Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Homer]

Different experiences I guess.

Much like Spinoza, I have had very few bad service experiences here.

I find that overall, the service here is slightly better and the people providing these services tend to be more polite and nicer.

For example, going to the supermarket near our place, there is a cashier at nearly every register along with a guy to bag our groceries. Back home, after 6pm in the supermarkets near our place there was maybe 2 cashier,no guy to bag the groceries.

This is a simple example of service that I feel is better.

In the bigger department stores it is sometimes a case of over service but overall, I find the employees to be polite and nice if a bit too much on hover mode

Taxis are better here, flat out. They are cheaper and more efficient.

Travel services here tend to be a bit inferior compared to what I was used to back home (I mean travel agencies here). Then again my main travel agent home is based in Chinatown...

Restaurants...I find that overall service in restaurants is friendlier here. Waiters and waitresses are more polite as well (in my experience anyway).

I also prefer the food delivery concept here. They bring you your food, you leave the dishes outside your door when done and they pick them up.
Gotta love that.

So, overall, my experience here is largely positive when it comes to service, with a few bad experiences here and there.

[nautilus]

What bugs me is the restaurant/cafe service. Either the ajumma is over attentive- she just cannot resist showing you how to eat Korean food properly. Its infantilizing- half the time she is being patronising, the other she means well. Sometimes i make a show of fu*king it up deliberately to stop them in their tracks. "He didn't.... Oh my ..He used chopsticks on his bibimbap! But..he's..putting gochujang on his gimchi! Quick, stop him!".


The other thing is the lame service in the chain restaurants- TGI Fridays etc.. if you go in at a busy time, they will F**k up your order for sure. Too many customers, not enough staff: your food may take ages to arrive: probably cold when delivered: the ingredients in the picture aren't necesarilly what you recieve: they seat you safely away from koreans so as not to make them feel uncomfortable. And even then, the Koreans get served before the waygook.

And then theres the clothes markets. The hawks hovering on the edge of every rack will not leave you alone from the second you glance at their stall. they throw themselves at you then feel cheated if you walk away. Browsing is a new concept to them, and they will follow your every move.



The only idea of customer service in operation in Korea, is in education. Every little angel in a hogwon is a customer, and customers come first. So long as little darling is happy- is all that matters.

[peemil]

[peppermint]

I find anywhere that I'm a regular, I get treated fairly well. There's been many, many times when I've gone somewhere new, and been put off by the service. Clerks not bothering to interrupt their phone conversation while checking in my stuff is a minor peeve of mine.

[periwinkle]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

America: Generally I've had good service in the states, especially in restaurants. The tipping is an incentive to hustle.

Canada: Mixed. Sometimes poor in small towns because you're not a local; always bad in Saskatchewan for some reason. Newfoundland service was usually good because jobs were scarce, but there were enough lazy townie princesses too. Alberta has become simply awful lately because there's so many jobs that only the worst and dumbest will work in the service sector. I walked out of McBain camera last summer, the most respected camera store in Edmonton for decades, because it was staffed by teenage girls who didn't know what a memory chip is and didn't care. Tim Horton's is now largely staffed by people who can't speak English and probably very little of any language, if you get my drift. Bank service: for Christmas I want everyone who works in a Canadian bank to drop dead of painful rectal warts.

England: Really, I had no problem. Maybe tourists are treated differently. In my first week a barman was offended when I tipped him for the Guinness, but when I explained I didn't know he was fine about it. But then, I didn't go out a lot when I stayed there; I couldn't afford to.

Mexico: Classic Mexico. There's eighteen people working in the restaurant, and nobody takes your order-- but Juan is talking to his girlfriend, and Felipe is afraid of the rain, and Maria is... but service does come eventually, and the people are usually so friendly that you forget your annoyance.

Vietnam: Only two types. Psycho-aggressive BUYBUYBUYBUYBUY everywhere, and don't-give-a-sheeet in the restaurant because they're paid straight wages. I felt sorry for the Vietnamese and wanted to tip in the restaurants, but the service was so incredibly lazy that I was too angry to.

Good service: Thailand, Bali.

Korea: Mixed. Where else do you get free and snappy delivery of your Chinese food dinner, and then they pick up the dishes? And yes, sometimes people do nice things inexplicably. Or they stay open at strange hours to accomodate you.
But yes, sometimes the culture of conformism is frustrating. No, you can't have noodles in the soup because everyone has had rice in the soup since the Koryeo dynasty and noodles are unthinkable. What kind of pyeonte, pink-shirt wearing, free-thinking anarchist would want noodles in the soup anyway? I usually bat about 1/3 at Baskin Robbins. Usually they will not let me substitute mint chocolate chip for the posted flavors, because Koreans don't eat that and it would taste bad, and it's not on the list, but a few will let me do it. I stormed out of a Baskin Robbins in Seoul Station saying, I'm the one paying for it, dammit.
I'm not always pleased with the product, but usually customer service has been decent, and sometimes superlative. There's a mechanic in my little village who gave my motorcycle a full tune up with parts for about 25.000-- in an afternoon. Try getting this done at Canadian Tire.

Ken:>

[billybrobby]

[periwinkle]

Ok, I'll retract the "inadequate" customer service comment. It's just different here. I prefer American customer service. I think here, because there's no tipping culture, people can be lazy. Unless you own a small business, there's no incentive give really stellar customer service. I've noticed my most positive experiences have come from patronizing privately owned businesses, as they have a vested interest in seeing me return. Although I have had excellent service at Starbucks, good service there seems consistent, so I have an inkling that's due to trianing.

Break over... Check y'all later!!!!

[ajgeddes]

I in general find that customer service people are friendlier in Canada. Even my girlfriend (Korean) couldn't believe how friendly people were there when we went into stores and stuff like that.

I feel here, that when people say things to you in stores when trying to be polite, it seems very forced and they often aren't even looking at you or acknowleding you when they say it. They just HAVE to say it.

However, I do also think that you run into more random acts of kindness in stores here. But, I don't think that has anything to do with customer service, it is just the excitement that some random people have when they meet foreigners.

[pest2]

[pest2]

[SPINOZA]

well at least it has history and culture. Apart from the Republic of Ireland, the British countries are the only English-speaking countries to have that. That's what people come to England to see - not getting a "you got it" worthy of a tip with your burger, fries and coke.

[pest2]

Japan kicks @ss to all other places I've been for customer service. Walk into any Japanese convenience store and ask for something you cant find.... "HAI!!!!!!" (yes) with a big huge smile... Or at a restaurant getting extra food if you like what they cook sometimes or if not plenty of smiles and catering.

Worst has to be Poland, ... shop owners are so mean to customers...

Korea... its been mostly OK but the biggest problem is car, computer, hair, and other services seem really incompetent. They just can't get it right...

[SuperHero]

[periwinkle]

Does anyone know if any of the clerks in clothing stores or make-up counters make a sales commission? Sometimes you get followed around like a dog, which makes me think they do get a commission. Then you get someone lazy (like the Bobbi Brown salesperson who didn't bother to call even after I told her I'd buy 4 bottles).

Funny. I really loved the guy at the hair salon. I've even considered going back, but I don't want to risk another hair disaster. I tipped him, too, because I thought I could ensure continued quality. Well, so much for that experiment.

My worst experiences for sure have been hair salons. I wonder what it is about that sector. Maybe if you get hired from one salon, you can easily find another job, so it doesn't matter?