Things that happened at the restaurant

It's been officially two weekends since I started working at the Korean restaurant! Congrats to me, because it's still super awkward between me and the son... I don't really know how I survive through the awkwardness and quietness between me and the son, the rest of his family, and the chefs when I eat dinner with them at night.

Okay, I lied, I do know how I am surviving every minute of it haha. And it's because surprising things happen to me while I work!

So, because the restaurant is one of two Korean restaurants in the area, a ton of the local Koreans come to eat at the one I work at (which is called Garden House). I personally think Garden House tastes a lot better in general than the other restaurant, and it's a bit cheaper. What I'm trying to say is, A LOT of Koreans come and I know A LOT of them.

Every time I work I see at least one person that I recognize, and it makes working so much more bearable! And I love talking with them and just having that small talk.

So one time, I saw my uncle (technically my mom's older cousin) and at first he didn't recognize me. Probably because our family has gotten into a bit of a situation with his and we haven't been visiting them unfortunately (LOOOONG and COMPLEX STORY). He was with his friends and when I noticed that he was free, I slyly walked over and asked he if remembered me with a smile. Laughter broke the ice and he said of course! We talked for a bit, just catching up and before he left, I told him that I missed Isabelle, Charlie, Adam, and Ethan (My nieces and nephews who I just call cousins / his grandchildren) and promised him that I would visit his house during Christmas when they're all going to be there! I really wish my family wasn't gay at times and didn't hate on each other. (Last year we didn't go over their house once!) It's not my problem if they don't like them. I still love them even though I've expressed some of my issues in the past. But I grew up and changed and I'm going to show them my love by visiting the kids this year for Christmas! Anyway, we said bye and I just felt really good that I made that promise on my own will.

Another time, I saw the back of a really tall guy come in with his family and I was like "shut up you're so loud" in my head and got worried that the restaurant was going to get really noisy. But he turned around and when we made eye contact, we immediately started to laugh! He was one of my friends from college who recently graduated. We got close when we both went to a trip to Vermont hosted by the Korean Student Association that I'm a part of. I remember, we both sat down on the floor next to the speakers playing the music and we kept on playing underground and old Korean hip hop songs and rapped to them together. People got mad that we were playing old 1TYM songs over and over, but that's how we became friends after. It was just really nice seeing him again :)

The most recent day that I was working was this past Saturday. I was standing around as usual, trying to look pretty with a smile and then a pretty big group came in. I assumed that it was a family and their sons' friend that tagged along. From observation, I concluded that there were two older brothers, both were probably around the age of 18, their young sister maybe 10 years old, and the brother's friend who was around the same age as them. As soon as they walked in, all of the boys stared at me and looked away immediately (LOL). They sat down and since they were the only customers at the time, I had nothing to do but look in their direction if they needed anything. But I noticed that the oldest boy kept on trying to steal looks in my direction the entire time. I thought that it was so funny since I've never seen someone actually try to do that so blatantly over and over again. He wasn't bad looking or anything either! He was the tallest, really tan, had a nice nose, and his style was the typical style that a lot of Asian boys pull off with the flat rimmed hat, fitting shirt, gym shorts, and nice basketball shoes or whatever. But I didn't really care and enjoyed the attention that I was getting from this 18 year old and his brother and friends.

The funny thing is that I recognized that 18 year old... I felt like that I met him maybe 5~7 years ago when I used to go the Korean School at the church that's close to the restaurant. I really think I met him there at that church, maybe he was even in one of my classes? And it's reasonable for me to think that he goes to that church too since everyone, besides me, who when to Korean school there also went to that same church on Sundays. Another ahjusshi customer came inside and knew that family. He started to talk to that 18 year old and I could hear everything that he was saying and I found out that the boy was going to be a freshmen at college soon. I only heard a part of the college name, and omg there was a very high possibility that he was coming into the same school as I was! I really thought that I might know him/will get to know him soon. And I'm right because on Facebook I was looking at my friend's pictures (who goes to that church that I was talking about) and she was taking a picture with that same 18 year old! And I stalked a little and my  intuition is just too good. He's going to be a freshmen in the same school that I go to and I probably did meet him before at that church.

Kid, I know your name and face now, hopefully you won't remember me if we ever meet face-to-face at school or even in a KSA meeting. It would be too weird lol.

The funniest thing that happened to me at the restaurant was actually during the first week I was there. There was a huge group of ahjummas and ahjussis that come together to eat and celebrate something. Anyway, this one, short ahjumma wanted to secretly pay for everything and she came up to me to do so. She asked me in Korean:

"Are you new here? I've never seen you around."
"Yes I'm new"
"How old are you?"
"I just turned 20."
"혹시, are you dating the owner's son over there?!" (she had the sneakiest face on when she asked that!)
"Oh no, no, no! I just work here with him!" (EW NO, NEVER IN MY LIFE)
"Did the they (the owners and the son) possibly pick you?" (they used the Korean word go-shyo which is like... a strong word for picking selectively... And I could so tell that she meant if they go-shyo'ed me based on looks)

"Uh, no..."
"I see, I see... DO YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND?!?!"
"Ahh, no! I'm single..."
"You SURE that you don't have a boyfriend?"
"YES."
She then left with a smile on her face.

Seriously, she was too much! lol



Then 20 minutes later she come back inside again and I was already sitting down and eating with everyone. The ahjumma came up to me and then asked me for my name. Thank god the owner spoke for me and then they talked for a bit. I think the ahjumma was just trying to get more information about me!

She finally left and they all started to make fun of me thinking that the ahjumma thinks I'm pretty and wants me to date her son or something! NO!

I was honestly a little scared to go back to work the next time, but so far, I haven't seen her around! If she ever comes back with a young looking guy, I'll be sure to lie and be like, I was kidding back then I'm actually married.

But I'm kind of happy that she asked me that, it made me feel good, won't lie about that. Maybe I should be dating someone soon though, *sigh* lol


So yeah, those are some of the more memorable things that happened to me during work. And I've only worked a total of 5 days believe or not! I still have about 7 more days of work in total, so we'll see what happens until then!

Working at the Korean Restaurant

I started working at this Korean restaurant that's only a 10~15 minute drive from my house. It's a restaurant that I've been to since I was a little kid and my parents have known the original and newer owners since we just go there so much. But recently the newer owners sold the restaurant back to the original owners and they called my dad to see if I could work there part-time.

I got the job, but because of a favor... Since I was jobless and my hunting for jobs seemed useless, I asked if  my parents could do anything to put in a word for me to ANY kind of job. And about two months ago, my dad asked the newer owners of the restaurant if I could work there, but they didn't need any more extra help. But because the owners have switch recently, and they knew that I was looking for work, they were kind enough to take me in!

I'm working as a cashier there. So I just handle all the money and to-go stuff, and if they're all busy I would sit down the customers. I'm just working there Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 5~10. So my weekends are now gone for the rest of the month until I go back to school, which sucks, but I'm just grateful that I'm able to make some money this summer.

And it's nice to be working there because the owners knew me since I was a little girl and they're always being so kind to me. I stand all day, greet the people and try to stand around and just look pretty (LOL) since I'm the only young girl there.

But there are some things that make me feel a little uncomfortable...
First of all, I only got the job because of a favor. So obviously they're expecting something out of me. But it's just hard because their English isn't that good and my Korean speaking is obviously not any better either. So talking with the owners and the chefs makes me feel super quiet and shy...

Second, I'm mostly working with their son who is 9 years older than me. He's nice and all and his English is perfect, but he just doesn't come off as friendly. You can be nice, but it doesn't mean you're friendly. Maybe it's because it has only been my second day of working, but still, there were MANY awkward silences... Anyway, he is the one older than me, doesn't that mean that he should be the one asking me the usual questions like how old are you? What school do you go to? What do you study? What have you done over the summer? I'm the younger one and this is a very Korean setting, so I can't be one asking him hey what did you do last night? It just doesn't work that way. He just doesn't talk to me at all and I just can't think of anything to talk to him about. And once the place starts getting busy we can't talk, so I just feel like it's getting more and more awkward between us...

And I made it more awkward yesterday. There was a girl there, a friend of the family who is the same age as the son and we were talking perfectly fine! She was being the good unnie and asked me what school and went to and stuff. We found out that the son went to the same school as I'm going to now and naturally, I asked Oh what year did you graduate then?

And his answer wasn't something I was expecting... He said that he didn't graduate and didn't really like the school and just kinda looked away.

Fuck. I just made it super awkward. And what the hell am I supposed to say after? Oh so what did you do after you left school? NO! You don't ask Korean KOREAN people that kind of stuff!! I didn't talk to him the rest of the night too...

Third, I want to help out more than just handle the money since it's such a simple task. So I try helping the ahjumma and the son clean up, but they always say it's okay and take over... I just feel like I'm obliged to do more than what I'm doing now since I can kind of see that they don't exactly need me as a cashier. It seems like they can just do it on their own too... The ahjumma at least appreciates me trying to help and says to let the oppa take over, but then the guy just makes it awkward.

Fourth, the family is always feeding me! I'm already feeling like I'm just taking money away from them since my job is so simple and the restaurant just hasn't been busy lately (they told me it's because it's the beginning of the month and it's never busy then) but they really don't have to feed me good food too! And I can't refuse, it's just rude to refuse. And last night I ate with their whole family, the chefs, some friends of theirs and their other older son! The chefs seem like they don't like me because they don't even bother learning my name and one of the guys was like asking if I drank and since I said no for many good reasons, he seemed to have a disappointed kind of face. They're just all so Korean that older chef doesn't understand why I just don't comply and drink like a normal Korean.

God I just feel so out of place. 

I just honestly wish that I could just be good friends with the owner so that it would make time fly by and make working a little more enjoyable with him...

Today I got a text from the son asking if I could come in a hour later than usual. I'm sure that it's just because it's not going to be busy, but at the same time it just makes me feel a little bad...

Haaaa... But there are some good things. The owners really like me. They're always asking me about my day, if I'm hungry, feeding me random stuff, and joking around with me. One of the customers said that they remember the ahjumma from a long time ago, but didn't recognize her son and then asked if she had a daughter (looking at me). The son did joke around and asked his mom if she did have a daughter and she joked that I was her daughter.

And I will admit that there has been some times that the son did joke around with me and I made him laugh too... The awkwardness just overcomes all of that for sure.

I hope that things will become better and more comfortable for me. And I also hope that I can work harder so that I don't feel bad about their kindness!

Maybe I should brainstorm some topics that I can talk with him and then we can be friends before I go to work today hahaha



I sound so desperate.