Today I remembered that I was told that Koreans don’t like the Japanese. In fact, they don’t like Chinese or the Russians, and the older generations tend not to even like the Americans. Today was a good day, but a bit frustrating as well. After trying to finish up some last-minute things at one of the major grocery stores and realizing that things just didn’t seem completely right (almost all of the restaurants that were previously there were gone?), I realized that I surveyed the right grocery store in the wrong location, so I need to go back to another one (the right one) either tomorrow night or Saturday, ugh. I spent too much time pacing around the around trying to figure out where everything could have possibly gone. The security (basically whose job it is is to be nice, greet people and bow) must have thought I was nuts, Luckily, most likely the prices will be the same so I won’t need to make any major changes (just check on a few prices and check on the additions I made to see if they are there as well), but it’s still a pain regardless. I was hoping to use Saturday as a day-off but instead I think I’m going to need to spend some time filling up some holes and later, sipping tea at the restaurant and writing up my reports. On the way back from lugging my groceries (which included 3 bottles of wine for realtor gifts), I had a very talkative taxi driver who couldn’t speak English. He went on and on in Korean with an English word thrown in here and there and I think he wanted to believe that I could understand him, so I tried to nod my head, smile and laugh as much as I could to make him feel good. That’s an awkward situation which all you travelers out there know exactly what I mean, you’ve been through it.
I had lunch with a British guy who was married to a Korean woman and was responsible for housing at the Hyundai Foreigner’s Compound (which is a very popular place to live for foreigners who live in Ulsan). He brought along a guy who works for him who was from Boston, go figure. From there, I took a cab downtown to go to another department store to survey the grocery store. The manager the day before (as I mentioned above) told me it was fine to do the survey, whether or not he understood what that meant didn’t matter to me, so I tried to use his card in the grocery store when I was asked over and over what I was doing. One manager pointed out to me; “but this guy is only the director of the women’s department; I’m sorry but..” but I persisted over and over that he had spoken to the Lotte Department store in Seoul and everything was worked out and I was told it was fine. I was visibly getting frustrated. I think if you had to put a description to Korean attitude, it would be – “as long as you’re happy everything is ok”. They left me alone; all of them, once I started being persistent and becoming upset. It was great; anywhere else in the world you would be kicked out. Really, all I had for proof that my entry was approved was a flimsy business card from a man who oversees women’s clothing. How serious can you really take that.
Everywhere else I went to – book open throughout the rest of the departments – people hang around you and become very curious until you ask them to help you find something. There seriously must be one worker per every 3 feet squared in these crazy Korean markets – you are always surrounded by someone who is meant to be there to help you. They all took their job very seriously, too – and luckily didn’t ask too many questions except for… study? Yes. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.
No comments:
Post a Comment