grocery boy

Grocery Boy is easily one of my favorite people in Korea.  We met when I was wandering through the aisles of his rather small grocery store - I think I had paused near the Pepsi.  He asked if I needed help finding anything, but due to the language barrier, this request took some guesswork on my part and repeated tries on his, ha.  Anyway, I thanked him but declined the offer since all I needed was the Pepsi, which I had found, ha.  That was our interaction on that first meeting.

On our next meeting, we saw each other near the Sale Pile.  If things are on sale, they get moved to this special island and stacked rather high.  Anyhoo, he asked me something (in Korean) about a can of fish.  "Mackerel," I said and he nodded.  "Well, I don't know what to do with Mackerel, so I probably don't need any.  Though I like peaches," I said, gesturing towards the cans of peaches next to the cans of fish.  "Peaches!" smiled Grocery Boy.  "Yes, they are delicious!  Kim -" I paused with a questioning glance and he nodded and affirmed my pronunciation, "is also good."  That's what was behind the peaches in the Sale Pile.  But I didn't need any of it, so I just smiled, nodded goodbye / thanks, and went to pay for my other goods.

Since then I've only seen him in passing.  I walk by his store on my way home from school.  If he's outside, he beams at me, says hello in Korean - sometimes following up with an English "Hi," and gives me a cute overly deep bow.  He'll stop whatever else he's doing to greet me, even if I'm not looking at him - there have been a couple of times when I wouldn't have noticed he was outside unless he spoke up.  What a doll, haha.  It's impossible not to smile back to someone like him, so I'm always super cheerful and smiley after one of our two-second greetings, ha.

So!  That's my Grocery Boy.  In case you want to develop a mental image of him, picture a tall Korean fellow - skinny, ha, with a cute narrow face and a huge smile.