Korean Job Discussion Forums

[indytrucks]

Inspired from another thread, and in the interests of fairness, let's all have a go on this one then, shall we? I'll get the ball rolling.

1. Appearance/general grooming. Wearing clean clothes and daily bathing would be an improvement for a lot of foreigners I see and meet here. I have the wonderful pleasure of working with no less than three colleagues who have obviously never heard of deodorant. What a pleasure it must be in their classroom on a hot day.

2. Keep public conversations on buses/subways to under 150 decibels. Just because you think everyone else around you can't understand you, doesn't mean you have to scream. I don't want to hear about how, like I had the pleasure of hearing one girl shriek across a crowded subway car, she wanted to marry a man that would let her poo with the bathroom door open.

3. Which leads me to the next point: just because Koreans can't understand you doesn't mean they're stupid. So watch your condescending tone, abusive profanities and oh-so-funny one liners ala 'Sphincter says what?' when the kid behind the counter at GS 25 doesn't know what you mean by 'Gimme a pack of Marly Reds.'

4. When you're in a Western bar in Itaewon like Geckos or 3 Alleys, there's no reason to show off your obviously fluent Korean skills by screaming 'Yogi yo!' to get the wait staff's attention. Newsflash: they know some English. That's why they work there. You just sound stupid.

5. Alcohol laws here are far more lenient than elsewhere in the world. But that doesn't mean that you can strut down the high street swilling out of a bottle of soju on a night out, howling at the moon and high fiving everyone that walks past like it's Mardi Gras. How many Koreans do you see doing that? What's that? Oh yeah. None.

Flame on.

[ajgeddes]

[GoldMember]

Displaying huge, rotund, hideous, flabby bodies at the beach.
Seeing such a horrible sight is very traumatic, and causes nightmares.

[toddswift]

[plato's republic]

The only foreigners I've seen swilling alcohol on the streets were in Hongdae, yet I've seen plenty of Koreans walking around drunk, screaming, shouting, fighting, spitting and drinking. It's a strange world.

[Bibbitybop]

[as-ian]

[Ginormousaurus]

Last Saturday afternoon, two guys were passing a soccer ball back and forth on the sidewalk in front of McDonald's in Shinchon. Anyone who is familiar with this area knows that it is extremely busy at all times. They were obviously getting in everyone's way, but they seemed oblivious. This certainly isn't common behavoir, but there's a small chance that they might read this and realize the error in their ways.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

- An inability to adjust behaviour in varying situations. There are times when it's fine to be a drunken fool and times when a little bit of respect for Korean manners and customs goes a long way.

- Dressing like slobs to public school or uni jobs. Wear a clown suit to Wonderland but treat public institutions with a bit of respect.

- Tolerating rude behaviour, especially banmal crap, from children.

- Waving. Why the *beep* are we encouraging this? Do you wave like retards to each other back home when you meet and greet people? Why do you do it in Korea?

- Having no spine or ability to choose and fight battles carefully.

- Thinking that any sort of behaviour goes just because one's in Korea.

- Taking advantage of Koreans' generousity. This one really pisses me off.

[Paji eh Wong]

Again, like I said in the other thread, internal vs external behaviour.

I'd like foreigners not to come here with the sole attitude of "What's in it for me?"

I'd also like whitey to buy an iron and an ironing board, and learn how to use them. Either that or bring back the 70's and wholey polyesther wardrobes. OK, that's external.

[Alyallen]

[Scotticus]

2, 4 and 5 are asinine.

2 - I can't go a day without hearing some oldster on a cell phone talking at "150" db's. I'm extremely careful about how loud I speak in public and I'll still get dirty looks from old people. As a previous poster saiid, you sound like a grandma with these complaints.

4 - Yes, god forbid people use the Korean they have. How many posts have we seen bemoaning the ignorant waegooks for not speaking Korean? Then when people use the Korean they have, you get pissy?

5 - I'd also agree with a previous poster. While I don't condone being a loud raging drunk, waegooks aren't any worse than the K-drunks I see. At least we keep it in our stomachs and not all over the sidewalk. Oh, and I've yet to see a whitie passed out on a subway car at 3 in the afternoon... or 8 in the morning. I love smelling alcohol wafting off an old man on my way to work in the morning.

Otherwise, 1 and 3 are valid and pretty accurate.

[toddswift]

[ED209]

Wearing bikinis which disappear under the flab, that goes for the girls too.

[Qinella]

I actually agree with his #4. Personally, I've sworn off trying to speak Korean to people in Itaewon unless they don't understand what I'm saying in English, which is rare. The reason for me, though, is not to esteem their incredible English prowess, but simply that I find a lot of snobbish c*cks who like to act like they don't understand what I'm saying just because they speak English. You know what I'm talking about? Like suddenly your basic requests in Korean are garbeldy goop because the waiter knows English and wants to look cool? So I just speak English there.

Conversely, I get annoyed at fellow waegs who can't make simple requests in Korean. I was at this store one evening watching a guy pay. After he paid he started making a square diagram with his fingers, like Uma Thurman to John Travolta on Pulp Fiction, saying, "Bag. Bag. Bag." Not even the requisite "uh" after it. No wonder we get treated like retards when we go shopping.