Korean Job Discussion Forums

[creeper1]

I'm interested if some of you out there have stories of stingy foreigners. I don't know if it is because waygooks are in Korea to pay of student debt but so many of them are really stingy.

I'll start it off. At the HBC festival 2010, foreigners were buying beer in GS25 and bringing it into bars because they were too tight to pay for it at a bar.

Also one of my mates is pretty bad. When we all go for a meal together she will take a calculator out and calculate her portion of the meal down to the last cent.

Oh and I can't forget about "from the UK" who liked desk warming in winter because he didn't have to heat his house or use the elecricity to power his laptop.

Another one my mates use to take home the maxim coffee pouches from the teachers room so he could save money.

So do you have any tight/cheap foreigner stories from Korea?

[eamo]

I think there was a thread on this subject a year or so ago.....the best one I remember was the report that someone knew an ESLer who would read in the stairwell of his building by pacing up and down to keep the automatic light on! Because he wanted to save on his electricity bill!!

And didn't someone try to sell half a jar of peanut butter on Dave's once? 5000 I think they wanted.

[morrisonhotel]

[northway]

The beer thing is especially ridiculous in Korea where beer costs only marginally more at a bar.

[furtakk]

I once had someone try to sell me and my friends half a pot of magkeoli for 2,000 won because he was leaving the magkeoli jip early. A fresh pot costs 5,000 won. I was speechless.

There was also a new Mexican place opening and on opening night they were giving away free beer as a promotion. Same guy complained to the owner when the free beer ran out and demanded that he be reimbursed with a free shot.

I also hate people who demand on splitting the bill exactly when the difference is a few dollars. If it's 2 or 3 people whatever, but if you're in a group of 10 don't be a bitch and whine that you have to pay 10,000 won to make things less of a headache if your meal was 9,000.

[Greekfreak]

Part of the problem is a lot of newbies come to Korea to "work" for the first time in their lives and don't know about money management. They blow their wad really quickly then still want to socialize two weeks before their next payday. Answer? Family Mart.

Nothing gets me more insane than watching a bunch of cheapskates drinking Cass/Hite tallboys outside a convenience store and then taking them into bars. Just try to do that back home.

[Confused Canadian]

Years ago, when I used to smoke, we all smoked in the stairwell of our hagwon. A new fellow from New York joined our staff, and was always bumming smokes off us (even though they were barely 1,000 won a pack back then!). To make matters worse, we could usually see a pack in his shirt pocket, but he always had some excuse about why he needed to bum one.

One day, one of my co-workers figured he'd bum one back. Surprisingly, when asked for a smoke, the new guy obliged. He pulled out his pack and fished out the most mangled excuse for a cigarette I've ever seen. As he handed it to my friend, he said, "Here you go. I found this one on the street."

[PatrickGHBusan]

[marsavalanche]

most foreigners are cheap. because they have no real world experience outside of rainbow english academy and dont realize being cheap makes you a loser.

which is why i mostly go out with koreans, not losers.

[nukeday]

marsavalanche...please. Like Koreans are never losers.

I remember a Korean friend I met in the states. Once I came here he would never pay for his cab share...and crash at my place (a 10 pyeong palace) just because he didnt want to spend 8000 won on a cab fare home.

That didn't go on for too long. Especially when he was, at the same time, asking me to edit his essays for graduate schools in the States.

[marsavalanche]

i have to fight with koreans for the honor of paying when the bill comes. its part of the culture here. not that the cheapskate weigooks know anything about that though.

been out at work events with other weigooks. cracks me up when the bill comes and the weigooks look at that thing scared stiff like superman does kryptonite. losers.

[Greekfreak]

I made the mistake of buying a lot of drinks for other people when I first arrived--making only 1.6 million a month--and not because I wanted to be popular, because I already was, but because of my heritage. Not to mention the fact that I grew up with like-minded friends who acted in kind if you bought them lunch, drinks, etc. Most of them were ethnic, too.

I realized pretty quickly that the average foreigner (indeed, more like 80% of them) is very cheap and not generous at all, so I had to become more of a hard-ass. One guy in particular was the biggest tightwad I've ever known. He used to bum money off people to buy the cheapest drink possible at the bars, but he used the excuse that he wanted to get something to eat (which was total BS). A mutual friend told him they'd get him a drink if he actually spent the borrowed money on food, so he went and got a cheap sandwich from LG25, took one bite out of it and said "now where's that drink." That guy was a jerk off.

We used to taxi everywhere and still do, because a 10 minute cab back home might cost $30, but here it's barely 10,000 won (if that), and still people balk at taking cabs. I also use PT, but I'm not afraid to shell out for cabs when necessary.

As for Koreans cornering the market on cheapness, I wouldn't go that far--most students just don't have much pocket money in general, and if something is free, they'll take it whether it's delicious or not. Hence the infamous "onions 'n' mustard" gluttony you see going on at Costco.

[rambler]

Lol.... There are cheaps anywhere you go. There are way fewer here than I knew in school.

I just avoid hanging out with morons. Maybe you guys should give that a try instead of complaining about them on the interweb.

PS- I fill my water bottle up at school for free! Nerd alert!

[Julius]

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

I had an acquaintance who was severely controlled by his K wife to the point of having an allowance. One time, we all went out for lunch but I needed to go to a bank machine. Upon returning I overheard him tell his wife that I would pay for everything. So, I told them the machine was broken and only had 10,000 won.

She was pissed

But yeah that guy was cheap. Would bail when the check would come. Getting the cheapest bottle of Soju and drinking on the curb was more his style.