Korean Job Discussion Forums

biggpoppa · Joined: 14 Jul 2007 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

four months after losing my wallet, it has been returned to the cops...going today after work to pick it up...talk about an amazing way to start the weekend Smile

couldn't be happier right now...

Saram · Joined: 11 Mar 2007

Same here! Just picked it up a few weeks ago after losing in a movie theater in November. Somebody found it and returned it to the Education Office. Completely unreal. Even had the 12,000 won in it.

poet13 · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:51 pm Post subject:

very cool

Dome Vans · Guest

To the OP, is everything still in it?

biggpoppa · Joined: 14 Jul 2007 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

i'll let you know in about 2 hours when i go to get...i'll take pleasure in the fact that it's at least returned...still very happy right now...

billybrobby · Joined: 09 Dec 2004

No! I don't want to hear this! Koreans are liars! Koreans are dishonest! They are xenophobes who would burn a wallet if they saw it belonged to a foreigner! (tears streaming down face) You don't know anything! Lies~!

Newbie · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

moosehead · Joined: 05 May 2007

I left mine in the back of a taxi a few years ago - we called every taxi company in Ilsan (where it happened) and no one ever turned it in.

had thousands of Vietnam money in it - I think someone thought they hit it big until they realized it wasn't worth much so they got pissed and burned everything, including the wallet - I had name cards in it I couldn't replace, id, etc., it really sucked.

Crying or Very sad

Saxiif · Joined: 15 May 2003 Location: Seongnam

Ya when my step father left his bag in the taxi when he came to Korea for the first time (had expensive camera etc. in it) there was much stressing, but (as expected) the taxi was back within half an hour to give back the bag.

Korea has its share of problems, but petty theft is DEFINATELY not among them.

poet13 · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:00 am Post subject:

I accidentally left (yes, for real) a Mcdonalds lunch in the back of a taxi. The driver was back maybe ten minutes later.

Dome Vans · Guest

Actually in the Sam Cooke bar in Hyehwa last Friday one of the girls we were with left her camera in the bar. We left and about five minutes later the out of breath owner found us a good distance away from the bar to give her the camera back.

Fat Sam · Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Location: Gyeonggi-do

In my first year here I had just got back from Itaeweon in a taxi when I fell out whilst trying to pay the bill, and landed on a fat wallet somewhere near the pavement. I picked it up and put it in my pocket.

My girlfriend was comatose so I attempted to remove her from the back-seat but my legs were a bit shaky and I ended up dropping her on her head -which understandably woke her up. She was thankfully un-injured so after giving her the key I began my detective work.

There was about a hundred thousand in cash, driver's license, ID card, all kinds of credit cards. Underneath all this were a few discount cards for the jimjilbang above our school -which was right next to where I had gotten out of the taxi.

In hindsight I would have waited until the morning to sort it out, but my bravado about 'doing the right thing' led me to visit the place at around five am. I asked the two attendants if this guy was there, and showed the ID card. They reported back that he was indeed on the premises but was sleeping, so I handed the wallet over.

It was only the next day, after sobering up, that I realised how stupid I was to think that two jimjilbang receptionists, on three thousand an hour, at five am, would hand over a wallet with that much cash in it to a drunken ajosshi. For good measure, they had probably added that it was a foreigner who gave it back, thus making him think it was I who stole the money.

Then again, maybe they did give it back to him intact. I'll never know.

The point is, we can all do the right thing, and I'm glad I did so despite the beers and without a hint of the evil Jerry sitting on my shoulder.

I will, however, concede that the wallet would probably never have been seen again if it had been lost in my own country.

Darkness · Joined: 12 Oct 2006

I left my laptop in a taxi once, in a drunken haze. It was in the trunk with my backpack (avec my Canadian flag Wink

and my g/f's bag....

I got the laptop back, but no bags. Oh well, thank god for my laptop.

Koreans are very honest, I feel safer in Korea then anywhere in N.America

bgreenster · Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Location: too far from the beach

I think it's cool that this is such a common story here- the same thing has happened to a lot of people I know.

I have not been quite as fortunate- I've lost 2 wallets, had 1 stolen while I was sleeping on the train home on a Sunday morning, and I somehow left my wallet and phone in a taxi once. At first, I was really grateful because the taxi driver called and brought me my stuff... but then he made me pay about 90.000 for the effort (not really complaining, but that still sucked) . I also dropped my phone last week, and some Korean guy found it and held it hostage until some lady helped me convince him not to force me to buy it back off of him.

Hmm basically the conclusion is that I am both unlucky, and that I need to stop losing things. (I have also lost 2 cameras (1 was stolen), 2 sets of keys, my fleece, and a scarf... yikes.)

Atavistic · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:47 am Post subject:

I haven't had anything stolen here...well, except for money from crooked hogwon owners...

A few months ago I left my handphone in a taxi. When I realized it a few hours later, my boyfriend called and some ajosshi answered. We met him and he gave me back the phone. I tried giving him 20,000 won as a thank you, but he absolutely refused to take it. (Yes, I nicely argued like you have to here.)

I sort of wished he'd just looked at the history and thought, "Wow, this person is calling this man a lot...maybe I should call and ask whose phone I have..." but he didn't.