Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SeoulShakin]

Tonight was kind of funny, in a "I can't believe this is happening" kind of way.

I spent the afternoon/evening shopping in Myeongdong with two friends today. Two of our boyfriends met us for a buffet dinner, and all in all, it was a nice night. My roommate and I caught the bus home from Myeongdong. Two stops away from the end of the line (our stop), our bus driver stopped. There was a car pulled off to the side (waiting for his wife) and he was blocking the road. Our bus driver got impatient, opened the door and told the guy to move over (not politely mind you, but he wasn't beligerent). The guy took offense to being "told" what to do, and started to tell off the bus driver. This began a 5 minute fight with every curse word imaginable. The guy hung out his window and started punching the bus door windows, our bus driver tried to get up and go fight the guy but some passengers shoved him back in his seat and told him to drive away. So, he tried.

However, every time the bus tried to pull forward, the guy pulled his car forward, and to the left, so essentially his car was diagonally across the two lanes and blocking the entire street. No traffic could go either way. The guys were cursing and yelling, buddy got out of his car to beat on the bus some more, and at this point it was just a matter of..... holy crap just let us off the bus so we can walk the final two stops. He wouldn't let us off (probably cause the guy would have tried to get on the bus).

So we're sitting there for like 10 minutes watching a Korean man c0ckfight, when two random foreign guys knock on our bus window. They asked what was going on, cause they're stuck in traffic. We explained. We all laughed at the absurdity of the situation, and just wanted to get off the bus. So we threw our shopping bags and purses outside, opened up the window as wide as it could go, and those guys helped us jump out the bus window. As we did so, the crowd of Koreans who had gathered around to watch the spectacle actually broke out in cheers and applause that my friend and I had decided to abandon ship. We got lots of "Oh excellent! Good job!". We tried to help a couple of Korean middle school girls out the window, but they were too afraid. So we started to walk. The bus apparently shoved it's way through somehow, and when we got to the end of the line, we noticed the bus was there too, and the Korean guy who was so offended and angry had walked and followed it haha. It started another fight (can't lose face now and walk away can you? haha), and the poor middle school girls ended up trying to negotiate until the cops came.

About 10 minutes later, the cops finally managed to separate them. I talked to a woman who was also on the bus, and she told me that it was the guy in the car who became insane and wouldn't back down. The bus driver was cursing at him just to tell him to back off and let him through so he could finish his route. Hope the bus driver doesn't get in too much trouble.

Anyway, it's probably the only time I'll end up jumping out a city bus window in Seoul to a crowd of applauding Koreans, so I thought I'd share. Quite a way to end the night haha.

PS - thanks random foreign guys for helping us jump out the window haha.

[twg]

I see this pretty often in my neighborhood. But more often it's drunk guys crossing against the light and then yelling at the driver for being in the street.

[Freakstar]

Ha! Great story!

[SeoulShakin]

I thought so. It was certainly amusing to be there, that's for sure!

[fruitcake]

[Cliffhanger]

Before comming to Korea, I would have been shocked to read something like this, but now, somehow I'm not that surprised.

Good story though.

[GoldMember]

It's amazing how arrogant and selfish some people are in Korea.
Dudes that drive on the pavement and expect and demand that pedestrians get out of the way.
"I am Ajoshi, I am Ajuma, I can do what ever I want", I'd like to see these azz wipes try to survive in the States with that attitude. Bound to get their head blown off sooner or later.
Here they get away with it as there is no rule of law.

[bijjy]

Great story! Entertaining! I'm not surprised to hear it either though. Man what an idiot blocking the road. He would have been charged with something if it happened here.. everybody respects transit and yields to them in the west!

[PeteJB]

Lovely tale

[The Perfect Cup of Coffee]

Awesome story. Haha. Would've loved to see the look on the faces of the other passengers.

[jaganath69]

like most ajoshis on the road here, the guy in the car is a total tw@t.

[Milwaukiedave]

That is pretty funny. Someone should write a book about stories like that.

[yingwenlaoshi]

Good story.

[superdave]

yet, on any other occasion, those two guys will tell you what a wonderful, tolerant, respectful country korea is ...

i was doing a workshop 2 years ago and at the training complex were two groups: a group of foreigners doing teaching workshops and a bunch of koreans doing another workshop.

so, we're sitting at a table eating dinner, talking, laughing ... when the koreans at the next table (from another workshop) told us to be quiet. one of them spoke english and said "excuse me, korea is a quiet and respectful country, so be quiet when you eat". what???? this was a very big, crowded, noisy dining hall ... and we're being noisy??

i swear to god i almost fell out of my seat. i told him that was crap. koreans are loud, rude and obnoxious. the guy was a complete hypocrite for saying that ... when, no doubt, he'd be the loudest one at his table with 3 shots of soju under his belt.

the other foreigners at my table were mostly new to korea. they were pretty stunned by the guy's comments and my rebuttal.

so, welcome to korea, doublespeak actually does work here!

[Young FRANKenstein]