dealing with Korean Customs

Introversion and laziness are a deadly combination. When I ordered some antacid tablets from GMarket in late March, I got a message on April 2 saying that my shipment was being held in ROK Customs because the order hadn't included my alien-registration card's ID number. I stalled and stalled, not wanting to deal with Customs functionaries. Days stretched into weeks, and weeks became a month. Finally, on May 2, I tried calling Customs to see about resolving the issue. When the lady picked up, I could hear her clearly, and she sounded irritated. But she apparently couldn't hear me, so we spent fifteen seconds bellowing, "Hello? Hello? HELLO?" at each other before she finally sighed and hung up. I tried calling her again right away... and the bitch simply picked up and hung up on me, as if I were a prank caller! So I waited a day, then called again on May 3 (Friday, i.e., yesterday). This time, I got through to a much nicer, perkier lady who could hear me, and who was willing to help. I recited my ID number over the phone; she told me the shipment would arrive next week; I thanked her, and that was that. I had prolonged the delay by waiting as long as I did to make that brief call, but the first lady's bitchiness had been utterly unnecessary. Anyway, my antacid tabs ought to be arriving in a few days. So I've got that going for me. Which is nice.