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Looper's Delight
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howdy, as a Natural gas service rep in the Tacome/olympia area of washington state, I found myself entering a LOT of Korean households. The parents were gone to tend the family business, the kids were off to school. There would be one lone old family matriarc in the house and she always looked very intimidated. I first learned to carry a pair of clogs with me so I could remove my shoes at the door area, step into my clogs and honor that custom. Then I bought a couple korean language books and studied. Whenever I went to business that was Korean owned, I'd ask them how to say different words and phrases, then write them down. Soon I was able to greet the stooped elderly grandomthers in the traditional AND RESPECTFUL MANNER, AND ASK THEM QUESTIONS ABOUT THIER APPLIANCE PROBLEMS USING YES/NO QUESTIONS. AS SOON AS i ENTERED THE HOUSE, GREETED THEM IN THeiR TRADITIONAL MANNER, AND TOOK OFF MY SHOES, DROPPED THE CLOGS AND STEPPED INTO THEM ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE THRESHHOLD, YOU COULD see the apprehension just melt away from these elderly women. i am not fluent but I learned enough to show respect and gain the trust of these households to the point that when they'd call the gas company they would request me by name. word spread throughout the korean community and I soom found myself responding to practically ALL the call outs with an oriental name. the other techs didn't care and were boorish and condescending to these grandmothers and my small effort did a large service to our reputation. I have relocated and now work at a titanium wheelchair factory. I now have to pick up Ukranian and spanish skills as when talking about a problem with their machine, there is a language barrier. But you can bet your ass I'm going to learn. Not ALL of us americans are alike. (sorry about the cap lock) Rig --- Nemoguitt@aol.com wrote: > > In a message dated 6/23/07 5:29:40 AM, > rs@moinlabs.de writes: > > > > Don't these > > Americans ever learn a single (foreign) language > in their lifes? > > > > 9.....:) > > > > www.ct-collective.com > http://mysite.verizon.net/vzepmeci/ > http://www.myspace.com/klobuchar11 > > > > ************************************** > See what's free at http://www.aol.com. > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. http://travel.yahoo.com/