the Lord hath given; the Lord hath taken away

The good news is that getting my new ATM card proved easy and painless, and didn't even cost anything. The bank teller scolded me for not having done a shingo (report), but I knew that no one had hacked my card because my balance hadn't changed. I signed a multi-page form about fifty thousand times (Koreans seem to love documents that require several of your signatures on the same page, instead of asking for one single signature that affirms the content of the entire document), got my card, and skedaddled.

But there was also bad news. As I was walking home from where the bus dropped me, the Wi Mae Peu people ("We Make Price") called me and said that delivery of my bed wasn't going to happen: the product turned out not to be in stock. They said they would refund the purchase (hasn't happened yet), and they advised me to order a different bed. So I'll wait until my refund appears, after which I'll order another bed. My nightstand, however, seems to be on its way. So at least there's that.

The upshot is that it looks as though I'm going to go at least a week with no bed. I used to sleep on the floor some years back, but my spine is no longer as hardy as it used to be: lying on the floor like a monk is beginning to take its toll.

There are no local furniture stores that sell beds at the price offered by WMP. For the so-called "super-single" sized beds, prices start around W300,000, whereas the WMP price was a bit more than half that. One shopkeeper tried to explain this discrepancy by talking about how buying floor models in-store would come with "after-service" guarantees and other immaterial perks, but it all sounded like bullshit to me. The fact of the matter is that online shopping is the next thing: it minimizes the need for paid floor staff and makes the shopping experience much more efficient. Unless your product ends up not being in stock, of course.


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