Korean Job Discussion Forums

[conbon78]

I was on the KTX yesterday and there was a foreign guy who was talking on his cell phone the entire trip. Here is how it went down:

Korean: Please get off your cell phone. We are on a train.
Foreigner: We are on a train?!?! Really??? I didn't know.
Korean: You are being loud. Please stop talking on your phone.
Foreigner: Yeah whatever, I'll talk if I want too...

Then he (foreigner) continued talking on his cell. I just found this so extremely rude and is part of the reason that many Koreans don't like the Westerners here. They act like they can do whatever they want because they aren't from here.

Although I don't think the Korean man was that polite (I'm honestly not sure if he said please), I still hate it when foreigners act like "jerks."

On the KTX, it is polite to go in the standing area if you are on the phone.

[dharma bum]

[redaxe]

I agree that it sounds like the foreigner was being rude, but Koreans talk on their cell phones on trains all the time. Heck, at my company Koreans will talk on their cell phones during meetings. They seem to have no concept of cell phone etiquette whatsoever. The reason he got asked to shut up is probably because he was speaking a language other than Korean. A lot of Koreans are annoyed by the sound of foreigners talking in public.

[conrad2]

Why do you feel bad? Because somebody that shares your skin pigmentation did something perceived to be rude by another person. I bet if the person talking on the phone was an older Korean, the guy never would have approached him and told him to stop talking.

[ThingsComeAround]

I was on the KTX going home in the evening, so bored from the day I decided to joke on the videos they had playing on the monitor.

My gf was very displeased, she said it was rude to the other Korean passengers. But my friends and I were enjoying ourselves, so I continued.
And none of the other Koreans said anything. One tried staring at me, but I just looked at him smiling, not in a rude way just to show him that this is what happens in places off this rock. And he slithered back into his seat and read his paper.

The foreigner you spoke of probably was rude. You could have made the suggestion to go to the standing area to talk on the phone, but you didn't. Who crowned you 'hall monitor' of the KTX, anyway?

[conbon78]

"Who crowned you 'hall monitor' of the KTX, anyway?"

I did.
When you are rude, you are rude and there is a never a reason for it.
Well considering no one else on that train was making any noise, and most people around the guy were sleeping...I would think that is rude in any country. I thought about saying something, but I figure the guy would probably just be a jerk to me.

And they do make an announcement that people should turn their phones off/put them on vibrate.

[hellofaniceguy]

I know I would have said something....asked him the first time to tone it down a bit as the rest of us don't want to hear your conversation and you are being rude....second time, I'd hang up his phone and if we fight, so be it. Bring it on!

[ChilgokBlackHole]

[Forward Observer]

This is why I always go first class on the KTX. These things rarely, if ever happen in first class. Never had any problems, always quiet. Even the Koreans don't talk on their phones there.

[Bailsibub]

At the bus stop the other day, an ajumma was standing in front of the door to my bus. Instead of just lowering my shoulder and taking her out so I could get on the bus, I walked around her and got on.

Man, I was so inappropriate.

[nomad-ish]

[crossmr]

Last time I was on the train, these two western girls who didn't get seat tickets, standing only, decided to pick the middle of the car to stand in instead of the end like everyone else. This happened to be right beside my seat. Not only did they constantly get in people's ways they stood there having an extremely loud conversation about religion. There were people trying to sleep and shooting them dirty looks for most of this. They carried on for like an hour before they finally got an open seat and sat down for awhile. I think they barely paused to breathe.

[Gaber]

I think a less general subject title would be appropriate.

[flakfizer]

[nautilus]

Not talking loud on public transport is one of the few good pieces of etiquette Koreans have. Seems a shame to ruin it.

It should be OK if you just turn it down a bit. Speak low..

ie.. not as if you're in a nightclub trying to make yourself heard over blaring music.