Korean Job Discussion Forums

[whatever]

For the record, I dig Korea and find the folks here to be quite agreeable...so I'm not trying to talk **** and make other people liable for my own issues.

However, one thing that annoys me is when people, particularly in service positions...where I would assume that I am appreciated and not fair game for being made a spectacle of...remark about me in the most trivial ways right in my presence. I would guess that most of us speak only rudimentary Korean (I do.), but at the same time, why go there?

Example (and this is just recent, not textbook, but illustrates my annoyance): I'm in Paris Baguette and I buy a (omfg) baguette...I pay with attention to courtesy and say thank you in Korean and not less than two seconds later the entire staff is awash in loud conversation about me and what I purchased (my appearance is also uncontroversial).

A) Who the **** cares?

B) That's rude in the context of their own culture.

C) They ought to act on the side of caution that I actually might speak Korean and would like to go about my business with dignity.

Like I said, I have no major beef with Korea and could just as easily have been treated rudely in my own country of origin, but really...get a life.

It makes me less motivated to learn the language further and pay attention to cultural sensitivity with regard to my 'hosts'...

[Gwangjuboy]

While I am busy looking at the tigers all the Koreans will be looking at me.

[hubba bubba]

I think sometimnes we romanticize jut how polite and courteous Koreans are. Face it, there are a lot of low class jerks in every country. The hags working at Pairs Baguette are the equivalent of middle aged boxboys back home. Pretty much losers and disappointments to their families. Some might even have mental disabilities.

Do you expect that kind of person to really have any sort of ettiquete?



PS, I like Korea.

[Qinella]

As (I think) Ya-Ta Boy pointed out regarding looking at a man's 'wee-wee', it all has to do with needing to know what's in the foreigner's shopping cart.

[crazy_arcade]

half the time it's just something lame like..."I was nervous, I didn't know what I should say to the foriegner" and they laugh about it...sometimes its "whoa...he's so handsome"...sometimes it's "I hate these foreign scum"

haha...who cares.

if it bothers you just utter, "야 나는 한글말 알아!" of something in a somewhat stern voice. You can put them in their place if you want.

[leebumlik69]

[VirginIslander]

In a time and place where vanity is placed over dignity, its great for those who are naturally good looking.

[ajgeddes]

[tiger fancini]

One of the few things that still bugs me about Korea is this exact phenomenon. For me, it really grates when I'm in my school and I happen to pass a group of students in the 2nd or 3rd grade (middle school) in the corridor. I have been at this school for almost eleven months, they know who I am and what I do, yet the reaction from them suggests that they have never EVER encountered a foreigner before in their lives. One of them will shout "HIIII!". Cue the inevitable giggles and frantic Korean babbling all round. Then later in the day, if I'm going to the toilet (again, OMFG the foreigner has to go to the toilet too! Who would have thought it?) or somewhere else in the school, another strange phenomenon will often occur. I will walk around a corner and suddenly find myself face-to-face with a student. The students facial expression actually goes through the following phases in a very short space of time, its quite interesting to observe. It is initially one of terror, then shock and then panic. Then a strange noise will emit - something like "OOUUHHHMU!" and then the giggles. I could understand it initially but its been eleven fucking months now, it is doing my head in. I know they are only middle schoolers and I should probably cut them some slack, but I've also observed a similar phenomenon in a lot of the local adults that I encounter on my daily business around town.

[Gwangjuboy]

한국말할 줄 알거든요 would be better in the scenario discussed earlier.

[seoulsucker]

무슨말인지 알겠어요 has always worked well for me. "I understand what you just said."

Or, 내 앞에서 내 이야기 하지마세요. "Don't talk about me when I'm right in front of you."

My personal favorite? "내가 없을때 얘기하세요" Kind of loosely translates into, "At least wait until I leave."

Some of the other stuff mentioned above, while it might get your point across, will probably get even more laughs. Use these calmly and cooly to put them in their place.

[whatever]

Love the signature...btw

[Hater Depot]

This happened to me at a Tous les Jours recently.. usually I go with my girlfriend, but this time I didn't. Man, was that big news.

[leebumlik69]

[jaganath69]