Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Junior]

Is anyone sick and tired of the whole group dinner thing?
Its every week in some form or other..

Dinner torture 1:You can't understand Korean. So they talk korean around you for 2 hours, occasionally stopping to wake you up with some obilgatory "hows the weather" comment. Its like slow torture.After a few hours you haven't understood 99% of whats been discussed around you. And you know that some of it was about you. By the tone of it, it seems they have arrived at some patronsing or negative conclusions about you.

Dinner torture 2: The level of english spoken is fairly good. You communicate well but soon realise the conversation revolves around people aiming barbed silly comments at eachother to score points.

Dinner torture 3 Korean males are present and try to control the whole thing endlessly by acting the host. Nothing gets said or done without their intervention, they must be in charge of everything.

[Ya-ta Boy]

You haven't learned to play the group dinner game, have you? These things can be majorly painful or a good time, depending on your skill as a foreigner.

Rule #1: Don't let anyone but you control who sits next to you. As everyone is trooping in, you have to say, "Hey, Yoo! I have something to talk to you about. (Yoo being the funniest/most entertaining student/co-worker in the group.) Sit here."

Rule #2: When the eating slows down and after you have dominated Yoo's dinner conversation, excuse yourself and slide down to the next least-objectionable student. Knock back as much soju as you can comfortably handle. Chat away. By now, the soju you consumed with Yoo should have triggered your conversational brilliance.

Rule #3: Stay with this group or move to the next least objectionable person until everyone starts acting restless and someone says, "Kap-shi-da." At this point, and only at this point, go up to the losers in the crowd and apologize profusely for not getting around to talking to them during the dinner.

Rule #4: Repeat #1-3 at every group dinner.

Free food and booze are part of the charm of Korea, but you do have to know how to play the game. If anyone is still suffering boring group dinners after their 3rd dinner, it is their own fault.

[Junior]

[quote="Ya-ta Boy"]

[TheUrbanMyth]

When invited to dinner, you could just look sideways, suck air through your teeth, mutter "asshii" or "aigo" under your breath just loud enough for the inviter to hear and say "I do not think it possible."

The inviter (his or her natural curiousity stoked at this point) should inquire why.

You look sadly at him and say in a voice (loud enough for everyone else to hear) "Oh it is very big problem. I can't talk about it now."

This will have the effect of driving everyone insane with wondering what this problem is.

After evading a few questions let it be known that you are suffering from stomach cramps and headaches...and have been all day. You need to get home and rest.

They will then ask "Why didn't you say something?"

At that point put on your best martyred face and say " I didn't want to disappoint the students/bother other people with my problems.....










OR you could do what I do and just say "Sorry I have made other plans."

[Qinella]

You must be an uptight arsehole if you can't enjoy a free dinner with free booze. I was lucky enough to go to a few of them last year where the place I worked at had like 30 teachers. We'd all pile up into the restaurant, even the bus drivers, and have a damn good time. Did I sit around hoping people would speak English to me? Noooo.... I took the initiative to start conversations. Or, I'd impress them with my ability to say hello in Korean or something. But man... to just sit there and whine about how people aren't catering to you? Yeesh.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Corporal]

[wylies99]

[Hapkido-In]

I no longer attend company dinners due to reason #1.

Unless there are going to be other native English speakers there, no one will speak English. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I don't expect Koreans to always speak English in my presence. I don't expect them to speak English at all. But since I actually value my time and don't enjoy sitting at a table trying to understand what's being said, I just don't go.

I'm lucky that I have an excuse. Everyone at work knows that I train Hapkido every day, and this has gotten me out of countless dinners. Of course, excuses are easy to come by in Korea. The "I have an appointment" excuse is awesome.

Honestly, people, don't waste your time at company dinners. Unless there's going to be another native there that you like to talk to, you're going to go nuts.

[aldershot]

[TheUrbanMyth]