There is one Tom N Toms that I enjoy going to on a Saturday night. It's between Gangnam Station and Shinnonhyun Station (on the Yeoksam-dong side of the street) in Seoul. I usually go there on Saturday nights after spending time during the day with my fiancé. It's my chance to catch up on some Bible reading, study Korean, or just read a non-fiction or fiction book that I'm reading at the time.
Over the course of the past three months, I was always greeted by a friendly cashier and I made sure that I brought my empty cup back after I was done drinking. He seemed to appreciate my courtesy.
Last Saturday the cashier started talking to me in Korean. He said that he was looking for an English teacher and he knew that he needed some practice learning English. I kindly gave him my email address and phone number and he seemed very thrilled about it.
The following week after I gave him my contact details, he seemed a bit embarrassed. Maybe he felt too nervous to contact me (Koreans are really shy about speaking English), so he didn't know what to say after I had given him my contact information the week prior to that. However, he was still friendly and he knew what I wanted to drink (iced cafe latte). Then I noticed that he punched in "grande" into the cash register when all I wanted was a tall size. I even reminded him by saying "tall size" but he just nodded and smiled. Then later, he told me in Korean that he "upgraded" my drink by giving me a larger drink for the price of a smaller one. I thought that was pretty awesome.
In my 12 years of living in Korea, things like this happen every once in awhile, and it makes me really appreciate the nature of Korean people. If you make an effort to speak the language and be friendly at the same time, most of the time you'll have a good experience dealing with cashiers or store clerks. And you just never know; you might get blessed in the process.
Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy
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