bigKus' journal about not getting repaid a loan reminded me of a story that happened a few years before I moved here to Thailand.  I was living in Gibraltar and I somehow got sucked into watching a cricket match and had the misfortune of getting stuck talking to a co-worker I wasn't especially fond of.  He was a very bad drunk who always insisted on being right about everything even when he didn't even have a clue about what he was talking about.  He's the type who could be talking astrophysics with Stephen Hawking and would argue with him even though he can't spell physics.  

Anyway, I'm getting ready to leave and we're paying up our bills and he can't find his wallet.  He's a bit of a cheapskate too so my first thought was he purposely left his wallet somewhere because he was planning on getting someone to pick up his tab.  But when he pulled out his mobile and started canceling credit cards I gave him the benefit of the doubt. 

It was a Friday and he asked if I could spot him 200 - 300 GBP to make it until his replacement bank card arrived.  Even though I didn't like the guy I wasn't a total jerk so I gave him 300 to get him over the hump.  And then I left.  

A few hours later I get a phone call from him and he's completely wasted.  He starts ranting that he knows I took his wallet.  Then he starts saying that I had taken his wallet out of his back pocket and put it into his front pocket which is why he couldn't find his wallet.  And now that I had made him cancel all of his credit cards he wasn't going to pay me back.  

I'm like WTF?!?! I'm not some magician.  How can I pickpocket the guy and put the wallet from his back pocket to his front pocket?  

I tell him to call me back when he sobers up but one thing is for sure, he's f*cking paying me back or he'll be sorry he didn't!

I give it about a week or so and I ask him to pay me back.  He repeats what he had drunkenly accused me of and says he won't pay me back.  

A few days later I'm out with a group of co-workers and he invites himself to sit down and have a few beers with us.  In the middle of the conversation I tell everyone how the guy had ripped me off which made him very angry.  I said, "Hey, if it's not what happened why are you getting upset?  Tell your side of the story.  You ripped me off.  I think everyone should know what a thieving prick you are."  

He jumped out of his chair and pushed my chair over (with me still in it) and was on top of me.  I just started laughing.  He was red with anger and I could see the veins bulging in his neck.  That made it even funnier.  

Within seconds the bouncers came over and pulled him off of me and kicked him out.  

As he was getting "escorted" out the front door he yells at me "I can't believe you got me kicked out of here.  You're an a**hole!"   

I never did get my money but word about him spread within the company and even though he wasn't highly regarded within the company to begin with his reputation sunk even lower.  All in all he lost way more than 300 GBP.   

nice one !!

Holy McJebus.

Good one, Bill.

I almost never lend money. I lent 10k to an exgf once and she paid me back - a little slowly, but every baht.

Right now one of my best friends is in a hole and his tab is just over 50k. I'm confident I will get it back, he's a great guy.

and everybody knows my story......

Nice story and thanks for sharing your experience Enjoy to read it though

Have a nice day

I'm too drunk to read it past the first line, but I've got a don't borrow don't loan policy....

My Thai gf has a few quid of her own... It's sickening to see her so called friends almost expecting her to dish out money like it's a god given right. I don't think i will ever understand why money has such a detrimental impact within this part of the world.

so how did you get the wallet back into the front pocket?

Good story.

I used to keep parts of my tech dive gear at a friends place down at Phuket island. She had no problems keeping it at her home and over a period of three years I picked it up at least twice a year to go diving Similans and round Phuket dive spots.

Every time I invited her and two or three friends to the natural restaurant at Phuket town and we usually had a great dinner, wine, drinks and a good time. Of course I took over the bill for the three or four of us. Every time. I thought this was a fair deal.

Four years ago she visited friends in Austria and she sent me an e-mail if she could stay a couple of days at my house and I said of course. So she stayed for a week at my house and I fully trusted her.I had to go to my office every day, so she was alone in my flat. No easy shagging involved, folks. I was just being on friendly terms with somebody I khave known for more than ten years from her job at a travel agency at Phuket island.

All my friends used to book hotels and whatsoever flights from BKK to HKT at her agency for many years. Last year in February I went to the agency to see her, say hi, book my hotel, make a dinner date to say thank you for keeping the gear with you. Then she said she was afraid as she hadnt got my dive bag anymore. She assumed it would be at the former travel agency she was working for some km further down the road.

So I was a bit confused, because if she had kept things at my place I would have kept these items untouched and at a safe place until she came back or until kingdome come. Heck - I went there to hear that my gear wasnt there. In fact it was gone and out of their sight since quite a time and they all said, that JJ (thats an abbrev. of her name) had taken it with her.

So I called her but she denied having my gear and insisted that it was there when she left and somebody els musthave taken it, but not her..when she heard that the gear was worth about 3.500 € she was quiet for a few seconds and I could imagine her face telling f**k... I bet she sold it some crook for 5K Baht..(it was half of my tech diving equipment, my tailor made suit, fins, mask with optical glasses, four scubapro D400 regs, tools grrr.. and lots more). Turning to the police would have been ridiculous, getting angry or making a face would have meant losing my face. So I went and the only thing that I have heard was, that she was cheating on the german travel agency owner - more than 100K Baht.

So whenever I see a worm out on a hot thai country road I let it live - it might be just a person as she is. And she deserves to be left on the macadam..

So she sold what I considered a friendship for some thousands of Baht.

I never have had a problem reporting things to the Thai police, but being sure I included a few thousand baht with the report has always gotten favorable results. It got one of my cameras back, and put the girl that stole it in jail for a few days, until I dropped the charges.