Korean Job Discussion Forums

Tancred · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 9:16 pm Post subject: korean efficiency

wow...what is it with these guys and the speed in which they complete tasks. it's really quite something. Whenever i need something repaired or looked at, it gets done in record time. I had a light fixture replaced in my apartment yesterday and a washing machine fixed all in the span of about 20 minutes. And this isn't the first time...i've often noted the expediency with which they seem to work here. Amazing. And that's not all. They actually <gasp> show up when they say they're going to. In Canada i usually have to plan a whole morning around waiting for the telephone repairman or what have you....here, they're punctual and no-nonsense. A refreshing change. Kudos, korean labourers.

T.

whatthefunk · Joined: 21 Apr 2003 Location: Dont have a clue

Yeah, and then you go to a resturant where you're supposed to wait in line to order and its just a huge mob of people all ordering at the same time and then standing around waiting for their food. No lines, no order to anything, just a mob. Not very efficient. This drives me nuts.
But, for things like repairs, services etc., Ill agree, they are very speedy.

posco's trumpet · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: Beneath the Underdog

BTM · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Back in the saddle.

I'm always reminded of the story my buddy tells about when he first got here, expecting that Korea was something like what he imagined Japan to be - orderly, clean, quiet, urbane and artistic - and how one of the first things he saw (in the hallway in the ancient ramshackle apartment building he was put into by his school) was some guy painting a wooden cupboard.

And painting on the wall behind it, as he didn't bother to move it away from the wall first. And painting the floor, as he couldn't be asked to put down some newspaper or something. Just slopping that paint around like a kindergarten student with epilepsy.

His illusions about Korea were pretty quickly shattered.

That said, you do occasionally get a job done well and done quickly here, but more often I find it's one of either slowly, slowly and badly, quickly and badly, or not at all.

yoda · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Location: Incheon, South Korea

I thought the title of this thread was an oxymoron, but you were being serious.

Efficiency is not something I would have accused Koreans of. But I guess that comes from working in one of the glorious academic institutions here.

Have you ever been to a department store? What a waste of working hours those places are!

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

Surely you were being sarcastic Tancred???

Every little task I need done e.g.

installing cable TV,
installing internet,
trying to buy a power adaptor,
trying to get newspapers cancelled,
any queries about utility bills,
visits to the immigration office,
getting served in restaurants,

All this stuff and more is done a lot more efficiently where I come from than in Korea.

Your point about labourers would be true if any hagwon I've ever worked for had paid for a genuine tradesman to do anything in my apartment. They never have. They send one of the counter staff or a shuttle bus driver to fix stuff in my apartment. Always ends up in a botch.

I like Koreans and enjoy living here but I would never describe them as generally efficient.

Have you ever been to Germany or Holland? In Holland they have timetables on every bus-stop. If it says a bus will come a 3:57 a bus will come at 3:57.

gomurr · Joined: 04 Feb 2003

I agree that the service is fast but the quality is another thing. I look at the broader picture buildings and public works. Right now I'm watching new cracks developing along my walls and my apartment is only a couple of years old. Also when it rains water leaks through the windows and exhaust ports. Right now the town I'm in is hosting the archery events for the Universiade so there is alot of construction going on but it's being done really fast. But what gets me is that when i walk by a construction site around lunch hour and see all these guys having lunch and 3-6 soju bottles with it. I mean come on how well would you do the job all liquered up.

Tancred · Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2003 4:21 am Post subject:

I was seriously being serious...maybe it's just me...my wonjangnim usually administrates everything being done, and possibly it's his alacrity that i'm attributing all this to. But under his auspices, i'll tell you, those labourmen work like they've got a gun to his head. It isn't just one thing either...it's been a number of them.

But i'd agree that the efficiency would have to be limited to these labourers. When the lunch caterer comes to our school, he seems to show up whenever the hell he feels like it, and that makes me angry dammit.

scarneck · Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Seoul

How about the 3-man shovel? Now that's efficiency!... Shocked

thegadfly · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

Mileage varies, I guess...but in general I have been impressed with the speed and quality of service I have received in just about all sectors EXCEPT in restaurants. The guy that installed cable in Korea was quicker, more polite, more efficient, and more considerate than the fellow that installed my cable in the US...my Korean doctor and dentist never kept me in the waiting room for more than 5 minutes, and their care was every bit as effective as their US counterparts (and in the case of the dentist, far superior. I have yet to have a Korean filling fall out, whereas the reason I even WENT to the Korean dentist is that my American fillings were loose within a year)...oh yeah, and the service is cheaper....

Now, when the owner of the school sends one of the employees over to fix it...or the owner of the building has tried to fix it himself...yeah, bad juju. However, when a professional has been paid to do the job, I have always gotten a very professional job.... I have nothing but praise for my medical and dental care in Korea.

Howard Roark · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Location: Canada

eamo, dude I know exactly what you mean.

One day I turned on the TV and there was no cable. I went to school and told the boss and the secretary that there was a problem and they should call someone to fix it. Well, they looked at each other, they looked at me, and they said "who should we call?"
"ah, how about the people who send the bill every month" I said. I had to ask my boss "what would you do if your TV were broken? You wouldn't call anyone, you'd just keep paying the bill every month for the rest of your life, or what?"
My air conditioner was broken. Same thing. "I don't know who to call", she said.
Right on. 20 million engineers in Korea and not a soul to fix my air conditioner.
About the cable, that's a good story in itself. I got one of my (adult) students to call the cable company. They said that my apartment complex had decided they didn't want cable anymore because the company was raising the price. Come on! Cable is like 3000won a month. Even if they tripled it you'd still pay it wouldn't you? Anyways, the company said "if you want cable we will reinstall it for an installation fee".
This is daylight robbery. I had the cable in my house, you took it away, and now you want me to pay to hook it up again?
Gotta have TV, right?
So I said "fine, hook it up again". They said "oh no, we can't hook it up now because it's the middle of the month, call back August 1".
I called back August 1. They said "there is construction in your area, no cable, call back in 1 month".
Efficient? Holy crap! This is so stupid. I mean, they can't be too interested in making money.
I've lived in Korea for a year and a half. Efficient is the last word I would use to describe Koreans in general. That's why they work 18 hours a day. Because they can't get it done in 8! Do you think they're actaully accomplishing more?