Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

I've never suffered the 'You live in North Korea!?' thing, but when I was teaching high school at home and told the kids I was leaving at semester, more than one said, "Mr. Ya-ta, will you drive to Korea?" (I had a white Mustang convertible with a red interior, so the boys were VERY aware of my vehicle...) So I would patiently pull down the wall map and point to S. Korea and call the imbecile up and say, "Johnny, point to Iowa. Can you do that? Now, notice this BIG splotch of blue to the left. What is that? Ummm...P-A-C-I-F....? Ahhh, that's right. Pacific Ocean. Now would you like to re-phrase your question?"

One kid pointed to the Bering Strait and asked, "Isn't there a bridge across there?"

[sock]

Sorry to detract from the spirit of the thread, but I may be able to help you regarding the package that hasn't arrived yet.

If you paid with a Visa card, you should be able to contact your bank and let them know that you haven't received your purchase. Let them know when you expected to receive it, when you contacted the seller, and what his response was (oh-so-helpful as it was). You should request your bank to chargeback the purchase. Basically, they will credit your account and then debit his account and he will be forced to provide proof that he did send the package. If he cannot provide proof within a certain amount of time (it used to be 60 days, not sure if it's still the same), then the chargeback will be considered final and you'll have your money back. If he can provide you with a copy of a receipt showing a legitimate tracking number or can provide a customs number, then well, you should have your package, eventually.

And, by the way, a US post office tracking number should NOT be considered as sufficient proof, because the US postal service is unable to provide tracking outside the US. So if he claims that the US post office tracking number shows that it reached South Korea, then he's lying.

Whatever bank issued your credit card will have a dispute department to assist you with this. They will have an email address, fax number, and phone numbers so you should be able to communicate with them even though you're in Korea (and I'm assuming they are not). Visa offers the best protection in cases like this, MasterCard also offers some protection although they are more lenient on what the seller/merchant must prove. Don't know about other cards. Whatever you do, DON'T dispute through eBay. They are beyond incompetent. Go through your card's issuing bank.

Good luck. I used to work--you guessed it--in the dispute department of a major bank, so feel free to pm me if you have questions.

[Son Deureo!]

[Qinella]

[Ya-ta Boy]

In the winter of '69 I was a silly little sophomore at Berkeley and D*ick and Pat were just moving into the White House with D*ick's Secret Plan to end the War, keeping my belly full on 50 cents a day (one sandwich, a box of fruit juice, and a fried apple or cherry pie--yes, I was skinny in those days) when a fairly enticing person of the female persuasion in my medieval history class decided to be friendly. She dangled a meal in my direction. I jumped for it.

Showed up at the commune the next day around lunch time and boy, was I disappointed. She said I had to listen to a 'presentation' before the food. Up I troop with two other guys to a big empty room on the second floor with a portable blackboard. Some guy I'd never seen before came in and started in on the spiel. I had no idea Jesus C had reincarnated to some Korean dude. It was a strain to keep a straight face. At the end of it he asked what we thought. Keeping the promised food in mind, I diplomatically as I could manage said I had been having a lot of trouble buying into the first incarnation. When is the food?

It's good they are still dreaming big. A bridge over the Strait, hunh? More power to 'em.

[jajdude]

My poor old mom spoke to me on the phone once. She said, "So, I guess your on Easter holidays now." I doubt she got the message that my holidays are not the same days teachers back home get. A friend emailed once, "Any chance of getting some McDonald's over there?" Someone asked "North or South?" before I left. The way he said it you could sort of tell he thought himself clever to know there is a North and a South. Another friend said he wouldn't want to live in a third world country. Actually someone I know who has been in Korea a long time used to, and probably still does, refer to it as a third world country.

Just small things perhaps but they show how little Korea is known and how people just make assumptions when they don't know something.

__________________________________________________________

From some site about dumb crooks:

A woman from North Carolina was arrested after complaining to a police officer in Hawthorne, Florida, that the crack cocaine that she had just bought was not up to par.

Fifty-year-old Eloise D. Reaves went up to the Putnam County sheriff’s deputy at a convenience store there on December 15, telling him that another man had sold her “bad crack” that contained wax and cocaine.

She pulled a suspected crack rock out of her mouth (gross!) and placed it on the deputy’s car to be inspected, according to the Palatka Daily News.

The deputy told Reaves that if the rock was indeed crack cocaine, she would be arrested.

She was charged with possession of cocaine and she is free on $1,504 bail.