Co-workers, as mama Gump might say, are like a box of chocolates; you never know whatcha' gonna get. You might have some slackers, a few complainers, a suck-up, a couple of busybodies, and what have you. However in my case my co-workers aren't a box of chocolates, but more like a bag of M&Ms; and I'm a Skittle.
Although it is less awkward now, back when I first started it was very awkward working with my co-workers. And here the reasons why:
- They are of different gender.
When they start talking about shopping or about how handsome and cute Hyunbin from Secret Garden is, I find it hard to chine in.
- They have different cultural background.
Even though I'm Korean and I've lived in Korea for the past year, it still not as comfortable speaking to Koreans than it is speaking to Americans.
- They are in a different age group.
The average age is probably around 40. The low is (I think) 27 and the high is (again I think) 55. So I have maybe 2 noonas, 2 emos, 2 ummas, and 1 boarderline halmanee.
- They have a different livelihood.
They are all wives and mothers. Yes even the youngest one of the bunch already has 2 children sooo....
But now it's a lot better. They've gotten used to my dead silence, with a comment here and there. And it's really not that bad because they're truly a group of nice and sincere people. Plus my manager is a hoot. She jokes around a lot which is how I like to be managed.
Although the movie itself was pretty awful, Evan Almighty had one memorable scene. In a nutshell, Evan's wife was doubting and reevaluating if she should continue to support Evan's building of the ark. Morgan Freeman, as God, posed these questions:
"Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"
I think this can apply to me. I deal with many many patience-testing customers everyday. So maybe God is giving me the opportunity to be patient and to be more loving. And I realize sometimes God answers our prayers but it's us who don't realize it.
Last week I was signed up for a volunteering program for which I do not recall volunteering for...but I didn't mind. Nara Bank has this program where we go to a public school in Jackson Heights and teach kids about saving money. And I think that's a good idea...for kids that aren't in kindergarten. I had to go into a kindergarten classroom with another Nara Bank employee from another branch so I never met this person before, was handed a big black garbage bag full of supplies and was told to go teach and paint. Besides being blindsided and unprepared, I had fun with it. The kids got little piggy banks to paint. I asked them what they wanted to save their money for and when one kid said toys the others decided toys were worth saving their money for. And most of the pigs turned out grayish even though they had a rainbow of colors (they mixed all the colors together) and when I asked one of them what kind of design he was doing, he cooly played it off by saying a Batman design.
Bonus Post
Nara Bank customers are very...they're so...I can't put an exact word for it but let me explain. It always seems like customers come in all together all at once. For instances, it will be dead quiet and then all of a sudden 5-6 customer will come in at once. Then after all their business is done and they leave it will get quiet again, and then 5-6 more customer come in at once. Strange you say? Well I KNOW why that happens. The customers will all congregate in the parking lot. No words are spoken, no eye contact is made. One by one random customers who don't even know each other will wait for one other until there is enough to start a line in the bank. Then with no signal they will together go into the bank and make my job harder. And then they get angry because they have to wait on line. I KNOW that's the reason. I just know. Those jerks.
So I've been working at the bank for about 2 months now. I'm still not fully familiar with the system. I'm about 95% there. Mondays and Tuesdays are the busiest days so all four tellers are working. The other days there are usually 3 tellers working and Saturdays only 2. Also, at our bank, there's no number or ticket system. There aren't poles with velvet ropes that create a line and there are no signs that light up above the teller's booth to notify the customers that they may come. We just say, "다음 분 오세요." (I kind of feel like I made it out to sound like it's a ghetto looking place but it's actually quite nice inside.) When it gets busy, people are very civil and form their own line. But since the day I started, I noticed something. When it's not busy and there's one customer that comes into the bank and they have a choice of which teller to go to; 95% of the time they never choose me.
Here are my reasons why:
1. I'm the new guy.
2. I'm a guy.
3. They're racist.
Let me elaborate on these reasons.
The first reason, I don't blame them. I mean even I would prefer to go to the familiar face. Also, because I'm the new guy, they feel maybe I'll be a little slower or I'll even make a mistake. Understandable, especially because Koreans are so impatient and hot-tempered. But a few more months of this and that reason is out the window.
The second reason, I'm not so cool with. There are a lot of 아저씨 customers. Therefore their hormones lead them to the other 3 female tellers. Understandable but still...c'mon.
The third reason is more of a hunch. Basically...I'm pretty dark for a Korean. That's it. I guess racist is kind of harsh haha.
Although there wasn't an overwhelming amount of followers requesting a follow-up to my blog about Korea, there was still a request (yes, singular haha). So I decided to make a new blog about my thrilling and amazing adventures at Nara Bank where I work as a teller. Okay, so maybe my choice of words for describing the job was a bit much, and I won't have as many exciting and frequent blogs I had about Korea, but who knows. Maybe I'll have an amazing story about a group of bank robbers coming in with automatic weapons and I courageously fight them off with my bare hands and the damsel in distress would fall for my bravery. But the more likely story would be some chump with a banana under his shirt punking me haha.
It's Something
They say sometimes getting a job is more about who you know then your credentials and experience. Haha that's how I got the job. The Service Manager at the branch is the mother of my noona at church. And even though, I had no prior interest in working at a bank, the opportunity came so I took it. It's something, you know. It's better to figure out my future while working then figure out my future sitting at home watching Korean Dramas all day.
