Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ilsanman]

Which one is the most annoying?

[ajgeddes]

I voted bible thumpers, but it is a toss-up between them and charity people. The reason I think those two, is because they often won't leave you alone. The bible guy will stay there for way too long and the charity people hassle you. Beggers don't bother me because they are there and gone, and sellers don't bother me except for when the push their cart through a jammed car.

[excitinghead]

I voted crazies. Some people seem to hate the beggers esepcially, but if someone's reduced to crawling up and down the subway all day trying to survive, then hell, I think I can spare them a whole 5 mins of my average wage. Bible guys love me but still move on pretty quickly, and only occasionally do I have to tell them to (literally) stop embracing me as one of their own. And the charity guys move on pretty quickly too. The sellers are always interesting, and occasionally have useful cheap stuff. But the crazies...man...we're like a magnet to them. They'd leave all other 59 commuters alone but as soon as they see one of us, it's party time.

Having said all that, one physically disabled guy with an incomprehensible stutter came up to me once to say Hi...people blatantly avoiding him en route as if he smelt or something...but once I realised that he wasn't intellectually handicapped, we actually had a good 15 minute or so conversation in Korean, the longest I've ever had with another commuter on the subway, and not just the longest because of his stutter. In 7 years here, he was the ONLY guy on the subway who genuinely wanted to chat and not to practice English, as the 199 others who have come up to me asking to chat, in English, have backed away very quickly when I replied that I was from Poland/Denmark/Hungary/Argentina/Costa Rica and so couldn't speak English, but was happy to chat with them in Korean. He was also the only one who never condescendingly used English when I made a trivial mistake in Korean.

I'd like to say that our 10 year age gap is the reason we couldn't be friends, but to be honest his damn stutter is what really prevented it (I like talking). But at least he made me look at disabled people here in a positive light.

[Atavistic]

Trick question. The crazies and bible thumpers are usually one and the same.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[nomad-ish]

[Jackie]

What a cutie! She looks like a happy baby. I noticed her picture right away. How fortunate you are.

[topas]

I voted subway sellers. I haven't been pestered too much by the crazies and bible thumpers yet. And the crazies can be kind of fun. The subway sellers, on the other hand, park themselves in front of me and start shouting at the top of their lungs. Then, if I'm lucky, I get to listen to the god-awful cd's they're trying to sell for five stops. At top volume. Can't even hear my mp3 player over the racket.

[Bibbitybop]

I love the subway sellers, I give the beggars money and ignore everyone else. Until someone messes with me directly, I don't care. My pet peeve person is not there: The person who can't speak English well who wants to carry on a conversation and become your friend for free English lessons. I don't mind simple conversation, but I'm talking about the ones who seem needy and clinging. Or the ones who interrupt my reading or phone call.

[CentralCali]

I voted crazies because that includes "all of the above" in the poll choices.

I've seen the following good (+) and bad (-) things happen on the subway or regular trains:

• Three peddlers get arrested for peddling on the trains. +
  
• Everyone on one subway car start chastizing an old lady who was Bible thumping for the Shinbogeum church. +
  
• A beggar get funds from everyone in one car. + for the beggar, no doubt.
  
• A beggar get funds from no-one at all in one car. - for the beggar, no doubt.
  
• Gum sellers get chastized for selling old gum and at too high a price. + for aware consumers, - for gum seller.
  
• A railway cop put the beat-down on one old dude. Dude was trying to hassle me but I ignored him. The nice middle-aged lady next to me told the old dude to quit bothering people and the old dude took a swing at her. He didn't connect. A young man got up and went forward on the train to fetch the conductor. Another man stood between the old man and the lady while I went aft to fetch the conductor. The conductor came up and told the old man to get off the train. When he refused, the conductor radioed for the cop. The cop came aboard and was very respectful to the old man but insistent that the man leave the train. The geezer attacked the cop. So, a second cop came aboard and, all the while speaking respectfully to the old fart, beat the living daylights out of him until he quit resisting. + for both the fact that Koreans helped out a foreigner and also for the entertainment value of seeing what happens to someone dumb enough to slug a cop.
  
• A mother letting her kid piss into a soda bottle on the subway train. -
  
• A mother letting her kid piss in a corner of a subway train car. Double -
  
• One poor kid puking her guts out. Her older brother saw it coming, too. He leaped out of the way just before the fallout. The mother and her sister cleaned the place up, too. They used "mul tishu" and put all the detritus in a plastic bag they had to empty of their newly purchased items. - for the poor girl's constutiton, + for the mom and aunt.
  

[Scouse Mouse]

Bible thumpers are by far the biggest annoyance. The sellers are great entertainment, and I love seeing how passionate they are about getting people to part with cash. The beggars make me feel uncomfortable about contributing to a society that is unable to care for the less fortunate, and the others are all easily ignored by the old "earphones in and eyes closed" technique. Except for the bible thumpers.

I once had 2 of them sit next to me to talk. I leaned back and closed my eyes waiting for them to go away. Then one cheeky mare took out my earphones! I went ballistic. They left. Nutters!

[IncognitoHFX]

[Qinella]

It's all part of the show.

[The_Eyeball_Kid]

Once again, a thread on Dave's turns into a 'let's criticize religion' thread!!!11!


Excellent work, people. Keep it up.

[Mr. Pink]

I voted Bible Thumpers...for some reason they just don't like to give up. Even if I tell them I am Christian, they think perhaps I am not the right "sect" or whatever. I hate having to tell them to go away, seems rude...but hey they don't ever get the hint do they?

Korean adjumas are the worse sort too.