I will add my generally similar recent experience to your hypothetical. I did a border run to Cambodia in mid-Nov and returned with a stamp until mid-Jan. However, due to a family emergency, I had to leave to return to the United States. I was gone for two weeks. Upon my return, I was stopped at BKK. Initially, the agent asked me if I had a return flight. I said now and mentioned that I had never been asked for one. I was sent to a supervisor, who looked at my passport and noted "Oh, you did a visa run." After much discussion and getting my manager on the phone to explain the situation with my work visa (which is in progress), the supervisor stamped my passport for 60 days. Moral of the story: from what I have been reading on the official Thai gov. website, the government wants foreigners to be on the right kind of visa. And although people are still doing border runs, this is theoretically not the right thing to do. Instead, as I have gathered and been told, one should leave the country and apply for a tourist visa (60 or 90 days) and then return. As someone else mentioned in this chain, I also think that it is all about the diligence (or lack thereof) of the immigration agent reviewing your passport.

One last question: I am planning to do my visa run (although I am flying into Vieantiiene on Monday and returning to BKK on Tuesday. It is about one week before my first tourist visa (60 days + 30 day extension) expires. Does anyone think that this will be problematic on my return from Laos to DMK?

@Steve ******

this will be my first time doing a border crossing

Just to verify: you meant "flying DOES NOT tend to create any issues"?

Stephen: Thank you. If I fly from BKK to Vientiane, will that create any problems for the stamp?

David: Thanks. The school is going to take 1-2 months to process the paperwork (or so they told me). Thus, they want me to get an extension, and then, when all the paperwork nightmare is done and all the paperwork is done, I will go and apply for the non-B visa as a teacher. I only started to work there two weeks ago.