Sometimes I love living in South Korea and appreciating God bringing me to live here for the past 16 years. It's easy to say that it's my home away from home since I've spent over one third of my life here. However, at other times, things happen in Korea that are just mind boggling and strange.
One of my Korean coworkers just recently got married and she's awesome. I couldn't attend her wedding, but I wanted to get her a gift. I considered cash, but I had already missed her wedding, so my wife suggested me to go to Zara Home. Yesterday, I went to Zara Home in COEX Mall at 10:15am and once I got there, one of the shop clerks said that they didn't open until 10:30am, which was fine. I waited outside the store and went inside at 10:30.
After that, I looked around and found some nice dishes. I decided to get her two small dishes and two large ones. I was pretty quick with my decision and took them right to the cashier. As I get to the counter, the lady said something in Korean quickly and she seemed to be slightly irritated. Because she said it so fast, I had no idea what she said. If she had spoken a little slower, maybe I could have caught what she said. I just shrugged my shoulders as to let her know that I didn't understand her and she got the point. It's amazing that she just assumed that I could understand her fluent Korean without any hesitation and that she didn't attempt to slow down or speak English. Anyway, she scanned my items and I told her in Korean to please wrap them up. She asked me if I needed a duty-free coupon (in Korean) and I said that I didn't. She told me the price and I inserted my credit card into the machine. After that she said "Sign..." somewhat rudely and I was a little surprised so it took me a second to process it. Then she said "Sign!!" two seconds later. Then I was pissed off because of her rudeness so I said okay in Korean loudly ("네!!"). She packed my stuff and handed it to me. I said "Thank you" in Korean and she didn't say anything. It's amazing. I spent over $50 on her merchandise and got treated like garbage. Customer service in Korea can be really good or it can be very poor depending on who caters to you. I miss customer service in California when 90% of the time they are polite, friendly, and even chat with you.
Then after I got on the subway, I found a seat and sat down. To the right of me, a man in his 40s sat to the right of me in the seat reserved for pregnant women. It doesn't bother me if a woman sits there even if she isn't pregnant, but a man should not sit there in my humble opinion. However, that's not what bothered me about the situation. As soon as I get off the subway, the man moves over away from the seat reserved for pregnant women and into the seat where I sat. Why was the seat that was reserved for pregnant women not good enough any more? If he didn't think it was wrong to sit there at the beginning, why did he move? That clearly showed that he felt like he was doing something wrong in the first place, but at the beginning, since it was the only seat available, he was selfish and took it not caring what other people thought. Here's my advice to the man: Man up. You can stand and wait for a regular seat. If you really need to sit, then you can sit in the seats reserved for older people since you're in your 40s. Don't be a stereotypical ajoshi and use your age to feel entitled to do whatever you feel like doing.
Finally, I went home and went to a restaurant that specializes in meatballs. I walk into the restaurant and see two people eating. It's 11am, so the restaurant is quiet since everyone eats lunch at the same time in Korea (12pm). But I notice that none of the staff are in the front of the restaurant. Both servers are in the kitchen talking to the cook. Finally after four minutes, I had to say something because I was hungry and tired of waiting and said "excuse me" in Korean (요기요!). Finally, a woman comes out and takes my order. You don't realize how often this happens in Korea when you walk into a restaurant and no one is at the front. When I worked at Office Depot from 2000 to 2003, one of our main rules was that at least ONE person had to be at the front of the store. It was for security purposes and for basic customer service to greet people and be there if anyone needed help.
It was one of those days. I have a love-hate relationship with Korea sometimes. I'm sure today will be one of those days that I love Korea especially since today is Friday!
Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram (l.a.seoulguy)
