Pattaya Man Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary With Same Bar Stool
By KIP DUNGWORTH, STAFF REPORTER
PATTAYA, THAILAND — In a heartfelt ceremony witnessed by two bartenders and a confused soi dog, local expat Dave “Big Dave” Watterson marked a decade of uninterrupted loyalty to the same bar stool at a Pattaya beer bar Wednesday night.
The stool is located three seats from the toilet and directly beneath an oscillating fan that hasn’t worked since 2018. It has become something of a second home for Watterson, 62, who retired to Thailand shortly after “things got complicated” in Perth.
“She’s a bit wobbly these days,” said Watterson, referring either to the stool or his body. “But we’ve been through a lot together. A coup. Food poisoning. Two divorces. That one Russian who kept trying to sell crypto.”
Bar staff say Dave has occupied the seat nearly every night since March 2015, except for a brief absence during the COVID lockdowns, when he reportedly sat on an upturned bucket in his apartment “just to keep the streak alive.”
“He even carved his name into the wood,” said Noi, a longtime waitress at the bar. “But he spelled it wrong.”
To commemorate the occasion, Watterson was presented with a complimentary Leo, a laminated certificate of appreciation, and a bar tab he insists is “probably a misunderstanding.”
Sources close to the ice bucket say Watterson has no plans to retire the stool, though he admitted “the cushion is starting to smell.”
“This place has given me everything,” he said, raising his glass to no one in particular. “And taken most of it back.”
When asked what he’s learned after ten years in the same seat, Watterson paused, belched, and said, “Don’t order the mussels.”
He plans to celebrate 15 years by getting the stool tattooed on his thigh — assuming either of them are still intact by then.