One of the assumed unstated rules of Korea is: "All rules can be bent."

Being an American in Korea is quite nice, because you can get what you want.

For example, I was down at CoEX mall a while back, and I realized I had run out of money to buy additional clothes.

So I went into the local bank to exchange $88 to Korean won. A seemingly simple task, but I was not carrying my passport with me. For some reason, the Koreans require a passport to exchange money ...

... so what did I do when the nice man said in Korea, "Do you have your Korean ID?"

I simply replied, "Huh? English??"

You see, I was betting on the fact that it would be more difficult for this guy to start speaking English than it would be just to switch up $88. It's not like I'm trying to launder money here...

... so the guy behind the counter starts staring at me. I start staring back. It was a staredown ... a battle of the wills...

... the nice man calls his underling over and tells her to grab him the last person who exchanged American dollars. Without even hesitating, the girl grabs the last sheet ... and the guy just adds $88 to their total and converts the money to me.





It's so nice to use ignorance to get what you want :o) This works a lot more than you would think ...