Korean Job Discussion Forums

mercury · Joined: 05 Dec 2004 Location: Pusan

I met a girl from Canada today, she worked in Masan for a year, she said that from her experience, Koreans were some of the trickiest people she had ever met.

I began to think, remember, and when I actually thought about it a while, I could recall many many times when I was tricked!

Here are a few of my experiences..........

Being invited over for "dinner" and having to help some guy with his thesis.

An engineer became my "friend" and took me out drinking, the next week he brought me a research paper and wanted me to help him with it.

Taxi drivers taking me out of the way, and having to fork out almost double the money.

Neighbors bringing me kimchi and side dishes, then wanting me to help their middle school daughter with a speech contest.

Students in my classes bringing me bottles of wine near the end of the semester.

Korean girls can be really tricky, but that can be good sometimes!

One girl, on the second date, had a bottle of wine in the back seat of her car. She said "I just got this from my friends at work, where can we drink it"?

Later on she confessed that she had bought it at Lotte!

At emart I have seen Korean families try to shop lift, but at the same time play dumb. It is interesting to watch them, I have seen families take new hats, put them on their kids head, and have them walk out, no joke. One time the cashier saw this, pulled the hat off, and the family just smiled and acted like it was their kid��s fault. I have also seen them put things on the bottom of carts and try to pass it through, then acting as if they had made a mistake.

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

subterfuge, cunning, deception, double-bluff and brinkmanship form the basis of the Korean social approach.

Just picture Kim jong Il negotiating with the U.S, and you have the average korean in a conversational setting.

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

A Country of Liars
National Intelligence Service director-designate Kim Seung-kyu, in a lecture he gave late in May when he was justice minister, said: "The three representative crimes of our country are perjury, libel and fraud." In simple comparison, not taking into account population ratio, South Korea saw 16 times as many perjury cases in 2003 than Japan, 39 times as many libel cases and 26 times as many instances of fraud. That is extraordinarily high given Japan's population is three times our own. The common denominator of the three crimes is lying; in short, we live in a country of liars. The prosecution devotes 70 percent of its work to handling the three crimes, the former justice minister said. And because suspects lie so much, the indictment rate in fraud cases is 19.5 percent, in perjury 29 percent and in libel 43.1 percent. "Internationally, too, there is a perception that South Korea's representative crime is fraud," Kim said, adding that recent major scandals show how rampant lying is in this country.

Lying is so common in our society because few recognize that it leads to crime. "What's wrong with telling a little lie?" they think. And here the big problem is that men of power, rather than ordinary citizens, indulge in lying on a massive scale, to the point where it is regarded as a necessary means of survival in some circles.

More staggering lies were told by the president's associates in the KORAIL "Oilgate" scandal....
by Kim Dae-joong, Chosun Ilbo (July 3, 2005)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200507/200507030027.html

itaewonguy · Joined: 25 Mar 2003

I dont see anything wrong with a korean inviting you to dinner then asking you to help there daughter. I mean come on! whats wrong with asking for help!

you are trying to come across that its only koreans who do this!!
but canadains , americans etc.. do everyday too!!!

dude.. dont come back to korea what ever you do! you seem to hate it with a vengence!
ohh but of course you will be back! becuase where else are you gonna go and get money like this! right? yeah thought so!!!
if you hate it here stay where you are! or go back west!! to the great country where nothing of the sort you mentioned happens!!!
Rolling Eyes

Lieflike · Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Location: My pod at work.

mithridates · Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:34 am Post subject:

Korean age or western?

Lieflike · Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Location: My pod at work.

mithridates · Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:52 am Post subject:

Might be wise to check. Some people make the assumption that "she's speaking English so she must mean western age" and that's almost never the case.

Lieflike · Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Location: My pod at work.

Indeed. Well, earlier in the evening she lied saying that she was older. It wasn't until after we made out that she told me her real age... and I never saw her again.

Naruto · Joined: 07 Jul 2005 Location: Irvine, CA

Korean social norms are NOT an easy thing to know...i heard that on school grounds if there's a bully hassling some kid, the parent will actually bribe the bully by paying him money NOT to beat up his kid. Also bribing the teachers always happens for better grade. It's like normal thing. 95% of what you see in K-drama's is completely false.

livinginkorea · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Location: Korea, South of the border

[quote="Lieflike"]

hellofaniceguy · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: On your computer screen!

Every country does the same thing...some more or less obvious than others. It's just not koreans.

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

itaewonguy · Joined: 25 Mar 2003

pegpig · Joined: 10 May 2005

Tricky? Is that the pc term for it nowadays? I guess it does sound a lot better. "Ah, you're very tricky Mr. Kim", has a certain sweetness to it compared to, " You're a liar!" Similarly 'domestic dispute' sounds almost romantic compared to 'the husband beat the shit out of his wife'.