In the End, It's What You Make of It

These days, I’m working part-time at Busan Tower.

There are two main reasons I started working here. First, I work fixed hours and I’m done for the day when I clock out, so I get my own time back. Second, being around people consistently is helping me get my social skills back.

I’m bad at repeating the same thing over and over. I’m drawn to constantly doing something new, changing, growing. Right now I’m working part-time in a service and food job, but the actual work is pretty much the same every day. If I just did it on autopilot — clock in, get paid, kill time — I’d get bored fast and quit.

So, in my own way, I’ve been doing something about it here. I use the customers — their language, posture, expressions. This place is a tourist spot, so instead of regulars, new people keep coming in, and everyone’s fashion, expressions, language, tone, gestures are all different. I watch it all, analyze it, and absorb whatever’s worth absorbing.

Gestures, phrases for specific situations — that kind of thing. I haven’t really been able to smile for a while now. So here, I practice forcing a smile while I deal with customers. Almost like an A/B test — seeing what reaction I get with which expression, lol.

When Chinese customers come in, I keep trying to talk with them in my really rough Chinese. When English speakers come in, I try to use a wider range of English expressions. When Korean customers come in, I’m basically testing the limits of how friendly I can be. When Japanese customers come in, I practice sounding as natural as possible, nuance included.

With coworkers, it’s just everyday small talk, but even that alone is slowly bringing my social skills back.

And on top of that — through these conversations with coworkers and customers I mentioned — I’m trying to take away as much as I possibly can.

I won’t be able to do this job for long, though. There’s a contract period.

In the end, this is what I’ve landed on: it all comes down to what you make of it.