RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Sitting in a huge, 3 level coffee shop. One of the few in my city that opens early. 2 other customers in the whole place. Probably 80-100 free seats on this level. I never choose prime seating by the window as they attract the most people. Sitting in peace, mentally preparing myself for the day. Some absolute **** chooses to sit right next to me. Out of the other 100 vacant seats, he has to sit within a meter of me.

No that's not all, this pos starts watching a video on his phone, while not at full volume, still without headphones. And he slurps his drink.

I love hearing people's reasons for invading others' personal spaces without having any rhyme or logic to it, haha. What do you think? Maybe it was HIS spot, where he'll sit no matter what's going on as long as it's free. Maybe he was making some weird power play and trying to see if he could get you to move. Or maybe he just really liked the look of you and wanted to be close. ;)

This is like those guys who slide up to use the urinal next to yours, even when there are plenty of other free ones.

Is the urinal thing a big issue for you?

Probably because Chinguetti is female

Is the urinal thing a big issue for you?

For me? No. I don't generally sneak into men's restrooms to use their urinals.

But it's a recurring complaint I hear from the men in my life, lol.

https://medium.com/@chrishiggins/an-explanation-of-urinals-and-urinal-culture-66dc3cd0364b

I travel a lot.
It works everywhere else.
Most Canadian banks no longer require reporting.
It’s just at Tim Horton restaurants - the biggest coffee shop chain in Canada.

In the U.S., a lot of the big chain stores and shops require banks to sign some type of agreement in order to accept their charges.

If Canada works in a similar way, it could be that KEB-Hana failed to sign the agreement with Tim Hortons. So then the business can't recognize that charge card as coming from an accepted or legitimate bank.

Or something.

Not to be brusque, but there is no way that system of doing things could ever work.  It would be impossible to set up.  If they have agreements with Visa or Mastercard or some other umbrella organization that takes care of the leg work.  Can you imagine Tim Horton's or any other corporate entity having to sign agreements with every bank in the world?

Sitting in a huge, 3 level coffee shop. One of the few in my city that opens early. 2 other customers in the whole place. Probably 80-100 free seats on this level. I never choose prime seating by the window as they attract the most people. Sitting in peace, mentally preparing myself for the day. Some absolute **** chooses to sit right next to me. Out of the other 100 vacant seats, he has to sit within a meter of me.

No that's not all, this pos starts watching a video on his phone, while not at full volume, still without headphones. And he slurps his drink.

And you laughed at me for buying traffic cones. Bet you wish you had some now.

This is the post.

I travel a lot.
It works everywhere else.
Most Canadian banks no longer require reporting.
It’s just at Tim Horton restaurants - the biggest coffee shop chain in Canada.

In the U.S., a lot of the big chain stores and shops require banks to sign some type of agreement in order to accept their charges.

If Canada works in a similar way, it could be that KEB-Hana failed to sign the agreement with Tim Hortons. So then the business can't recognize that charge card as coming from an accepted or legitimate bank.

Or something.

Not to be brusque, but there is no way that system of doing things could ever work.  It would be impossible to set up.  If they have agreements with Visa or Mastercard or some other umbrella organization that takes care of the leg work.  Can you imagine Tim Horton's or any other corporate entity having to sign agreements with every bank in the world?

This is exactly how an old high school job of mine worked, and it was with a pretty big chain. We couldn't get a customer's card to work, there was no apparent reason for it, the customer was super angry and wanted an explanation because apparently it wasn't on the bank's side, we did some digging, and that's what we learned after making lots of phone calls for about an hour.

I don't know the 'ins and outs' of it, but it does happen, and for different reasons. The financial world is far more complicated than most consumers realize. Some big businesses want or need that extra thing of a thing, no matter what logo is on the card, because it has something to do with other agreements they might have, and they need to have all their bases covered. It could be something as simple as that, and it may not be consistent from one region or country to the next.

I know it sounds impossible and illogical and counterintuitive, but trust, this isn't even the most ridiculous thing I've come across or learned about how different financial institutions and big businesses work or fail to work with each other.

But it's a recurring complaint I hear from the men in my life, lol.

I find that when I walk into the male toilet at school and all four urinals are occupied, I start to mark out my territory by pissing around the four teachers at the urinals, as a sign of dominance.  'That's my bit, alright'.  Or if I know that one of the teachers taking a leak is more of an alpha-male than me, I stand by the door and do my business without taking my trousers down, and as they walk past, seeing I pissed myself, I get the sympathy look.  Winz all round!  I take it as my immense popularity at my school that the teachers are always talking about me.  *happy face*

Is the urinal thing a big issue for you?

For me? No. I don't generally sneak into men's restrooms to use their urinals.

But it's a recurring complaint I hear from the men in my life, lol.

https://medium.com/@chrishiggins/an-explanation-of-urinals-and-urinal-culture-66dc3cd0364b

I think most of us have had experience with at least one ajjoshi trying to sneak a peek and compare sizes. The biggest complaint about urinals is the layout of the bathroom. For some reason, almost every bathroom in Korea was designed by people who suffer from exhibitionism.
At my Friday school, decide to use the urinal and should/when someone opens the door, the (rather busy) hallway is going to witness you holding your foreskin.

... Really, Korea.

But it's a recurring complaint I hear from the men in my life, lol.

I find that when I walk into the male toilet at school and all four urinals are occupied, I start to mark out my territory by pissing around the four teachers at the urinals, as a sign of dominance.  'That's my bit, alright'.  Or if I know that one of the teachers taking a leak is more of an alpha-male than me, I stand by the door and do my business without taking my trousers down, and as they walk past, seeing I pissed myself, I get the sympathy look.  Winz all round!  I take it as my immense popularity at my school that the teachers are always talking about me.  *happy face*

What happens when two alphas of similar strength and power enter?

For some reason, almost every bathroom in Korea was designed by people who suffer from exhibitionism.
At my Friday school, decide to use the urinal and should/when someone opens the door, the (rather busy) hallway is going to witness you holding your foreskin.

There's this public restroom in a popular recreational area of my city where the urinals are placed by the door right where everyone can see them and in full view of anyone  passing by (it's angled in a weird way so you're going to see it even if you're looking straight ahead). No problem, just keep the door shut, right?

The door is made entirely of glass. The only way you're not going to see something you don't want to see is to literally look in the opposite direction as you're walking on by, haha.

But it's a recurring complaint I hear from the men in my life, lol.

I find that when I walk into the male toilet at school and all four urinals are occupied, I start to mark out my territory by pissing around the four teachers at the urinals, as a sign of dominance.  'That's my bit, alright'.  Or if I know that one of the teachers taking a leak is more of an alpha-male than me, I stand by the door and do my business without taking my trousers down, and as they walk past, seeing I pissed myself, I get the sympathy look.  Winz all round!  I take it as my immense popularity at my school that the teachers are always talking about me.  *happy face*

What happens when two alphas of similar strength and power enter?

Then it's like a David Attenborough nature program about two Silverback males fighting for dominance of the toilets.  You just have to sit back and marvel at the sheer brutal strength of nature.  One has to lose, and he's out of the pack.  I only have to look at the computer teacher now to get them to cower. 

There's this public restroom in a popular recreational area of my city where the urinals are placed by the door right where everyone can see them and in full view of anyone  passing by (it's angled in a weird way so you're going to see it even if you're looking straight ahead). No problem, just keep the door shut, right?

I noticed this kind of thing more in Japan, especially when I was in Hiroshima years ago.  In the Peace Park, there are these toilets, where there are no doors and you can just watch people straining the greens in full view.  Being a prudish Brit, I didn't what to do with myself, so following protocol, I called the queen straight away and wondered what I should do.  She didn't answer. 

What happens when two alphas of similar strength and power enter?

Then it's like a David Attenborough nature program about two Silverback males fighting for dominance of the toilets.  You just have to sit back and marvel at the sheer brutal strength of nature.  One has to lose, and he's out of the pack.  I only have to look at the computer teacher now to get them to cower.

You mean something like this with a double urinal between them for maximum efficiency?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUy4zrDUcDE

What happens when two alphas of similar strength and power enter?

Then it's like a David Attenborough nature program about two Silverback males fighting for dominance of the toilets.  You just have to sit back and marvel at the sheer brutal strength of nature.  One has to lose, and he's out of the pack.  I only have to look at the computer teacher now to get them to cower.

You mean something like this with a double urinal between them for maximum efficiency?

 

I mean, how do you even practice for that?  Does your family rough you up at the dinner table before you've started your chips?  Also, who would go and watch a face-slapping contest?  To be fair, they have the wife-carrying championships in Finland, so maybe out of curiosity I might pop along if I'm in the area. 

I mean, how do you even practice for that?  Does your family rough you up at the dinner table before you've started your chips?  Also, who would go and watch a face-slapping contest?  To be fair, they have the wife-carrying championships in Finland, so maybe out of curiosity I might pop along if I'm in the area. 

Best part? One of the reigning slapping champions is a guy named Dumpling. He's the bearded guy in that vid.

I want to believe that 'competitive slapping' started in the seedy underbelly of men's restroom disputes and evolved from there, but who knows. Training methods are probably also super secret.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evewxm/competitive-slapping-is-the-worlds-greatest-sport

I mean, how do you even practice for that?  Does your family rough you up at the dinner table before you've started your chips?  Also, who would go and watch a face-slapping contest?  To be fair, they have the wife-carrying championships in Finland, so maybe out of curiosity I might pop along if I'm in the area. 

Best part? One of the reigning slapping champions is a guy named Dumpling. He's the bearded guy in that vid.

I want to believe that 'competitive slapping' started in the seedy underbelly of men's restroom disputes and evolved from there, but who knows. Training methods are probably also super secret.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evewxm/competitive-slapping-is-the-worlds-greatest-sport

There must be some advantage to having some kind of beard like his, surely? 

It was a part of the Siberian Power Show—which included bodybuilding, powerlifting, dance offs, and a dumpling eating contest

Hmmm, given the choice, I'd go for the dance off.  And anyway, don't these Russians have anything better to do than beat each other silly, lift heavy objects, show off their muscular bodies, stuff their faces and then dance around?  What would the Korean equivalent involve?  An event where they don't hit each other for fear of paying 'blood money' and they just shout louder and louder until the other person backs down?  A contest post-dinner for sucking their teeth?  The loudest person wins. What a spectator sport that'd be. 

Sitting in a huge, 3 level coffee shop. One of the few in my city that opens early. 2 other customers in the whole place. Probably 80-100 free seats on this level. I never choose prime seating by the window as they attract the most people. Sitting in peace, mentally preparing myself for the day. Some absolute **** chooses to sit right next to me. Out of the other 100 vacant seats, he has to sit within a meter of me.

No that's not all, this pos starts watching a video on his phone, while not at full volume, still without headphones. And he slurps his drink.

I love hearing people's reasons for invading others' personal spaces without having any rhyme or logic to it, haha. What do you think? Maybe it was HIS spot, where he'll sit no matter what's going on as long as it's free. Maybe he was making some weird power play and trying to see if he could get you to move. Or maybe he just really liked the look of you and wanted to be close. ;)

This is like those guys who slide up to use the urinal next to yours, even when there are plenty of other free ones.

Is the urinal thing a big issue for you?

Probably because Chinguetti is female

That’s why I asked.

It's funny how some KTs try to force their preferences onto you and try to call it a "discussion." And then accuse you of not listening to their side of the "discussion" when you disagree with them and push back.

FYI, just because you don't get your way doesn't mean no one listened to you. You were heard. No one agreed with you. You get your way like 90% of the time. Have a little grace, stop stepping on toes, and accept this loss. It's time to move the **** on already.

It's funny how some KTs try to force their preferences onto you..

Actually, I feel a little bad today about my co-teacher and her test scoring.  I really like her, but I'm a bit annoyed with the Korean thing of everybody scooting off in the afternoons after the test, whereas I don't go home.  She wrote a fairly open-ended writing question, with the assumption that I would help her score it.  Our English test was the first one on Tuesday last week, so basically you can score on the 채점 system from the afternoon.  Our test period finished on Friday, which is four half-days at school for teachers.  But all the teachers disappear off every day, which is fine, I have a lot of other work to do as we have our English festival next week.  So yesterday, she came and asked if I could help, I said 'last week, I had time, when you went home every day, this week I don't have time'.  She seemed to accept that, which is fine.  I mean even on Friday she went off to a coffee shop all afternoon with another teacher and left her car in the car park.  It's been a long semester and I have less time for this kind of bollocks.  Still love my co-teachers and school, mind, just tired. 

The principal has taken it upon herself to replace my usual summer week of desk-warming with teaching 10 돌봄 (essentially free daycare at school) classes to 17 1st and 2nd graders with an old contract teacher who can't speak English.  The class had already been set up as a daycare, subscribed to with no reference to English and staffed accordingly. Now I've got to take responsibility, make the 10 lesson plans and lead the classes.

The principal has taken it upon herself to replace my usual summer week of desk-warming with teaching 10 돌봄 (essentially free daycare at school) classes to 17 1st and 2nd graders with an old contract teacher who can't speak English.  The class had already been set up as a daycare, subscribed to with no reference to English and staffed accordingly. Now I've got to take responsibility, make the 10 lesson plans and lead the classes.

That is really sh*t.  Any chance of refusing?

The principal has taken it upon herself to replace my usual summer week of desk-warming with teaching 10 돌봄 (essentially free daycare at school) classes to 17 1st and 2nd graders with an old contract teacher who can't speak English.  The class had already been set up as a daycare, subscribed to with no reference to English and staffed accordingly. Now I've got to take responsibility, make the 10 lesson plans and lead the classes.

That is really sh*t.  Any chance of refusing?

I've put some thought into it but it doesn't seem so. I contacted the go-between at our office of education because I wanted to check if teaching 1st and 2nd grade is kosher and was told it's fine because it's not in the regular semester.

Real-time update: looking at the calendar I'm considering booking the week as vacation instead. Hopefully it's not too late...

*A phone-call is happening* I completely blanked on the fact that I have 13 days vacation in Summer to spend in stead of the old 9! Fingers crossed...

The principal has taken it upon herself to replace my usual summer week of desk-warming with teaching 10 돌봄 (essentially free daycare at school) classes to 17 1st and 2nd graders with an old contract teacher who can't speak English.  The class had already been set up as a daycare, subscribed to with no reference to English and staffed accordingly. Now I've got to take responsibility, make the 10 lesson plans and lead the classes.

I've had to do that most vacation periods at my school without a coteacher. I don't mind it so much to be honest. 5 mins of teaching, 30 of activities.  The 돌봄 teachers (0 English) are pretty good at keeping them well behaved.