And suddenly… there's internet at home. And it's as if there had been no waiting, no inconvenience, and… isn't it nice that you have internet at home? Oh, Korea is so good at giving fast, broadband internet to everyone, isn't it?
Um. Yes… if you're willing to wait. And wait. And argue. And wait. And complain. And wait some more.
I think waiting somehow works differently, from a sociological/psychological standpoint, here. It's not that Korean people don't ever feel impatient. It's that Koreans seem to forget, instantaneously, ever having felt impatient, once the need or expectation for which they were waiting is satisfied. And so waiting is a problem only in the present. The experience of having had to wait, once in the past, doesn't change or alter in any negative way one's current perceptions. Waiting is not something that lingers after the fact like a bad aftertaste, as it does in the Westerner's imagination: where we then exclaim, with righteousness, "oh, I'll never do that again, because that waiting was unpleasant!" The waiting is utterly and immediately forgotten. What do you mean, it was a problem? It worked out, didn't it? How could there have been any problem? Oh, you are so strange, can you be never satisfied?
Hmm. As I continue to think this through, perhaps the issue isn't that Koreans wait differently, it's that they don't form resentments or regrets in the same way. This is a promising perspective…. And it may be that by looking at it this way, I can understand better a small part of what it is I find appealing about the culture. A culture in which resentments don't form? Is that possible? Isn't resentment something innate in human nature?
There are different kinds of resentments, obviously. Many (if not most) Koreans clearly resent the Japanese occupation, for example. Many also like to resent the continued presence of US troops. But no one seems to resent having been kept waiting by a service provider. I mean… not one resents it, after the fact. Of course, they will complain and carry on to no end, in the time while they are still waiting. But after? Not at all? You mean there was a problem?
No one resents being told they have to work late today (when such a thing happens). Yes, at the moment, I see the resentments. The reactions. But it's so quickly forgiven. So quickly forgotten.
What is the difference? Ah… is it, maybe, about in-group / out-group, again? Offences on the part of members of the in-group (fellow Koreans, coworkers, service providers with whom you've been forced to interact repeatedly) are quickly forgiven, while offences on the part of members of the out-group are NEVER forgiven. Unforgiveable, even.
I don't know. I'm just thinking "out-loud" here, I guess.
OK. Enough of ranting on with inappropriate cultural stereotyping.
The good part: I have internet, now. I wonder what kind of annoying thing will appear on my next bill? Ah well. It's just money, right?