Comments on: Cry me a river

By: dda

dda — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 07:22:54 +0000

Being French — in Seoul taxis — is cool. I do it all the time! [of course, I *am* French ]

By: vonjackass

vonjackass — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:56:13 +0000

I made a new year’s resolution about 4-5 years ago to keep my cool with taxi drivers. Like everyone else, I encountered the usual range of experiences, but I was starting to feel that I was either going to go insane or to prison if I didn’t chill. I found that the key element to keeping my cool is to not talk to the driver unless absolutely necessary. If the driver asks me if I speak Korean, I always say no, even if I have to later give some directions in Korean. If they ask me something in English, I tell them I am from France (yes… FRANCE?!). I have found that the less I talk to them, the less annoyed we both are by the end of the trip. Whether I am going to work, a bar, a performance, on a date, whatever, if the driver asks, I just tell him I am going home. Enough said… the end. Fewer confrontations… happier VJ.

By: dda

dda — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:57:14 +0000

Fluency in Korean — or lack thereof — is also a mitigating factor.

By: Wedge

Wedge — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:54:18 +0000

The continuum of experiences I’ve had with Korean taxi drivers goes something like this:
1. Wearing whatever with Korean men — 0% bad
2. Wearing whatever with foreign men — 1% bad
3. Wearing suit alone — 2% bad
4. Wearing casual alone — 4% bad
5. Wearing suit with Korean chica — 8% bad
6. Wearing casual with Korean chica — 16% bad

In my admittedly anecdotal experience, these dudes don’t like you riding with “their” women. They also show more respect for business attire. Also, they’ve gotten better over the years, which either means more respect for the aged or successful government politeness programs, or a combination thereof. And by bad I mean various levels of the driver being a dick, from mild to extreme.

By: Baek du boy

Baek du boy — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:08:57 +0000

Footbat, I can’t speak for Korean/foreign girl…I guess the score would be lower for them.

I never found drivers cared if I had a Korean girl with me, at any time of the day or night. Although one night a driver was surprised I could speak Korean, then he did ‘hapseong’ and picked up a girl going the same way (at about 7pm on a saturday night) he tried ’sogaeting’ and told the girl I’d be a good catch. She was too shy even tell me her name! Although the friend I was about to meet wouldn’t have been too pleased!

By: Sodajonze

Sodajonze — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 10:15:53 +0000

I wonder if poor cab experiences are more of a Seoul thing. In both Ulsan and Busan the cab drivers are usually honest to a fault. Recently one guy reset his meter cause he’d misunderstood my destination. Others have switched to honorifics when they find out I’m a teacher. The other day in Gangneung (ok that’s Gangwondo not Gyeongnam) a taxi driver gave me a ride for free. I was in a sort of out of the way place, but it was the end of his shift so he didn’t want to drive me all the way to the train station. He drove me to a busier area, flagged another cab for me and didn’t charge me a cent. I must have been looking particularly touristy that day. For the record - Cacausian female, have travelled at all times of day and night, various states of sobriety with various combinations of fellow passengers.

By: foobat

foobat — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 08:27:25 +0000

cmm,

I think you misread, I was talking about girls who ride solo.

But I’ve had similar experiences with you while riding with a local girl.

I’ve even been kicked out of a cab because of “too much English”—that was funny as hell though seeing the guy get so angry.

By: cmm

cmm — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 07:54:30 +0000

#19
The taxi drivers usually aren’t that bad to foreign guys with korean girls… I’ve ridden with korean girls about 1000 times, under many different circumstances, states of innebreation, times of day/night, states of intimacy. I’ve only had about 2 or 3 who were a-holes. That’s not that bad really. If they have a problem, just get out.

Best time though was when the taxi driver layed into my female friend for speaking to me in English (what a dirty slut?). She got angry and started arguing with him, but thanks to the boozing we’d just been doing, she bitched him out in English. Turns out that just mad him more angry, which made me laugh at his racist ass, who I was simultaneously hating. I told him to stop the car. To this day, I have know idea how I managed it, but somehow, from the backseat of his car, managed to get his taxi-driver’s license off the dash without him knowing. We got out, got in another taxi immediately, and as we took off I saw him burst out of his car. I waited a few blocks before I threw it out the window into the river. Not sure how hard it is to get that thing replaced, but I hope the prick is still as pissed about it as I am happy.

But like I said, the fraction of my taxi experiences that have been bad are quite low.

One more thing… what are the color-blind, illiterate amongst them going to do when the new high denomination bills come out??

By: SomeguyinKorea

SomeguyinKorea — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 05:42:51 +0000

#18,

No, really? You must be kidding. Wouldn’t that sort of protection make the bad ones even bigger assholes?

By: foobat

foobat — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 04:57:47 +0000

@16 Baek du boy

7/10 … if you have a cock.

for women riding alone at night it’s a lot more like 1 or 2 out of 10. it’s even worse apparently if they’re seen saying goodbye to their foreign bf before getting, as what transpires next is a lot of questions fishing for the nitty-gritty of what the girl is into (English lessons or sex?) then basically ends up being a lecture about a girl’s personal choices in life and what she is doing wrong.

i know quite a few foreign girls who would even give drivers a flat zero.