Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mateomiguel]

Ok, every morning on my way to work I exit Hak-dong station in Gangnam. I go out one of the end exits, exit 1 to be exact. There are four exits on that end of the subway just like normal, and they are laid out in an H pattern. Its pretty standard. Exit 1 is the top right bar on the H. my story concerns exit 10, the top left bar on the H.

Every single morning when I exit the subway ticket gates there's a line. The single-file line extends from the subway ticket gates all the the way down the subway station, up some stairs, and around the corner to Exit 10. The first time I saw it I thought it was a line for free cookies or somethin. Maybe a new store was giving away complimentary kimbap slices? But no. The line is for the escalator going up Exit 10. Its one of those ultra-slim single file escalators. And everybody wants to get out of exit 10, so they line up in a single file line and wait for the escalator to take them all up.

That's all well and good, but as I mentioned before there are 4 exits on that side of the subway, in an H pattern. There's exit 9 right behind 10. If someone turned around from 10 and took 9 they'd end up about 100 feet away from exit 10, but still on the same side of the street. Not even on another side of the intersection. They would be on the same block, same side of the street, same everything, and then they could be on their merry way. But nobody ever does that, ever. Instead, they all stand in a line that takes something like 10 minutes just to get out of the subway station and onto the sidewalk.

WHY GOD WHY? Why do they do this? They could, if they wanted to, take my exit with its double-wide escalator and then cross the street on the crosswalk immediately past the exit and that would be faster than the line. They could even take exit #2 behind my exit and end up on the wrong side of the street, take the crosswalk, and be on their way faster than the line moves. They could take any other exit out of the station and it would be faster than waiting in a line for 10 minutes, BUT THEY DON'T. THEY JUST STAND THERE. IN LINE.

I... don't understand. I have to know. Why does a large crowd of people do this every single workday morning?

[Hosub]

Creatures of habit.

[R-Seoul]

Because THEY ARE SHEEP

[huffdaddy]

If you ever go to Chicago and drive to Chicago Stadium (to see a Blackhawk of Bulls game), you'll notice that Madison Ave. is backed up and slow going all the way from the expressway to the Stadium. Going one block south to Monroe, which still takes you all the way through to the stadium, there is no traffic at all.

[okokok]

[manlyboy]

It's all a practical joke. As soon as you leave, they all stop and laugh their a*ses off.

[kotakji]

The same thing happens at the bus stop going up to Seoul National University. Theres always 2-3 busloads of students waiting for the pay bus (nevermind the line for the free bus). So what do I do? Walk for 15 seconds to the bus stop slightly earlier in the route and am the only one waiting for a totally empty bus and have my pick of seats.

And these are supposed to be the best and brightest of Korea

[wylies99]

[mindmetoo]

This requires advanced planning, connecting two ideas. It's like "why do Korean figure the best place to wait for their friend is right in front of one of the tick gates, blocking access to that gate for all the other patrons?"

[Novernae]