Korean Job Discussion Forums

ryouga013 · Joined: 14 Sep 2007

There are two guards at the apartment that I stay in, one's a nice guy, limited English, but hell, I can't complain, he tries hard and I am grateful him. Upstanding fellow. Then there's the other lazy guy that will gripe at you but won't tell you how to do something, just that you are doing something wrong... in Korean, when he knows you don't understand

Two plus months back, in the entrance way of our branch of the apartment complex there was a sofa. Slightly worn, as far as the yellow leather was a little dirty but it was just left there

I asked the first guard I mentioned about it and he said "you?" gesturing to ask if I was interested in it by that I knew that it was up for grabs and being the packrat that I am I was thinking �hell yeah�

BUT, I have been trying to overcome my packrat ways and I thought I would give myself a night to think it over so I don't rush it up to my place and have another thing laying my apartment if I think it's not that comfortable.

Later on that night I go back to the sofa to double check it. The frame is completely sturdy, the leather needed only a light soap and an hour of washing to get clean from my judgment, and most importantly, it was short enough for my stubby butt to get in work as a bed if I have company over.

The next morning I come down and ask the guard on duty, the second guy, about the sofa he tells me "man-un" 10,000Won

Not wanting to pass up getting this sofa that was freaking nice, I paid him and he helped me haul it up to my place this should have been the first warning bell, but it didn't dawn on me until later.

I walk to work and my brain starts to work. Between a little OCD and schizophrenia, I'm bound to be paranoid in a country that I have already been screwed over a few times by people that I don't understand. ��Why didn't the first guard tell me about a price if he knew I was interested?� �Why did the other guy forget about the money after the sofa was hauled up to my place until I reminded him?� �Why was he so willing to help all of a sudden?� Needless to say, it didn�t seem things were adding up and so I asked my coworkers. They told me that if someone puts a sofa in a place like that, they are giving it away unless there's a tag on it with a number to contact/the amount they are looking for. That's the common thing, but not 100%. On top of that, when someone puts it there, it will be thrown away fairly shortly if there are no takers and so they have to pay the guard the disposal money in advance.

After hearing all of this I am sure I need to get things cleared up. I get back and see the first guard. I told him that 10000won was a good price for the sofa. He was confused

That's when I knew there was no price tag on it and the other guy was trying to swindle the foreign guy. The guard comes over to my apartment sees it and calls my boss to tell him what happened. Then, they agree that the best thing to do is to carry the sofa back down by myself and get the money back the next day and so I did. I carried the sofa by myself, the good guard couldn't help because of his back, but he did mind the elevator etc for me.

So I put it back and confront the jerk to get my money back. I don't know what he was saying, but I knew he was cursing. I get the bill back, which I still have on the kitchen table. I am thinking of framing it or something.

The reason I chose not to let him keep the money was because if I let him, I was letting him know I could be walked all over. It wasn't that much, BUT I don't want to let him know that I am a target and it wasn't just for the 10,000W. I'm not talking pride or that other crap. He would have kept the dumping fee for the sofa as well. You really think he was hurrying to get the sofa to my place for convenience? He did it when no one was watching, and did it quickly to make sure no one saw it, especially the people that had already given him the money for dumping it.

Now, he was already going to make a bit of money by not dumping it but he thought he just had to make some more. Now he lost the money from me and from the person wanting to dump it. Not just the money from me.

The story doesn't end there. After that I didn't see him for a while. The other guard said that he was taking his vacation, it was baseball season or something and he was going to go to some games. Like I said, that was over two months ago. Haven't seen him since. He ran.

The other guard, even though he told me not to tell people that he helped me, was very content on telling everybody that came by about "sofa story"

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

He did help you haul the sofa up to your place. I'm sure he was trying to sell you the sofa but one might look at it as his sweat labor.

thegadfly · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

I'd help you carry a sofa to your apartment if you bought me a beer...I drink Guinness...so at the bar, my help would have run you...er...10,000 won.

Seems like a lot of indignation about so small a sum.... Yeah, he was a jerk for trying to get money from you, but he DID help you carry the stupid thing.

ryouga013 · Joined: 14 Sep 2007

I told him i wanted to do it by myself, that I was more than capable. And the 10,000W was before he mentioned helping me move it. But either way, he was trying to milk the money out of that sofa and in the process lost the money from the dumping fee (I have no idea how much that is in Korea), lost the money from me, and lost his job. Whether he ran away after the story was told by the other guard so many times or that the manager found out after the original owners found out what he tried to do to them.

It's the principle.

bellum99 · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: don't need to know

Over ten bucks....yikes. It is shameful enough to be collecting someones garbage sofa...then to complain about 10,000 won. tightwad, tightwad, tightwad........

dogbert · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Location: Killbox 90210

I'd say you've been in Korea too long.

ryouga013 · Joined: 14 Sep 2007

deadman · Joined: 27 May 2006 Location: Suwon

Passions · Joined: 31 May 2006

Mi Yum mi · Joined: 28 Jan 2008

I would have paid someone 10k to help me lug a sofa up to my apt. Perhaps he wasn't walking all over you.

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

Let me be clear:

1) I feel for you. The guard is a crappy guy.

2) But he did help you with the sofa. You'd have been good to hand him something, like a beer, for his help. You say he doesn't speak english but you say you communicated to him you didn't need his help. You sure he got that message correctly?

Metsuke · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea

Pick your battles dude....

ryouga013 · Joined: 14 Sep 2007

atomic42 · Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Location: Gimhae

Scabies much? Shocked

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

I think the OP screwed himself out of a sofa. He said the good guard didn't speak very good English. I'm guessing that when the OP brought the good guard up, the guard misunderstood what was going on, thought the OP had changed his mind about wanting the sofa and, being a chisler, wanted the money back.

(I'm also dubious about it being a sofa and not an easy chair or a love seat. I doubt anyone can carry a sofa alone.)