Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dur]

Well,
I do know how to express what I feel because of those Koreans.
I work for a company here and I am helping them a great deal in developing their project, but they donot talk to me only when there is some thing related to the work. Sometimes, I spend days here without uttering a word even when I try to say sth. just to start some conversation, they will say only two or three words and it is done.
They make feel down. I realy do not know how to behave with them, outside the company I have many Korean firends and it is not difficult for me to have freidns, but inside this company, it is getting like hell.

Ur suggestions please.....

Dirty life

[mayorgc]

meh, sounds like they're just being anti-social. not much you can do. If the work environment isn't poisoned, I say just do your work and keep to yourself. Atleast you have friends outside of work.

[Robot_Teacher]

OP, are you Korean?

People don't talk to me at work either unless it's an announcement of a last minute change pertaining to me or other important school business effecting me such as canceling a class due to a field trip. I do notice they talk to each other regularly though. It's mainly a language and cultural barrier as I'm in a rural area and the 1st English teacher my school has brought on.

I say just do your work and truck on.

[digsydinner]

perhaps you're just a boring person...have you thought about that? i get along with my korean office mates just fine.

[dporter]

me thinks the OP might be Chinese.

[The Gipkik]

Whatever the OPs heritage: just lay low, do your job, be agreeable, have a sense of humor and leave it at that. If you still get the cold shoulder then it is out of your control. Let your Korean's office behaviour play itself out and don't expect anything from them. Get a stiffer resolve. Smile a lot, be sincere. Anything more and you'll look like a sycophant, an obsequious toady. Always show your good-natured side and that is all you have to do...

[harlowethrombey]

Streaming video of footie/cricket/basketball/nhl is your friend.

[Goku]

Work place respect is harder to garner than outside socializing.

I'm generalizing but you'll find Asian cultures are a little closer to small talk behavior and building "guanxi" (a chinese term similar to jang). They may be atypical Koreans who stray away from small talk and are more westernized in terms of "work is work".

The usual way to deal with these types of personalities is to compliment them on something work related, and say something to the effect of "What you did there really made this work" or "Having tweaked that aspect of the project really reduced or costs." Compliments to work freny types on their jobs will win favor. But be careful these types can spot insincerity and will actually can be a VERY BAD THING if they look down on you, making the situation worse.

Let's assume you're at ground zero and want to work your way up. There are two routes. The easier route is to assume the "I'm good at something else, but not this, can you teach me your craft?" This mentality goes that you are good at something, maybe some other aspect of the project, but you are not good at another. Find the speciality of the person who is disrespecting you, and ask them for very specific advice on their abilities and take a very eager and modest perspective. This is a very solid foundation on mutual respect, especially for work focused types. But you have to make sure to ask them in a way that is both respectful, complimenting, and not damaging to your image. My approach is to say something to the effect of

"Hey mike my TPS reports has this stellar abstract I made for it, but there's some problem with the heading and the design of it, I know you've got an eye for what looks good, can you show me how you work your magic?"

I can't tell you how a line like that sounds and makes people feel good and warm and fuzzy inside.


And the second way is to look good and gain respect through image. It's amazing that if you just look the part, people will believe it. Korea is a very image concious modern day culture. This is more of a lifelong change in the workplace and more obvious, but it's hard to pull off. Posture, acting like 100% your posture needs to reflect dominance but not in an overbearing way. I can't really describe these things, rather you need to gain experience with what works. your body reflects your emotions and actually changes it too. Have you ever wondered why you walk down the street and some people give you a different emotion from others? It's the aura they give off from their body language. It's very subtle but EXTREMELY powerful. A good way to do this is to imagine you are a spear hunter on the sarangeti (spelling?) viewing the plains for a gazelle to take down. This puts your mind and body in this primitive but focused state. It shows you are serious and mentally prepared. I used to wield this on the basketball courts when people were selecting teams. Mind you I'm skinny very very unphysically fit and actually pretty F-ing bad at the game. But because I used to pretend I was the *beep*, I always was drafted second or third, sometimes over the biggest guys too.

I have more tips but this post is long. If you'd like more, please buy my book... lol

[fruitcake]

punch one in the face

[Insomnia]

Before I say anything.

Do they speak English well?

Do you speak Korean well or at all?

[PigeonFart]

Yes, the person above is right to highlight the language barrier.

If one of them talks to you then he/she might feel that all the office attention will turn on them for talking to the foreigner. This perception might make them feel uncomfortable or self-conscious about their poor English, or they might fear being viewed as strange for wanting to talk to you. They're shy an not used to talking to people from elsewhere.

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]