The Korea Herald

지나쌤

Street cleaner: “I’m totally satisfied with my job”

By Park Han-na

Published : Jan. 2, 2022 - 16:44

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An online post purportedly written by a street cleaner saying he is “100 percent satisfied” with his salary and working conditions has gone viral Sunday. 
The post's writer and his colleague at work.(Courtesy of bobaedream.co.kr) The post's writer and his colleague at work.(Courtesy of bobaedream.co.kr)
The writer of the job review, posted on online community bobaedream.co.kr., introduces himself as a 42-year-old sanitation worker who started work on Jan. 1 last year.

“I’m 100 percent satisfied with my job largely due to the salary I receive,” he wrote, adding that his annual wages easily exceed 50 million won ($42,000). The average annual salary of Korean workers stood at 37.44 million won in 2019, according to the National Tax Service.

The post, uploaded Friday, has drawn 144,918 views as of Sunday.

After changing his job to the current one, he enjoys a better quality of life as he also receives performance-based benefits, bonuses and his job is secure until retirement at 60, the person continued. Sanitation workers are semi-public officials managed by local governments.

He didn’t specify his previous career but hinted at a job related to physical fitness.

Such benefits have drawn a growing number of young people, he said.

“In the district I work for, a majority of sanitation workers are in their 30s or 40s. Two people in their 20s were hired this year,” he wrote.

On the flip side, the job is physically demanding, requiring at least 20,000 steps of walking a day, so maintaining physical strength through working out is essential to keep the job. With early 4 a.m. morning shifts, the day begins with nonstop work in order to maintain clean sidewalks and roads before people go to work, he said.