Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cutter-saram]

this may be me being just callous, but i wanna beat the blind beggars on the subway. a couple of time, during rush hour, some blind chanting miscreant comes stumbling through, forcing every one to make way. the thing is, im not even sure i believe that there blind and even so, how does that reduce one to begging. get a job, youre not rendered useless because of a disability. proving somewhat alleviating, i (in the truest sense of passive aggression) threw a rupee into his bucket, chuckling to myself about how he'll react when he actualy LOOKS into it. now i carry left over baht from thailand for future encounters.
similarly, the guys who clumsily slither through the streets with fly fishing pants on uselessly dragging their feet behind. they also deserve a beating, but i wouldnt want to be the one to administer it because there so bloody dirty. how is it that ive never seen this kinda crap back home. its too formulaic.
i remember back at university, beggars would walk a long the study carols and present a card saying 'smile im deaf'. id always tell them to fcuk off.
once again, maybe im just an ass. i heard that there is little to no social assistance in korea. is this true? if it is, maybe instead of remaing an ass, which i do feel somewhat inclined to remain, i could overhaul my out look on this. either corroborate my suspicions or prove me wrong.

[peppermint]

Have you ever seen a Korean person in a wheelchair outside of a hospital?Have you ever seen a Korean person with even a limp working in a regular job? I've seen one girl in a wheel chair, at my old school and even though my students were all adults, it was clear that she was shunned.

Think about how easy it is for someone with any sort of disability to get around in this country- stairs everywhere, and often not a wheelchair ramp in sight. Think about how many old people you see doing the dirtiest, nastiest work imaginable. Do you think they would do that if there was any sort of social support network in this country?

Even the most minor disability is cause for being outcast in this society. I've been told that it reflects badly on the bloodlines of the family, and often children born with any sort of defect are abandoned by their parents. If they aren't accepted as part of society when they are children, how are they supposed to get the education needed to get a job in this country?

There's a lot of deep mistrust about the beggars you mentioned. I've heard that the blind people are faking, and that the men without legs lost them as punishement for p*ssing off the mafia here. Then again- do you believe everything that a Korean person tells you about their culture?

I'm not gonna stoop to insults, cause I suspect you'll wake up tomorrow, read that post and feel bad enough.

[Shincheon_Blues]

[Ilsanman]

I feel that if I gave every beggar I saw 100 won, I'd be Man wom poorer some days. I don't, except very occasionally.

Actually one time, I saw some guy eyeing me, giving me the 'westerners are evil' look, so I took that opportunity to test his stereotype. A beggar came through, and I have him 500 won.

On New Years Eve, in Jongno, there was a poor old lady. My friend gave her 10,000 won. A Happy New Year present maybe.

Sure, people abuse other people's sympathy, but my guess would be that 90% of beggars are legitimately homeless. Not like at home. Beggars in my hometown are disgraceful. They did a newspaper article on them, and they admitted to not actually being homeless, and collecting welfare. They beg for spending money. And they wonder why people don't want to give them anything.

[djsmnc]

I'd rather be bumped into by a blind guy than be harassed by one of the A-hole lazy chumps on the corners of San Francisco or Washington DC. I'd rather hear traditional Korean songs of sorrow from the speakers of one of those guys in the fishing pants than feel sorry for a "War Veteran" looking for handouts outside of a Mcdonalds with a "Now Hiring" sign. Back home (in the US) the thing to do is hand out job applications rather than money. It seems a little more legit here. If they aren't really blind or whatnot, then they'll have to answer for themselves when the fact that they misled people and manipulated peoples' compassion by feigning a disability. If you don't want to help them, just save your cash.

[jaderedux]

[komtengi]

[Toby]

I have witnessed one guy doing a scam in the subway, but I am sure he is a minority.

This guy WALKED to the end of the platform and then got down into a wooden crate with his legs underneath him and then crawled onto the next train, dragging himself down the carriages with his hands.

But. I am sure he is a minority.

[animalbirdfish]

The way I figure it, if anyone wants to sit on those steps leading into the subway stations - especially in the cold of winter - and wait for people to drop 10 won coins into their basket, then I can at least spare a few hundred won. What's that to me? Not much, and I sure as hell wouldn't want to be sitting on those steps for hours at a time. I regularly waste 5,000 won at Burger King, so if the beggars are faking, it's just one more scam of many to which I fall prey.

[rapier]

I usually give to the less fotunate and beggars. Who cares if they're going to buy booze with the money or waste it on smokes...they're still significantly less fortunate than I am.
My mother was disabled, so i make apoint of helping them with whatever I have. I gather they aren't treated too well here. And "cutter-saram", i think they have a harder time finding employment here than the west...Hope you crash and burn out of the "contenders", you miserable wretch.

[kangnamdragon]

We should be more compassionate to our fellow human beings.

[Toby]

And the good thing here in comparison to home is that you know that they are not going to go and spend whatever money you give them on their next fix of smack or to go and buy some prozac or any other downers. "Got any change for a cup of tea?" Yeah. Like hell you are going to go and buy tea. That is all you get in London. Hundreds of homeless. It is not the disabled that ask for money. They get looked after, or at least, they get treated better than they do here.

I think that the disabled people you see here are such a minority that I think the majority of them are being genuine. I always see the same blind guys on the subway. That doesn't mean that I give them money. Maybe I should. My room-mate gave one guy some money and it set off a chain reaction down the carriage which I bet the guy was glad of. Hands went into their pockets and purses quicker than kimchi strips your intestines out.

[rapier]

[waggo]

A few months ago I went to meet my friend at a subway exit....as I was coming up the stairs there was a beggar fast asleep with his baseball cap lying in front of him.He'd been doing quite well and he had a bit of money in there.
My mate was late so i decided to get a coffee from one of the machines.....but i didnt have any coins only chon won notes...hmm ..where have I seen some change lately? i thought....I went back down the stairs to the baggar who was snoring away.I rolled up a chon won note and put it in his jacket pocket...I then preceded to count out 10*100 won coins from his hat....at that exact moment a subway must just have arrived because several Koreans started to walk up the stairs....
there faces were a picture...This foreigner is stealing from a beggar!!!!!

[Zyzyfer]