“Cover your employee ID card quickly!”… When I went to Gangnam and Jongno on the first day of banning 5 people

Kim Mo, 29, and four colleagues working in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, hastily removed the employee ID from their neck in front of the restaurant during lunch on the 23rd. It was because admission would be rejected even if there is a ban on groups of 5 or more people in the metropolitan area. Mr. Kim said, “I asked if there were 5 employees, and I divided them into 2 and 3 people,” he said. “It was different from the strict government guidelines I saw in the news,” he said.

On the first day when the ban on gatherings of five or more people in the metropolitan area was enforced, there was confusion throughout the lunch hour. Most of the office workers did not visit outside restaurants due to the confusing regulations, and the balloon effect brought demand to the cafeteria and food packaging and delivery. The food court in a large department store, which was crowded every lunch hour, looked sloppy.

◆ Restaurant “5 people split meal”

On the 23rd, the food court in the main branch of Lotte Department Store in Seoul was busy. [김승한 기자]

On this day, when more than 5 people went to the restaurant, they were most confused about whether they could eat even if they were separated.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, it is a violation of the quarantine rules to have 5 or more coworkers gathered at lunch time until January 3 of next year. If you are in the same group, it is forbidden to divide the table into two or three people. However, the cafeteria is an exception.

However, most restaurants answered that’split meal’ is possible. The owner of a soup restaurant near Yeoksam Station in Seoul said, “If 5 people come to eat, you can divide the table into two and three people,” he said. “If you are not in the group, how can I check it?” Even in the vicinity of Jonggak Station in Seoul, 7 office workers headed to the meat restaurant and divided into 3 and 4 people at the entrance. A Mexican food restaurant went through the process of checking with all customers to make sure no more parties were coming later.

Hwang, a 35-year-old office worker, said, “It’s obvious that I go to a restaurant every time I have lunch, and even if I go out from the beginning, I can’t meet one person in a company where hundreds of people work.” I can’t do it,” he said.

◆ 2 hours after order… Workplace delivery

At a fast food restaurant located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, there is a notice of'No more than 5 people' notice. [신미진 기자]

There were also many office workers who turned to delivery and packaging to the company’s own regulations that were more strict than government guidelines. Tower A, which has 10,000 resident employees only, has banned more than two people from eating outside or in cafeterias at the same time as 50% of its employees are working from home. One employee said, “I’m trying to deliver a book every time in case the company gets a book,” he said. As a result of ordering a lunch box with a delivery application (app) at 10 am at a building near Seolleung Station that day, the expected time to arrive was 120 minutes. Riders parked their motorcycles in front of each building and carried a lot of food in their hands. At one fast food restaurant, I could see more riders shouting “Coupang (it’s 5,500 won)” than hall customers.

The food court in a large department store, which was crowded with people every lunchtime, was busy. At 11:30 a.m. on that day, the food court at Lotte Department Store in Myeong-dong had a lot of one or two guests. Most of them had a quick meal and left quickly, and there were people who were doing’honbap’ everywhere.

◆ Self-employed sighs against ambiguous standards

On the 23rd, a fast food restaurant located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul is crowded with packaging customers. [신미진 기자]

By vague standards, self-employed people sigh. Mr. Lee, who runs a restaurant in Jongno, said, “Even though I have my own control, I will sit separately and pay separately, so it is difficult for the customers to just let me in, so it doesn’t seem effective because of the ambiguous standards.”

Seoul Mayor Seo Jeong-hyup also appeared on a radio broadcast the day before and said, “If a violation is discovered, we plan to respond strictly to both business owners and users through fines and administrative measures, but there will be limits to crackdown because there are many parts.”

Sales are also expected to suffer from this executive order. Mr. Kim, who runs a gomtang restaurant in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, said, “Before Corona 19, we sold several hundred bowls every lunch hour, but now our sales have fallen by less than half.” Still, if you think about the livelihood of your employees, you have to keep doing business.”

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