Please Watch Over Your Kids

     I think it was in Paran, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do.  I remember I was just new in this town and I was roaming around to familiarize myself with the area.  It just got dark and it was rush hour.  I was walking by a cross-road when I heard a child called, "Ajuma!"  I saw the kid and she was across the street from me.  I thought she was calling someone else so proceeded to just looking around.  At the edge of my sight, I noticed the child risked her life crossing the street.  There was no pedestrian-crossing sign nearby and she was lucky that the street was empty for just a couple of seconds.  The sight of this scared me a lot.  I remember I got hit by a jeep when I was young so this little girl running across the street really shook me.  But there's more.

When The Truth Is Harder To Believe

     Some things have been bothering me for many years.  This thing happen to me once in a while but whenever it does, it makes me think for a month.  It bothers me that much.

It's about when the truth seems quite outrageous, people find it hard to believe.  Oddly enough, most of the times, when I lie to cover up something, people seem to easily believe it.

Does Age Come With Reason?

     Two nights ago, someone asked for my age.  Me, not paying much attention to the passing of time, can't answer such questions without much thought.  No, I'm not in denial.  I just really don't count my years each time, and I'm terrible at math.  The best thing I could do was come up with a reasonable number: 35.  Did I just say I'm thirty-five years old?

     As I mentioned before, I'm about to suffer some salary cuts on the coming months.  Earlier last week, it didn't bother me as much as my co-workers.  The way I live my life is more on a day-to-day basis and I don't really like thinking too much about "future" and what not.  But something hit me lately.  I'm about to reach 34 this April of 2013.

You Will Always Be Dispensable

     Winter season has always been a hard time for factories.  Sales go down or absent.  I've seen companies seasonally close after Autumn and reopen during Spring.  I've also seen some companies that open only during Winter (calendar making factories, especially).

     My previous years here in Korea taught me a lesson not everyone accepts:  You will always be dispensable.  Many of my acquaintances got their head too big, claiming the factory will not last long without him/her.  Or at least the boss will go through a difficult time without him/her.

     Again, I have to keep telling this to everyone including myself:  You will always be dispensable.

Drug User: Do I really fit the stereotype?

     I bet the real illegal-drug users would say, "no" if they see me.

     I admit, I'm an addict.  An addict to cigarettes and an addict to coffee.  I know these and I'm not ashamed.  But one thing I know well is that I have never been, nor do I intend to be, an illegal-drug user.  The truth is, I hate drugs and that includes marijuana.  No matter the argument, it is still currently illegal.  No matter how many statistics or intellectual debates are shoved down my throat, it is still illegal.  Therefore; I hate it.  I hate it so much that anyone I know who's involved with such things, I'd definitely ditch them.  They make me really angry.

     But why such anger?

Winter Death

     I remember one of my dad's friends (who used to work here in Korea) slipped on ice and bumped his head.  He went into comatose and his family had to deal with a lot of expensive procedures, along with sending someone to pick him up from Korea to Philippines.  I believe he worked in Korea for more than a decade.  Probably close to 18 years.  But I don't think his family saved enough to cover half of the expenses.  I wonder, though, if he's still alive.  That was years ago.

     This afternoon, my co-worker was distraught after receiving a call.  His mistress slipped on ice and is suffering from hemorrhage (as of writing this blog).  He knows there's a big chance either she'll end up dead or "stupid"... I think he used that word just to make me understand him.

     Personally, I couldn't care less about how he feels.  It's his mistress.  I met her and her family several times, and I don't like how they talk and look at me.

     I'm more interested on how my superiors reacted to this.  I've been complaining about ice forming in front of the public bathroom but they just joked about it saying I cold learn ice skating on it... until now.  30 minutes after hearing the news, they scraped the said ice (it covers about 10sq ft) and spread some sand and some sort of gravel over the place.  They didn't even ask for my help.  And as I pass by, I hear them mumbling, "... scary... Jackson could die..."

Phone Etiquette Is Dying

     If there's one thing more annoying than a call from a telemarketer just as when you're at the peak of the busiest hour (there should be a law restricting their hours of business), it's the people who calls you first then asks who you are first.

     Dialing the wrong number is understandable.  It's a common error especially with the touch screens nowadays.  But I hate it when you get a call and immediately asked, "Who are you?"  I mean you're the one who called me, be it wrong number or not, I should be the one asking that question.  There are two things that makes this worse:

1.  Strong/impolite tone.  In English, it's all about how you say it.  The tone of voice delivers the question politely or not.  In Korean (and most Asian languages), there are honorifics.  "Eh, nuguseyo? (에, 누구세요?)" sounds a lot better than, "Nuguya!? (누구야!?)" 
2. Hanging up without a word.  Not even an apology.

     This is why I entertain telemarketers as much as their effort.  What they do is mostly a nuisance to me, but they're just doing their job, after all.  They open with a cheerful voice, you could see them smiling while talking.  And end up with a nice apology after telling them I'm not their target customer.

As for those interested on what I usually say, this is the common dialogue:

"Hello?"  (I always open with English greeting)

"Anyeonghaseyo blah blah blah"

"Chamkamanyo, cheon waegoogin yeyo (잠깐만요 전 외국인예요)"  (Wait, I'm a foreigner.)

"Ah, chueseonghaeyo... (아, 죄송 해요...)"  (and the rest of it towards hanging up)