@Alistair Zhao
I worked at an international bank in London ten years ago, with my team spread across the globe, notably in China, Korea, Japan, and Singapore. Despite being an international team with similar tasks, our work ethics and approaches varied widely, often fitting comical stereotypes.
In London, we were somewhat privileged, typically finishing work by 7 PM and rarely staying until 9 PM. However, we could almost always count on receiving a reply from our East Asian colleagues the same day if we sent an email before 5 PM London time, which was midnight in East Asia.
One time, I was emailing different teams around midday to gather information. The Singaporeans responded immediately, and the Chinese and Japanese replied promptly as well. However, the Koreans did not respond.
The next day, I ed up with the Korean team. Seconds after sending the email, my phone rang. It was a private number, not from within the organization. A murmuring voice on the other end said, "Alistair, I am your colleague from Korea. I forgot to send you the information yesterday. Could you please resend the email without the chain?"
Without much thought, I agreed and forwarded the email. While doing so, I recounted the strange call to a colleague sitting next to me. He gave me a serious look and explained that the head of the Korea team required all emails to be replied to the same day and would scream at anyone who failed to do so. He suspected the poor guy was calling me from the toilet using his personal phone. My colleague ended by saying, "I hope you agreed to help him."
At that moment, I realized something important: I did not want to go back to East Asia to work.

十年前,我在倫敦的一家國際銀行工作,我的團隊遍布全球,主要分布在中國、韓國、日本和新加坡。盡管我們是一個國際團隊,任務也類似,但我們的工作精神和方法卻大相徑庭,常常符合滑稽的刻板印象。
在倫敦,我們有點幸運,通常在晚上7點下班,很少待到晚上9點。然而,如果我們在倫敦時間下午5點(東亞的午夜)之前發(fā)送電子郵件,我們幾乎總能指望當天收到東亞同事的回復。
有一次,我在中午左右給不同的團隊發(fā)送電子郵件以收集信息。新加坡人立即回復了,中國人和日本人也很快回復了。然而,韓國人沒有回復。
第二天,我與韓國團隊取得了聯系。發(fā)送電子郵件幾秒鐘后,我的電話響了。這是一個私人號碼,不是來自組織內部的。電話那頭傳來一個低聲細語的聲音:“Alistair,我是你韓國的同事。我昨天忘了給你發(fā)信息了。你能不能重發(fā)郵件,不要帶上一次的引用?”
我沒有多想,就同意了,轉發(fā)了郵件。在轉發(fā)郵件的同時,我向坐在我旁邊的同事講述了這個奇怪的電話。他嚴肅地看了我一眼,解釋說韓國團隊的負責人要求所有郵件都要在當天回復,不回復的人會被大喊大叫。他懷疑這個可憐的家伙在廁所用他的私人電話給我打電話。我的同事最后說:“我希望你同意幫助他?!?br /> 那一刻,我意識到一件重要的事情:我不想回東亞工作。