A post that appeared on a professional community site, Blind, has recently gained significant attention. The story was shared by a company CEO, referred to as Mr. A, who detailed a surprising incident that led to a heated discussion among fellow professionals.

To summarize, Mr. A provided his company card to five of his employees in their 40s to cover their lunch expenses. However, he was shocked when they returned with a receipt showing they had spent a whopping 370,000 KRW on high-quality Korean beef (hanwoo).

Mr. A explained, “I had planned to treat my employees to lunch, and when they mentioned they had a guest, I handed them the card. I was utterly dumbfounded when they came back with that bill.”

Mr. A mentioned that he received no prior notice from his employees about the extravagant choice. The only thing he got was the receipt, showing the 370,000 KRW expenditure. Although he was initially stunned, Mr. A decided to let it go, reasoning that “it’s hard to criticize someone over what they eat.” However, the more he thought about it, the more incredulous he became, which led him to share the story online.

The post sparked diverse reactions among Blind users. Comments ranged from “You need to hire the right employees” to “It takes courage to spend that much and patience not to react.” Others speculated, “Maybe they did it as a protest because of their low salaries,” or “They probably just wanted to try something they’ve only imagined.”

According to a May report by FoodTech company SikSin, the average lunch cost for employees across Korea exceeded 10,000 KRW in 2024. The analysis of first-quarter data showed that the average payment at regular restaurants nationwide surpassed 10,000 KRW. SikSin noted that Korea has now entered the era of “10,000 KRW lunches.”