First bad experience with an actual Korean occurred this weekend, and I felt like I was in New York (or backwoods Texas). But I guess its an indication that there are some immigration/ill feelings toward the military/influx of non-Koreans here, too.
Michell and I are in the Korean version of Walmart - one of them, actually, as they have two! We were in HomePlus; the other is eMart...more to post on those experiences later:) - and were having a wonderful demonstration of different rice/seed candies by this lovely little Korean man who couldn't stop giving us free samples! It was awesome. I asked the man what time the store closed, as we heard yet another ominous announcement in Korean (and it WAS 10:30p), and he looked at me confused, shook his head, pulled out his phone and showed me the time. I thanked him, and Chell and I just walked away.
And then it happened: some 30/40-something Korean man, who was not involved in our conversation with the sweets-guy at all, shouts kind of over his shoulder, "Why don't you learn Korean??" Chell and I looked at each other, then looked at him, stunned. I said, "Excuse me?" and he actually repeated himself, then went off on how Korea is not an English-speaking country. Chell's reply: "Really?!" My indignant retort: "I AM, but I've only been here for 2 weeks." Then he started to shrink away, but I was not done! I mean, I still needed to know what time the store closed, right? So I persisted in asking him the closing time, and you know what he told me? 10:30p. No, that was clearly not the right answer, as the store was still open and bustling. So then, I'm sorry to say, I got a little mean. I slowed my speech and got louder, like you would with a slow person, and asked him again, "No, what TIME do the DOORS CLOSE and all the people have to LEAVE???" He was then clearly embarrassed. He explained, sheepishly, that HomePlus is a 24-hour store.
Then I thanked him in German.
Michell and I are in the Korean version of Walmart - one of them, actually, as they have two! We were in HomePlus; the other is eMart...more to post on those experiences later:) - and were having a wonderful demonstration of different rice/seed candies by this lovely little Korean man who couldn't stop giving us free samples! It was awesome. I asked the man what time the store closed, as we heard yet another ominous announcement in Korean (and it WAS 10:30p), and he looked at me confused, shook his head, pulled out his phone and showed me the time. I thanked him, and Chell and I just walked away.
And then it happened: some 30/40-something Korean man, who was not involved in our conversation with the sweets-guy at all, shouts kind of over his shoulder, "Why don't you learn Korean??" Chell and I looked at each other, then looked at him, stunned. I said, "Excuse me?" and he actually repeated himself, then went off on how Korea is not an English-speaking country. Chell's reply: "Really?!" My indignant retort: "I AM, but I've only been here for 2 weeks." Then he started to shrink away, but I was not done! I mean, I still needed to know what time the store closed, right? So I persisted in asking him the closing time, and you know what he told me? 10:30p. No, that was clearly not the right answer, as the store was still open and bustling. So then, I'm sorry to say, I got a little mean. I slowed my speech and got louder, like you would with a slow person, and asked him again, "No, what TIME do the DOORS CLOSE and all the people have to LEAVE???" He was then clearly embarrassed. He explained, sheepishly, that HomePlus is a 24-hour store.
Then I thanked him in German.
OMG, I love you. There should be "like" buttons on blogs. I would like to think that my spirit temporarily possessed you to be such an a**hole to that a**hole.
ReplyDeleteI thanked him in German. CLASSIC CLOSER!! xoxo
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