20 baht Ping Pong balls in the LB Gogos?

[fionasexyangel]

I voted for number five..

I guess it's fun for the gurls and also the audiences. Beside the gurls try to collect every penny they could, cos they needed it. Been talking to some thai sisters, some of them found it difficult to earn money waiting for clients. Some gurls make more money by their looks but others could be difficult. I can understand they like the pingpong balls. They always very exciting with that and even some gurls leave their guys just to compete with other gurls. They looks happy and laughing when they go to collect the money.

It's good so we won't be boring on the place. Again for me, like what I mention on other thread, pingpong balls is acceptable then jerk off competition, that's degrading for me, but I'm not against it, cos I know the gurls need the money.
It was only one time I saw that on samplerdoc party in Pattaya but I just couldn't see it so I must step outside and have my cigarrette, till it finished.. You remember that sayang?
No offense but seems like circus...

[stonefre]

I don't see any harm in it and it does not bother me at all. I did it once but think it is a waste of money, especially after being hassled to buy lady drinks. Just another way to seperate the silly farang from his baht. The Japanese seem to like it though.

[bkkafterdark]

Degrading maybe,,,,, but no less degrading than walking up and down on stage waiting for a some drooling monger to bar fine her me thinksss.....

just to put it into perspective - I am guessing that working girls are paying 3,000 or 4,000 baht a month on rent ? maybe little more or less but that would make 6 - 8 ping pong balls at 20 baht each a night to cover accomodation Hmmmm not bad, takes a lot more effort in my job to cover my mortgage.

Humble opinion only

[Lefty]

I don't know why, but I don't recall seeing this take place, and I have been in most of the lb bars in Bkk, Pattaya and Patong, but since it seems to me that Fiona would have the best insite on this topic, being a sister to the Thai lbs, I voted for 5 too.

[harley quinn]

I'm firmly in the uncomfortable camp on this and I disagree that this is no different to buying the girls a drink. That's just being sociable.

I'm quite prepared to accept that this is as much part of my western upbringing as any deep moral conviction - it just doesn't seem right.

Stogie's point about working as a waiter rang true, I did a fair amount of bar work over the years and the only thing that really got up my nose were customers who treated me like a menial lackey. It made me realise why people become Communists!

[pacman]

Harley, because you feel uncomfortable as it doesn't feel right, because some arrogant customer upset you, does that mean you would deny the girls the right to grab themselves a little cash in this long tradition of tossing a bucket of pingpong balls on stage.

I suppose I should hate the sight of them scrambling around in this most undignified way but Stogie expressed it best when he wrote:

It's a theatrical realization of why they show up to work each day and I'm shamed to confront the reasons why I am also there... it's also a blatant signal of the disparity of wealth we enjoy over a lot of these P4Ps.

.....and I don't hate them for doing what they can to make a crust, we are tolerated while we pay for the privilege of being there.

We arrive in LOS with money, the girls will do whatever necessary to extract it from us.

On the scale of degrading acts, this isn't comparable to the jerk-off competition mentioned by fionasexyangel. How hard up must they be to even consider it?

[bigmick22]

(pacman @ Nov. 27 2008,09:12) Harley, because you feel uncomfortable as it doesn't feel right, because some arrogant customer upset you, does that mean you would deny the girls the right to grab themselves a little cash in this long tradition of tossing a bucket of pingpong balls on stage.


.....and I don't hate them for doing what they can to make a crust, we are tolerated while we pay for the privilege of being there.

hang on a sec,  not sure that anyone here suggested stopping it or that we might hate them for it

I agree with a lot of what you say, but still my gut reaction is that I feel distinctly uncomfortable with it. When in a bar and somebody takes a bucket of pong pong balls I don't take time out to analyse it, list up the pros and cons and investigate what % of the thai economy depends on the money spent on ping pong balls. All I have is my initial gut reaction - and I just don't like

Not so scientific, I know. But it's honest and not much else to say really

Go Longhorns!!  


(strange Mr P - usually it's you who goes with the heart-felt passionate plea and I take the logical, analytical engineer's point of view and yet here our roles have reversed . hmmm )

[pacman]

Thank you for bringing me to my senses...

Of course no-one here wishes to deny the girls the right for a few baht, however they get it.

When it came to putting the case for the affirmative I did get caught up in the heat of the debate.

Owe ya one big fella...

[bigmick22]

[Stogie]

I agree with a lot of what you say, but still my gut reaction is that I feel distinctly uncomfortable with it...

I'm of the same mind... there have been some powerful arguments that it's just a bit of fun that the girls enjoy and see as part of their job...

...but I'm not convinced.

Every time I see this horrible and frankly bizarre procedure I always think - that poor girl could be a zillionaire in my home town and here she is - doing this.

Sorry folks, but the more I think about it, the more I resent this silly game and the people who actually enjoy it and think it's OK.

Time to declare war on Japan - again!

[seanbeag7]

I saw a program on itv a few months ago, where they show a reporter going around pattaya and he went into a go-go bar and they showed those ping-pong balls been thrown around and all the girls smiling and laughing picking them up.

From what i could see, sitting in the comforts of my sitting room with a can of bulmers beside me, i found nothing wrong in what was going on.

BTW, what in heaven's name is a jerk-off compition

[geosight]

(pacman @ Nov. 27 2008,09:07)

(Stogie @ Nov. 27 2008,06:06) Maybe a part of the discomfort stems from the fact that in society we cloak our humiliation and degradation in layers of tradition and subtlety.

I waited tables for many years in the USA and enjoyed it. I knew my place in the pecking order of things but I'd feel humbled and annoyed when someone snapped their fingers at me.

The sight of ladyboys scrabbling for money (and such a pathetically small amount of it) forces us to confront the reasons why they are there and why we also are there...

It's a theatrical realization of why they show up to work each day and I'm shamed to confront the reasons why I am also there... it's also a blatant signal of the disparity of wealth we enjoy over a lot of these P4Ps.

Then again - I could be talking bollocks and it's just a harmless bit of fun!

Who knows...  

Not bollocks at all, it highlights very well the difference in how we view such a small amount of money.

The pingpong balls have always been an effective way to separate visitors from their money. I saw them everywhere over the years & it is no more dignified now as it was then,

...but woe betide any crusader from trying to stop the practice.

20 baht is a tip for us & it seems a pathetically small amount of money to sacrifice ones dignity for but do the math - an average night might have them out 5 to 10 times, at 3 to 4 balls a girl, that can result in an extra 300 to 800 baht extra just for scrambling around grabbing a few balls.

Watch how keenly they compete for them.

One night this last September, I watched some Asian guys (Chinese I think) in Happy a GoGo going silly buying buckets of balls, even throwing 3 or 4 buckets full at one time.

The whole place erupted, even the waitresses abandoned their trays in the mad scramble for balls. I saw girls giving them to punters to hold while they went back for more.

Now should the buyers of all those buckets of balls be condemned for inflicting such suffering on the girls? I only saw happy, smiling faces amongst everyone there, the Asian punters were the most popular guys in the bar, what crime did they commit?

It is us who has the kuxury of feeling our sensitivities are more important than the girls right to making a living.

All the sanctimony in the world can't compensate them for their loss of income. It would be a staggering figure how much has been spent in this harmless pursuit over the years.

We may see it as a loss of their dignity, they will remember it as buying them a lot of meals.

apart from all the bull shit you come up with , this easily your best work yet

[geosight]

All the comments that they can be making x amount of money overseas is just wishful thinking . the fact is they arent .
and I dont get the loss of dignity thing either , they can always clean the streets . I mean thats got to be really dignifying ,right !!!!!

[Stogie]

All the comments that they can be making x amount of money overseas is just wishful thinking . the fact is they arent...

Er, that doesn't ease my guilt! Actually I feel worse!

[fionasexyangel]

(seanbeag7 @ Nov. 27 2008,18:13) I saw a program on itv a few months ago, where they show a reporter going around pattaya and he went into a go-go bar and they showed those ping-pong balls been thrown around and all the girls smiling and laughing picking them up.

From what i could see, sitting in the comforts of my sitting room with a can of bulmers beside me, i found nothing wrong in what was going on.

BTW, what in heaven's name is a jerk-off compition  

I believe some of the board member can explain it to you, I couldn't cos I felt uncomfort to such things and stepping outside stringfellows when it happen. Even SamplerDoc tell me that's just fun but its just too much for me. How do you guys feel when they put you in the room to do jerk off competition with room full of stranger staring at you. Talk about degrading... But I'm not against it, I better step outside and have my cigarrete alone.. Just my thought..