[Korean Culture & Language] Tips for good 사회생활

 


Hello, this is Uptempo Marketers!


By now, you would know that 사회생활 in Korea is difficult. Work itself can stress you out, and having to 상명하복 and flatter your boss with 눈치 to be accepted and get approvals can make you feel burned out.

Below is a meme that gives ten tips on how to pretend to be busy working at work:

It reads:

  1. Call the clients twice,

  2. Sigh when you return to your seat from your break,

  3. Pretend to have a work-related conversation on the phone,

  4. Put on a serious face while scribbling with a highlighter,

  5. Talk as if you’ll be working late before you get off,

  6. Type anything with your keyboard,

  7. Look tired,

  8. Write something on paper.

  9. Pretend that you did not hear the first time someone calls you,

  10. Remember that the company meetings are just a show.

You might have noticed that the 3rd, 4th, and the 9th have ‘척 하기’ in each sentence. ‘척’ is ‘pretend,’ and ‘척 하기‘ means ‘to pretend’.

What kind of ‘척’ do you do at work?

Below is another meme that is titled “how to be good at 사회생활 (To be loved at work)”. 

-      Pretend that you are computer illiterate.

-      Pretend that you are slow even if you can finish the task in an hour

-      But you should be sweet, persuasive, and be on time.

This is clearly not the way to gain respect at work in the long-term. However, sometimes it seems like the bosses prefer sweeter and more persuasive workers over smarter, more hardworking workers. It might be interesting to try out the list once in a while, but if someone tries this for a long time, the title would become “How to get fired”.

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