Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dulcineadeltoboso]

Ok, I was going home in a cab and the driver wouldn't drive me all the way to my door because it's out of the way. Drivers sometimes complain about going up to my door, but they've always done it in the past. The fare when the driver stopped was around 5000, but after the talking and arguing for a long time it was like 8000. I told the driver I'd give him 5000 if he let me off on the main street or 10000 if he took me to my door, but he just yelled a lot in Korean and wouldn't take the 5000, so I just got out
and started walking away, and he ran after me and tried to take my purse. I yanked it away and he grabbed me
me and started to drag me down the street back into the cab. I hit him and yelled "Help! Help!" really loud while I struggled to get away. Then this housewife came out with her baby and this huge Nigerian guy ran over and told the driver to let me go, and he did, but only because the guy looked big and extremely strong. The woman tried to translate for us but the driver didn't really care what anyone had to say. He just kept yelling and shoving his finger in my face. He tried to grab me again but the Nigerian guy stood in front of me. At this point I was just going to leave, but then a police car drove by and the driver ran down the street to flag it down. The Nigerian guy tried to pay off the driver
because he knew the police were only going to look out for the Koreans
and not us, but I wasn't so prudent and I was ready to stand up to them, so I told the Nigerian guy not to pay. The police were irritated at being stopped for something so small and tried to
make me pay more of the fare, which by now was like 11000,
and the police demanded that I pay at least 8000. I said no and they
got annoyed and asked to see my passport, which I didn't have. After a
while I realized they meant ID, not passport, so I gave it to them and
they took down my info. They were pretty rude about it too and didn't
say anything when I showed them how the driver grabbed me and dragged me away. I called 1330 to translate but the police
wouldn't even talk to them until the very end. I think they were going to arrest me, but I'm not sure. Then the housewife ran over over and told them what happened and did a little charade of the driver taking my bag and dragging me away. Now the cops pretty much knew what happened already because they spoke some English and the black guy spoke some Korean, and I did the same charade myself when I was trying to explain to them, but they wouldn't listen to my side until a Korean stepped in on my behalf. After talking to the lady, one of the cops grumbled "sorry" and said to just give the driver the 5000, which I did. I asked them if they were going to do anything about the driver grabbing me and they said to log on to the Seoul city website. Website? WTF?? I was so mad but I didn't say anything. Still they said, "You anger down now."
Now this is after they stopped and tried to force me to give money to this driver when he was the one who wanted their services, but when I wanted them to do something for my sake, all of a sudden it's not their problem.

I wrote down the driver's license plate and then we all left. I think the gawking ajummas and other passers by were disappointed that the entertainment ended.

I'm so sick of having to go through fight after fight. If the Nigerian guy hadn't been there to keep the driver off me and if the Korean woman hadn't been there to talk to the police, I don't know what would have happened.

Anyway I'd like to take some kind of action and see if the driver can't be held to some sort of consequence, either legally or professionally, but I'm not sure. 1330 and the tourist info booth in Itaewon won't get involved. In fact, except for the nice lady with the baby, I can't find any Korean who will get involved in helping a foreigner speak out against another Korean, and even if they would, I don't know who to call or who would even care. In the meantime, my shoulder hurts like hell.

[laogaiguk]

Well, one good thing. Atleast those racist idiots who say Nigerians only cause trouble on this site have been shown that isn't always true. Hope things work out, but I myself wouldn't waste the time as the chances of anything happening are slim to none.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

- good Nigerian
- good ajumma
- bad adjosshi
- indifferent police.

I'd say you still came out slightly ahead, and the driver lost face. Did you bow deeply and call him shebal-ohm as he was leaving? That would have been the fun thing to do.

[djsmnc]

While I wouldn't say that your story is compelling enough to make a movie, well, actually, that's about all I have to say!

[rhinocharge64]

So by walking a way and not paying any of the fare you were in fact committing a crime, i don't think this was the best idea. Did you expect the driver to do nothing? Of course he was going to walk after you, after all you did owe him money. Yep, sounds like you were lucky, move on and save yourself from a whole load of stress.

[RACETRAITOR]

In the future, just pay the cab fare.

[matthews_world]

Or learn the Korean for "I wanna get off here."

[eamo]

[Pyongshin Sangja]

You sat in a stationary taxi long enough for the metre to go up W3000?

You must have been arguing with him for 20 minutes!

Couldn't you have walked to your house in that amount of time?

Remind me never to get into an argument with you.

You must live on top of one of the huge hills in Haebangcheon.

You have to be a foreign male much bigger than them to make them go up there.

[i_teach_esl]

while i kind of agree w/others in saying "next time just pay the fare," i want to say first above all of that: that cab driver was a jerk, he was out of line for grabbing you, and im sorry you had to go through that.

[dulcineadeltoboso]

djsmnc- You're right, it wasn't that big of a deal, but he did drag me down the street.

lao- Yeah, and he had a volume of Shakespeare in his car too (didn't see the title). Talk about bashing stereotypes. Also, one time a Nigerian helped me negotiate in an appliance store! He came over and asked me to translate for him but he ended up translating for me. Another time a Nigerian helped me carry my luggage up a hill.

yu-bum- What is shebal-ohm?

rhino- It wasn't that I didn't pay any of the fare, it's that he wouldn't take any of the fare. I tried to pay him for the distance he drove, not for the time he sat there arguing. Overall the result was worth the stress, but I want to make it more worth it.

eamo- I didn't think he was going to allow it, and that makes him wrong. I didn't allow him not to allow it (if that makes any sense).

matthews- He did understand. The problem was that I wanted to pay just for the transportation time and not the arguing time.

pyongshin- Yeah, it could have been that long. With the language barrier, communication was slow going. I was trying to describe the best way around, but it wasn't going so well. I've never had a driver not take me up before, though. And yes, I don't imagine they'd try to grab a big Nigerian guy's bag.

i-teach- You're the only one who even mentioned that part of the story. Thank you for letting me know that at least someone read that part.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

[Zolt]

I don't want to seem rude or anything, but you almost caused a fistfight for 3000 won!

Pick your fights better.

[Bibbitybop]

dulcineadeltoboso:

I respect you for holding your ground and would not have paid that extra 3,000. It may have been easier, yes, but the easiest way is not always the right way. You even offered to pay hm more if he would have taken you where you needed to go. It sucks it ended up in an altercation, but in the end, even the police sided with you that you should have to pay only the 5,000 won.

[ED209]

You did right op. Even though it was over spare change. Don't let them rip you off and especially drag you away for who knows what.

Some drivers have knocked a couple of thousand of my fares because they took wrong turns, some have driven right past me too pick up a korean instead, some have helped me carry my crap about, some have shown far too much interest into my sex life. Good you took the plate number, now make a copy stick it on a mate's car and run a few speed cameras