Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Who's Your Daddy?]

A lot of time on my hands today, test day.

So, me and my wife took a taxi from the airport to our town. The taxi missed the freeway off-ramp to our town. Then he reversed on the freeway, probably 200 meters, with traffic bearing down on his car, to make the exit. A lot of cars and trucks were honking, and I feared my life.

Me and my wife were saying, just go to the next exit and drive back. But this old man wouldn't listen, and just ignored us. If we were on a surface road I would have got out, but we couldn't do that on the freeway. It seemed like a long time, but was probably about 2 minutes of terror. I really thought, we could die here you stupid old man!

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But I'm sure he's driven other people:) So, maybe some of you have some other crazy taxi stories?

[emacs]

That's why I don't drive in Korea...

[Who's Your Daddy?]

I was in the taxi, not driving it:)

[air76]

I was in a taxi that literally raced another taxi to the other side of town.

I have also been in taxis where the driver was so drunk that I honestly don't know how we didn't crash.

My favorite, though, was when a buddy was over visiting from the states and this taxi driver kept punching him! Not in the face, but punching him really hard. I think that driver was drunk too...he kept mumbling something and punching my friend...at least 10 times.

[pangaea]

I got into a taxi once after a late night and after a few minutes realized that the driver had had more to drink than I had. You know how you pretend drive when you're a kid? You turn the wheel from left to right with reckless abandon? That's kind of what this guy was doing. He couldn't drive in a straight line so he was overcorrecting nonstop. Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right. Not only was I terrified, I thought I would vomit all over the car. Unfortunately, I couldn't just get out of the car because I was in an unfamiliar area where I was unlikely to find a taxi. I had no intention of letting him drive me all the way home, though, so I made him take me back to where I caught the taxi, just hoping that he managed not to kill us both before we got there.

Is it possible to report drunk taxi drivers? Would anything be done about it if someone did?

[daemyann]

[confucian]

A friend of mine back in his uni days had a lot of lower back infuries from football and rugby, so he takes taxis for short rides [5 or 6 subway stops]. This past Thursday the taxi just ran a light and car was Tboned-he's got the head brace going, and had 4 days in the hospital, sans proper painkillers, of course.

Even before that tragic airport bus accident, I stay out of taxis and busses as much as possible-a bit paradoxical as I ride my bike to school every day, and to the local Lotte Mart for shopping. Part of it's being a cheapskate, part of it is paranoia, and part of it is my general disdain for taxi drivers.


ps having said that, last time I had to get to the airport for 8am, I overslept and a bus or the railroad wasn't going to get it done. When I said airport, the fellow called the central number for translation service because he didn't want to rip me off-I gave him a 30 000won tip because of that.

[notafbiagent]

I had a taxi driver once suddenly pull into a random restaurant and rush inside to use the toilet. He left me all alone in the cab with the engine running, double parked and the meter running to boot.

He came back like 10 minutes later while I was seriously debating just ditching the cab and leaving it there but we were in the middle of nowhere so I didn't have a lot of options. Thankfully he came back, appologized profusely and cleared out the meter and offered me a free ride. He told me he didn't honestly think I'd still be there when he got back.

Drove me the rest of the way and we talked about all the inapproriate/unfortunate times we've had to pee/poop. Nice guy. Good times.

[Born In The USA]

This is a serious question, and I hope it doesn't make me come off as a "Koreaphile" as I've read used as a term on this site. (For the record, I haven't even gotten to Korea yet, but I have read this forum pretty regularly for the past few months to prepare). Anyways, my question is, are taxi drivers in Korea really worse than in the US? I've had taxi drivers in my town (rural small town) who were extremely creepy people even if their driving was fine. I've also had some in bigger cities in the US who drove like absolute madmen. Are they really that much scarier in Korea?

[DeMayonnaise]

[NYC_Gal]

[confucian]

[DrugstoreCowgirl]

This happened to me just 3 weeks ago...

It was 3am and I was taking a cab alone. I think the driver might have been drunk because he made the drinking motion then offered his thermos to me and I declined. He started out making the normal small talk "Where you from? Do you boyfriend? How long in Korea?" But then he started getting creepy, saying he wanted to be my boyfriend (guy was in his 50s I'd say). He kept turning around to look at me-AS HE DROVE. I thought we would die. He kept asking me if I lived alone and I lied and said I lived with my friend.

When we got to my area, I pointed to show him which direction to turn and he grabs my hand and starts stroking it. I try to pull my hand back but he keeps holding it. At that point I decided I'd rather walk twice as far to get home than have him know where i live. I told him to stop and he did and started kissing my hand, like hardcore making out and licking it. I finally pulled away and gave him the money and he grabbed me and pulled me forward and tried to kiss my lips. I turned my head away and he got my cheek and he again was all slobbery trying to kiss me. I ripped myself away and said goodbye then jumped out of the cab. He was probably angry as he peeled out, making screeching noises with his tires.

I've been too afraid to take a cab alone since then.

[mayorgc]

My taxi went against traffic on the highway/freeway trying to u-turn into an exit. He was driving slightly on the shoulder, but it's still freaky having cars hurtling towards you at 100 km/h head on.

[Richard Krainium]