Confusing the Thais

I had lunch at Bob's BBQ today.

I decided to play a joke on the staff. When I got my bill, I put a 20-baht note in the black leather book thingy that all restaurants use. (My bill was 600 baht.) The waitress didn't see what I had done and took the book back to the cashier. Everyone had been talking back by the register, but it suddenly got very quiet.

After about 2 or 3 minutes, I turned around, and everybody was huddled around the cash register talking. I realized that the joke wasn't really sinking in. Instead, I had created a crisis: (1) Should somebody come back to the table and accuse me of having made a mistake, or (2) should somebody go tell Bob that I had made a mistake. What would they be accused of? They were surrounded by pitfalls no matter what they did.

I turned around and said "Phom tham tha lohk." ("I was playing a joke.") The staff appeared relieved, but not particularly amused, brought back the bill, and I gave them the proper amount of money.

Comedy versus culture. Hit or miss.