Following the devastation of World War II and the Korean War, Korea was on par with many countries in Africa in terms of development, or lack thereof. The explosion in economic growth, industry, technology and standard of living since then is nothing short of a miracle . . . in fact, it's known as the "Miracle on the Han River."
Despite this progress, I am sometimes baffled by the inefficiency I see here. I think it might have something to do with the 3,770 won an hour minimum wage (equivalent to USD 3.28 an hour). Really, who is going to work their butt off for that kind of money? It leads to companies hiring far too many people. You'll often walk into a restaurant and see three or four waiters just standing there. As one friend of mine put it, there's a culture of running around and trying to look busy without actually doing anything. I feel that businesses would be better off hiring half as many people who are twice as competent and paying them twice as much.
For example, today Laura and I stumbled upon an ice cream shop that actually served milkshakes, an item she had been seeking for some time. These are the steps that the employee took to create our milkshakes:
1) Put a blender jar on a scale.
2) Fill the blender with milk, presumably weighing it.
3) Walk over to the freezer, get a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and walk back to the blender.
4) Walk over to the freezer, get a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and walk back to the blender.
5) Walk over to the freezer, get a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and walk back to the blender.
6) Walk over to the freezer, get a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and walk back to the blender.
7) Walk over to the freezer, get a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and walk back to the blender.
8) Walk over to the freezer, get a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and walk back to the blender.
9) Walk over to the freezer, get a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and walk back to the blender.
10) Walk over to the freezer, get a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and walk back to the blender.
11) Blend.
12) Unequally distribute the resulting milkshake into two plastic cups.
13) Serve.
Seriously, she made eight trips to the freezer. You don't need to weigh the ingredients! Just eyeball it! Especially since the shake we got had way too much milk in it anyway.
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2 comments:
If the Koreans are that stupid, how come they move to America and dominate in any job get into and you idiots end up looking for work for employment in Korea?
If you ever learn Korean better, you'll get to know that Koreans make fun of you Westerners because you haven't figured out how to get to your wives/girlfriends. Your women control you idiots, so leave the Koreans alone and go see what she wants you to do next.
This is true, Anonymous. Korean immigrants dominate most every Quicki-Mart in the States, and Korean women seem to do most of the work.
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