Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nautilus]

How is this acceptable? I finally yelled out hey! Today as someone banged into my chair. A sort of curious look and silence.
later some middle school boys bumped it a couple of times in their boisterous noisy "complete disregard for others" way.
They were behind me, so I pushed my chair back with both legs and rammed it square into the pack of them. they were stunned. "Hajima" i uttered. they looked gobsmacked. then .... a chorus of "sollee" all round.


What is it that makes these korean males to grow up behaving as if nobody else exists? Complete disregard for anyone else. As I write this, some old guy is looking over my shoulder at my screen. Nosey!!. I turn and stare at him. He ambles off. The all-round odd behavior continues..

[Hater Depot]

I'm always a bit in disbelief when I see someone light up a cigarette in the no-smoking area. Especially since the smoking area is usually only 10 feet away anyway.

[Qinella]

I must admit the chair-bumping at a PC Bang is always annoying. There have been times when guys smack into my chair with so much force, like they're trying to knock me out of it or something. I turn around, and there's plenty of space in the pathway for walking without ramming into people's chairs. wtf?

Only one time did I say something, and it was to a group of unruly middle school boys (surprise, surprise). They had a big crowd around around the PC behind me and kept rolling into me, banging my chair, and causing every person walking through the aisle to smack into me, as well. So finally I told them I'd force them to eat foreign food besides hamburgers if they didn't stop.

[coffeeman]

What we have in Korea is a very tolerant culture. Koreans tolerate all kinds of rude behavior from each other. Westerners can't understand this. I'm sure that Koreans don not dislike receiving this behavior any more than Westerners. Also, neither of us like to complain directly to the offender (because the offender might be a villain and give you a knuckle sandwich).

The difference is this. Westerners will complain to the proprietor of the shop and threaten to boycott the shop. I don't think Koreans even do this. PC bangs can't afford to lose customers because there is too much competition in this business. If the customers would complain more to the businesses, the atmospheres of these places would improve. I often hear Koreans complain about the smoke in these places to me, but they never complain to the people that can do something - the owners.

Anyway, the thing that pisses me off is people lighting up cigarettes while walking in front of you. It happened to me yesterday and I felt like knocking the guy's head off. These people never think about the people walking behind them. Ahhhhh!

In Canada, Quebec has almost the same kind of smoking culture. I remember seeing a security guard in a shopping mall in New York state telling a French Canadian to put out his cigarette. I really enjoyed the French guy's puzzled reaction. He wasn't angry, just surprised to find out that he was bothering other people with his smoke. I'll bet Koreans would react the same way

[Qinella]

Do you think it's tolerance of annoying things, or more of a forced facade of "politeness"? I know that I've heard Korean people, both friends and coworkers, restrain complaint many times because they didn't want to be rude. Perhaps it's a mix of both things?

[RACETRAITOR]

Maybe it bothers them less because it's not that big of a deal.

[anjucat]

Different culture, different standards of "rudeness."

Bumping into someone -- be it on a street, a place of business, or a home -- is not considered "rude" at all, in most instances, and many Koreans are puzzled as to why westerners react the way they do. Hmm... Maybe it has something to do with growing up in a country with a population FAR exceeding that of Canada, in an area the size of New Brunswick...

Be careful about handing money over with just your left hand, though. That'll get ya' the evil eye...

[ilovebdt]