Oh my Buddha, they got me again.

Just when I figured I had learnt most of the scams and rip offs the Thai business people pride themselves on, I was fleeced once again. It is almost a game to me now that I know of their trickery and pea shell games and I laugh at myself when I catch them with a new one, especially when they win.

Enter-- the menu trick

I had breakfast at one of the cafes in the Sunee area that opens for breakfast around 0900 AM. I was greeted nicely and I noticed the tables were covered with clean table cloths, the place looked clean and with clean floors and plants, I was looking forward to a good farang breakfast.

The menu looked clean and had a fair amount of Thai food and an assortment of different farang breakfasts on order. I chose my favorite (as usual) the English breakfast with bacon, eggs, sausage, beans and coffee or tea. No juice with this one but that is ok as I donтАЩt care much for the canned crap most places serve.

As I was waiting for my food to be prepared, I enjoyed the show as many people were walking to work or wherever they walk to in the early morning hours.

Breakfast is served. Wow. Nice big cup of coffee, scrambled eggs that were cooked properly 2 big pieces of bacon and a good tasting sausage and toast for only 110 baht.

Everything tasted good. The butter was actually at room temperature so that one could spread it on the toast without having the normally frozen cube of butter that you have to wait 10 minutes for it to thawтАУof course the toast is cold by the time the butter is spreadable. Man sized napkins folded and placed into those little wooden bin cups. This place actually had their shi* together.

In my mind I decided I had found another nice place to eat breakfast in the Pattaya area and put it into my long term memory bank (whatтАЩs left of it anyway)

тАЬCheck bin pleaseтАЭ and the little lady presents the bill. I glance at it and notice an extra 60 baht item written in Thai. Not wanting to lose face I pay the bill with a smile and ask if they have deserts available. (This way I can check the menu again since I thought the price of breakfast was 110 baht, not 180 baht).

I looked at the menu (for the second time) and sure enough, the breakfast I ordered was listed as 110 baht but I was charged 180 baht. I took a deep breath and politely called the waitress over and inquired as to why I was charged 180 baht and not 110 baht, pointing to the menu so she could see the price on the menu.

Ok....this is really a good one. Are you ready?????

First she gets that blank stare look and quickly walks away returning with another menu. She tells me the menu in front of me is the old menu and hands me the new menu.

Huh???? An old menu and a new menu??? WTF????

I check the тАЬnewтАЭ menu and sure enough, the menu is a carbon copy of the old one except that the тАЬnew menuтАЭ has coffee listed as extra on the farang breakfast. EXTRA???

Good one I thought. They present the тАЬoldтАЭ menu when you first order and if you happen to remember the prices and question the bill because of the тАЬextra chargeтАЭ they simply show you another menu.....the тАЬNEW MENUтАЭ which shows the higher price.

What will they think of next?

I wonтАЩt mention the name of the place because the food and the total experience was actually nice (except for the built-in price gouging) But I will not return because I just donтАЩt like being cheated. I wish I could speak Thai and tell them that for Christ sake, if you need to charge more just charge more, but donтАЩt do it in an underhanded way.

mai paan rai (never mind) TiT

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