Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mongrel]

just when i was beginning to break out of my current funk about korea this happens. went to the local gym and tried to join up. the owner ushered me into the office and said "no waygook salam". i know you can't blame everyone in korea for this, and i haven't, i've taken it on the chin and looked for another gym. maybe it was because there are a lot of women that go there and he doesn't want some rabid sex maniac there, i don't really know. i've been a member at about 5 other gyms here with no problems, apart from the ajuma who insists on closing the windows and turning off the fans. i wouldn't mind an opinion from a korean about this.

[Harpeau]

Sorry to hear about that. I'm up in Hwarangdae. You're welcome to join me at the gymn that I attend. If it's any consolation, the guy who said no foreigners is possibly on his way to bankruptcy. Does not make much business sense, IMHO. I wonder if we're going to see separate Hangook & Waygook waterfountains.. OOPS- don't want to give them any strange ideas.

Harpeau

[Seoultrader]

Have a beer on me

I guess the only way not to let it get to you is by focusing on the fact that the other 5 gyms welcomed you. One excrement cranium out of six is still bad, but lwe can safely assume that the vast majority is not like this.

Makes me wonder how often crap like this would happen to minorities in the US if you took away the option of legal reprisal. (not to forget potential reverse discrimination situations where minority business owners ban whites).

In my opinion, one of the main differences between Korea and the US (or many other Western nations) is the lack of ENFORCEMENT of relevant anti-discrimination laws. The US "melting pot" is great in theory, and to a large degree it has worked with the introduction of laws facilitating peaceful and equal cohabitation but I don't think it reflects the population's real inner attitudes toward race relations.

Imagine this (absurd) hypothetical poll - ask all US whites if they would approve of a white-only USA if that was a possibility and I bet you a majority would answer "yes" assuming that they are telling the truth. Now ask other races the same question. Same results, most likely.

There are few nations in this world that have achieved a truly multicultural/racial society. My favorite role models for this is Singapore and Malaysia (and it didn't even take them so long). Anyone care to add to the list?

My point is that the US with its century+ of immigration is still in its infant stages in this regard, as is Korea (well, in Korea's case it's more like the fetus stage) but they're both on the right track. We just have the bad luck not to have been born in the year 2200, when everyone will be beige.

Still, I feel for ya, bro. That just sucked.

[makushi]

[captain kirk]

have to look for another gym for a month since the one across the street from work is closed for renovations. they took me in five months ago no problem. but i still recall, now you mention it, getting kicked out of a gym in a small town (population 3000) by the owner the first day for not replacing the plates exactly into place; the owner was livid, way over the top. the school director, talking to him on the phone, simply said he was a 'bad man' (nabbun saram). but downtown in this medium sized city they're more accustomed to bypassing the grudge thing, wherever it comes from and whatever it is. another thread asks, 'motto for living in korea'; how 'bout 'whatever'.
being coupled with a korean gal i guess, mongrel, you're a heat score for the odd korean who stands giving a guy the hate stare like he's tracking a flaming ball of doodoo, and that's 'you'. but it's not 'you', it's just his wonky thinking and nobody can change another person's thinking. he can't drop the hate thing, you can't drop every odd korean with that glare going, but you CAN consider him (usually a him) just something to detour around. after all he wants all this attention to the fact he apparently has this burning derision, and it's not something positive you want to buy into and believe and react to. just plain wonky and nonsensical, like being refused gym membership. with all the perks living and working here outweighing these 'inconveniences' consider this saying; hate is like acid, it corrodes all it comes into contact with so why be a vessel for it. it's the odd wonky-thinking, misguided native's problem. you have immunity. why buy it and run around inside reacting to what he wants you to think he's thinking about you with that vein popping in his forehead? better for you, better for EVERYONE. carry that crap and it'll taint your gut-opinion about everyone here, and it isn't everyone.
a cheery, post-vacation anti-rant rant. allowed some of these dudes stand stock-still like a concave solar panel channelling all their demonic powers, but good old enlightened choices always triumph over such short-cirucuits if you don't let it infect your mainframe.
there are OTHER gyms. be a patron to those that aren't patronizing. carry an open mind and don't let some dolt slam it shut with general rage.

[bucheon bum]

[Seoultrader]

[makushi]

[Gladiator]

I once met a man from Cameroon who lived in Ilsan. He told me he joined a gym there only to have his membership promptly revoked when other members began complaining about the presence of a black man in the club.

It occured while the WC "Seoul Welcomes the World" PR campaign was going on.