Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bingo]

Korean traffic 'culture' is abominable. But the one that really makes me go 'Huh' is this. When there is a narrow road and I'm half way down it, another car appears at the end. Instead of waiting for me to finish the journey, they proceed to carry on down thie lane directly towards me, leaving us both stuck at the middle. Now, either one of us must back up (forcing other cars behind us to back up onto busy main roads), or we spend the next fifteen minutes 'inching' past each other. What on earth is that about? It happened to me again yesterday in the taxi. And sometimes my students' parents will give me a lift to school. As they approach the narrow lane, despite the fact that another vehicle is coming towards them, they'll continue on down to the middle and stop, looking baffled. Then they start going 'sheesh' and complaining about the oncoming guy demanding the right to proceed. Can someone please explain to me what is going through their minds when they engage in this sort of behaviour? It's beyond me to figure it out.

[Paddycakes]

Do a search using the terms "Koreans who live in bubbles".

[Privateer]

When it happens again and you're at the beginning of a lane try saying something like 'Hey, look there's another car coming' and 'Don't you think we should back up and wait for it to pass?'. Just to test their reaction.

[poet13]

"When it happens again and you're at the beginning of a lane try saying something like 'Hey, look there's another car coming' and 'Don't you think we should back up and wait for it to pass?'. Just to test their reaction."

My co-workers are looking at me funny. A snort-laugh escaped from me when I read that...

[oldfatfarang]

Korea is all about 'me', and 'my family', and 'my circle'.
People in other cars just don't exist.
As another poster aptly put, Korea is a tragedy of the commons writ large.

[4 months left]

The word you are looking for this and a lot of other similar stupidity is OBLIVIOUS. It baffles me everyday, I try to be oblivious to their oblivion but it is difficult.

[Qinella]

This is why I wonder what on earth Koreans who buy SUVs are thinking. It must be a real nightmare trying to drive on tiny roads and park in tiny spaces with those things.

[Mr. BlackCat]

How about when you are standing stationary in one place, perhaps in the store or on the side of the sidewalk, and a Korean smashes right into you and reacts like you just jumped from the heavens to purposely distrupt his/her godly mission to be first in line for something? I always ask them "Do you walk into trees? Into parked cars? I've been here for hours."

Or when you're trying to get off the subway? Out of an elevator? Any type of passage that can reasonably allow one being to pass? Is this new? There are many things I like about Korea and Koreans, but ultra-competitiveness and obliviousness to others are not two of them.

[wylies99]