Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cdninkorea]

I got the idea for a thread about crazy taxi drivers in Korea from tall_dave in this thread:

punk driver getting punished
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=176828

[Rory_Calhoun27]

Maybe he was happy fighting...?

Why Oscar the Grouch isn't more popular with Korea is a mystery worth pondering.... some day.

[aishiii]

[sheba]

I got a taxi from Emart one day... The taxi drivers are usually pretty friendly and Im happy to make small talk. But this guy straight up asked if I were from Russia, at the time I didnt realise exactly what that meant. He then started asking me personal questions and eventually if I were married or had a boyfriend. (I said no to married, yes toa boyfriend) Then he said we could get married and suggested we go back to his place... the questions started turning sexual, so I just called a friend and stayed on the fone chatting to him til I got to my destination (which was about 15 mins away). He was laughing and yelling about how I must love sex and the like as I was getting out of the taxi and the people around me were looking and staring (but Im guessing they couldnt understand english)... what a creeper.

[pkang0202]

One cab driver tried to drop me off before we got to my stop. He's just like, "Get off here. YOu can walk the rest of the way."I looked at him kinda stunned and I said, "No, we are almost there. You go another 5 minutes and take me to where I gotta do."

The reason? He missed the turn into my neiborhood, so I had to guide him through the back alleys. I guess we went too far away from the "big roads" that he got scared. When I got out of the cab, I threw my money at him and told him, "The big road is 10 meters in front of you. Take a right on it, you cry-baby."



Another time I'm looking at Google Maps on my Iphone, get into a cab and tell him my destination. The cab driver asks me, "Is it near _______" to test my knowledge of the route. I said I wasn't sure and to take the fastest way. I got in the cab at Itaewon and was heading to Gangnam. The cab driver is like, "Should I take the Dongjak bridge? Its the fastest way."

I look at my phone at google maps, see that Dongjak bridge is like 2 bridges over in the opposite direction. I told him, "Are you crazy, thats in teh opposite direction. I have a map here with GPS. I'll know if you go the wrong way."

The guy looked at my iphone, saw the blue dot that indicated my position, and he was silent the whole trip.




One cool story is I was late to work and I took a cab. I had less money than I thought. I only had 3,000won. It would be another 500 won to get to my work. I told the cab driver to let me out when the meter hit 3000 won. I told him I only had that much. He told me to shut the door and that he'd take me the rest of the way without charging any more. I thought that was really cool.


*Its 6:04am so excuse my bad typing. Hard to think coherently when its this late...errr.. early.

[Passions]

[reactionary]

I got into a cab with a younger and kind of scruffy cabbie. He got it out of me that I was visiting a lady friend. He then pulled out a bag of viagra and tried to sell it to me for 10,000 won a pill. I politely declined.

I also got picked up by some kind of "party cab" once. I saw it coming my way, hesitated when it pulled to stop, but got in anyway. The inside had black and blinking lights. cds reflective side facing glued all over the place, and a pretty decent sound system. k pop ballads never sounded so good. He asked me why I tried to avoid his cab, I didn't answer. He asked if he could smoke, I said no.

The fare for my trip was a good 5000 won higher than normal. That's why I tried to avoid it.

Funny how all the weird stuff happened in my first year. I guess I don't get out as much anymore.

[mayorgc]

I've only had one nightmare cab story. I'll never take long distance cabs ever again. 5 minute rides only.

I got in a cab with my GF. I was maybe 3 cities away, I guess a 20 minute ride to get home. I understand that cabs weave in and out of traffic and they are literally speed demons. But it was after midnight and the streets were empying, so the cab driver assumed his car was made of titanium now.

I was getting antsy as he was running reds and the cab was a whisker away from 2 accidents. This was all before we hit the freeways. The cab must have missed his turn or something because on the freeway, he decided to turn on to incoming traffic and he was gonna try to uturn into another exit. The cab was now driving against traffic. I nearly crapped my pants. I should have just pulled my GF outta the cab at the next time he stopped, but I must have been in shock or something.

I'm now typing this from beyond the grave......

[jonpurdy]

[samd]

[jiberish]

Nice to see fun posts, rather than crying that alot of other people do. Good job.

But if you think the taxi drivers in Korea are bad try bali. I was actually scared flying down small streets barely dodging cars every 5 seconds. Also they will say Yes I know the place, drive around for 10 minutes. Then say sorry I don't know...

[jiberish]

[samd]

[ChilgokBlackHole]

Guy didn't turn on the meter (I know, I know) and wanted 7000 for a ride that's 5000 on a really bad day at midnight on a Saturday, this was 6pm on a weekday. I made it clear he wasn't going to get it and he got into that universally known tough-guy posture, so I just pointed to the camera and said CCTV. With about 18 dog babies he took the 2500 won I offered him.

I got into a taxi outside samduk fire station in Daegu and clearly said my address. When I got there, he was in the wrong place, wrong city. So I gave him the 8000 won and went to the security guard and wrote down on a piece of paper where I wanted to go, and could he call me a taxi please and juseyo. He called the cops. I got a ride to the local police station where I had three cops sitting around looking as confused as I was why I was there, so I whipped out my ARC, showed them my address and a pocket full of money, and could they call me a taxi please and juseyo. Even the desk sergeant got up from his newspaper to see what was going on, gave a lil grunt and went back to his newspaper.

Same place, I got into a cab and my drunk buddy told him Daegeum Yuk instead of Daegu Yuk (which is why I always specify the TRAIN station, a lot of places sound the same). After a while, my buddy is passed out and I asked the guy where the train station is from here. He said he misunderstood, and we were going to Daegeum Bus Station (I assume it was a bus station, whatever). I told him it was no big deal, but we really need to make the last train at Daegu station, so could you go quickly please and juseyo. So he swung a hard U-turn and told me the meter would be about 15,000 by the time we get there. I asked him how much to just take up to the door and he was like well... since you were cool about it, 30k. So he shuts off the meter and I give him his 30. We got door service.

I had to grab a taxi back to work once and my boss asked how long it took. I said 25 minutes. 25 MINUTES?? You're joking. I said "Wish I was, I had to go home and change my underwear, I had a little fudge back there." It's a 40 minute drive if you're breaking the speed limit pretty much the entire way.

Another time I got a couple of the ten words of English the guy knew when I said it's too cold to walk and could you please take us the extra two blocks to our destination, Holy Grill behind the fire station. He says "Are you crazy? I am not crazy." The place was full of pedestrians. Would have taken us ages.

I've got more, but that's all I have right now.

[jvalmer]

Little tip for all you, if you're stuck in a town outside of a major city, or a close by town, see if you can spot a taxi from that city you're headed to. Apparently the government covers the cost to get back to the taxi's registered city, so very often the cab driver will offer really cheap rates and just pocket the cash. I figure late night is prime time go off-meter.

Not sure if it applies to both private and company taxis.