Korean Job Discussion Forums

uofagirl · Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Location: Central Seoul

I totally forgot to share this story when I first got back from Thailand over Christmas but after reading another poster's comments, it reminded me that I really should share this strange story.

I was on a Thai Airways flight on Christmas Eve with my friend and everything was pretty normal the first hour. Then all of a sudden we heard a huge commotion. There was some serious/scary yelling and shoving going on in front of the washroom between several attendants and an ajosshi(3 rows in front of us). He was trying to hit one of the attendants and it took several minutes and most of the crew(including the inflight security officer) to get this guy back in his seat. Turned out the guy was sitting right in front of me. Apparently he had been smoking in the washroom and one of the attendants could smell smoke. The attendant knocked on the door several times and no one answered. She went and got one of the male crew members and he forced the door open(not sure how...I didn't see this happen). After the guy got busted, there was some physical contact(the attendant grabbed his arm when he pulled him out of the washroom) and this ajosshi was pissed off. Then a female Thai attendant asked for his passport and I guess he didn't like her tone because he pushed her back pretty hard. This was when I got pulled from my book. So after 6 crew members finally got him back in his seat, he still wasn't finished. When the female that had spoken and asked for his passport initially proceeded to walk past his seat(aisle seat), he took his folded up newspaper and tried to hit her, hard. Everyone sitting around this guy saw it and couldn't believe it. We were shocked. Who hits flight attendants?? She was really upset. Then, he requested to see the crew supervisor and when she came over, that was crazy too. He kept yelling"bad attitude, the girl, bad attitude, no good" over and over. Everyone could hear everything. The plane was so quiet. Everyone was just watching and listening to see what would happen next. He also looked like he was ready to hit the supervisor. He wanted to see a Korean crew but this was Thai airways and there was no Korean staff working on this flight. This guy was scary. You know how when you're caught in a situation and you can't really believe it's happening, this was it. This guy was irrate to no ends when he was the one in the wrong! Damn it, you got caught smoking and now you want an apology. Through the chat between the crazy guy and the supervisor was how I found out what had happened.

Anyways, after she left, he still was pissed. He sat for maybe 2 minutes and got up again to look for the supervisor. When she walked by, once again, she had to try to reason with him. He wanted the names of the male and female attendents that had dealt with him initally and kept requesting to see the airline's regulations(don't know the technical term for this book). He wanted to talk to the police about how he had been treated once his got to Bangkok(at least I think this is what he said in his broken English).

In the end, the supervisor ended up apologizing to him countless times(throughout the flight because he just wouldn't drop it) to calm him down and they gave him his passport back(why??).

Another crazy part is that there was another Korean guy in the washroom right across from the ajosshi's that was also smoking at the same time. He had to give up his passport too but he didn't freak out about it.

The whole thing was really scary at one point. This guy just went off. Someone lit his fuse and there was no stopping his anger and he was out of control.

Anyways, this story really serves no purpose, just wanted to share it(well, it does reaffirm a lot of what most of us know about some ajosshis out there...).

rothkowitz · Joined: 27 Apr 2006

Geez......what an arse.All that to salve his 눈치.

No air marshalls with Thai Airlines then?Somebody should have tasered his ass.

thebum · Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Location: North Korea

TECO · Joined: 20 Jan 2003

Why do they ask for passengers' passports when, in the end, the airline does nothing about it?

Meathead needs to try doing that crap on a Canadian or American flight. As soon as the plane landed, he'd be arrested.

rothkowitz · Joined: 27 Apr 2006

thebum · Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Location: North Korea

rothkowitz · Joined: 27 Apr 2006

Maybe it's just my awkward mish-mash.....

He lost face and needed to have it soothed.If I'd just used ego that would have been clearer.

Actually I get a little unsure about nunchi and kibbun.If someone feels bad they use kibbun,I'm guessing nunchi is the general idea of face........

thebum · Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Location: North Korea

rothkowitz · Joined: 27 Apr 2006

I see.What would you use instead?

I guess it can mean a lot.Even facial expression like this random sentence

"I think they both know I'm kinda pissed, though, cuz they seem to be watching my 눈치."

How about this one then?

눈치(를) 보다【관용】 try to read one�s mind[face];probe one�s motives;study one�s face[pleasure];grasp a situation;see how the wind blows

Anyway,to get back on topic,what is that the ajosshi felt was so wounded?

And will we start to see a fresh wave of pissed- off- their- chops ajosshis staging sit-down protests on runways?

kotakji · Joined: 23 Oct 2006

Funny thing, my father was involved in a similar situation in the US, except all they asked him to do was keep the smoker in his seat after he returned from his smoke. He was arrested on federal charges when he landed and spent a couple months in jail for his smoke.