as for go-go bars?

[Guest anonone]

My off experience is only with Pattaya host / beer bars (whatever you would like to call them) and not Bangkok.

 

For me, the tip is the same as a gogo bar. I come to Thailand for vacations and tend to be on the higher side of tipping. For me, 1000 Baht is minimum for short time. 1200 + is more likely. I never do long time, so nothing to share there.

 

For the off fee, it varies quite a bit. On occassion, there has been no off fee. This tends to happen when I have spent a significant amount of time / money in a bar where I am known. After buying and sharing a bottle and being closing time (or past), an off fee sometimes does not appear in my bin. When an off fee is charged, it is simliar to gogo bars.

 

This is not a regular occurance as most of my offs are from gogo bars.

 

I believe waiters in a gogo bar can usually be offed, but they usually have a higher off fee than the dancers. I have not done this, but have heard this is the case.

 

I have been to Bangkok rarely. I have no idea how telephone / balcony would work in regard to off fees. The one time I visited, I seem to recall being chatted up by the staff but it did not lead anywhere. I agree it did not have the "host readily available" feel that the bars in Pattaya seem to possess.

 

I do spend a fair amount of time in Pattaya host/beer bars and love talking to the guys there. I will tip 100-200 baht plus buy them a couple drinks as we chat. I almost think they make more money that way than by a normal off / tip customer cycle.

[ChristianPFC]

As far as I can judge, Balcony/Telephone/Dick's are not prepared for offing, it's like going to 7-11 and ask a staff if he wants to come and what the off-fee is. It could even be considered an insult. But I never tried, however I met one waiter from Telephone and one from Balcony after work for free. And I still have a little crush on one very cute waiter in Balcony, but he isn't interested.

 

Most of the beer bars on Soi Twilight are host bars, I think only Dick's Cafe and (others where the waiters wear uniform, I don't remember the name) are not for offing, at least not as a standard procedure.

 

I recall two offs from host bars in Pattaya, off fee and tip were comparable to gogo bars.

[Guest fountainhall]

Thanks for the advice. I had got the impression - perhaps from reading a blog - that there were slightly different rates. Yet, since the services being offered and provided are the same, I really can't think why that registered in my mind.

[Guest]

As far as I can judge, Balcony/Telephone/Dick's are not prepared for offing, it's like going to 7-11 and ask a staff if he wants to come and what the off-fee is. It could even be considered an insult.

 

That thought would put me off asking in such places.

At least when your potential off is on a gogo bar stage in his undies, it is clear they are on offer. Of course if you get a long period of time chatting to a waiter, it is possible to check body language.

[Guest fountainhall]

I believe waiters in a gogo bar can usually be offed, but they usually have a higher off fee than the dancers.

 

I also have not attempted this, but I have seen others do so. The off fee is indeed higher. I also understand it is up to the waiter if he wants to go with you or not, whereas there is much more pressure on the go-go boys to do so.

[pong]

The three bars I know best in Bangkok are Balcony, Telephone and Dick's Cafe. Not having ever offed one of their staff I cannot say what might be a suitable amount..

NONE of these have ''off'' boys-as told above, and certainly not their staff. They all have (Dicks the least) MB-s = money boys=freelancers. Mostly very sweet mouthed, even a tad educated and very, very well used into manipulating farang.

Barbeer in fact IMHO does not exist in BKK. That is tipically PTY -style-again some copycat of the girly bisnis. Off-fees may or may not be payable-or are negotiable and are a little lower as in real gogo and the boys-well most do it on the side and are happy with about anyhting they can get. PS: Note the various threads recently that in PTY there seems to be a real shortage of boys willing to ''work'' there.

And 1 more time: WHY is it so hard for you all to think that there are no really set rules, regulations, tariffs, etc on all that. Think by the whim of the moment-as opportunistic as one can get, set a rule and waive it next day-this is TH and it all is part of how TH usually works.

[Guest fountainhall]

Barbeer in fact IMHO does not exist in BKK. That is tipically PTY -style

 

Are the open air bars at the opening of Soi Twilight not Beer bars/Host bars like those in Pattaya?

[pong]

well-TIT-yes/no/maybe/sometimes.

The barbeer (as its more commonly named) is -as I said before- shaped after same ditto for girls. They are open air small shacks that sell beer-and more, of course, what happens to be in the fridge donated by either Cola or Pepsi. Some do not even provide that most essential of Thai fun: the whiskey bottle (licensing and all that). Thats OZzie style BYO-maybe corkage fee.

They tend to be clustered in masses in some patch of land, Thai style named''entertainment'' zone. There may/will be a TV showing football and the girls are very, very apt at playing silly games (like 3 in a row) to win a few more baht. As its the lowest investment possible (often there are a lot just waiting to be rented out-at the mo) they often are a kind of excuse for farang to stay longer in TH. In larger patches/clusters, there may be some central entertainment, like mud-wrestling, lady-muay-Thai, Thai dancing or whatever happens to be cheap and available and likely to attract punters.

As so often with Thai gay venues, they are very close to str8 zones-so that punters may have an easy excuse to hide after. Replace girls by boys-tipically the most dumb just out of the ricefields Isan farmersons. Also a fair lot with the most despisable TH has to offer{ obnoxious katoeys, aka as ladyboy. There may or may not or may be a negotiable off-fee. that should be lower as in gogobars. PTY has the most-but also Phuket and recently, alas, ChMai-along Loy Kroh road has been transformed in a ditto zone. Just let that old boss Thaksin come back to clean that out in his hometown-and then clear out himself afters.

A variation on this theme and a little more appealing to many farang are the Sunee style bars: open air, but in a house, a bit more cafe-style, there may even be a slice of food available (well-TIT-there is always some lady frying up flylice in a few mtrs), more games and aimed at socializing. I kind of liked them a lot-but its years ago since Ive been to PTY and many reprots suggest they have changed format to much more commercial. There may or may not be blaring music- if youve ever been into 1 real Thai venue, you know the lot. Karaoke-that other of monstrosities aimed at shrieking away farang, is also readily available.

Once again I repeat what I said before: there are no licensing men or whomever who dole out permits and attach names of category. Its always blurred what is barbeer/hostbar/offbar or whatever. The tipical hi-so BKK bars like Telefone and Balcony would not be into that category, they squarely aim at farang-style and have a ready supply of MBs to assist lonely souls.

Here in bigcity BKK the Sapan Kwai area has a few left (they close slowly and die out) of hostbars: like a gogobar, but no gogo. Boys can be taken off, sit in streetclothes or their fancy dress and the entertainment is again drink too muth and singasong like karaOK.

One rule should by now also be quite obvious; Thai style venues have lower prices, for drinks, for off, for boytips, as those aimed at ignorant farang just visiting for1week and not knowing Thay prices anyway and coming with too big a wallet that they think needs to be empty when leaving. Many claim they in general offer better service too-but that again is service Thai style-for many a farang not quite to his liking.

Oh-and again: this whole story, written now @ 7.30 in some BKK webshop, is still valid and can be read from the TMOT=The Men of Thailand series, before the www hit the world, explaining how it all works in TH.