::A Geek in Korea::

One of the best thing about living in a city of moderate size is that there are enough people to support nearly every kind of specialty shops you would ever need. For example, today my wife and I went to a specialty office ergonomic chair store to pick up a new chair for my computer room. I got her to come along while I sat in different chairs.

The man at the store would tell the various different features of the Duo-back chairs I was sitting in. There were about ten different points of customizing that could be done to make each of the chairs more comfortable. He’d have me sit in different positions, manipulate different knobs and levers, and attempt to make the different parts comfort to my body. It was like getting an eye examination where someone is constantly asking, “Is this better, or is that better”, except for my ass.

I had to leave early for an appointment, but my wife stayed to negotiate a better price. I headed home to catch the delivery man that was coming directly from the factory with our order. They delivered the chair to the house and set it up for me. The guy that unpacked the chair asked me to sit down and tried to use my proportions to set the chair to maximum comfort like it was in the store, but he failed wildly.

When the guy left, I paid cash to the nearest amount I had. In a normal transaction I could pay over the amount owed and expect change back. This guy demanded exact change for a near 200,000 won purchase! I had plenty to pay if he could have returned the change, but I wasn’t able to come up with the difference by about 2000 won. He was completely at a loss as to how to proceed.

I wasn’t about to give the guy an extra 10000 won because he was too stupid to think about bringing change. He said he would come back to collect the 2000 won later. I have no idea how often they are in the neighborhood, but I didn’t sign anything, and I didn’t get a reciept from this guy saying I paid. I have no idea how he’s going to prove who he is later. I’m going to have some chair delivery guy chasing me around for around 2 dollars for the rest of my life.

I’ve been fidgeting and resetting the different things all day trying to find the sweet spot for my back, arms, legs, and more importantly, the height I can use with the desk without smacking my arm rests on the table. I’m convinced that if I manipulate it enough it’ll be really, really comfortable, but I’m not there yet.