Next time you’re at the bank and they refuse to give you an international cash card, show them this column from last year’s Chosun Ilbo by Scott Burgeson. If you can’t read Korean, this is the English version (via the Korea Times), although the Korean version is obviously much more useful when dealing with Korean bank employees.
It’s probably helpful to post Scott’s comment on an earlier thread, too. At least I think he’d want me to:
The expat “community” here is so funny, and I find this whole bank card thing an interesting prism through which to view its often divided and self-defeating nature.
I was one of the first to write about this issue last May for the Chosun Ilbo (my story also appeared in the Korea Times). I posted a link on Dave’s ESL Cafe and encouraged all posters to copy the Korean-language edition and bring it into their local bank the next time they applied for an int’l debit card and were denied supposedly because there was some law against it. Showing some op-ed piece from The Korea Times is one thing (and easily ignored by non-English speaking bank employees), but showing a Korean-language article from the nation’s largest paper quoting as I did an official from the Ministry of Finance and Economy who stated very clearly “there is no law or regulation against issuing int’l debit cards to foreigners” is something else entirely. Indeed, many Korean bank tellers posted my story on their blogs, I was invited to speak on the matter at the local Rotary Club and the MOFE even mentioned my article the next time they met with Korean banks and made a point to tell them that there was no law or regulation against issuing these cards to expats.
My intention in the case of Dave’s ESL Cafe was to try to harness the power of the Internet as a means of activism in order to further the interests of the expat commnity here. I have no doubt that if a million expats all brought in that article last year to their local banks and called the banks on their BS, action would have been taken pretty quickly. But 6 months after I posted the text of my story on Dave’s and called for mass action, the number of posters who continued to keep complaining that “they couldn’t get an int’l bank card because it was illegal” was so large that I finally gave up. Despite the fact that I had definitively quoted a gov’t official on the matter in the nation’s largest paper, the endless stream of underinformed personal anecdotes by posters on Dave’s continued to cloud the issue and prevent any effective collective action even amongst the 500 or so regular posters and users of Dave’s.
Ditto for the Marmot’s Hole. For whatever his personal reasons are, Robert never links to stories I write, so I didn’t really expect him to link to my Chosun/Times story last year, but at the same time I kind of thought that it would be nice if he might set aside personal interests for once for the sake of the larger good of the expat community. The Marmot’s Hole is the most famous expat blog in Korea and I’m sure that if it encouraged its readers and other expat bloggers to approach this issue from a mass activist angle, there might be some sort of positive effect on this issue.
But no. I see that since I wrote that article, The Marmot’s Hole has linked to several other subsequent articles on the same theme in the local English-language press, and these threads in turn fill up with all sorts of anecdotes and personal complaints.
But it means NOTHING because it is all in English and decision-makers in Korea just don’t really care what gets said if they can’t see it in Korean before their own eyes.
So the lesson I draw from all of this is that the so-called expat community is just too divided by personal rivalies and animosities and individual self-interest to really come together for its greater good. And at this point I’m sick and tired of reading endless stories about the subject of int’l debit cards and reading endless personal anecdotes on the same theme. It’s pretty clear, I hope, how I think The Marmot’s Hole could more effectively serve the various interests of the local expat community (i.e., by being more activist oriented and less ideologically selective in terms of what it links to and posts on), but one thing is clear: All these threads and comments in English have absolutely no effect on Korea, Inc. except to allow people to vent and make themselves feel better. Sorry, folks, but Ban Ki-moon is not reading the Hole everyday.
As for me, I’ve given up on the local expat “community” because frankly I’ve seen that, time and time again, no such thing even exists.
Happy banking, y’all!
Anyway, Scott’s piece was quite good and could be of help.
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72 Comments
Okay people, let’s be the change we want to see! Let’s print this and put it in the hands of all bank employees and managers who refuse to help us.
regardless of what anyone says there is the way things are supposed to be
and the way they actually are
Scott:
No one pays attention to you because you are pretty much a dick.
The Big Chi — enough of that.
Robert, thanks for the link. Better late than never.
The Big Chi: So you are saying that Robert, MOFE, The Rotary Club, the 3-4 million readers of the Chosun Ilbo and the 40,000 readers of The Korea Times are all nobodies?
You must have a pretty high opinion of yourself to call all those people nobodies.
I don’t have a dog in whatever fight may exist between the King and the Marmot (and knowing Robert’s culinary proclivities, I hate using risky canine metaphors) but I’d love to hear them or a third party tell us why all this apparent bad blood flows.
My sense is that the King, with his ‘zine scene history and activist penchant, expects far more “netizen power”, mobilization, consciousness-raising and comprehensive coverage from the patch of cyber real estate that is The Marmot’s Hole than Robert really aspires to with his mix of shits, tits, giggles and occasional punditry.
I understand why the King might view the Hole as a squandered opportunity and resent the Marmot for that (and those flippant Karl Rove references) but I can certainly see Robert reminding us that he’s a guy with a small wardrobe of large Hanboks and a computer who never set out to be an opinion leader of any flock of expats.
He’s got a point.
How many people actually bother to find the appropriate phone numbers, whether it be the Immigration Office or the headquarters of their bank, and ask to talk to someone in English? I’m always amazed at the number of threads started on Dave’s ESL by people looking for answers they could have easily gotten answers to with a phone call (Don’t know the phone number? Use a damned search engine). Are people really that lazy and cheap? These people would have been chewed up alive in the pre-WWW days of Usenet.
Slim: good heavens, it’s like you have a crystal ball. Speaking as an interested observer, you have hit the nail right on the money (to mix metaphors). That is exactly my take on the situation.
Someguyinkorea: too right! My wife called me on the way to a job interview the other day and asked me to find out what the name of the company boss was. Three minutes with Google (it was a tough one because the company itself didn’t have a homepage, and it had a name similar to other companies). But yes, people should be trained/train themselves in how to look up basic info on the web. Rudimentary Korean (reading 한글) is sometimes all that’s needed. You can find subway timetables, bus route maps, highly detailed stuff all with the internet.
Seeing how you are complaining that people are not doing what you say they should, would you not call that not paying attention to you? The Burger King preacher is out there preaching every weekend and lots of people hear him. But, people aren’t paying attention to what he says.
Your sense of entitlement–people must do what I say, Robert must post a link to my article, that Itaewon bookstore sucks because they refuse to stock my book–and your superiority complex–I got this quote from such and such minister, I wrote about this a long time ago, I have the first webzine in Korea, is the reason for the name calling. You can write well, you have done some really great things that you rightly should be proud of. Just stop telling everyone about it every three sentences…
#9: Good to see you’ve got your attention focused on the main issue at stake here.
And for the record, I’ve never asked, let alone demanded, Robert link to any of my stories ONCE, even though I know him personally.
I’d also like to know what minister I interviewed, because I’m afraid I was never there myself for such a great privilege.
You are obviously a troll with a personal grude and until you can come out from behind your cowardly cloak of anonymity, I see no reason why I should even take you seriously.
You are splitting hairs but here you go:
Oh excuse my typo. Official from a ministry….
“Robert never links to stories I write, so I didn’t really expect him to link to my Chosun/Times story last year”
I own the bookstore that will not stock your book (not because I don’t like your book or any dislike I have for you). “Cowardly Cloak” removed….
‘I own the bookstore that will not stock your book (not because I don’t like your book or any dislike I have for you). “Cowardly Cloak” removed….’
ok, then why?
#11: Ah yes, there is always a backstory to these kinds of things.
You are the guy who told the marketing team of my Korean publisher, “We don’t carry books published in Korea.” Bad business move if nothing else, because my publisher, Eunhaeng Namu, published “How Koreans Talk” which is probably the all-time bestselling English-language book about Korea.
And you are also the guy who opened right across the street from Abby’s Book Nook so that you could parasitically draw off customers from them.
Yes, now I understand everthing perfectly. I’m not afraid to call out a lousy bookseller when I see one and as I recall, a majority of people agreed with me when I posted on Dave’s and called into question your dodgy business practises and poor customer service.
Anyway, you can do whatever you want and like I said, I don’t really care about this whole debit card thing anymore. I got mine relying solely on my own wits, and at this point I can only wish good luck to the rest of the expat community here as far as banking services are concerned.
I’m done!
1. I opened 100 meters past Abby’s Book Nook. If I was trying to steal her customers with your line of thinking, I would have opened before her store not after it. FYI her ex-husband who I was friends with helped me plan my store. I put her out of business with other dodgy business practices–better selection, better trade ins, better and consistent prices and hell I actually keep posted store hours.
2. I do not carry books from Korean publishers for two reasons. One, I am an import bookstore. I only deal with imports. Two, Korean publishers are way below the industry standard on the discount they give booksellers. I would better off putting my money in a savings account.
But of course, you are much much smarter and know more about the book business than I can ever dream to know. I have no idea what I am doing and just got lucky….
Oh shit that exchange was awesome! King Baeksu needs to hang out here more often. I love seeing a people get told!
what is it about the cat fights here recently? could it be the fishbowl that is korea just ain’t big enough for the two of you (and that lawyerly dynamic duo we see pulling each other’s hair these days)?
#14: The only reason you won out over Abby’s Book Nook is because Peter had to leave the country due to family problems. Every long-term expat here knows that Peter was a far cooler bookseller than you’ll ever be.
For the record, any expat bookseller in Korea that does not carry books published in Korea sucks. Your commitment to Korean culture has zero credibility.
You may be a smart bookseller who knows how to turn a profit, but I am of the opinion that books are about more than just the bottom line.
You are the Barnes & Noble of It’aewon, and that is by no means a compliment.
Inability to find the book in the Itaewon import bookseller is no problem! I have Scott Burgeson’s book. It’s annoying shit written by a too-precious nitwit. Anyone who wants it can have it free — just come over and pick it up.
This reminds me of Henry Kissinger’s quote on the Iran-Iraq War …
PS: Real book worms relished the chance to visit two book stores of an afternoon.
#18: Coming from a right-wing ambulance chaser who thinks the New York Times is written and published by a bunch of “liars,” I take that as a fine compliment, sir.
I like the Burgeson book I have quite a lot — I think it’s one of the best written by an expat on topics of interest. “Too-precious nitwit” is not an epithet I would apply to him at all; perhaps to shallower expat authors who seagull into Korea and try to cash in by writing a book.
Before we get TOO off topic, I’d like to point out that I had a conversation in KEB teller and pointed out that no such law existed, and even though she seemed clueless to just about every OTHER aspect of my inquiry as to whether my intl ATM card would work or not, she seemed well aware of the fact that yes, in fact no such law existed.
She apologized and said that it was unfortunately a part of their bank’s policy and was there anything else I could help you with, sir?
Again, she just works there, doesn’t make the rules. But I think the point about it being indeed company policy and not the law seems crystal clear to KEB employees, at least.
#22: Metro is correct, which is why I have always argued that once it has been clearly established by everyone that there is no such law, the next step for expats is to determine which banks here are discriminatory by choice and to avoid them en masse.
Hana and Nonghyup seem to be the least discriminatory towards foreigners at this point, at least as far as int’l debit cards are concerned.
I heard he’s going to wrap himself in a Korean flag for his next opus.
Scrolling down through the comments on the related thread, one could easily make a list of which banks do and don’t give out international debit cards and credit cards to foreigners. As for mass action forcing banks to change their policy, well, good luck with that. Foreign nationals comprise a whopping 2% of the population, and the well-heeled with hefty bank accounts already get breaks.
I agree that Burgeson’s book is good; he’s the too-precious self-importance presenting as an annoying shit.
#25: Sonagi you are right which is why I said I gave up on this issue a long time ago. Plus the constant irrelevant sniping by the likes of The Big Chi, B. Carr, Sperwer et al only underscores my original point about the fractious and often petty nature of the so-called expat community here.
#26: Dude, if you could actually string together a coherent sentence in English, I might actually care enough to try to work out whatever cute little put-down you’re trying to make. Anyway, I hope you feel better about yourself now after letting all that out.
YOU certainly don’t sound self-important with your condescending pronouncements from on high, do you?
‘YOU certainly don’t sound self-important with your condescending pronouncements from on high, do you?’
of course, i wouldn’t want to get in between two expats duking it out but am so glad someone else can see too.
King Baeksu better be careful.
The Big chi is gonna get his netizen army to attack and ridicule his life. Remember that guy with the blog that lived in Korea and then moved to China?
Why is the Big Chi so angry anyways? Haven’t been on a whoring trip to Thailand for a while?
King Baeksu does things in Korea that others dream about….boo hoo hoo.
If you’re an expat in Korea and you become successful within the Korean sphere then you’d better be ready to take it from all fronts. You are, after all, a sellout.
I shouldn’t need to remind you that when whales fight, shrimp get crushed, pawi.
Furthermore,
To the met: if you received bad service from a bank, why don’t you just withdraw your money and find a new bank?
I had horrific service at Woori. I was denied a bank card and I was denied a long-term savings account (wtf). I politely told them to withdraw all of my cash so that I could walk across the street to the Nonghyup in order to open up an account with them. Best decision I’ve ever made.
“all-time bestselling English-language book about Korea.”
I thought that was by Lonely Planet….
I kinda like Scott’s stuff. His website has some good articles. However, I do recall him talking about “low quality foreigners” teaching in Korea on eslcafe.com a while ago. I think perhaps he has a bit of a swelled head, or maybe he’s become too Korean. I really don’t know why a former homeless person thinks he’s so “high quality.”
Re#27 bis: I’d already keened that you’re witless, but I was unaware you’re a mental midget. I stand corrected.
#30: It’s news to me that I was once a “homeless person.” Let me guess, you read that on the Internet so it must be true, right?
My definition of a “low-quality foreigner” is one who is either so retarded or so ADHD-addled that they cannot even work out what the actual topic of this thread is.
I agree that there is no shortage of ‘em here!
I don’t want to talk about bank cards, I have used both Hana and Nonghyup for years without a problem. I want to talk about what sort of massive ego you must have to be able to categorize people as “low quality” and how that makes you sound like, at best, a grumpy old adjushi and, at worst, a Nazi.
#33: I have commented several times on unqualified ESL teachers here and how they give trained professional foreign ESL teachers here a bad name by reflection. Is this what you are referring to?
I must say that it certainly requires a massive ego to think that you know me well enough to call me a homeless Nazi.
What I can see with how this thread is going is that The Big Chi allowed his self-interested namecalling to derail this entire thread at the start, and a majority of subsequent posters blindly followed his lead.
A fascinating study in group-think indeed.
‘I shouldn’t need to remind you that when whales fight, shrimp get crushed, pawi.’ slim
well, then i suggest you lay low, slimmy.
‘at worst, a Nazi.’ mr mao to k baeksu
why is he a nazi? because he made a general statement about expats? are expats nazis when they make general and negative statements about koreans? that’s what i thought. careful who you call a nazi.
If my store is such crap, why did your publisher want to place your book there? Why after I told her no thank you did you then contact me directly? Teach your publisher about capitalization on paragraphs when writing business letters too. First time I ever had a “^_^” sent to me on company letter head!
I will say this once again, I am an import book store. Thus, I am not trying to show people Korean culture. That’s for Seoul Selection to do. You are nothing but an argumentative twit who belittles anyone who does not agree with your line of thinking. I have no idea if you book is good, but I will never read it because of the drivel you constantly write in places like this.
Calling me the Barnes and Noble of Itaewon is a very nice compliment. Thank you.
You hitting refresh every four seconds bud?
“If my store is such crap, why did your publisher want to place your book there?”
Because we were unaware of your anti-Korea book policy until we contacted you. Now we know.
You call people “dick” unprovoked and then dismiss them because they’re “too argumentative”?
I remember when I came into your store and you referred to a customer you were dealing with online in similarly abusive language to me.
Please spare me the lectures about proper ettiquette, OK?
Finally, this is Korea, the normal language of business here is Korean so your snide comments about my publisher’s punctuation or paragraph formatting in English is the really height of arrogance.
pawi - You’ve been shrimp paste since about 2003 and every inmate in this asylum, including King Baeksu as recently as this month, has had his/her way with you at will. As undignified as his thread’s argument has been, YOU could learn style points from it.
“anti-Korea book policy”
Dude, is a foreign restaurant anti-Korean because it doesn’t serve Korean food?
Heck, what if a Korean opened a Korean book only store in LA…Does that make the owner anti-American?
“Because we were unaware of your anti-Korea book policy until we contacted you. Now we know.”
Stupidest thing I ever read on here. I think what you wanted to say was “anti-Korean Publishers”.
Whatever, Mr. Professional. I work with plenty of people with multiple degrees. Big deal. Nobody cares about some course you took 15 years ago.
“why is he a nazi? because he made a general statement about expats? are expats nazis when they make general and negative statements about koreans? that’s what i thought. careful who you call a nazi.”
Whatever again. I don’t talk to “low quality” people.
Not that I would tell anyone how to run their own business, but I think that I have just learned it would behoove me not to spend great amounts of effort in public attacks whilst operating a business targeting the very public that may witness said public attacks.
At the very least, it may tarnish one’s public (and corporate) image, and could possibly cause potential customers, many of whom may be completely unaware of the objects and motives behind said personal attacks, to take their business to others who do not have so obvious a chip on their shoulder. As my daddy said, “When you sling mud, you lose ground.”
(On a side note, I just placed a significant order for import books at Yes24. I DID comparison shop, and I could have supported the littler guy (usually I would) and actually saved about 5-10k, but this (and other exchanges like this) made me think twice. That’s the honest truth.)
“flock of expats”
It’s a shrewdness of expats.
“And for the record, I’ve never asked, let alone demanded, Robert link to any of my stories ONCE, even though I know him personally.”
This isn’t technically asking, but it comes close:
#6, well written. The truly humble Marmot is very likable and readable because there is no air of self-importance in his informative writings.
King Baeksu (and Metropolitician) may sometimes have a useful message, but it often gets overshadowed or squashed by their supersized egos.
holy moly– and I though Pawi and I were duking it out– all about women the other week. In comparison, we’re the best of friends. What do you say about grabbing a few brews and reminiscing, Pawi? Your country or mine? Since I’m actually a women stealing, dope-smoking Canadian, maybe it’s best if we met in my country, at least it’s neutral ground.
Next time I need to buy a book, I’ll be sure to buy it from the sweet old ajashi down the street… at least I can haggle about the price of books since I usually buy 10 or so at a time and get a better credit return than $1 on a book I paid $6 for when I bring 20 or more books back every month.
I (you’ll love this Pawi, but since I’ve been ex-communicated, you’ll never know), I doubt I’ll be making the trip to Itaewon to be buying any books there. Thanks for the insight, boys.
There are a lot of people who have commented in this thread in very petty ways… Those of us who infrequently visit Korea are more likely to eschew contact with all of you than takes sides…
Regardless of who started it…
‘pawi - You’ve been shrimp paste since about 2003 and’ slim
you keep records on me. you must like shrimp paste. i don’t keep records on you. read between the lines.
‘Whatever again. I don’t talk to “low quality” people.’ mrmao to pawi
you just did, guy! i think you need to be careful since i have put you on my watch list for possible excommunication with or without special features. mrmao, few people ever recieve such an infamous distinction. you don’t want to be next, do you?
King Baeksu? Do you respect me? If you don’t, you lied. I seem to have differing opinions and believe what I believe.
In general, you seem like a nicer guy on your board than here.
Take a moment, and reflect on why that is.
The Godwin’s coefficient on this board is very low.
Dick swinging is way pettier and nastier than a catfight. Keep on swingin’, boys!
I hope you guys took “sectarian, partisan, prejudicial, and rude tendencies of Koreans” off of your list of things you can’t stand about Korea.
Not that I condemn the little display of strife here; I actually think it’s healthy and informative in a weird way. I just couldn’t pass up the chance to point out that a lot of the characteristics Koreans are notorious for, are in fact universal. Big surprise.
45: It’s: a lewdness of expats. Use your spell checker next time!
I have lots of Korea books in my store. Korea books published by main stream and independent US and UK publishers.
Yes, it is Korea and the normal language of business is Korean. If I need to contact a Korean vendor, I have a Korean do it because I do not know the proper etiquette, usage and formatting of Korean and ^_^. If you are going to use this argument make sure you do not make a comment about someone else’s writing on the same page.
What informative writings?
“In general, you seem like a nicer guy on your board than here.”
WJK, most people who comment on my site have read my work and comment on that, rather than calling me names or misrepresenting my position on things (like MrMao, etc.).
I keep trying to talk about the issues but what I see here is a lot of people focusing on my personality and what they think about it despite the fact that they hardly know me.
But even without my presence here, The Marmot’s Hole is infamous for its nastiness so I don’t think the problem is that I’m not a nice guy. I am friends with one of the regular thread posters and he says he never comments on threads because of the generally nasty nature of the commenting that often goes on here. And as I recall there was even a comment sheriff here a while back because things got so bad. I don’t recall other K-blogs needing a comment sheriff and I’ve certainly never had one myself.
What I see is that people who don’t want to talk about the issues prefer to make personal attacks and that includes on me. Well, whatever, if people want to do that that’s their choice, but when they misrepresent my record then I feel I have the right to correct that. How would you like it if you were a well-known public writer and someone called you a “former homeless person” as if it were fact or someone called you an egomaniac because you had bragged about interviewing a minister when you had never even said such a thing?
I don’t know, I go out of my way not to comment on things I don’t know anything about and I go out of my way to make sure I understand someone else’s position before I try to summarize it or comment on it, but I cannot see that certain commenters here take the time to do the same thing themselves.
The last thing I will say here is that another commenter in another thread yesterday asked me for a link to my Chosun story on bank cards and I actually told them it was out-of-date at this point and would recommend they not use it, so I don’t see how that is begging or demanding Robert link to it.
In real life I agree that Robert is a very nice guy and we get along quite well personally. We’re even koch’u ch’ingu!
Baeksu,
Why do you use an outdated Romanization system?
-cmm
on topic:
When I arrived in this country 3 years ago, I walked into Woori Bank with my boss with only my passport and opened an account. A few weeks later, after I’d gotten my Alien Registration Card, I went back to the bank and got an International debit card. I’ve used it without any problems in Beijing, Shanghai, Manila, London, Hong Kong… in fact, I’ve never had any problems with it (other than the period around 11PM or midnight when my debit cards don’t work). Anyway, Woori Bank has worked well for me.
By the way, any idea why debit cards don’t work around 11PM or midnight in bars??
#61: You mean the one that most Western academics prefer to keep using? Although I lean towards MR, I tend romanize Korean words exactly as they sound.
I’m sure you’re a charmer in real life, but clearly the Internet is not your medium - kind of like Nixon on TV.
#64: No, The Marmot’s Hole is not my medium.
Glad you understood what I was trying to say in #60 so well. I must say, however, that I have never been compared to Nixon before and it is somehow a strange thrill!
“Finally, this is Korea, the normal language of business here is Korean so your snide comments about my publisher’s punctuation or paragraph formatting in English is the really height of arrogance.”
Guess you didn’t read one of the more recent articles that would state otherwise…
Most of the Expat CEO’s I know do all their major business in English
I kind of wished i had read the comments to this piece before linking to it on my site. At the time I thought this was an informative/helpful bit of information that was simply swept under the rug because lots of people, expats and pats alike, simply don’t take the time to read that much. Instead I find a pissing contest.
Anyways, since I’m mildly amused by all of this, I’ve decided to fan the flames.
Everybody here sucks and you all came to Korea to pick up easy Korean chicks and smuggle in opium through your ass cheeks.
Discuss amongst yourselves.
If any good can come of this thread, I hope that homeless Nazis will no longer have to suffer in silence as the world becomes aware of their plight.
Robert,
WTF, man? Why did you open this space to this kind of drivel. The guy makes a complete ass of himself with that first comment, and then you give him more airtime? On the one hand, I say your sense of fairness knows no bounds. On the other, I say the only thing you succeeded in doing is allow the guy to clog up your bandwith with crap.
i’ve found yes24 to be the best way to buy books in korea hands down. fast, decent selection, online and cheaper than any walk-in bookstore i’ve used in korea.
this is due to a scheduled systems change at that time. from my understanding, everything is “frozen” for a short time while the computers run some processing. it’s usually over in thirty minutes and then cards work again.
in lieu of any pictures of the ladies, it’s amusing to see this kind of banter in the fishbowl.
Making fun of silicone boobie Barbies with rearranged faces and the near-sighted men who ogle them is more fun than spectating as the King spars against a circle of opponents while the Marmot watches from the sidelines.
Wow, I should check out the Hole more often. There are a couple of red flags waving here. Idealism check: There’s no cohesive expat community for a number of reasons. What do a lot of non-Koreans have in common apart from not being Korean? Very little. Hence, there’s only minimal incentive to band together for the greater good, even if good things could potentially result. There’s no nucleus. There’s also a great deal of geographical isolation in being an expat here, as well as a lot of transience (especially lately). This makes it difficult to form and maintain friendships, to cultivate networks, and so on.
This ATM card issue was my last straw. Granted, I’ve gotten an international ATM card from Standard Chartered, and I’ve set up an account in Singapore as further insulation from this bullshit. So there are work-arounds. Why not spend some time trying to publicize these in addition to agitating for activism? I think the heavy lifting is going to fall on the shoulders of those who are invested in long-term tenure here. Not everyone’s in Korea for the long haul (myself, I can’t wait to GTFO; I’m below the 4-month mark now) and I hate to see people put at financial risk because of this clusterfuck of collusion, incompetence, and discrimination.
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[...] Here’s the full article written in English. You may want to get the Korean version also to bring to your bank if you try to get an international banking card. My opinion; since most tellers speak little to no English it’s probably easier to just brush us off, illegally, than it is to accommodate us. (via the Marmot’s Hole) [...]
[...] the issue a little further. As luck would have it, there was a post at The Marmot’s Hole here (do a search, lazy ass*) where, if you filter through the *sigh* petty bickering in the comments [...]