Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jhicks99]

I teach kinder at a hakwon in Seoul. We follow a loose schedule in that we basically have to manage how we teach our material over an entire day. There is only a schedule for special classes like gym. There are no Korean teachers at our school so it's all on us. Anyway, I usually save quite a bit of work for after lunch, I find time goes by much quicker when we're doing the whole learning thing. So I walk into class after lunch to see the manager doing one of those standardized tests with my kids (I was not informed of this). She tells me it will be 10 minutes, no biggie, I can squeeze in the work after that no problem. 20 minutes later (I am sitting there doing nothing all this time) I ask how much longer, she tells me just 5 minutes... After 15 more minutes the first student finishes, 15 minutes later the rest of the class was all done. My Friday's are insanely busy so I really want to get through our reading and writing today... but now I have all of 15 minutes left to teach, 5 of which is just cleaning up.

My point, she knew it was going to take longer than 10 minutes, MUCH longer, yet still told me 10 minutes. I notice this happening a lot when meeting Korean friends. I've probably spent hundreds of hours of the past year and a half standing at various subway exits (Sinchon exit 4, Hongdae exit 5, Gangnam exit 6/7 are all particularly painful memories for me, I'm sure you've seen me standing there at some point) waiting for people who are late. Almost every time, no matter who the person, "I'll be 5 minutes" is always an extra 15 minutes AT LEAST.

Am I the only one who notices how incredibly non-punctual a lot of locals are here and how they always completely underestimate how long they're really going to be? Is there something about Korean culture I don't know that causes people to have no concept of being on time or what 5 minutes really is?

The transportation system is remarkably reliable, it just baffles my mind as I always manage to always be on time and if I am late, I am fairly certain of how long it will take me to get there and always send a text or call as soon as I'm aware I might not be on time as a heads up.

Maybe I'm just venting, but this isn't an isolated incident for me, it happens nearly every freaking time...

[Caffeinated]

I get the Armed Forces Network on my TV and they have commercials talking about local customs. For Korea the commercial says that being 30 minutes late for a dinner invitation is acceptable.

[balzor]

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

Yep. One day I wasn't told about exams and of course the tapes weren't cued up. While addressing the unexpected task, my co-teacher then called me an idiot in front of the class.

Information is power indeed!

[bluelake]

It's much better than it used to be. Back when I first lived here in '84, "Korean Time" meant 1-2 hours difference. Nowadays, if I have an appointment, the other person will generally be within ten minutes of the time. I think a lot of it has to do with the automobile.

In '84, most people didn't drive. Most cars were owned by rich people (who had drivers) and taxi companies. There was a very small middle class, so there tended to be few private drivers. Most people used mass transportation--buses, taxies, trains. Plus, they also walked or used a bicycle. In other words, the time factor often really wasn't up to them. Because of that, people tended to sit back and relax more than they do nowadays. Today, cars are very commonplace, so people have the potential to get where they need to go as fast as their car will get them there--now, there is the bballi bballi mentality and people try to get where they're going as quickly as possible. It's just my observation over the past 2-1/2 decades...

[jhicks99]

[Gamecock]

In my experience, if you are meeting with a Korean and they are late, they will often call you and say they will arrive in "5 minutes." When you hear this, expect a minimum wait of 20-30 minutes. They tell you 5 because they think it will make you feel better!



Definitely a different mentality.

[nero]

Actually, I find that North Americans are really finicky about time. If you say '4pm' to me that means 4pm - 4.15pm without being rude. Some of my friends turn up early and get pissed when I am on time!

Just differences, but yeah, in the classroom circumstance that would really annoy me.

[redaxe]

[redaxe]

[Young FRANKenstein]

[tanklor1]

[redaxe]

[Underwaterbob]

I honestly haven't noticed that it's any different from anywhere else I've ever lived.

The perpetual string of last minute bad news on the other hand... Actually, now that I think about it, I don't mind it: it gives me a great excuse to be a bit half-assed now and again, which I likely would have been anyway.

[stephorama]

Are you sure you're not talking about Israelis? I've never met an Israeli who is on time.