Korean Job Discussion Forums

[majolica]

...there wasn't some massively crazy incident on the last day of your contract.

I was busy cleaning my apartment since the new NS were supposed to arrive in the afternoon. When we were done cleaning we started taking down the first load of garbage and recycling. We dropped of a pile of bags and went back to get the remaining ones when the "garbage" ajossi came out and started screaming at us. We were trying to explain that we were just going to get the rest of the stuff and then sort everything into the right piles, when he grabbed my friend and started hitting her. We started walking away fast, went back to my apartment, locked the door and decided to wait until he was gone before going back down.
Five minutes later, who is outside my door but the garbage ajossi carrying all the bags that we had left by the dump. Along with ajossi is ajumma, and when we open the door, they start yelling at us again(and speaking WAY too fast for my slow ears anyway).

Not crazy enough for you? But wait, who is coming now? Why, it's drunk abusive neighbour man, who joins in the "screaming and shouting at white girls" fest. He keeps trying to come into my apartment, and I kept telling him, "get out"... finally, the super shows up. This guy is nice enough, but kind of rude and overly belligerent when we can't understand what he's saying to us, so my heart started sinking when I saw that he was coming in.

He comes in, (WITH HIS SHOES ON!!!) and starts walking around my freshly mopped floors, going on about special garbage bags and inspecting my place, while I'm trying to ask him to step out and figure out what he wants... meanwhile, garbage ajumma and ajossi are still standing in our hallway, and drunk neighbour is still screaming racist slurs at us from the doorway. Finally, my friend manages to get a Korean friend on the phone, explains about the hitting and the screaming, and hands it over to the super. It turns out that she's freaked out and has called the cops.

At this point, drunken neighbour's screaming has reached a cresendo, my nerves are fraying, and I shut and lock the door. Then starts the banging on the door, the ringing of the bell. Super is still on the phone with Korean friend, ajumma and ajossi are still standing there. I'm now trying to explain through our Korean friend that I can't do anything about the garbage now, I really have to leave the apartment and go to my school and run errands and I don't have time for this insanity.

Everyone still with me?
FINALLY, the police show up. They are super nice, but sort of useless. I'm still trying to explain that I was expected at my school quite a while ago, and I will promise to do whatever it is with the garbage that I'm supposed to do when I come back.

The second policeman is outside the apartment with drunk guy, when drunk guy goes absolutely batshit crazy and starts kicking all our carefully piled garbage bags and recycling down the stairs. One of the bags busts and there's food and garbage all over the stairs, the glass starts breaking, it's just a big fucking crazy mess.

I take one look and start bawling. The super is still trying to convince us to take the garbage down, but I'm so pissed off about the mess the drunk guy made that I tell him I'm not doing it now. The police are still sort of ineffectually standing around and telling drunk guy to knock it off, when garbage ajumma shows up again, carrying the right kind of garbage bags.

SHE starts cleaning up (of course, although she wasn't the one hitting us, or kicking garbage down the stairs, or doing anything at all really). We start to help her, but the police make us come with them, drive us to my bank and school (with SIRENS!!) and drop us back at home. No idea what happened to drunk neighbour or anything else, but the sweet ajumma had cleaned up everything by the time we got back.

So anyway, that's a warning to you. You can throw out anything you want, in any kind of bag you want, in any quantity you want, but you got to wrap it all up in the fancy coloured bags before they'll let you put it in the trash. And also, it takes two policemen, two waegooks, two old people, and one drunk to throw out 4 bags of garbage and 2 boxes of recycling. Also, said garbage dumping takes exactly 3 hours and 20 minutes.
ahhh Korea, how I'll miss you.

[jetrash]

this post is typical of the wonder that is modern korea



I used the wrong type of plastic bag,got yelled at by some kinda bent little old man who lives in a smelly hut (full of calenders, clocks and plastic flowers) at the end of my building and wears a baseball hat that announces that he is the Commander of the USS ENTERPRISE

I guess for a guy who used to command a nuclear powered billion dollar floating city, ending up controlling my waste products has made him mad as a snake.

[majolica]

this is the drunk that is regularly passed out infront of our door at 8 am, screams at his wife and children constantly... i never realized that he was violnt though. i feel especially bad for the new NT's though, since he probably won't realize we're not them, and continue the verbal abuse.

[skdragon]

[dimitri31]

majolica,

this story is soooo dramatic and tooooo funny, especially the part of the cops having the sirens on. damn koreans hehehe. i can so totally imagine all of this happening here!! LOL

[BigBuds]

[smedini]

On a funnier note in the 'it wouldn't be Korea' category...

Once I went on an island vacation with my hogwan boss and his family where we visited friend of theirs. All was good and we had a grand time but on the last night we all sat down to a wonderful and traditional seafood meal. The family we visited lived on the island and they were fishers by trade so the seafood meal was perfect. Beforehand, though, I put on a rubber glove and held up a live octupus and had someone take my picture holding it and just after the camera snapped the darned thing wiggled out of my hand and landed on my boss' son's head. It suckered to his face and we had to massage it off and it pulled his hair and everything. Aftewards I felt bad 'cause his mom had to put some lotion on his face and I looked at him and said: "hey, sorry I dropped the octupus on your head"...I would TOTALLY only say that in Korea! His answer? "Oh, that's ok teacher." Also, only in Korea

~smedini

[nicholas_chiasson]

so you fed the hogwon owner's son to a mind-flayer? That is cool!

[maddog]

PMSL.

[waynehead]

That is a great story. Sorry you had to go through it but at least you'll be able to tell it over and over again for everyone's amusement.

I'm so happy that in this my 2nd year I live in a small villa without any trash nazis lurking around. My building/apartment last year were a lot better but I hated having to sneak down to the dump in the dead of night just to take out the garbage.

[moosehead]

you are quite talented dear, and resourceful as well.

wonderful story, wish you all the best in your future endeavors

thanks for making my day, and no doubt, a few others as well!

[PGF]

the guy was hitting your friend?

was she a NS or a K?

[majolica]

the friend that was with me that garbage ajossi was hitting was a foreigner... i have a feeling the story would have been much different if we had a korean or a male with us...

i'm glad people enjoyed it. i thought it would be funny by now, but i'm sad enough about leaving that i'm still just angry my last day was ruined. maybe tomorrow.

[jou ma se poes]

[butlerian]