Today I went to E-MART to buy a lamp so that I can see in my bedroom/office. (The light bulb in my room burnt out, and although I was able to get the curious cover off of it, I wasn't able to figure out how to get the light bulb out of the socket so as to take it to a store to buy one exactly like it.)
I found a great versatile desk lamp but wanted to know what size light bulb to buy for it. So, as we usually do, my friend and I took the boxed lamp and the boxed light bulb to the nearest sales associate (in uniform, just like at a Walmart or Target) who happened to be in the freezer section of the store. We said the few words we figured she would understand. "Size ok?" The sales associate smiled and said something that seemed to indicate she wasn't the correct person for the lamp/light bulb section of the store, and went hurrying off to get someone else.
A short while later, a male sales associate in similar uniform came and asked another man- who seemed to be with him- a question in Korean. I caught the word "miguk" meaning "American" and figured he was asking the man if he'd seen an American with a question about a lamp. So I jumped in and said, "Ahnyounghaseyo" (hello).
The sales associate started to talk to me in Korean, and I tried to interpret what he was saying, and tried to ask my question by gesturing.
I'm sure we could've figured it out eventually but instead, the Korean-looking man who was standing there saved us the time and effort. He so swiftly and gracefully acted as translator for us that it wasn't until the end of the conversation that I realized he hadn't come with the sales associate; he wasn't an employee. He was just a bystander, just a customer, like me. It was my lucky day!
