Sometimes the language barrier we face can be a challenge in even the most familiar of situations.
I was just feeling a bit hungry so I decided to head down to the corner 7-Eleven and pick up something for lunch. I looked through their refrigerated section and found a delicious looking mixed vegitable noodle bowl (noodles, letuice, egg, and a spicy sauce) for only 2000 won. I picked it up along with some multi colored rice balls (tteok) and went over to the register to pay. The girl behind the counter scanned the bowl, looked quizzically at the register as it made a long beeping sound, and looked back at me with an expression I’ve come to know means ‘I have no idea how I’m going to explain this to you…’. Eventually she gestured at the sell by date on the package: 06/28/09 and said, a bit unsurely, ‘date’. I said ‘date?’ back to her and made Korean index-fingers-in-an-X gesture for ‘no’; she nodded. I tried to gesture that it was perfectly ok with me if she sold me almost expired letuice and noodles, but it seemed lost on her that I’d still want to buy them. Eventually, hungry and tired of trying, I returned the noodles to their origional location on the shelf (which she didn’t seem to have a problem with) and bought some rice triangles instead. They were good I suppose, but damnit… I wanted those expired noodles!
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watched one episode and immediately got hooked. I ended up watching the first two seasons in a day. If I was in your situation, I would have gotten so frustrated.
Selling expired stuff can cause problematic situation. So workers are instructed not to sell the expired stuff. Since she’s probably a part-timer, she couldn’t do anything. If she sold that, she would be scolded by shopkeeper. (FYI I have worked in the convenience store for a few months)
I can totally understand not being able to sell expired stuff, but the date on it was today’s… as far as I’m concerned, that means it magically goes from good to expired at the stroke of midnight tonight
It’s a little frustrating but no more than we deal with on a daily basis. When you first arrive in a foreign country its a little awkward, but after a while you just adjust to looking like an ass every time you try to make simple purchases. Sometimes it’s kind of funny… like the time I had a shopkeeper chase after me to give me the free banana flavored milk that apparently came with my sandwich.
It’s also great to hear you liked the show! Season 3 only gets better so make sure to come back and check it out
Expired goods usually have a 3-day allowance from the expiration date, right?
haha, yes… it’s based on the same principle of microbiology that allows food dropped on the floor to remain edible if picked up within 5 seconds. I’ve also seen a few things eaten based on the ’5 minute rule’ and, one time, a Skittle eaten based on the ’5 year rule’, however I’m not sure those are as scientifically sound as the ’5 second rule’.
Just because it says “Best Before” doesn’t mean it isn’t good after!
The ‘five year rule’ has been tested with success…no death or illness was noted.
the same thing just happened to me.
and she put it back on the shelf.