Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bassexpander]

I hate it when I do this....

Some uni girl parked her car right at the entrance to the parking lot in front of my house, blocking-in about seven cars (that's all that will fit). This has become a problem recently, and I recognized the same car as a weekly offender. The school tries its best to police this during the week, but on the weekends, if I want to get my car out, I end up waiting (along with others, usually) for the person blocking the entry to move their car. Some weeks they don't have a phone number on the window, which is a real problem.

Well, after we all waited around for ten minutes, the lady finally returned to move her car. She was a young, princessy-type. The other people gave her disgusted looks, but I was in a mood today, so I chewed her a good one, LOUDLY, and told her the next time she'll be towed. And I did it right in front of the seven or eight others who were waiting.

Ugh. Now I feel bad. Most Koreans seem to keep their temper well, with the exception of a few that are written-off as rude. Well, I guess I'm rude.

[pest2]

How did she react?

Im surprised there wasnt an old ajoshi or two there to set her straight.

[bassexpander]

When I first started in on her, she sort of ignored that I was there (I was within 7 feet of her). That's when I started yelling. She still acted like I wasn't there, but when I got loud, she jumped as if she thought she were about to be smacked.

The others there were all students, except for one guy, who was probably a PT professor in another department. Mid 30s, like me. He understood English, because when he looked at me, he laughed. I then told him that was at least the third time she'd parked there. He smiled/snickered and said, "Three time, huh?"

I have a reputation around here of being a very nice/gentle guy. I think I did some damage to that today.

[jaganath69]

That's nothing. I told a bunch of high school kids to f#ck off the other day. Made me feel good, for about a minute then I realised I had over reacted.

[bassexpander]

Lately, we've had a big problem with the local middle school and high school girls using our lot to smoke. The university catches them and chews them out from time-to-time. They leave cigarette butts and trash all over the lot. I have taken a different approach. I started taking photographs, and am considering turning them in to their school, which is just down the street. It's difficult to get good face shots, though.

[jaganath69]

I get the same thing with boys behind my apartment, as we are right near a high school. A bucket of cold water out the window or a loud '야' usually does the trick. Nice photos, btw!

[bassexpander]

Yeah, but my lady wanted to caution me that they could get into pretty massive trouble if I turn them in -- as in suspension from school for a week. I'm not sure if I'm prepared to be such an ass.

[jaganath69]

Easy answer, just make it known you have them and word should get around quick enough.

[PeteJB]

Cute. England all over again

[Mix1]

OP, ...relax. Do you think she'll park there again? Probably not, as now she sees there are actual consequences for her actions...even as a precious princess! (imagine that)

Although you could have conveyed the info without shouting so much, but the effect is probably stronger the way you did it. It's unfortunate, but many people here (and I'm guessing princesses especially) seem to respond better to anger, loudness, or force than nice sound logic. Although I'm guessing you coundn't communicate enough Korean for her to understand your logic anyway?

[bassexpander]

When I get really angry, my rudimentary Korean goes out the window.

Korean seem to understand words like "towing" when being screamed at them by someone with veins popping out of their forehead.

[Ilsanman]

Tow the car? Slashing the tires or keying the paint will be much more effective.

These kind of things affect everyone around, even people who don't drive. A goofball did that at my old place a while back. The guy trapped in there honked his horn non stop for over 10 minytes. It wasn't until some local grandfather came out and threatened to shove that horn up his ass did he stop.

[cdninkorea]

If it means anything OP, I don't think you went overboard.

It sounds to me like you were prepared to tell her in calmer way, but she ignored you. And it's not as if this was the first time she did this. You startled her, but you didn't do any actual harm to her, and because of you she'll probably be more considerate in the future.

[zai]

i don't think you overreacted either. even though my time in korea has been minimal so far, i've been told by some relatives that how koreans deal with issues like this is either be passive (i.e. disgusted looks) or they get into shouting matches (in your case one sided). a cousin of me told that how koreans argue is by seeing who is able to shout louder. now of course this doesn't apply to all koreans, but i've seen enough examples of this so far to confirm that it is well ingrained in the culture here. and since you were dealing with a princessy type, i'm also told that those types tend to be really spoiled and could care less what most people say, so a passive or even gentle approach would of had no effect.

though if you want to be even more effective next time you can always do it by sending a nice message via bat to windshield (this happened to my friend's car in the states-though he wasn't blocking anyone, he just parked in front of someone's house and that person "normally" parks there- but yeah, he got the message).

as they say, the medium is the message....

[xtchr]

I don't think you overreacted, especially not if it's her third time doing it.

If she tries it again, tip a little bit of milk in the airvents on the bonnet of the car. It will absolutely stink eventually, and she'll never get rid of the smell. Hehe, I'm kind of joking.

But now I'm confused; I've been told countless times by Koreans that NO Korean females smoke, yet you have photos. What should I believe?