Fast forward to Friday, January 5th. I am sitting in the office sending an email before my first morning class when Penny arrives, says hello and asks me: "Stephanie, did you do the weekly plan?" I'm thinking, yes, I did a weekly plan, the one I already did earlier in the week, the one we talked about, remember? I said, slowly, "Yes, I did one." Penny replied: "Oh, you did the one that you showed me?" I nodded. " You had to do another one for next week," she informs me, a little too late. Inside, I am quietly seething. Why didn't she tell me this on Tuesday? I heaved a quiet sigh, suppressed an eye roll, and, mustering up my courage asked her: "Why didn't you tell me this?" In typical Penny fashion she didn't answer the question, but said simply, a minute later, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
But I wanted to take of it, I wanted to scream! There are times when I've felt like the Koreans I work with try to sabotage my efforts on the job by not communicating directly what they want me to do. But I know it's nothing personal. I get the feeling that Koreans are just afraid to communicate in a direct and straight forward manner with me because they don't want to be perceived as demanding or pushy and want me (and other foreigners) to see them in a good light. But when they don't communicate, the opposite happens. All Penny had to say to avoid this situation was something like this: "Stephanie, please do weekly plans for this week and next week today." I simply cannot assume everything. When I do assume something, sometimes I'm wrong, and I end up upsetting one of my co-workers. This can all be avoided if we speak clearly and honestly to each other. It's what I've found works best--there's really nothing to be afraid of.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home