What's life like working in Korea

What's life like working in Korea, TBH they all seem like idiots the ones I've met desperately trying to be cool , when they are just a load of boring boffins, or have i got the wrong impression?

Most people are idiots. A particular form of idiocy common in Korea is the inability to put yourself in someone else's shoes and explain what you want them to do. I guess it is because until recently they were a homogenous "high context" society where everyone knew implicitly what was expected of them. This also leads to an inability to indulge in much strategic thought, despite being quite bright people on average. They do seem a bit culturally one dimentional too. On the upside, the women haven't all devolved into foul monsters like Western women yet. I spend most of this year working in a small office with 7 Korean women. I'd rather slit my wrists than work in a small office with 7 Western women.

Cornfed, on 26 May 2010 - 09:04 AM, said:

This is similar in Japan, in general most people in Asia feel comfortable only when working in a group, unable to make decisions alone out of themselves.

yohan, on 26 May 2010 - 09:53 AM, said:

Thailand too, in general.

Agreed, related to Thailand. To some extent they really rely on the management chain of command but even then there are limits to unrestricted individual action and speech.

My wife recently commented that Thais generally won't openly blame a subordinate and more typically just hint around about a screw-up. Of course that's all a bit relative and there are plenty of exceptions, just a generality opposed by the Western tendency to really lay it out there and embrace the blame game.

Since Thais are aware of the differences with Western culture and tend to overstate and overgeneralize them (just as we are doing in this thread) they seem to see their farang colleagues as a bomb that could go off at any time. My MD asked me about a British guy I met in a working relation and asked me if he was loud or pushy. What he was really asking me was if his personality conflicted with Thai culture. My MD is really Westernized, educated in America, and he is aware enough to not overdo the stereotyping but even so his concern was a valid one. Most of the people I've worked with and known in America would come across like a bull in a china shop if they worked here (and enough did there, too).

Might as well give voice to the obvious: he could have been confusing Americans with Westerners. Seems to me British people are generally either quiet or loud and given his background that working contact was the former. See how nasty pigeonholing can be when the shoe is on the other foot? Americans are crass oafs and Brits are either refined or hooligans; such nonsense. The "average" person in either country doesn't fit in these boxes but there is some basis in truth. I ought to insult Aussies while I'm at it but I just visited there and found most people so pleasant I'll leave them out of it.

You can't really stereotype British in one bracket because English, Scottish and God bless 'em the Welsh are all stereotypically different, I'd like to think of myself as a refined hooligan, whereas the Jocks are just nutters plain and simple and the Taffs are Welsh.
Going back to Asians not being able to make their own decisions took me back to an amusing time I had at the Thai immigration office in Bangkok, after having my passport nicked I had to pay 1900 for an emergency visa and 2500 for five days overstay , which they insisted equalled 5400 baht, no i protested it's 4400 baht,(i only had 5100 in my pocket so i was stressing a bit) , it then took 5 Thai women huddled around a calculator five minutes to ascertain, that actually, indeed, I was correct and 25 plus 19 is 44, do you think this was demonstrating more their desire to save face or their combined utter stupidity? either way it begged belief

Problems with simple mathematics are not so rare in Thailand, however always to the benefit of the Thai.
Quite smart, these smiling guys and grls ...

Best solution: You have small money with you.

Give them exactly baht 1.900,- and after counted and accepted give them exactly baht 2.500,-.

The sum total is irrelevant in this case.

This post has been edited by yohan: 26 May 2010 - 07:18 PM

yohan, on 26 May 2010 - 07:16 PM, said:

Not so. I frequently get given more change than I'm due. It's just their lousy numerical skills. It's a genuine mistake half of the time.

It don't add up to me

I've actually noticed this lack of numeracy when teaching Asians. Even those otherwise fluent in English get their numbers wrong. They don't seem to regard being able to count to infinity and do summs as necessary like we do. Strange.

'specially seen as they make so much 'lectrical s###

I think you have to know them better. I also would like to know them, in my country there are lots of Korean there. They seems to have there own world.