Post on Sokcho City Hall Bulletin Board Exposes Overcharging
"Is It Right to Leave Unfriendly Merchants As They Are?"
The famous squid stall alley in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, has recently faced controversy over unfriendliness, and now it is once again at the center of public debate due to allegations of overcharging.
A post exposing the overcharging at a squid stall restaurant was uploaded on the free bulletin board of Sokcho City Hall in Gangwon Province. Sokcho City Hall website
On August 8, a post titled "I’m so angry after visiting the squid stall alley" was uploaded to the free bulletin board of Sokcho City Hall. The author, Mr. A, said he visited the squid stall after hearing that squid prices had recently dropped. He wrote, "The merchants lied, saying, 'Squid is not being caught these days,' and 'It's rare,'" and added, "Although I bought it because I didn't want to waste my time and effort, the price was an absurd 28,000 won per squid. The merchant also refused to sell just one, so I ended up buying two for 56,000 won."
However, Mr. A claimed that the restaurant's unfriendly attitude continued even after the purchase. He said, "I had barely taken a few bites when the staff asked if I wasn't going to order more or if I wasn't going to drink alcohol. When I asked for more chojang (spicy dipping sauce), they grumbled, saying, 'Why do you need more sauce if you’re not going to order more?' I felt so uncomfortable that I just got up and left in the middle of my meal."
An employee at a squid stall restaurant in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, urging a solo customer to "eat quickly." Kim Sulpocha YouTube
He continued, "I wondered if squid was really that expensive, but at a sashimi restaurant right in front, they gave me two squid for 20,000 won and even included complimentary sashimi." He questioned, "Is it right to just let merchants who treat customers so rudely continue their business like this?"
This overcharging controversy is intertwined with the recent issue of unfriendliness at the stalls. Recently, it became known that a stall owner pressured a customer to eat quickly and requested that they move seats, raising concerns about customer service.
In a June video on the YouTube channel "Kim Sulpocha," the stall owner pressured the YouTuber, saying, "Hey miss, can you eat inside instead of here?" about nine minutes after the squid sashimi was served. The pressure continued, with the owner saying, just two minutes after the steamed squid was brought out, "Are you going to eat there? Eat quickly."
On the 8th, at the Sokcho Fisheries Cooperative in Cheongho-dong, Sokcho-si, Gangwon, squid stall merchants and related personnel held a midnight resolution meeting to apologize for the controversy over unfriendliness. Photo by Yonhap News
As the controversy grew, squid stall merchants and related personnel issued an official apology on August 8, the same day the overcharging complaint was posted. On that day, the Sokcho Fisheries Cooperative, the Jigging Business Association, and the Yangmiri Gillnet Association held a special hospitality training and resolution meeting in Cheongho-dong, Sokcho, with about 20 stall tenants. The merchants adopted a resolution pledging to greet customers with bright smiles, offer honest prices, and prevent a recurrence of repeated overcharging and forced high-priced orders. They also stated that the controversial restaurant had received a warning, and declared, "If similar complaints occur again, we will consider suspending or shutting down their business."
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