My Boss

My boss is a wonderful man. He's the most awkward person I've ever talked to on the phone, bless his heart. but he tries... In order to renew my visa and stay in the country past the end of June, I have to go through some new processes the Korean government came up with, including an FBI background check. Before I send the paperwork to America to be processed I have to be fingerprinted. In America, that's no big deal. You go to a police station and they have a special card and will fingerprint you. In Korea, it's not quite as easy but I hear from friends that you can still get it done at the local station.

I told my boss that I need to do this. He said he has a friend who is a cop so he would talk to him. Yesterday my boss asks me (again) why I need fingerprints. You try to explain background check to a Korean. I'm sure they have some kind of equivalent here but it seemed like he had no idea what I was talking about... At one point he suggested he buy a stamp pad and I can do it myself... Not going to work. Nevertheless, he tells me he will pick me up in front of my apartment at 10:30 a.m.

At 9:30 a.m. he calls and asks to change the time - in 15 minutes. That in itself is funny to me. Then we're in a taxi and an English song comes on. This is how the next conversation goes:

Boss: Heather, do you know this song?
Me: Yes, I do.
Boss: (completely surprised) Ohhhh you do? You know Michael Bolton?
Me: Yes, I know Michael Bolton.
Boss: Tears in heaven... *sings a little diddy*
Me: Tears in heaven? You mean Eric Clapton?
Boss: Yes! Yes! Eric Clapton! Tears in heaven! [Korean with the taxi driver]...Hotel California...[more Korean] Heather, you know Hotel California? Eagles!
Me: Yes, I know the Eagles. They were in Korea two weeks ago!
Boss: Oh. (Not interested whatsoever...)

The fingerprinting process was... awkward... but it got taken care of. Hopefully the guy who printed me was a cop. I don't even know. He wasn't wearing a uniform. We did a "tester print" then the first print on the official paper. He gives it to me to examine and asks if it's ok. I obviously don't deal with fingerprints on a daily basis so I grab the FBI paper to make sure it's ok. He snatches it out of my hands and said it's good, he's a cop. (Then why did you ask my opinion...??)

Fingerprints are done and we're walking out and I realize I forgot to have the cop sign the paper. My boss insists I stay outside and he sprints to the building and sprints back out with my signed paper. I thank him profusely (I could have gone back up the six flights of stairs myself to get the signature) and he says with excitement, "Noooo! My pleasure!!" as he's panting because he just sprinted a good 200 meters. Next week we have a work dinner. I can't wait to see that man drunk!