Skip to main content

Taxi Ettiquette is Universal

This is a lesson in 'jumping to conclusions'.

My Gemini impatient self on many occasion has reacted too quickly and not allowed myself to actually THINK about what the situation is.

I'm not sure if I make a good first impression but I know that I'm bad at getting them. Thank goodness for my D-o-meter, which is mostly always right about people, sometimes to my annoyance.

(As a side note, there have been people I have continued to try and think differently of FOR YEARS, stubborning insisting that he is not right. And yet, he always is)

So it comes as no surprise that when I got out of a cabby last week, indignant and annoyed at his lack of helpfullness.

Here is a little how it went

A: Anyong-haseyo

Cabbie: (grunt)

A: (in my best non-Korean accent say my building name) Aparta, (then my area name)

Cabbie: (lots of Korean)

A: uhh (see above)

Cabbie (lots more Korean)

A: (finally give in and bust out the small piece of paper that has our Korean address written on it or perhaps it just says 'take this dumbass foreigner to this address')

Cabbie: (grunt and what I think sounds like a knowing nod)

But then he proceeded to simply ask me to direct him to my house. Would have been smart of me to learn 'left here' and 'right here' but hey, I'm busy filling my days trying to figure out how to get kindergartens to not only converse fluently in another language but also to not pummel each other during English class.

He was so annoyed - even more so when I didn't have exact change and he muttered things in Korean, things if I was in Canada I KNOW I would have understood from a rude cabbie but here, I'm at a loss, and got out of the cab.

I felt so defeated. I had not even been able to say the words to get me home. How was I going to survive?

All the cab drivers in this city are jerks, I thought. They don't like foreingers, they're unhelpful and theyr'e rude.

Two days later it was with trepidation that I chose to take another taxi home.

It went a little something like this.

A: Anyong-haseyo

Cabbie: Annyong-haseyo

A:(pleasantly surprised again in my best non-Korean accent say my building name) Aparta, (then my area name)Aparta,

Cabbie: (knowing nod, repeating the EXACT phrase I had just said and we were on our way)

I smiled all the way home and tipped the guy for not being a grunter and making me feel like I DID know what I was talking about.

The moral of the story?

There are dickhead cab drivers everywhere.

Comments

Anonymous said…
A
GP and MS here and we know what you're saying. (Although we really don't know what Anyong-haseyo means) Happy taxi rides to you.

xxxooo

Popular posts from this blog

They Started a Heat Wave

(sing) a tropical heat wave.... (White Christmas fans? anyone? c'mon..) Yes, there is a heat wave, with warm sun and highs of 30 but NOT HERE IN KOREA. Yes, it is warm and humid but there is no sun. Do you want to know where the sun has ended up? BELFAST!! Lucky bastards....I wanted a tan by August gosh darnit - I should have stayed with the Guinness. And, it wouldn't have been a day on this blog without some reference to the weather. The weekend was a nice long relaxing one but super panic hit on Monday night and I was ready to get out of the house. I was freaking out yet again about the garbage (what the hell is wrong with me?) and didn't have a great sleep. There is something to be said for cooping yourself up in your house to watch English speaking DVDs for a day. But I think this only stops you from experiencing the culture. I did venture out on Saturday by bus (whoa, crazy bus drivers) to Pusan where the open markets you can barter and get cheap shirts - thanks to my...

I'm baaaack!

Hard to believe that last entry was almost three years ago! Many moons ago, I set this blog up to chronicle our journeys. Once we were grounded a bit more, it kind of lost its way. I spent some time working on my writing offline, taking on different projects and working full time as a technical writer. It was difficult to keep this blog up. Not for any real reason I can articulate. Just had my words redirected to other avenues for awhile. But, I'm pleased to say, after over a decade away, we are back in the UK, living and re-experiencing a place we enjoyed in the mid-2000s. Social media has certainly changed the way we look at blogs. I'm excited to navigate this new world, explore just what people post, what people read. What's better on one of the many new platforms and what's still appropriate for good old fashioned blogosphere. For now, here's a peek at where we're staying -- in a pretty little village just outside of Oxford. A temporary home ...

Korean Drivers Manual

1 - First and foremost, you are the only car on the road. Please drive this way. 2 - Be sure to keep a tally of the number of pedestrians you hit. 10 points for old ladies, 20 for young children (they can run faster you see). You can also add 5 points for each near miss and pat yourself on the back for trying. 3 - Red lights can tend to get in the way of your driving. Simply proceed through them if you need to. Honk your horn to make sure the cars that actually have the right of way know you'll be sailing through the intersection. 4 - Signalling is recommended but your car does not have blind spots. Just go ahead an change lanes. 5 - It works best if you keep one foot on the gas and one foot on the brakes at all times. This will allow you to continually pump the breaks all the way down the street avoiding 'other cars' while still revving your engine and going at the speed of light during those intervals when you are not slamming on your brakes. (By 'other cars' I ...