Yesterday, we went down to this Korean restaurant for dinner. It’s at this place where they called the “Korean Village”… something like Chinatown, only its full of Koreans.
The food was fantastic. I didn’t take pictures cause I wasn’t about to do a review on that place. But what I wanted to share about is how jakun I felt at that restaurant and how out of place we felt at that place.
First thing first, the closest I’ve been to the Korean culture was when I went to Korea for a trip with my family few years ago. I still remember having a great time there. The food was great, the weather was cold and the sight-seeing is fantastic! We had ginseng chicken, raw squid (yes, if u’ve seen fwd emails of Koreans makan-ing live squids, I’ve tried that!), grilled pork/beef (which apparently was one of the famous meals there).
And so, we had grilled beef/pork yesterday. And suddenly I am in my jakun mode cause I was asking the lady (very nice and patient lady who speaks English with an American slang) about the dishes and how we go about eating it. At one point of time, I asked if they have served us the wrong dish cause we asked for marinated pork but they gave us fresh ones. The waiter was acting like an asshole cause I wanted to speak to the lady (whom we ordered from), but he stood there (blocking my view to catch the lady’s eye) and keeps saying, “we don’t have any marinated pork today”. !@#$%
Now, what I wanted to point out is from the customer view, I would have said that the waiter is being pandai-pandai and well, being cocky and all. BUT, if I were to transport the whole scenario back up to the hills where WE are the employees, I would have thought, gosh, what a stupid customer, I said don’t have, means don’t have lah. See my boss also no use what!?!
Hmm, get it? Being in the service industry, I was constantly exposed to juicy stories on difficult customers. And when a bunch of us sit down together, the conversation would be either about our bosses or exchanging stories about customers.
And now, as a paying customer in that restaurant, I was suddenly very confused on how I should have act and felt. Who is wrong now? If u are not from the service industry, u’ll probably say, Customer is always right, blah blah blah. But, the customers are NOT always right. There is a fine line between the customers being right and INSISTING that they are right. One is our fault for giving wrong info, and the latter is just about pacifying the customer to LET them think they are right.
So, after the dinner (food was really good!), we took a walk around the neighborhood and visited a few of its supermarts (see, I told you we go dating in supermarkets, damn pathetic right???) Now, suddenly, we found ourselves in unfamiliar territory. The shop owners are Korean, the items being sold is Korean, even the customers are Korean! We really felt as if we were in Korea. I find the experience somewhat intimidating, cause at that time, WE are the outsiders… Scary…
But of course, I am not (at all!) faulting the Koreans. Don’t get me wrong. I am just saying that suddenly, FOC, and without traveling, we find ourselves at unfamiliar places with unfamiliar ppl speaking unfamiliar languages, ALL FREE OF CHARGE!!
Cool right? A mini shopping/makan-ing experience in Korea FOC!
It was a good night. And to wrap it up, while driving back uphill, we came across a new mini-mart along the road:
Des:Eh, got M-Mart wor!
Me: Yea lor, yea lor, yea lor!!
Des: Want to go??
Me: Want! Want! Want!
The food was fantastic. I didn’t take pictures cause I wasn’t about to do a review on that place. But what I wanted to share about is how jakun I felt at that restaurant and how out of place we felt at that place.
First thing first, the closest I’ve been to the Korean culture was when I went to Korea for a trip with my family few years ago. I still remember having a great time there. The food was great, the weather was cold and the sight-seeing is fantastic! We had ginseng chicken, raw squid (yes, if u’ve seen fwd emails of Koreans makan-ing live squids, I’ve tried that!), grilled pork/beef (which apparently was one of the famous meals there).
And so, we had grilled beef/pork yesterday. And suddenly I am in my jakun mode cause I was asking the lady (very nice and patient lady who speaks English with an American slang) about the dishes and how we go about eating it. At one point of time, I asked if they have served us the wrong dish cause we asked for marinated pork but they gave us fresh ones. The waiter was acting like an asshole cause I wanted to speak to the lady (whom we ordered from), but he stood there (blocking my view to catch the lady’s eye) and keeps saying, “we don’t have any marinated pork today”. !@#$%
Now, what I wanted to point out is from the customer view, I would have said that the waiter is being pandai-pandai and well, being cocky and all. BUT, if I were to transport the whole scenario back up to the hills where WE are the employees, I would have thought, gosh, what a stupid customer, I said don’t have, means don’t have lah. See my boss also no use what!?!
Hmm, get it? Being in the service industry, I was constantly exposed to juicy stories on difficult customers. And when a bunch of us sit down together, the conversation would be either about our bosses or exchanging stories about customers.
And now, as a paying customer in that restaurant, I was suddenly very confused on how I should have act and felt. Who is wrong now? If u are not from the service industry, u’ll probably say, Customer is always right, blah blah blah. But, the customers are NOT always right. There is a fine line between the customers being right and INSISTING that they are right. One is our fault for giving wrong info, and the latter is just about pacifying the customer to LET them think they are right.
So, after the dinner (food was really good!), we took a walk around the neighborhood and visited a few of its supermarts (see, I told you we go dating in supermarkets, damn pathetic right???) Now, suddenly, we found ourselves in unfamiliar territory. The shop owners are Korean, the items being sold is Korean, even the customers are Korean! We really felt as if we were in Korea. I find the experience somewhat intimidating, cause at that time, WE are the outsiders… Scary…
But of course, I am not (at all!) faulting the Koreans. Don’t get me wrong. I am just saying that suddenly, FOC, and without traveling, we find ourselves at unfamiliar places with unfamiliar ppl speaking unfamiliar languages, ALL FREE OF CHARGE!!
Cool right? A mini shopping/makan-ing experience in Korea FOC!
It was a good night. And to wrap it up, while driving back uphill, we came across a new mini-mart along the road:
Des:Eh, got M-Mart wor!
Me: Yea lor, yea lor, yea lor!!
Des: Want to go??
Me: Want! Want! Want!
See, I told you we have been reduced to jakuns really when we are uphill all the time.
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