Five months ago Lee-DongHee started working at ‘News Bar’ in downtown Gumi city.This was her first job since leaving University with a Degree in History.
Dong-Hee started working there a little late.Now thirty-three she could not get a job in her field of study.“I just sat at home and watched TV” she embarrassingly admits.
She is the only woman out of three others working at the bar who speaks moderately good English. “I only use my English with Japanese or Taiwanese businessmen.” She says.
Korea has thousands of cocktail bars that cater to businessmen who like to drink expensive whisky.Most bars are staffed with attractive young girls in their twenties who stand behind the bar table and serve drinks and provide light conversation with the men who visit there.
Customers start to trickle in around 9pm and stay until 3 or 4 am. After drinking whisky straight for hours without break she usually is heavily intoxicated by 3am. “I get so drunk every night I am always sick in the morning.
Dong-Hee works for eight hours a day seven days a week and earns around 700,000 Korean won a month. ($895.00 AUS).
She does not get much daylight time.It’s usually spent sleeping and getting over the previous nights heavy drinking.What time she does get before work is spent reading books or studying English.
“I do have a boyfriend now” She reveals.“He is a regular customer.”Her boyfriend is a Taiwanese engineer working in Gumi. “He was always very nice to me and he always bought me nice gifts when he visited.
About two months ago I became his girlfriend.”Dong-Hee and her boyfriends relationship occurs only at the bar. “I work nights and he works days so the only time we see each other is when he comes here” she says.They have not been on a real date outside the bar at all.When Dong-hee is busy with customers he just sits by himself and drinks his beer.
But not all of her customers have been nice.In 5 months of work at the bar she has had 5 different stalkers.“They are fine at first and I let them walk me home after work because the streets are dangerous.But after a while they tell me they love me and when I don’t feel the same they start acting weird.”Men have showed up outside her apartment late at night trying to ask her out. So far none have been physically dangerous.
After the first stalker she was not deterred from her job.“Even after the fifth stalker I still let them walk me home.”“It’s part of my job to be nice.”
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