My Second Article

NOTE: This is my second article for the Communicator. It should appear this Wednesday (the 2nd of February). Those of you that have read "The Benefits of Knowing Half-Assed Korean" already know this story, but this is a much more concise version. I hope you enjoy.

I had been in Korea for three months when I tried to barter with the man at Yongsan Electronics Market. I was proud of myself, because this time I was planning to bargain in Korean: no more of that pseudo-English bartering that I did when I bought my mp3 player. No, this time I was prepared.

I was convinced that I’d get a better deal this way: so convinced, in fact, that I told the man I was from France when he asked. I rifled through my head for a more believable nationality, Italian…Greek maybe, but French was the only semi-believable one I knew how to say in Korean. French was good enough. He won’t try to speak English to me now, I thought.

When I expressed interest in a camera, the first thing he did was tell me that I didn’t want that one. “Too old,” he said, “this one is much nicer.”

“But it’s too expensive,” I said. “I don’t have enough money.” Truth be told, I did have enough money; it’s just that I didn’t want to spend it.

“It’s much nicer,” he said, and changed the menus from Korean to French for me. “You should look at it.”

I managed to navigate through the menus with my less-than-perfect French (the first time all those French classes paid off). It was nice, but still more than I wanted to spend.

“It’s too much,” I said. “Give me a discount, and I’ll buy this one.”

“No,” he said. “It’s already very cheap. I can’t give you a discount.”

But when I got up to leave, he sat me back down and said he’d go ask his manager what he could do. At the time, I was convinced that he just walked around the corner and did nothing. This suspicion was confirmed when he gave me his business card at the end of the transaction. He was listed as the manager: he didn’t have to go ask anyone.

“Okay,” he said when he came back. “I’ll give it to you for 420,000 won,” a little less than $400. It was a big discount from his initial price of 450,000 won, but it was still too expensive. I told him so.

He proceeded to show me the features again: he took a picture of the fan behind him and made a big deal about the fact that you could see every blade even though the fan was spinning fast. Any camera can do that if you set it right, I thought, big deal.

“Give me more of a discount,” I said, or more literally, “more discount give.” That’s how you say things in Korean.

“I can’t,” he said. “It’s already too cheap.” Again, I got up to go, and again, he sat me back down. He gave me another 10,000 won off.

“Please,” I said, “More of a discount. It’s still too much. We’re friends, right? You can give more a discount to a friend.” I was sure that I had said this wrong, but he seemed to understand. He gave me 5,000 won more off.

“Okay,” I said and handed him the money. I was still 5,000 light, making it a round 400,000 won, but I told him it was all I had. Really, it was true: I only have 400,000 on me, but there was a bank machine a few feet away, and a quick swipe could have gotten me another million.
I paid and began to leave, but he stopped me. “That’s the friend price. We’re friends now. Come back to this shop next time you need something,” he said and smiled.

I walked away with my camera, happy with the fact that I saved 50,000 won. I was doing well for myself.

When I got home, I wanted to see exactly how much I had saved, so I got on the computer and compared prices online: $350 here, $300 there, and finally I found it for $270. I had just paid about $370 for it. My deal wasn’t quite the deal I thought it was. I was a little disappointed.
Then I thought back to the mp3 player I had bought a month before. I wonder how much I got ripped off then, I wondered. That transaction was all in English using only a calculator to show prices. There were no discounts that time.

I found it online at a few retailers: $180 here, $175 there. I had paid less than $100 for it. I got my deal, just not on the item that I thought I’d get it on.

So much for getting a bargain when I tried to speak in Korean—and it took me a half an hour to figure out how to set my camera’s menu to English from French.