Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Anything and everything about Thailand
User avatar
Undaunted
Posts: 2567
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2016 8:47 am
Has thanked: 23 times
Been thanked: 368 times

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Undaunted »

jimnbkk wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 7:00 am As part owner of a beer bar in Bangkok, I know that our bar has had a big problem lately attracting Thai boys as employees.
As a part owner do you know why Thais do not want to work in a bar?
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
Jun

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Jun »

Undaunted wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 8:10 amAs a part owner do you know why Thais do not want to work in a bar?
All around the world, I guess when the older kids are asked "What do you want to be when you grow up ?", I doubt many of them say they want to be a prostitute working on the stage of a gogo bar. So Thais are probably the same as people in other countries.

More likely, it's the kind of thing they do when other opportunities are not there, or are too poorly paid. Maybe the other opportunities are now satisfactory ?

I would also like to hear a bar owner's perspective on this.

Incidentally, it used to be much easier to find a lad in Siem Reap. Now the best place to find a lad from Siem Reap is in Jomtien, but if the Thai immigration police get tough perhaps this might change.
Dodger
Posts: 1925
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2010 2:58 am
Has thanked: 133 times
Been thanked: 479 times

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Dodger »

I was just doing some reading and saw that Thailand is currently ranked as the third most rapidly aging population in the world, with over 68% of the population being over age 25. Boys between the age of 15-24 account for only 14% of the population.

Knowing that the real money making years for a working boy are within the range indicated above - once he exceeds age 25 his popularity, and consequently his income, starts dwindling. This could partially account for the reduction in Thai boys we see seeking work.

Another factor almost has to be Technology. If you look at the sheer numbers of boys selling their asses on the numerous gay dating sites they number in the thousands (Thank God), as compared to the dwindling numbers we see gracing the gogo stages or hanging around the host bars at night. They have become entrepreneurs, work independently, choose their own hours, choose their own customers and pocket 100% of the profit without paying a hungry mamasan or bar manager. Who can blame them.

When I first discovered Bang Saray about 6 years ago the fishing boats were crammed with young Thai boys manning the nets. Now, the fishing boat helpers are all Cambodian or Laotian, as, accordingly to a locals, the Thai boys just won't bust their asses at sea for 200 baht a day any more. This is a bit confusing to me as the poverty level in Thailand (currently 10%) really hasn't changed that much in the past decade or so, the education system still sucks, and I just haven't seen anything that would indicate an increase in demand for largely unskilled labor.



.
Jun

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Jun »

Very good points Dodger. For boys, working independently from their beloved phones is probably way more desirable than prancing around a stage in underwear, dealing with obnoxious mamasans and not getting to filter customers.

The fishing issue is clearer (as I see it) The Thai daily minimum wage is over 300 baht per day (330 ?). Unemployment is negligible. So people aren't going to go fishing for a pittance, if easier jobs are available. Who would go out on a fishing boat, if it didn't pay a premium over the alternatives ?

The Thai education system may well suck -most of the evidence seems to back this up.
However the Thai daily minimum wage is similar to the UK hourly minimum (for over 25s) & lower labour costs clearly make Thailand competitive, despite the poor education.

Ultimately, if Thai boys don't want to work in the bars, then either their places need to be filled by immigrants, or there will be more bar closures & probable price increases in those bars that remain, to attract staff & exploit reduced competition.
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Gaybutton »

Another factor, at least I believe this is another factor - many of the Thai boys who used to work in the go-go bars would do so because they were led to believe they had a good chance of finding a farang sugar daddy. However, given the number of years the go-go bars have now been in existence, coupled with the number of boys who found out they were not going to find a truly long term sugar daddy, I would think by now a great many more Thai boys than before are well aware they are highly unlikely to succeed. So, they are better off finding work elsewhere.

On the other hand, the Cambodian and Lao boys are probably there because they can't find work at home and even if they can, the pittance they can make working in the bars is still far better than what they can make at home. Despite that chances for finding a farang sugar daddy are low, at least there is a chance at all. I believe if they thought working in the bars was worse than staying home, then they wouldn't be working in the bars.
Dodger
Posts: 1925
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2010 2:58 am
Has thanked: 133 times
Been thanked: 479 times

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Dodger »

Gaybutton wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 5:42 pm Another factor, at least I believe this is another factor - many of the Thai boys who used to work in the go-go bars would do so because they were led to believe they had a good chance of finding a farang sugar daddy. However, given the number of years the go-go bars have now been in existence, coupled with the number of boys who found out they were not going to find a truly long term sugar daddy, I would think by now a great many more Thai boys than before are well aware they are highly unlikely to succeed. So, they are better off finding work elsewhere.
Excellent point!

A few months ago Jay was talking to a gay friend who sells fruit drinks at the local market in Buriram. I couldn't understand what they were saying but his friend was doing most of the talking and kept glancing over at me and smiling during the discussion. Later that night I asked Jay what his friend was talking so seriously about and he said his friend was telling him how lucky he was to have a good farang because they're all gone now. I was surprised to hear this at first, but after thinking about it, got the point.

Many of us here have been visiting or residing in LOS for so long that a whole generation has changed hands. The young boys of today probably hear the stories of the "Golden Years" from their older brothers and fathers like they were scripted fairy tales. Tales of there once being so many gay farang visitors that the working boys were walking around draped in gold, partying in the karaoke's and disco's at night until sunrise, being ushered away on airplanes on expensive trips to distant islands and foreign lands, having enough money to build (or rebuild) family homes, buy farm tractors, buy land, and get collage degrees. Tales that only the boys of the previous generation can claim to have lived, similar to how we recall the "good old days" with such vivid memory. There is no doubt that they miss the good old days as much or more than we do.

I don't spend near as much time on the scene as I did in the past, but, from what I see, at least in places like Sunee, Boyztown, Jomtien Plaza, Silom Bangkok, etc. is a large majority of expat retirees who are living on fixed budgets - versus - the old days when the majority of punters were big-spending holiday goers with plenty of willing sugar daddies to go around for everyone. In this context, the Sugar Daddies are simply not here anymore. Certainly not enough "demand" to generate the huge "supply" we all enjoyed in the past.
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Gaybutton »

Dodger wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 8:38 am In this context, the Sugar Daddies are simply not here anymore.
I also think many who live in Thailand and wouldn't mind being sugar daddies, or at least very generous with the boys, are no longer in a position to do so if they are among those of us forced to keep 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account for visa renewal purposes.
lukylok

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by lukylok »

Gaybutton wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 9:24 am
Dodger wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 8:38 am In this context, the Sugar Daddies are simply not here anymore.
I also think many who live in Thailand and wouldn't mind being sugar daddies, or at least very generous with the boys, are no longer in a position to do so if they are among those of us forced to keep 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account for visa renewal purposes.
If you are hampered by the 800.000 baht, you're not likely to be a very generous sugar daddy.
fountainhall

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by fountainhall »

Dodger wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 8:38 amMany of us here have been visiting or residing in LOS for so long that a whole generation has changed hands. The young boys of today probably hear the stories of the "Golden Years" from their older brothers and fathers like they were scripted fairy tales.
Among your excellent points, I am sure this is true. And I think for many of the boys in the earlier years of the gay go-go bar business this was pretty much true. At its most basic, drifting to Pattaya, Bangkok, Chiang Mai (and for some to Phuket) to work in a bar or a massage spa was a way at least of making better money than could be had by staying in the countryside and working in a small shop or in the fields. Some did strike a small pot of gold in the shape of farangs who not only took them off several times but would also remit back from their countries a regular payment to cover rent and more. I wonder how many, though.

A few, sometimes boys who already had pretty well-paid jobs, freelanced and hit the jackpot. Back in 1996 I did a job for the Oriental Hotel (before it changed to Mandarin Oriental). This entailed visiting monthly over the course of ten months and staying for 2 or 3 nights. Having my regular breakfast on the Terrace by the river, I caught the eye of a wonderfully cute young waiter. By my second visit I realised he was flirting with me - as I was with him! But I was a guest of the hotel management and felt I had to restrain my natural instincts. Yet, by my fourth visit I was becoming slightly besotted by him! He would come by my table and we'd have a short chat. Or if he was serving customers a few tables away, he would look aover to me and give me a big grin.

One evening arriving to have a drink in Telephone Bar, I spotted him sitting by the bar with a small group of Thai fiends. He gestured me over and a seat was made available. After the first sip of my drink, he turned and looked at me face on. It was such a beautiful face. And then I nearly knocked my drink over when he moved closer and gave me a deep kiss that lasted a good ten seconds. To say I was surprised would be to put it mildly! But he knew he had hooked a fish! He steered the conversation around to his being free the following day and how would I like to spend the night and next day together. I was approaching seventh heaven. Then came the put down. He whispered in my ear Bt. 20,000!! In those days before the Asian Economic Crisis, that was US$800! I said something like you're joking. No, he replied. That's what our guests (meaning hotel guests) usually give me. This fish was not to be hooked, though. Out of curiosity I did make a faint-hearted attempt to see how far this might be reduced. It was not by much! Being then regarded as one of the handful of top hotels in the world, he no doubt thought I was a regular paying rich guest. With another guest, I suspect he probably would get that or thereabouts. He might only hook one every couple of weeks or so. But with his salary, tips and extra-curricular fishing, he was obviously making huge money for the times.

Gong back to the reluctance of country boys to work in the business today, perhaps we tend to forget tourism was very badly affected since my little adventure by the Asian Economic Crisis the following year, followed some years later by SARS and then the 2008 worldwide recession. Add to that the Social Order Campaigns and consequent clampdown of nightlife instituted by the first Thaksin government - particularly popular in the countryside - and all this must have had a gradual effect on the bar business becoming less and less attractive for local boys. And above it all lay the growing spectre of HIV.
Dodger
Posts: 1925
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2010 2:58 am
Has thanked: 133 times
Been thanked: 479 times

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Dodger »

Gaybutton wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 9:24 am
Dodger wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 8:38 am In this context, the Sugar Daddies are simply not here anymore.
I also think many who live in Thailand and wouldn't mind being sugar daddies, or at least very generous with the boys, are no longer in a position to do so if they are among those of us forced to keep 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account for visa renewal purposes.
For those who are inclined to be overly generous with the boy(s) having to maintain 800k in the bank is probably not a bad thing. By "overly generous" I mean to imply - being generous with more money than one can afford to be generous with.

As we all know with crystal clarity, temptations of the flesh are enormously powerful events which can easily turn into uncontrollable obsessions if not harnessed. My harnessing skills were totally nonexistent during my earlier years here and I contributed a small fortune to the "Bouncing Brown Boy Charity Fund" as a result. Even with the influx of working boys (sugar babies) from other parts of Asia, the fact remains, there is still a market for willing sugar daddies.

Personally, I can only see 3 options for retiree's: 1) Enjoy life as a committed Freestyle Butterfly focused on short-time sex with an array working boys without any commitments. 2) Don't invest a penny and chuk wow when you feel the urge, or 3) find a non-working boy out there in cyber space who shares similar interests and some comparability exists as your partner. I chose option 3 which seems to suit me well. Option 2 is unacceptable. Option 1 is my fallback in the event option 3 were to fail.
Post Reply