RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Is it normal for Korean shops to not let you try on clothes? Some native teachers and I went to a Korean clothing store but weren't allowed to try on clothes even though there were 2 changing rooms there one of which was free. 

Is this a common occurrence? Has anyone faced something similar?

One of my friends obviously got very upset with this and rightly so! We went out of there and spent our money elsewhere!

Is it normal for Korean shops to not let you try on clothes? Some native teachers and I went to a Korean clothing store but weren't allowed to try on clothes even though there were 2 changing rooms there one of which was free. 

Is this a common occurrence? Has anyone faced something similar?

One of my friends obviously got very upset with this and rightly so! We went out of there and spent our money elsewhere!

I've had this happen to me. I waited in line to try on some clothes and when I got to the front of the line a staffer ran over and shooed me away. This wasn't in a small town either, this was in the COEX mall.

Is it normal for Korean shops to not let you try on clothes? Some native teachers and I went to a Korean clothing store but weren't allowed to try on clothes even though there were 2 changing rooms there one of which was free. 

Is this a common occurrence? Has anyone faced something similar?

One of my friends obviously got very upset with this and rightly so! We went out of there and spent our money elsewhere!

I've had this happen to me. I waited in line to try on some clothes and when I got to the front of the line a staffer ran over and shooed me away. This wasn't in a small town either, this was in the COEX mall.

I think I'd very loudly say (in Korean) that Koreans can smell bad too. See how they liked the implication turned around on them.

I've had this happen to me. I waited in line to try on some clothes and when I got to the front of the line a staffer ran over and shooed me away. This wasn't in a small town either, this was in the COEX mall.

Oh I am sorry to hear you had to face the same thing! I knew foreigners couldn't get into "Korean Exclusive" clubs but this is a new level of low 

I think I'd very loudly say (in Korean) that Koreans can smell bad too. See how they liked the implication turned around on them.

Oh is this the reason why they don't let you try on clothes? That's just absurd! 

I don't think people just sleep on the rock itself. At least my parents in law have a 5-6cm thick latex thing on it. It's pretty okay to sleep on it that way.
But guess what, they turn on the heating function even in summer! 

a cooling function would be nice. the heating/cooling feature makes more sense. i just thought it was a slab of stone

anyone notice how much koreans love getting ripped off?

MIL just spent 3,000,000won on an small, uncomfortable sofa and low-quality wardrobe. absolutely insane

shopping around for mattresses few years back, the average price was about 3m - and they were basically rock-hard

duvet sets are 200k in my local bedding store (and terrible quality). err, what?

even when shopping for a donovan-ajeossi thsirt for my FIL, they seemed to be 100k+. it's literally a polo shirt. who buys this shit?*

*apart from donovan's wife

There seems to mark up, or apparent mark up here, that happens on loads of things.  My father-in-law bought me an ajeoshi sweater for my birthday with the tag still in it, needless to say, it was pricey.  Red wine as well, you'll find it priced as 150 000 won but reduced to 20 000 won, but when I checked online it was always 20 000 won.    I would take a wild guess that Koreans don't know much about wine so will just think as it was 150 000 won, that it is the price that is more important, even if not a true price.

guess it comes down to the old 'if it is expensive, it must be good' way of thinking

retailers must love korean consumers

anyone notice how much koreans love getting ripped off?

MIL just spent 3,000,000won on an small, uncomfortable sofa and low-quality wardrobe. absolutely insane

shopping around for mattresses few years back, the average price was about 3m - and they were basically rock-hard

duvet sets are 200k in my local bedding store (and terrible quality). err, what?

even when shopping for a donovan-ajeossi thsirt for my FIL, they seemed to be 100k+. it's literally a polo shirt. who buys this shit?*

*apart from donovan's wife

There seems to mark up, or apparent mark up here, that happens on loads of things.  My father-in-law bought me an ajeoshi sweater for my birthday with the tag still in it, needless to say, it was pricey.  Red wine as well, you'll find it priced as 150 000 won but reduced to 20 000 won, but when I checked online it was always 20 000 won.    I would take a wild guess that Koreans don't know much about wine so will just think as it was 150 000 won, that it is the price that is more important, even if not a true price.

Yeah. There's also the 'Korean brand is premium item' but 'foreign import brand also premium item' mindset. The consumer marketplace was super insular until very recently, and nobody ever really considered that the prices of Korean furniture and clothing were ridiculously inflated.

Then came IKEA and all the furniture companies flipped out and protested the big foreign devil for coming in and disrupting the market (despite IKEA Korea's prices still being higher than IKEA in most other markets).

Also, affluent older people (anywhere really) are notorious for not necessarily being savvy shoppers.

you're probably right about the 'korean brands are best' thing. not necessarily korean (i think a lot of countries do this. i know the UK does for certain things) but it seems to be a good selling point and a way to put a huge premium on goods (just look at how much samsung products cost in korea!)

i suggested going to IKEA, but MIL didn't want to. i guess people also like convenience - the local furniture shops will deliver it to your house whatever time/date you want, put it where you want it and probably take the old one away

i think a lot of people are also savvy and know they are being ripped off in korea. a lot of people are unaware and are shocked at how cheap things are abroad. my MIL would fall into this category. 200k for a shitty duvet is literally the norm, and how much she has always paid

I've had this happen to me. I waited in line to try on some clothes and when I got to the front of the line a staffer ran over and shooed me away. This wasn't in a small town either, this was in the COEX mall.

Oh I am sorry to hear you had to face the same thing! I knew foreigners couldn't get into "Korean Exclusive" clubs but this is a new level of low 

I think I'd very loudly say (in Korean) that Koreans can smell bad too. See how they liked the implication turned around on them.

Oh is this the reason why they don't let you try on clothes? That's just absurd! 

I think I remember another poster saying the reason why foreigners were not allowed to try on clothes was becuase they were thought to "stretch them out" due to different body shapes and sizes.

anyone notice how much koreans love getting ripped off?

MIL just spent 3,000,000won on an small, uncomfortable sofa and low-quality wardrobe. absolutely insane

shopping around for mattresses few years back, the average price was about 3m - and they were basically rock-hard

duvet sets are 200k in my local bedding store (and terrible quality). err, what?

even when shopping for a donovan-ajeossi thsirt for my FIL, they seemed to be 100k+. it's literally a polo shirt. who buys this shit?*

*apart from donovan's wife

There seems to mark up, or apparent mark up here, that happens on loads of things.  My father-in-law bought me an ajeoshi sweater for my birthday with the tag still in it, needless to say, it was pricey.  Red wine as well, you'll find it priced as 150 000 won but reduced to 20 000 won, but when I checked online it was always 20 000 won.    I would take a wild guess that Koreans don't know much about wine so will just think as it was 150 000 won, that it is the price that is more important, even if not a true price.

Yeah. There's also the 'Korean brand is premium item' but 'foreign import brand also premium item' mindset. The consumer marketplace was super insular until very recently, and nobody ever really considered that the prices of Korean furniture and clothing were ridiculously inflated.

Then came IKEA and all the furniture companies flipped out and protested the big foreign devil for coming in and disrupting the market (despite IKEA Korea's prices still being higher than IKEA in most other markets).

Also, affluent older people (anywhere really) are notorious for not necessarily being savvy shoppers.

you're probably right about the 'korean brands are best' thing. not necessarily korean (i think a lot of countries do this. i know the UK does for certain things) but it seems to be a good selling point and a way to put a huge premium on goods (just look at how much samsung products cost in korea!)

i suggested going to IKEA, but MIL didn't want to. i guess people also like convenience - the local furniture shops will deliver it to your house whatever time/date you want, put it where you want it and probably take the old one away

i think a lot of people are also savvy and know they are being ripped off in korea. a lot of people are unaware and are shocked at how cheap things are abroad. my MIL would fall into this category. 200k for a shitty duvet is literally the norm, and how much she has always paid

I got my duvet from homeplus on sale for 40,000 won down from 65,000~ won. It's really comfortable too
I don't really bargain shop. Other than food and video games, I buy things as I need them, and I'll use them until they need replacing. Which for me can be a long time. I'm still using t-shirts from 8 - 10 years ago because they still fit and don't have holes in them haha.

You know them Nescafe dolce gusto coffee machines that are like a very reasonable w80-100k at most retailers? Well when I was out and about the other day I saw the equivalent Samsung/LG coffee machine for w1.3m. Just one of them Pod capsule ones. Not a fancy one with steam frothers and a morning BJ.

The best and only place to buy bedding used to be Homeplus. You can find some mom and pop stores kicking around that sell bedding essentials at a reasonable price and good quality but definitely stay away from any big branded bedding store they are practically stealing.

The other day I bought a 500ml bottle of samdasu water for w850. 2 years ago they were w500. Things are really starting to sky rocket here.

Is it normal for Korean shops to not let you try on clothes? Some native teachers and I went to a Korean clothing store but weren't allowed to try on clothes even though there were 2 changing rooms there one of which was free. 

Is this a common occurrence? Has anyone faced something similar?

One of my friends obviously got very upset with this and rightly so! We went out of there and spent our money elsewhere!

This happened in multiple ways, though I'm suspecting it's a practice that's starting to die out.

1 - I wanted to buy a dress shirt, store wouldn't let me try it on. They said I could buy it, take it home, try it on,
    and return it if it didn't fit

2 - Wanted to buy a rather expensive guitar (USA deluxe strat) at Nakwon music plaza in Seoul. The guitar was
     a little over 2mil won. Guitar shops, all over the world, are more than happy to let customers try as many
     guitars as they like, play for hours and only buy when they're really ready as the feel and sound of a guitar
      are pretty much the sole determining factors of buying it! The guy didn't even want to let   
     touch the guitar, let alone try it. He wanted to keep it "new" He said I could pay for it then play it... What the
     f*ck is the point of that? I was feeling rather spiteful so I gave him the money, played two notes,
     told him I didn't like it and took my money back. I bought the same guitar at another shop and waved my
     new guitar at him as I walked past.

3 - A bit unrelated, but happened yesterday. I was walking home and needed just one tomato, was making   chicken
     tortillas for supper. On old lady was running a small vegetable shop and she had a bowel of tomatoes (not in
     sealed packet, individual tomatoes) displayed outside her shop. I told her I wanted one tomato and she
     refused, saying I couldn't buy just one. I walked away, reaffirmed in my belief that the reason so many
     Korean private businesses and mom 'n pop stores can't compete with Lotte as SOLELY their fault.

Capitalism and it's economic model are still quite new in Korea, it'll take another generation or so before good business practice, relative to Capitalism, becomes common sense.
Simply by souring the mood of a customer, the guitar shop lost a couple hundred thousand won in profit.
That lady , running a tiny business, could've at least made something selling one tomato and more importantly, potentially gain a regular customer, but her stubbornness made sure she gained neither. Since the tomatoes were sitting in the sun, it's critical she sells them fast. I'd also potentially tell this story to others in the vicinity causing even more people to avoid her store, all because she didn't want to sell a single tomato. 

I don't think it's got much to do with xenophobia or racism, though it does happen, it's more:

- a lack of business common sense
- fear of taking initiative and thinking on the spot
- rigid and binary thinking, inability to think outside the "rules"

I've also never understood why those fruit and veg sellers on the sidewalk scowl at me when I walk past. Like they have never once smiled at me or tried to offer me something. Even when I'm lurking in the shadows they just sit there miserable waiting for the customer to come to them. Not a great business strategy. Why are they like this? Did they used to smile at customers and try to sell their tomatoes? Have they just given up on life?

I hate those noist trucks selling marshinnun dalgeez but at least they put some effort in. 

i suggested going to IKEA, but MIL didn't want to. i guess people also like convenience - the local furniture shops will deliver it to your house whatever time/date you want, put it where you want it and probably take the old one away

If you can stand the experience of an IKEA in Korea, then you deserve to get cheap stuff.  IKEA in Gwangmyeong was one of my worst shopping experiences ever.  Packed with a million people and filled with screaming kids.  It's like going to E-Mart in Yongsan on a Saturday afternoon, holy sheet!   

yea, i went on a sunday once (hell) but another time on a weekday evening (bliss). they close at 10pm i think, and it was smooth sailing from about 830pm.

i suggested going to IKEA, but MIL didn't want to. i guess people also like convenience - the local furniture shops will deliver it to your house whatever time/date you want, put it where you want it and probably take the old one away

If you can stand the experience of an IKEA in Korea, then you deserve to get cheap stuff.  IKEA in Gwangmyeong was one of my worst shopping experiences ever.  Packed with a million people and filled with screaming kids.  It's like going to E-Mart in Yongsan on a Saturday afternoon, holy sheet!   

yea, i went on a sunday once (hell) but another time on a weekday evening (bliss). they close at 10pm i think, and it was smooth sailing from about 830pm.

Or get there early enough to get first dibs on taking a sofa nap.

i suggested going to IKEA, but MIL didn't want to. i guess people also like convenience - the local furniture shops will deliver it to your house whatever time/date you want, put it where you want it and probably take the old one away

If you can stand the experience of an IKEA in Korea, then you deserve to get cheap stuff.  IKEA in Gwangmyeong was one of my worst shopping experiences ever.  Packed with a million people and filled with screaming kids.  It's like going to E-Mart in Yongsan on a Saturday afternoon, holy sheet!   

NO!  Most IKEA shit is on Gmarket for a 20% mark up.  I will gladly pay the mark up to avoid the experience that is IKEA!  We bought all our baby stuff via Gmarket.  No travelling, no walking, no queueing, and delivered to our door.  WIN!

i suggested going to IKEA, but MIL didn't want to. i guess people also like convenience - the local furniture shops will deliver it to your house whatever time/date you want, put it where you want it and probably take the old one away

If you can stand the experience of an IKEA in Korea, then you deserve to get cheap stuff.  IKEA in Gwangmyeong was one of my worst shopping experiences ever.  Packed with a million people and filled with screaming kids.  It's like going to E-Mart in Yongsan on a Saturday afternoon, holy sheet!   

For added hell, you can do the lunch-time hell combo of Ikea and Costco.

IKEA is great before 10am or after 7pm. You can just stroll in and not even much of a line for the food court.

Speaking of IKEA, the last time I was there around 12pm, I raised my voice [wife said I shouted] to some woman over a parking incident. Was sitting with hazard lights on close to a space, waiting on a couple loading their car. See an Avante rolling up from the opposite direction and thought they better not be trying for my space. Sure enough, the car I'm waiting on reverses out but Avante has rocked up opposite me preventing me from reversing. Now, the bay is empty, I see mystery car has moved forward and trying to reverse in but I just reverse faster and beep at the car for attempting to mug me.
Woman in the Avante gets out of the car and comes over and bitches that she's been trying a long time to find a space [maybe, don't drive around in circles and just wait]. I respond that I was already there waiting for the space and she just rolled past and attempted to beat me to the space.

Speaking of IKEA, the last time I was there around 12pm, I raised my voice [wife said I shouted] to some woman over a parking incident. Was sitting with hazard lights on close to a space, waiting on a couple loading their car. See an Avante rolling up from the opposite direction and thought they better not be trying for my space. Sure enough, the car I'm waiting on reverses out but Avante has rocked up opposite me preventing me from reversing. Now, the bay is empty, I see mystery car has moved forward and trying to reverse in but I just reverse faster and beep at the car for attempting to mug me.
Woman in the Avante gets out of the car and comes over and bitches that she's been trying a long time to find a space [maybe, don't drive around in circles and just wait]. I respond that I was already there waiting for the space and she just rolled past and attempted to beat me to the space.

That same thing happened to me, just replace IKEA with Emart, car with shopping cart, parking lot with elevator, and yelling with dirty looks.

Is it normal for Korean shops to not let you try on clothes? Some native teachers and I went to a Korean clothing store but weren't allowed to try on clothes even though there were 2 changing rooms there one of which was free. 

Is this a common occurrence? Has anyone faced something similar?

One of my friends obviously got very upset with this and rightly so! We went out of there and spent our money elsewhere!

Yeah, it always happens to me at those smaller Korean-owned places. Bigger retailers like Lotte won't usually care though.

I just get around it by playing the "dumb foreigner" card and just going to the change room anyways, trying on the shirt without them asking, haha. I don't wear any make up and by the time they notice I've already tried it on 

Is it normal for Korean shops to not let you try on clothes? Some native teachers and I went to a Korean clothing store but weren't allowed to try on clothes even though there were 2 changing rooms there one of which was free. 

Is this a common occurrence? Has anyone faced something similar?

One of my friends obviously got very upset with this and rightly so! We went out of there and spent our money elsewhere!

Yeah, it always happens to me at those smaller Korean-owned places. Bigger retailers like Lotte won't usually care though.

I just get around it by playing the "dumb foreigner" card and just going to the change room anyways, trying on the shirt without them asking, haha. I don't wear any make up and by the time they notice I've already tried it on 

Wait - is this actually a common thing? I've been told I can't try something on exactly three times in eight years, and in two of those cases I realized there was a sign saying that I couldn't try on that thing, after I asked.

That seems really frustrating.

I'm so confused though about all this. Why even have changing rooms if you won't allow people to use them??

Speaking of IKEA, the last time I was there around 12pm, I raised my voice [wife said I shouted] to some woman over a parking incident. Was sitting with hazard lights on close to a space, waiting on a couple loading their car. See an Avante rolling up from the opposite direction and thought they better not be trying for my space. Sure enough, the car I'm waiting on reverses out but Avante has rocked up opposite me preventing me from reversing. Now, the bay is empty, I see mystery car has moved forward and trying to reverse in but I just reverse faster and beep at the car for attempting to mug me.
Woman in the Avante gets out of the car and comes over and bitches that she's been trying a long time to find a space [maybe, don't drive around in circles and just wait]. I respond that I was already there waiting for the space and she just rolled past and attempted to beat me to the space.

That same thing happened to me, just replace IKEA with Emart, car with shopping cart, parking lot with elevator, and yelling with dirty looks.

My significant other and I were going to Costco and some woman literally walked her physical body and stood in the parking spot that we were pulling into, saying she had it reserved. And I just leaned out the window and asked if she was a car. And then she said no, and we pulled in and she got out of the way because parking spots are for cars and she was not a car. And then she tried screaming at us.

But what if she was a transformer?! WONT SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE TRANSFORMERS!?!
But for realsies, this kind of behaviour is really stupid.

Back in the day, when I worked at a supermarket, I'd occasionally be a trolley boy. This one night, this lady came up to me with her trolley, when I was taking a full load of trolleys - so I couldn't take anymore, and asks me to take it for her. I mentioned I'm already pushing my physical limit of them, so please take it to the nearest trolley bay (which was literally about 2 - 3 meters from where we were standing (would have taken like 5 seconds). Instead, she puts it behind a car she was standing by, as they tried to back out. The driver got out of his car, went a put that trolley behind her car, while she was trying to back out. She stormed over to me and blamed me for doing that, and went and complained to the manager about my actions. Each time, the manager tried asking me for my side of the story, she'd cut me off. By the end of it, she was like: "I'm not leaving until I get an apology." I said: "I'm sorry that you put your trolley behind a car that was trying to back out, and that the driver of that car, just moved the trolley behind yours, and that you are blaming me and wasting both my own, and my co-workers / bosses, work time over this."

Turned out, we were sold out of her favourite brand of cigarettes, and she had been going spaztic at all our employees over that. :\

Speaking of IKEA, the last time I was there around 12pm, I raised my voice [wife said I shouted] to some woman over a parking incident. Was sitting with hazard lights on close to a space, waiting on a couple loading their car. See an Avante rolling up from the opposite direction and thought they better not be trying for my space. Sure enough, the car I'm waiting on reverses out but Avante has rocked up opposite me preventing me from reversing. Now, the bay is empty, I see mystery car has moved forward and trying to reverse in but I just reverse faster and beep at the car for attempting to mug me.
Woman in the Avante gets out of the car and comes over and bitches that she's been trying a long time to find a space [maybe, don't drive around in circles and just wait]. I respond that I was already there waiting for the space and she just rolled past and attempted to beat me to the space.

That same thing happened to me, just replace IKEA with Emart, car with shopping cart, parking lot with elevator, and yelling with dirty looks.

My significant other and I were going to Costco and some woman literally walked her physical body and stood in the parking spot that we were pulling into, saying she had it reserved. And I just leaned out the window and asked if she was a car. And then she said no, and we pulled in and she got out of the way because parking spots are for cars and she was not a car. And then she tried screaming at us.

But what if she was a transformer?! WONT SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE TRANSFORMERS!?!
But for realsies, this kind of behaviour is really stupid.

Back in the day, when I worked at a supermarket, I'd occasionally be a trolley boy. This one night, this lady came up to me with her trolley, when I was taking a full load of trolleys - so I couldn't take anymore, and asks me to take it for her. I mentioned I'm already pushing my physical limit of them, so please take it to the nearest trolley bay (which was literally about 2 - 3 meters from where we were standing (would have taken like 5 seconds). Instead, she puts it behind a car she was standing by, as they tried to back out. The driver got out of his car, went a put that trolley behind her car, while she was trying to back out. She stormed over to me and blamed me for doing that, and went and complained to the manager about my actions. Each time, the manager tried asking me for my side of the story, she'd cut me off. By the end of it, she was like: "I'm not leaving until I get an apology." I said: "I'm sorry that you put your trolley behind a car that was trying to back out, and that the driver of that car, just moved the trolley behind yours, and that you are blaming me and wasting both my own, and my co-workers / bosses, work time over this."

Turned out, we were sold out of her favourite brand of cigarettes, and she had been going spaztic at all our employees over that. :\

The moral: always have a backup brand.