9/18/15

So Mr. L is a bitch. Like what the hell man aren't things hard enough for me here?

What happened was I approached two guys sitting at a table and was invited to sit with them. I got up to get myself a drink and Mr. L, one of the waiters, said rudely that I can't just sit down at a table. What?? So this entire time I've heard the same thing over and over again; you have to hustle, anyone is fair game if they're sitting alone, go be friendly. I had no idea what he was talking about! Had I been doing something horribly wrong this whole time with no idea? Maybe it's the foreign language and culture, but I always feel like there are plenty of things I'm not getting, but I've been feeling pretty comfortable lately, so this really messed with me.

Drinks-wise, I got 2 from one guy and 4 from another. Not a bad night, and I can pay rent now! Early, I might add. That's always a great feeling.

I really liked the second two guys, they were businessmen. Very decent and interesting.

After all the customers left for the night I approached S at the bar so she could tell me what the heck Mr. L was talking about. She talks with an American accent and grew up in California so I felt a little more comfortable with her. That maybe was a mistake. Maybe she'd been drinking (probably, like everyone else in the bar staff included), but she asked very loudly who I was talking about then pointed at Mr. Lee and said "MR. LEE?" who of course promptly came over to us. He had definitely been drinking and was pretty belligerent. This is no fun to write about. They were both trying to explain things to me and S was trying to be the reasonable one and hold off Mr. Lee by talking sternly to (and sometimes shouting at) him in Korean when he went to far. He said customers felt like they couldn't turn me down when I asked to sit with them (my journal would say otherwise) and they complained to him. I kind of feel like that stupid and racist because my friend K, who's Taiwanese, said he told her the same thing but didn't tell that to any of the Korean girls. Mr. L is Korean. Most of the Korean girls are being paid by the bar to be there, I'm not, so he's more likely to help them for that reason too. Also they are more experienced so they are more likely to get him a drink from the customer. S tried to translate by saying that it's best to just go up to the table and say hello but not ask to sit down and to not ask for drinks.
Mr. L walked away and I asked her why he was being so rude but he heard and came back to yell at me some more. I'd had enough so I grabbed my bag and left. Mr. K, the other waiter, touched me on the shoulder like he normally does when I've had a bad night. Then he called my name and told me not to worry about it. He's so nice! But all I could do was nod and turn away quickly as I started crying.