Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

Everyone has concerns about this, whether they live in a foreign country or not, but I think we all pay special attention to it because we do live away from home. I thought it might be interesting to discuss one of the things you do to try to keep yourself in balance here.

One of my most important things that helps keep me from going postal on a bad day is cooking. I try to something special once a week. Right now I'm waiting for my roast beef and veggies to come out of the oven. I can't wait. I learned soon after coming that you can cook an amazing variety of things on just a two-burner gas range and that an electric skillet is one of the modern wonders of the world.

Food isn't too important to some people (I truly do not understand them!) but it is to me. I need tasty and interesting food. And maybe more importantly, I need to feel like I'm not being deprived by living in Korea. So I have learned to approach cooking as a hobby, seeking out ingredients, searching for new and interesting recipes online (Allrecipes.com is a great site) and making sure I have meals I can enjoy.

What is one thing you do and what does it do for you?

[jlb]

I used to make an effort to get away from my city every Saturday. I'd usually go hiking a couple of times a month to various places, some local and sometimes further. Once a month or so I'd go to Seoul, to shop, eat some Western food, go to a palace, hang out at Insadong, etc. The other weekend, I'd go skiing or to somewhere like Everland or walk the fortress at Suwon or go to the beach or whatever.

Then Sunday was usually hang out and relax and recover from the previous day!

I think planning and going on the little trips kept me sane because no matter how crappy work was, I still had something to look forward to on the weekend.

[kangnam mafioso]

1. girlfriends
2. friends
3. chess/ yahoo chess
4. sauna
5. travel (around korea or out of the country whenever possible which was quite often)
6. reading/ writing
7. studies: korean/ buddhism/ french
8. photography
9. korean food: i love it and ate out almost every day for 2 years
10. keeping in touch w/ family/friends back home
11. music
12. daves cafe

[SPINOZA]

Slacking off big time

Dave's esl cafe and other internet

ladeeeeeez (although they're the source of much anxiety too)

male friends

pan-fried fish with lemon

killer food from Emart - fresh seaweed, oysters, dubu, steak

sushi

cham chi jigae

downloading my favorite music

playing guitar and singing songs

Tekken 5 at Joymax (although getting my ass whupped by a 14 year old Korean kid pisses me off considerably )

taking pics

walking (feel free to replace the 'l' with an 'n' too)

Being alone

learning a new Korean phrase

not drinking or smoking during the week but staying out til all hours on friday and saturday drinking and smoking my head off!

[crazylemongirl]

[indytrucks]

Exercise
Study
Photography
Travel

[Ya-ta Boy]

In case anyone was concerned, my roast beef turned out nap-inducingly great. What's most impressive, the gravy was a major success. (My gravy often sucks big time.) The left-overs are in the fridge....hot roast beef sandwich tonight and beef and noodles for lunch Tues.

Three meals for W6,800 (plus cost of potatoes and noodles). Not bad.

[JongnoGuru]

Okay, now tell us what nearly drove you postal this time. Get all worked up about it and don't spare us the details. We deserve it!

Ya-ta, one of the things that always helps take the sting out of the usual ass-biting local rodent problem is coming on Dave's reading about the rotten time someone else is having. There are even particular threads that I've bookmarked and will re-read, just for yuks and therapeutic value.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Sorry Guru. I am in a good mood today. My post was about doing things so I don't get into that 'pre-postal gotta kill something' mood.

But maybe this will make you feel better:

There is one kid in our school that I actively and without reservation loathe. I was so delighted on Thursday when my co-teacher said he had run away. It made my day. And my Friday. My good feeling was shattered when he showed up at the Saturday welcoming ceremony for the new Grade 1 boys.

(Why do I loathe him, you ask? He's is the class leader...when he's in a good mood, my class goes well. When he's in a bad mood, I have headaches because the other boys follow him. And being an adolescent, his mood is entirely dependent on his hormones and there's nothing much I can do about it. But even when he is in a good mood I don't like him. I'm happiest when he sleeps.)

[JongnoGuru]

Thanks for that brief but uplifting story, Ya-ta. In the spirit of give & take, here's a recent one from my files.

So, put on a fresh pot, and make it a strong one. This isn't just long, it's tedious, too.


This one client of ours is an inveterate foot-dragging late-payer. Worse than the average. The only reason I still bother with them is they're fairly regular, they're among my oldest clients, and I've know the president since he was in grad school. Went to his wedding, watched his kids grow up and into scary-big shoe sizes -- the whole waygook-friend-o'-the-family thang. For years now the prez has become increasingly hands-off, and he isn't even in Korea much of the year anymore. So we're left to deal with staff who don't know us from the early days.

I might add that he and I first went into business right about the same time. If not the same calendar year, then it was in the same 12-month period. We both started up around the same time, both in similar business lines, both on a shoestring. And wow, they really did start small. At least we had semi-decent offices then. But they were hunkered down in this noisy little officetel in a grimy backstreet over in Mapo-gu. OA? Two grungy used PCs, a grungy old printer, a grungy fax machine... and a roll of stamps.

I visited them twice in the first few months and both times they weren't doing any work. One guy was playing computer games, two girls printing out intro letters for direct mailings, stuffing envelopes, licking stamps... printing letters, stuffing envelopes, licking stamps. (okay, they're korean... they didn't actually put their tongues on the stamp backs) I gave them some nice-looking office dividers that I had ordered but then couldn't use and wasn't able to return. Those dividers were the only new (or clean!) pieces of furniture in that office. I also spent several days introducing my friend and his staff to some of my business contacts, people I thought it might be good for him to know.

That's how it started, and since then we've been going in on projects with them, frequently being called in at the 11th hour to snatch their chestnuts from the fire when they'd bitten off more than they could chew, stepping back from other more attractive projects to take care of theirs. Year after year.

Fast-forward to January this year. As always happens with them, we'd completed a project for ... "Big Tool Inc." ... and I was pestering them for our fees. They're pushing me to go in on another project with them, I'm refusing to waste a day skipping down to deep Gangnam (where they are now) to look it over. They're getting antsy to start it, I'm getting antsy for my fees for the last project. After a month of this silly dance, my fees are now two months overdue.

So once again I pick up the phone to make the dreaded call to the accounting division at Big Tool Inc. (God how our secretary loathes calling them, and I don't blame her. They're extremely rude and arrogant on the phone.) Just as regular as clockwork, the shouting started. Only this time they had a new routine. A new concept. Because you see, according to them, I haven't bent over backwards to help them all these years. Oh no. They are the ones responsible for the "limited success" that Guru & Company have enjoyed thus far. (They don't seem to have a clue how small a part of our total billings they represent.) That I'm some sort of freeloader or shirttail-rider, that they toss me the scraps from their table and I'm privileged to get it... and it's only because their boss is a personal friend, that's the only reason I get called to come in on their projects.

Oh yeah, and they went on to tell me they've got "tens" of projects that they've been offered, but they'd have to call in other firms that aren't as stubborn about fees as I am. (I'm apparently stubborn because my fees are two months past due and I want them paid, pronto. ) "No more free rides for you Guru & Co. guys! We've carried you looong enough! "



Well... You don't have to hit me upside the head with a variable-speed wood lathe, no sir. I figured it out. I finally realised what we need to do. We need to "stop holding Big Tool back". You know, I'd never want to stand in the way of their big-time, high-powered corporate commitments (if such commitments even exist ). So I told them we'd wait a bit longer on the payment, got a "firm" date on when that would be, and I wished them the best of luck in the future.

Now understand that project teams and accounting departments don't mix much. So within days we're getting hounded by other staff at Big Tool to "hurry up and decide on fees" for the new project.

Me: New project? We haven't been paid for work done in 2005 yet, FFS!! Do you people ever talk to your own accountants??

That same morning, I get a long-distance call from the prez of Big Tool , apologising and promising me everything will be resolved within that day. I get back from lunch and find an email from one of the girls at Big Tool. I happen to know this worthy. It must have taken some serious arm-twisting indeed to get her to write a civil email to us. (What a beeatch she is! ) It's in English, she's lived overseas and she's nearly fluent:

Dear Mr. Guru,

President Park is hoping you'll be able to work with us on the XYZ project, and Director Sohn looks forward to meeting and discussing this with you at your earliest convenience.

If you check your company's account, you will see that we've sent your precious fees.

[yadda yadda yadda]

Miss Bittchy Girl

My "precious fees"... MY "PRECIOUS FEES"???!?!?!?!?

I. Lost. It.

Honestly, if that girl had said that to my face ... I want to think I could have limited myself to a purely verbal response. I've only slapped a woman once in my life, and it's something I've regretted and vowed wouldn't happen again. But damn, this would have been the supreme test of my self-control. I was that livid.

We checked to make sure the transfer from Big Tool had been made, then I told everyone that henceforth we will not be dealing with Big Tool. No-one is to take any messages for me from Big Tool, and I considered a ritual burning of their business registration certificate (copy) we have on file.

About a week after that happened, I got yet another email from the same girl at Big Tool, almost identical to the first, but with one small typo corrected: "previous fees". You see, the "c" and the "v" are right next to each other on the keyboard. Oh, they're still a-holes and I won't work with them again... till I'm good and ready.

[weatherman]

[Lizara]

I always feel worlds better after sex/cuddles...

if the boy is unavailable, then music, especially the Cure, calms me down.

I also like to walk when I'm upset. The more upset I am, the longer the walk. One night when I was at my old job I got from Hanti station to Nonhyeon...

and if all else fails and I'm stuck inside and alone, I choose a video game with lots of destruction. Halo is good for that. Or Burnout 3 on Crash mode.

[canuckistan]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Dear Mr. Guru,

In my opinion, all good stories have sex and violence. Your story was strong on plot with good character development and it did have an element of violence. The surprise ending was excellent. All good as far as it went. However, as one poster mentioned, he (?) maintains his balance by sex and cuddling.

Couldn't you find some place in your story for an episode of secretary-chasing or some such? How about when your friend Mr. Park took you to the �ܶ����� for the first time on his company credit card. That would fit in here.

Sincerely,
The Editor