The deadline is tomorrow for those of you that still would like to enter an essay for prestige and/or 700 Taiwanese beans. This is one of several stories we have posted that have been contributed to Wasai Taiwan. If you are interested in submitting an essay, the deadline for submition is December 10th, 2007. Essays should be between 300 - 600 words, and you will be paid NT 700 dollars for your story. Photos are great but not necessary. For more information please check the Wasai Taiwan contributions page or email wasaitaiwan[at] gmail.com

Foreigners Night

By: Dustin Floreance

Many foreigners have been to a ladies night at the local bar or pub. The idea makes sense from a marketing standpoint. If the ladies can get free or reduced price beverages they are going to come in droves to the bar. Every guy knows that if the ladies show up in numbers the guys are sure to follow. In Taiwan, it is also not difficult to find bars hosting ladies nights. However, here the marketing scheme has taken an unexpected twist. Every weekend, somewhere in Taiwan, there is a foreigner’s night at a local bar. Is the implication that having foreigners turn up will prompt Taiwanese to come as well? I have no idea what the logic of this tactic consist in, but I have been the happy beneficiary of no cover charge or free drinks numerous times.

A British friend who lives in Kaohsiung was discussing the strangeness of foreigner’s night with me at just such a night and many pints into it. “If a pub in England advertised that foreigners could get in without paying cover, while English citizens were being charged five pounds, that pub would be fire bombed before the end of the night”, he claimed. Having never lived in England, I can’t substantiate the ferocity of his claimed response, but I’m sure the spirit of the response is valid. I imagine that in the United States a foreigner’s night would result in a discrimination law suit. How do local Taiwanese feel about this reverse discrimination?

I took a trip to Penghu with some Taiwanese friends. We had a fun day snorkeling and scouting around the main island. Come nightfall, we decided to search for a local watering hole soon finding a funky place serving Belgian beers with hookahs packed with vanilla tobacco on every table. When my friends asked for a table they were told that there were none available. I was standing in the back of the group. We were disappointed as we turned to leave. At that point the waitress spotted me in the group. Her whole attitude changed. Suddenly there were two tables for us. After we sat down and started in on our beers, my friends jokingly thanked me for getting them a table. They clearly thought the situation was unfair but were resigned to it. Being put in this situation was slightly embarrassing but I would be lying if I said I was unhappy about getting the table.

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I’d like to comment that I think I figured out why foreigners get a foreigner night. A) It is the cool factor about people being intrigued with seeing foreigners and b) We actually go into a place and drink and eat a ton. We don’t need to be forced to buy anything with a cover charge.