Korean Job Discussion Forums

VanIslander

greenhorn.

I was PM'd for advice, and informed him, but...

I should've just told him, yeah, and some Duracell batteries too.

Were we as clueless when we came? (I can't recall.)

riley · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: where creditors can find me

I don't know about you, but I sure was.

stumptown · Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:57 pm Post subject:

I still am.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

I sure was. I brought my first boss a bottle of Crown Royal as a gift, thinking it would be something exotic he couldn't get over here. Apparently he was still incredibly impressed, as I guess no new employee had done that before. How I started on such drastically better terms than how I left that job...

fusionbarnone · Joined: 31 May 2004

Treat a 4k won lunch(he'll reciprocate most likely anyway). Keep the JDs.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

skinhead · Joined: 11 Jun 2004

peppermint · Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:37 am Post subject:

if you're anywhere near a costco, sure. At the moment, I've got a jar of feta, a little parmesan ( block) and some cheddar- all bought locally

skinhead · Joined: 11 Jun 2004

Is it locally produced or good quality? I didn't discover cheese until I got back from Korea.

Is my question discriminatory, racist or in any other way putdownish,

or just tired?

peppermint · Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:02 am Post subject:

It's good, not just "good for Korea", if you know what I mean.

skinhead · Joined: 11 Jun 2004

SweetBear · Joined: 18 May 2003

Hollywoodaction · Joined: 02 Jul 2004

There once was this recruiter who would tell teachers that they should bring bottles of whisky and cartons of cigarettes as gifts while speaking of the generosity of Koreans. The guy would send two of his employees at the airport to fetch the jetlagged teacher. Before sending him off to his destination, the escorts would first make a detour to their 'office' for a face-to-face meeting with the recruiter, a trip that could have been better spent sleeping on the bus or the train. They wouldn't have been in the car for more than 5 minutes before they inquired on the gifts that he had brought and insisted that he should also give their boss a gift. Upon their arrival at some newly built building, the recruiter would meet the tired traveler at the curb. He would not invite him in ("He's a very busy man", the driver had said). The newly arrived teacher, wanting to start their year in Korea on a positive note (and feeling somewhat pressured to please this seemingly important man), would offer his one bottle of whiskey permitted through customs, which the recruiter gladly accepted. Once the coveted bottles in hand, he'd have the teacher whisked away to the bus station.

Eleven months would go by after the teacher's first and only meeting with the recruiter when, one day, the phone would ring.