Some wage earners pessimistic about their future impulsively loosen their purse strings and indulge in treats to relieve their distress, including habitually going home in taxis after work or frequently eating costly gourmet dishes. / A scene from Japanese TV drama "Kodoku no Gourmet" on TV Tokyo



By Ko Dong-hwan

Meet office worker David. His unpromising job sucks the life out of him, obliging him to commute on packed public transport in the early morning rush hour and stay at his desk until late at night.

Exhausted, David resorts habitually to going home in a taxi. He does not mind the monthly cost of about 300,000 won ($270) because he thinks he deserves a comfortable ride after a grueling day in an unsatisfying job. In the taxi, he cares little about the damage to his budget.

White-collar employee Betsy is another in a harsh corporate world that constantly deprives her of private time, replacing it with a mounting workload. The foodie is resolute that her spirit will not be consumed and trampled by the company, so she keeps faithful to her basic instinct by buying a six pack of beer and a box of braised pork meat on her way home late at night. To her, the indulgence that frequently costs over 20,000 won is more satisfying than a sound sleep.

It seems that many unhappy workers go on a spending spree to control their stress and a Korean Twitter user has coined a witty term describing such behavior ― "sibal expense."

Artificial intelligence-based big data analyzer Daumsoft revealed that "sibal expense" was mentioned on social media 13,760 times last year, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The term, whose first part is Korean slang for "fxxx," has been mentioned almost 20,000 times in the first two months of this year, according to the research that analyzed over 468 million blog posts and 8.2 billion tweets from 2014 until Mar. 19.

The SNS user's post from November, which has been retweeted over 23,800 times as of Mar. 28, defined the term as "an expense out of an impulsive drive that would not have transpired unless the person was stressed out."

Others replied to the post, saying "70 percent of my allowance is being spent as sibal expense" and "a service industry expert who threw a seminar at our office mentioned that Korea's neo-generation, who now spend money on what's apparently known as sibal expense, particularly demand more dedicated service quality."

Daumsoft's analysis further showed that people's use of sibal expense is linked to "compensation mentality" ― a psychological state in which those who recognize a bigger loss want a bigger reward. That is why the term is mostly mentioned by SNS users together with snack meals like fried chicken or braised pork that are more expensive, compared with "stress," which is mentioned with the likes of coffee, chips, liquor and other junk food.

Netizens frequently also mentioned sibal expense with "clock-out," meaning the term was mostly used by steady wage earners.

"In Korea, many office workers think they have no future no matter how hard they work and save money," culture critic Ha Jae-geun said.

"The workers thus think they are best letting off steam about their distress by loosening the purse strings. Sibal expense reflects such a social trend."