Girls, girls, too many girls.

I could easily have titled this post guys, guys, too many guys as we currently seem to suffer from both problems.

Sometimes it is really difficult to get a Thai girl to do what you want. In the case of the Beer Garden I want the girls to come in early, particularly in the afternoon. The reality is that the girls have decided they will come in at night particularly after 9 pm. In fact they have been coming in in such numbers after 9 pm that we often have a 5 or even 10 to 1 ratio of girls to guys at that time. Meanwhile in the afternoon there are lots of guys chillin’ but not so many lookin’.

One thing I have learned over the years in Pattaya is that people will do what they want to do and there is not much I can do about it. So guys, all I can say is if you are lookin’ then the best lookin’ time is after 9 pm. I have been telling the girls that the best lookin’ times for them are earlier and it is starting to have some impact with some of the late girls appearing by 7 pm or even 6 pm.

I must say the late night girls are a pretty classy bunch. None of your beach scrubbers here. They are usually well dressed, speak good English and in the main are attractive as well. Knowing I’d be writing this blog today, I got the Pope (our trainee manager) to snap a few pics of some of the girls last night. These two in particular were quite intriguing.

You may remember a few moths ago I posted a pic of a girl reading the newspaper. Well here is another first, with one of the girls reading a book while awaiting to be swept off her feet. It’s a real book to, not some comic.

Here she is again. Can you make out the title of the book. It sure gave me a laugh. If you can’t quite make it out keep reading and I’ll enlighten you.

A few more of last nights visitors.

Did you figure out the title of the book. Here’s a close up to help . . .

You just have to love it.

The feedback we get at the Pattaya Beer Garden has been really terrific and comments received by email and around the Pattaya Forums has been very encouraging. However among the many positive reviews we do get the occasional brickbat. An Australian gentleman posted on one of the forums that he was served a warm beer in the Beer Garden. Now if you know anything about Australians you will know that they have zero tolerance for warm beer and indeed this guy posted that he left promptly and will never return.

It is particularly galling to get a comment like this when we go to a lot of trouble to make sure that the beer is cold. If you have been following this blog you will know of my bad experience with fridges in Thailand, even the industrial strength ones we have in the Beer Garden. They just do not consistently keep the beer cold enough. That’s why we installed the six large chilly bins which is where the beer is kept, covered in ice, prior to being served to our customers. Actually it was an Australian who recommended the system as it keeps beer at exactly the right temperature (bloody cold mate) without freezing it.

We sell a lot of beer and to ensure they are served just right we go through a process. At close of business each day the chilli bins are filled with beer and ice. The beer is taken from our fridges and the fridges are restocked from the store room. Then when we open in the morning the ice is topped up in the chilli bins. The bins have a capacity of over 600 bottles but we sell more than that in one day so they need to be topped up again at 6 pm. They are only topped up with bottles from the fridges which have been chilling from the night before. We do not turn the fridges off when we are closed like most bars.

From the store room

to the fridges

to the chilli bins

and finally out to the customer.

So what went wrong with the Australian gentleman’s beer. As he did not complain at the time it really is impossible to say. If he had complained he would have received another and it would have been “bloody cold” mate. I know that complaints are often not dealt with well in Pattaya bars and people with experience will generally vote with their feet rather than going through all the crap a defensive Thai manager can throw at you. We try hard but I guess we will never get it perfect 100% of the time, so I’ve decided to provide a written guarantee that will be posted prominently in the bar.

You have my assurance that every effort is made to serve your drink perfectly. If we come up short, please do not hesitate to complain. You won’t cop a lot of grief and we will fix the problem!

The new double sided, chillin’ or lookin’ beer mats have proved to be quite a hit. At first the girls were a bit taken back by them and when asked, often wanted the red side. It’s been fun watching them discuss the idea amongst themselves and then surreptitiously flip them to the green side once they get comfortable with the idea. People have found many uses for them, including turning them into ear rings, attaching them to the forehead or just flashing the green side at likely looking candidates. Maybe we should offer a prize for most creative use.

Finally I’d like to introduce you to my current hero.

This is Des from New Zealand. Des is 83 years old and travels alone to Thailand twice a year. He’s been quite a hit with the girls, no doubt helped by a generous inclination to buy lots of drinks for attractive ladies. He is often flanked by four or five beauties and appears to be having a ball. His wife is 81 and prefers to stay at home and enjoy the quiet life in New Zealand. I did ask him what she did while he was a way and with a twinkle in his eye he said “don’t know, don’t care”. If I have half the energy Des does when I’m in my eighties I’ll be a very happy man indeed.

See ya in the beer garden.