Owner of Good Times Bar in Phnom Penh Offers $50 to Anyone Who Collects Chris Freeman's Outstanding Bar Tab

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:28 am

From social media:

'Chris Freeman owes $392 tab to my bar, for months, and he blocked me. Last conversation was June 24th at Sundance, he promised to pay in 2 weeks, we open the door for him day and night, until now, I don’t see him come to pay. I met him once at big easy, he gave me $20 after I slapped on his face. So, now the total tab is $372, collect the money, get your $50!'

simon43 · Post by **simon43** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:56 am

It is totally beyond my understanding why anyone running a bar or restaurant allows any customer to run up a tab. Weird way of running a business!

jah steu · Post by **jah steu** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:36 am

simon43 wrote:It is totally beyond my understanding why anyone running a bar or restaurant allows any customer to run up a tab. Weird way of running a business!

Unless you force every single customer to pay for each single drink before he drinks it, there will be some temporary credit involved.
Sometimes this can build up very quickly. In our bars some customers rack up a bills of $200-300 in a few hours of drinking with the girls. One Japanese guy spent $1,800 recently in a long evening of drinking Chivas 18-years and buying hundreds of ladydrinks.
It’s not feasible to demand cash from them for every single drink they order.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Post by **Clutch Cargo** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:42 am

jah steu wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:36 am One Japanese guy spent $1,800 recently in a long evening of drinking Chivas 18-years and buying hundreds of ladydrinks.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I gather at some stage you asked him to see the colour of his money..

xandreu · Post by **xandreu** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:43 am

jah steu wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:36 am It’s not feasible to demand cash from them for every single drink they order.

It is feasible. Just go to any bar in the UK. Unless it serves (and you buy) food with your drink, the idea that you'd drink your drink first and pay for it after is unheard of.

I think what you mean is it's not commonplace in Cambodia and risks alienating customers if it were to be implemented.

YouTube · Post by **General Mackevili** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:54 am

simon43 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:56 am It is totally beyond my understanding why anyone running a bar or restaurant allows any customer to run up a tab. Weird way of running a business!

I'm guessing it's because 99 times out of a hundred they come back and settle up. This story seems a bit dumber than usual though, as it goes like this:

Owner day 1: You owe $500! PAY UP!

Owner day 2: Now you owe another $5 from last night, so you owe us $505!

Owner day 3: Another $10 tab again last night! You better get us the $515 ASAP!

Owner day 4: Are you gonna pay or not? Oh, and add another $7.50 from last night too! $522.50 and growing.

Owner day 5: I'm starting to think you're not going to pay your tab! And another $10 tab for lunch yesterday! $533.50, punk! Oh, and thanks for paying $3 on your way out, it's down to $530 now.

hanno · Post by **hanno** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:56 am

jah steu wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:36 am
simon43 wrote:It is totally beyond my understanding why anyone running a bar or restaurant allows any customer to run up a tab. Weird way of running a business!
Unless you force every single customer to pay for each single drink before he drinks it, there will be some temporary credit involved.
Sometimes this can build up very quickly. In our bars some customers rack up a bills of $200-300 in a few hours of drinking with the girls. One Japanese guy spent $1,800 recently in a long evening of drinking Chivas 18-years and buying hundreds of ladydrinks.
It’s not feasible to demand cash from them for every single drink they order.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If I read this correctly, Freeman ran up the tab over a period of time.

I also do not charge customers after every drink, but I would not allow anyone to run a tab for weeks.

jah steu · Post by **jah steu** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:58 am

xandreu wrote:
jah steu wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:36 am It’s not feasible to demand cash from them for every single drink they order.
It is feasible. Just go to any bar in the UK. Unless it serves (and you buy) food with your drink, the idea that you'd drink your drink first and pay for it after is unheard of.

I think what you mean is it's not commonplace in Cambodia and risks alienating customers if it were to be implemented.

Yes, you’re right. Very rare to run a tab for a night in a UK bar. Much more common here.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Austman · Post by **Austman** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 12:06 pm

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:28 am From social media:

'Chris Freeman owes $392 tab to my bar, for months, and he blocked me. Last conversation was June 24th at Sundance, he promised to pay in 2 weeks, we open the door for him day and night, until now, I don’t see him come to pay. I met him once at big easy, he gave me $20 after I slapped on his face. So, now the total tab is $372, collect the money, get your $50!'

I am guessing that most people on this forum would be expatriate. $50 WOW. Good Luck.

jah steu · Post by **jah steu** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 12:06 pm

clutchcargo wrote:
jah steu wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:36 am One Japanese guy spent $1,800 recently in a long evening of drinking Chivas 18-years and buying hundreds of ladydrinks.
I gather at some stage you asked him to see the colour of his money..

He’d been in the previous two nights, spent $750 and $850, and paid by Visa card with no issues, so we were fairly confident he would pay again.
These big spenders are very rare unfortunately, especially at the moment with no inbound tourists.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk