Intern in 3rd Week Selected for 'Random Draw'
Only 1 Out of 7 Times Low-Priced Coffee... The Rest Are High-Priced
"Likely to Quit After a Month... Worked Hard to Get In"
A story has been shared about an intern who recently joined a company and is often losing coffee bets with team members, causing a heated debate among netizens.
On the 20th, a post titled "I’m a newbie, but I really hate the coffee lottery time" was uploaded on an online community, attracting attention. The author, Mr. A, said, "I’ve been working here for 3 weeks now. But I’ve bought coffee 7 times for 7 people," and added, "From the first day at work, we had a random draw for coffee bets, and I kept losing and buying coffee." In total, he bought coffee for 49 people over 3 weeks.
Mr. A’s company holds a coffee lottery every morning at 9 a.m., where one person is randomly selected to buy coffee for the day. Mr. A said, "I don’t drink coffee, so I rarely go to cafes. I bought coffee for others, but it was always expensive franchise coffee," and added, "At first, I was happy to buy, but out of 7 times, only once was it a low-priced franchise coffee."
Image to help understand the article. Not directly related to the article story. Photo by Gogi Jeong
Mr. A, who said he eats alone because no one joins him, said, "My money is now in the negative. I haven’t even received my salary yet, and life at 24 years old is not easy," adding, "I’m still using my dad’s card, and he asked if work was hard. He thought I was drinking a lot of coffee because I was struggling at work, even though I don’t drink coffee." He also said, "I will pay my dad back when I get my salary."
Netizens who read the story reacted negatively, saying things like, "How much does an intern get paid to be forced to spend their money?", "I’ve never seen a place that includes interns in bets," "The father must be very upset. I recommend quitting quickly," and "It’s okay at first, but making an intern buy coffee 7 times is shameless." However, some netizens responded, "If you just joined, it’s natural to be included in the bet," "If they didn’t include you, you’d complain about feeling left out," and "It’s not the intern’s fault for being picked. Asking an intern to buy coffee probably wasn’t comfortable either."
A story about an intern who has been working for three weeks and ended up betting on buying coffee. [Photo by Online Community]
After the post went viral, Mr. A posted an update saying, "I gathered courage after reading the comments and spoke to the assistant manager, but the reaction wasn’t good," and added, "Even those who quit said they participated in the coffee bet even if they didn’t drink coffee. They also told me to try other drinks from now on." As a result, Mr. A was excluded from the bet but feels isolated at work. He said, "After talking, lunch break ended, and when I returned to my desk, 2-3 people suddenly laughed while looking at the monitor. I think they were talking about me," and confessed, "I knew there was a group chat without me, but it felt bitter."
He continued, "I wanted to endure for a year, but I think I’ll quit after just one month. I worked hard to get this conversion-type internship, but I feel depressed."
Coffee Brand Price Cuts... The Era of Americano at '5,000 Won' Has Arrived
Meanwhile, as Koreans’ love for coffee continues to grow, the prices of coffee franchise brands are also rising. This is due to increased costs of raw materials such as milk and coffee beans. There can even be a price difference of up to 3,600 won for the same menu item depending on the brand.
Looking at the basic Americano prices by brand: ▲Mammoth Coffee (1,400 won) ▲Compose Coffee (1,500 won) ▲Paik’s Coffee (1,500 won) ▲The Venti (1,500 won) ▲Mega Coffee (1,500 won) ▲Grazie (2,000 won) ▲Coffee Evanhada (2,000 won) ▲The Cafe (2,400 won) ▲Selecto Coffee (2,500 won) ▲Coffee Mama (3,000 won) ▲Ediya (3,200 won) ▲Coffee Bay (3,200 won) ▲Topresso (3,300 won) ▲Manlab Coffee (3,350 won) ▲Cafe Bonito (3,500 won) ▲The Good Coffee (3,500 won) ▲Coffee Namu (3,600 won) ▲Jeongwangsu Coffee (4,000 won) ▲Hollys (4,100 won) ▲Beans Beans (4,100 won) ▲Tom N Toms (4,100 won) ▲Dalkom Coffee (4,100 won) ▲Droptop (4,100 won) ▲Twosome Place (4,100 won) ▲Caffe Bene (4,100 won) ▲Pascucci (4,300 won) ▲Paul Bassett (4,300 won) ▲Starbucks (4,500 won) ▲Coffee Bean (4,800 won) ▲Angel-in-us (4,800 won) ▲Coffee Smith (5,000 won) ▲Blue Bottle (5,000 won).
Earlier in 2020, market research firm Euromonitor revealed that the annual coffee consumption per adult in Korea is 367 cups, ranking second after France (551.4 cups) and ahead of the United States (327 cups) in third place. This is more than twice the global average of 161 cups. According to a 2022 survey by the Korea Consumer Organization targeting 500 adults on 'Home Cafe Consumer Awareness and Spending,' more than 7 out of 10 adults (75.8%) drink at least one cup of coffee daily and spend 103,978 won monthly on coffee purchases.
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