How to be a jerk on Korea

First I need to reiterate, I love Korea.  I have experienced a kindness here that had been sorely missing from our society for over 30 years.  I remember going to a local bakery when I was extremely young, and the baker giving me a free donut.  That no longer happens.  Just a few years ago a worker was fired from a Tim Hortons donut shop for giving a kid a TimBit (a ten cent item) and yet a Korean baker did just that for me when I first visited Korea in 2007. Still, out seems some significant of humanity is lost in these massively populated cities. Here are some fun examples.

– Put you bag on an empty seat on a subway/in a busy Starbucks
– Complain to your friend on the phone about that rude foreigner who made you remove said bag, in Korean, and think he can’t understand you ;)
– Stop at the top/bottom of an entrance/exit to a subway station with 100s right behind you
– Stand in front of an elevator door and never expect anyone to be getting off
– Be the last person on an elevator, causing the overweight alarm to go off and look around surprised and wonder what you should do/who is going to get off
– Piss in the corner of a subway station
– Walk into someone while you are using your cell phone and be surprised when it happens
– Sit on a subway beside someone, while wearing winter gear and cross your arms
– Rush to a lineup at a subway just so you can be second in line
– Rush to the lineup at the bottom of an escalator just so you don’t have to be behind the big baf waygook
– Rush to get IN the subway car while having a child strapped to your body and use it as a cushion against someone weighing twice as much trying to get off the subway

4 thoughts on “How to be a jerk on Korea

  1. I know what you mean. I lived near both Busan and Seoul for 7 years. Now I’m treking through rural Korea and life is so much more relaxed here.

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