Korean Job Discussion Forums

[the eye]

Things headed in the wrong direction as I waited for my connecting flight in Detroit. I located what was supposed to be my gate, but another flight was posted on the sign. There was a frowning woman at the counter.
Can I ask you a question?...
"I'm listening", she snapped with a grumble, as if she was being forced into conversation.
She 'yepped', I was at the right gate, so I sat down to the side of the waiting area. I was an hour early. She soon left.
Other people kept coming up to the gate, and left. I began to get suspicious, so i got up to look at the sign again.
The sign NOW read that the gate had been CHANGED. A true WTF moment.

Now at home. I've been dying for some of that junk food i miss. It's been a year. Taco Bell deams on the airplane. I took a drive out with a friend on my second night. A few minutes were needed at the menu board to soak it all in, to decide between some new trash, or traditional fare... Went for traditional. Fries supreme and chicken burritos.
It was thoroughly disgusting. Just a bland soggy mass. All those good memories, now tainted. No quiero Taco Bell.

Went to the mall to get a gift for my sister's b-day. "Not my department" seems to be the new catch phrase. All the kids with name-badges were saying it there.
Gave, up.
Went to the body shop. Can't go wrong there.

I approached the cashier with my items. People were kind of standing around, looking indecisive. No obvious line. Enough space between each person for 2 of me. Apparently, it was a line. No wonder Korean's slip in front of us.

Cashier: Find everything you're looking for?
Me: I think so.
C: No praaaw-blem.

Me: Can I use my Korean discount card here?
C: I think so. How many stickers do you have?

Me: They don't do stickers there. It's justa card....Oh wait, i didn't bring it.
C: No praaaw-blem.

C: How long are you here for?
Me: Not long. Visiting the family before my real vacation.
C: No Praaaw-blem.

C: Was anyone helping you?
Me: No.
C: No praaaaw-blem.

Me: If you think so, thanks, bye.
She must have been a new automated cashier. Robot.

After that, I needed a double cappucino. Second Cup. I remember that place...Canada's Starbuck's. Placed my order, moved down to the end of the counter to wait. The next girl in line did the same, but was stuck standing behind the espresso machine. She wasn't able to wait at the receiving counter, because of me.
I didn't move ALL the way to the end, so she had no counter space. She was noticeably annoyed. I could have moved over, but this was more interesting. She kept shooting glances at me, then at the cashier, appeared fluttered, nervous, kept making obvious body language, like she wanted to tell me something. I was not in the correct place. The universe was out of whack now.

Went on a personal mall junket, checking out some stores. Everything looks exactly the same. And all the sales people think they are movie stars. My Bodyshop purchase tripped the magnetic alarm in each store. They kept trying to demagnetize but the alrms kept sounding. Every store, alarm sounds, I look annoyed, they demagnetize...repeat.

New day. Had to give the junk food thing another try. This time Harvey's hamburgers. MMMM. Flame cooked, choose your own toppings. Salivating in line.
Got called rude because I didn't notice someone else was headed for the same table.
Sat down at the table, openned'er up, and took a bite. Cold. And the fries were overdone, brown. Cooked in old oil.

Passed by the mall's Tim Horton's coffee counter. There were at least 25 people in line, waiting to buy crap coffee like crack addicts. Large double double. Large double double. That's the way they like their crack. Double cream, double sugar.

Went to a Blue Jays game today with my nephew. Took a crowded double decker commuter train. No seat assignments. Everyone rushing ajuma style for upper deck seats. They haven't increased the train schedule, despite obvious growth in business. Same frequency for 10 years now.
As the train was nearing our stop, a few people gathered down near the door area.
The rest were huddled up up on the stairs and the second deck. It was packed, but the door area remained vacant. No one would go down the stairs to wait at the door. They just stood there while others were stuck upstairs. I excused myself through to stand in front of the door. Others looked on, stunned for a second, and then followed.

The main thing I noticed is, everyone looks so pissed off at their jobs. No one is engaging, pleasant or helpful and everyone seems to be biatching about their co-workers. It would be nice to see at least a majority of people take some pride in their appearance, too. At least buy clothes that fit around their flabby potbellies and droopy butts.
Those high cut, tight shirt are not one size fits all, girls. And, no, you're not supposed to show the waistband of your underwear. It's not an accessory for your spare tire.
I've seen enough man brea5ts to last a lifetime.

My sister's kids go back to school tomorrow. There is a list of all the snack foods they are forbidden to bring to school in their lunches. Everyone is in a peanut allergy scare. The list is a page long. No store bought cookies, no this, no that. Kid's take epi-pens with them, too...7 year olds.
Wow, things have changed.

There's an ongoing fight in the school board. The majority of parents favor the introduction of school uniforms. There was a survey. One mother was quoted in the paper "I can't believe it. I thought we lived in a democracy, and now we are being forced into this!"

[SPINOZA]

Yes, I had similar moans about England.

Guess how much the Heathrow Express Train to London Paddington (and subsequent subway connection to Euston) is? Couple of quid? Nope. 17.50 (30,000won).

That's the main moan - expense.

And where in God's name are all the taxis? You can't move for taxis in Seoul, but in English towns and cities you can walk for 30 mins without seeing one. You've got to know where the taxi stations are already, which is useless if you're a tourist. And they're a fooking rip-off.

Lack of PC cafes is another big shock. I didn't use a computer for 2 weeks straight, which, relatively speaking of course, was terrible.

One observation I made was the clear rise in white Far Right Wing-ism. Muslims are absolutely detested and it's no longer taboo to slag them off in public. Immigration is totally out of control and Britain is on the verge of becoming a Far Right state. What STUPID liberals fail to understand is that the more poor immigrants that enter the country there are prepared to work for the minimum wage or less, the worse general conditions become for everyone. In London, one cannot understand loudspeaker announcements in the subway/train stations because the guy doing it is a foreigner who's lived in England for all of 5 minutes. It's a farce.

The subway in London is shlt! Can you believe I had to stand for 30 minutes, in rush hour, in a major international city, waiting for a delayed subway? Not a delayed train, a delayed SUBWAY train? Jesus. I embarrassed myself by swearing and moaning loudly.

Seoul runs like clockwork in comparison to London or other British cities and for 10% of the costs.

That said, it was great to drink good beer and watch football at a reasonable hour. And there's loads to do. I jusst wish it wasn;t such an overpopulated, money-grabbing society where the more things increase in price the worse services become.

[ilovebdt]