Korean Job Discussion Forums

[inukshuk]

Yes, you read it correctly. This happened this morning at 11:30am and it involved a fight between korean patrons and korean staff.

EVENT DESCRIPTION:

This morning I went for breakfast at Gecko's. At the bar, a waitress started shouting at drunken korean men who were sitting at the bar. She shouted a second time and the small sized bouncer moved in behind them. Seconds later, 3 waiters surrounded the men. There were 3 patrons - 2 young and big, plus 1 small older guy. All of a sudden, the small old guy winds up and bitch slaps one of the waiters. The slap was heard around the bar and the waiter was obviously stunned. The insulted waiter ran around the bar and grabbed a mop and returned to swing it at the group of men. He was restrained by his coworkers before he could get a whack in. The mob of waitresses, waiters, bouncer and patrons moved outside the bar doors, to where the bouncers usually hang out. Screaming and fighting ensued. The assaulted waiter was trying all he could to get at the little older guy. The energy was at near panic stage and the manager came out to see what was going on. He quickly went back to his office and then returned, passing me, with what looked like a 38 snub nose gun. It could have been a starter, fake gun, or a real gun. The mob of cluster f!# of fury continued for several more minutes. I went up close to observe. At that point, the assaulted waiter ran back into the bar and grabbed a bar stool. He ran past me and lifted it up over his head but was stopped by his coworkers before he could use it. Several minutes later the cops arrived, 5.2 in height, and things began to settle down. The assaulted waiter had to be physically helped to the office, as he was in a low level state of shock.

POST DESCRIPTION ANALYSIS:
*The problem arouse because the Gecko's morning shift bouncer is too small. He couldn't handle the situation because the 2 of the 3 men were larger than he was (yet, still small).
*The problem got out of control because the waiters and bouncer chose to surround the men - at this point they should have disengaged with their attempt to "outnumber" the customers. They should have walked away and called the cops.
*Management should never run a sunday brunch and serve booze. The two different crowds (brunchers and morning drunks) don't mix.
*The men should have been cut off before they got too hammered. Shamefully, korean bartenders will serve alcohol until the customer is dead of blood alcohol poisoning - if it means they have some extra money in the till.
*In Canada, they would have been cut off and told to leave. A canadian bouncer (assuming he is outmatched) would tell them to leave or threaten to phone the police. If they don't leave, the RCMP come and solve it.
*In the states, everyone including me would be dead.

PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS:
When Korean people are in a panic driven mob of near violence, they move extremely slowly. The adrenaline seemed to knock out their mental "firmware".

[blurgalurgalurga]

That'd be a tear gas pistol, probably.

[definitely maybe]

sounds like you got your money's worth! that's just geckos for you though. it's the only place i've been in the enitre world where a smashed customer can fall from his chair and spill his drink, then get helped up by the staff and promptly have his drink replaced! at 11:00 am no less! i strongly agree your point about cutting off drunk patrons, but sunday brunch with a bloody, mimosa, or whatever suits your pleasure, is a god-given right that we need to uphold at all costs!

by the way, less than clever shot at americans in what is basically a solid post.

[freshking]

Yeah I lived in the states for 28 years and managed to stay bullet wound free. I tend to frequent s*hitty bars as well.

[thepeel]

[inukshuk]

"the US is off the scale in terms of death by guns" - Noam Chomsky

[matthews_world]

Maybe you shoulda brought Javier in your avatar there with you. That woulda got them to quiet down.

[thepeel]

[Khenan]

Personally, I thought it was vaguely funny, and not very offensive, given that it was a simple one-liner. However, for the record, I must state that I have never been shot at a bar, nor seen anyone shot at a bar. This, despite the thousands of hours I have spent in bars in the States, at all times of the day (except between 2am and 7 am, during which hours is it clearly immoral to be drinking in public).

On the other hand, I have been in the bar next door to a bar where a shooting has occured on two separate occasions.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

[newton kabiddles]

Gets slapped in the face and then runs to get a mop. Why didn't he make a few Tae-kwon-do moves?

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[bassexpander]

The waiter's pride was damaged. He lost face. It's damn funny to see, actually. I'm sure he knew full-well that his friends would hold him back. As if he could have afforded to pay the guy damages. It's all a show.

A few years ago, I was standing outside of the Hamilton Hotel when some brown fellow from India or Pakistan or thereabouts got into an argument with a Korean guy. Well, as Koreans do, the Korean guy mouthed-off and bumped chests with the foreign guy -- not noticing the metal anti-car post in the ground below his feet. When they bumped, the Korean guy tripped and got knocked on his ass right in front of the crowd. People laughed out loud, and the guy felt he had lost face. The foreigner started laughing at him as the Korean guy began chasing him around. It looked like two elementary school kids on a playground. The Korean became even more enraged. Everyone began laughing louder at the sight of it -- including the foreigner being chased.

Eventually, they both disappeared around the corner for a minute. As the crowd was standing around talking about what just happened, the foreigner suddenly comes flying around the corner and up the street on a scooter. The ajosshi chased him a bit, but never got close. People laughed even more. The police showed up, and they were all concerned about the ajosshi's lost-face. The were so concerned about it, they started grabbing people in the crowd to "question" across the street at the station.

That's when I got out of there. I still think it was pretty damn funny.

It's hilarious to see a Korean lose face and freak out about it, and even more funny/sad to see police go out of their way to help the guy over his embarrassment. They practically held his hand as they walked him across the street. I thought he was going to cry. Gosh forbid the police should allow one of their own countrymen to be thoroughly embarrassed in front of a crowd of random waygooks -- gotta haul a bunch of them in just so the guy feels like he got some sort of restitution.

Welcome to Korea!

[cbclark4]

[crusher_of_heads]

bassexpander what do you have against the Korean guy-after all, they **are** children!

[bassexpander]