Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[gypsyfish]

If this happened and it bothered you, I wonder why you bought the water from him. Everyone is entitled to his opinion, even dickweeds, but that doesn't mean you have to patronize his business. Buy your water somewhere else.

[rapier]

[The Lemon]

[matthewwoodford]

That's an argument against democracy as old as democracy itself.


Well, ignorance and arrogance are in no short supply in the world's greatest democracy either, and we may not like what a democratic China or Egypt would have to say but that's just the price you pay.

[indiercj]

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[The Lemon]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I agree with gypsyfish. With the benefit of hindsight, I think I would have left the water bottle on the counter and walked out...and never go back.

[mithridates]

[peach]

Yeah, escalating things really makes a positive change when it comes to the insensitive and uneducated. Just because he was horrible, doesn't mean you should lower yourself to his level. I agree w the idea of getting your water elsewhere.

[captain kirk]

It's just zany silliness, man. If you'd got all offended and huffed off he would have got a huge laugh out of it. I think the best tack is to not let it slow you down being appreciative; Korea has tons of culture. Lots of different people thinking differently.
For example.
Swordfighting. Today I went by a shop that sells practice swords and padding and even real swords. It's real here. Goes back centuries. Don't find that at home.
Also today I stopped by a bunch of greenhouses selling exotic plants. One specialized in bonsai type potted plants. Getting a species that looks like a miniature tree, putting it in a pot with other plants so that it looks like there's a path between two pine trees.
What you met is jolly har de har stuff and no indication of anything 'serious' to get stubbornly unreceptive about re; the whole culture. Unless you want to stay in orbit about being irate and over what? Some dumbo encounter or encounters. High school stuff and you're a college graduate. Can think around bozo stuff and remain clear headed.
If you notice, some Koreans have a chip on their shoulder and others sincerely seem to think you're from a more advanced First World Country. What a poster has descriped as 'a bipolar edge' to the place.

[rapier]

Oh come on, you have to admit its funny to try and think of the most outrageously offensive thing you could say to a korean....the other night I had one pretty riled by questioning the whole Korean claim to Dokdo.

[JongnoGuru]

It depends on the situation, but generally when a Korean makes such an outrageous attempt to get my goat as in the OP, I won't give him the pleasure of letting him have it.

When I first came here, I didn't understand that kind of thing, and I'd just sort of walk away looking like . Then, after I'd been here a few years, I guess I snapped. I would fly into a rage at comments far, far tamer than that one. I simply wouldn't let a single provocation go unanswered. 24/7

These days I've really calmed down. A bit wiser? Mellowed with age? Can't be bothered? Just plain lazy?!

Maybe it's all those things. But more than that, I really don't hear that sort of sh*t as much anymore, thank God. The last time I did was about two years ago, from my 68-year-old gardener who was recovering from major surgery at the time. The comments weren't as bad as the OP, but they were of a piece. And I just let it go. I mean seriously, what the heck was I supposed to do? Deck the old fart?

[jajdude]

What can you do except feel sorry that some people are so incredibly dumb they haven't a clue.