Last week I was walking around an open market when a lady grabbed my backpack from behind and physically guided me into her store I had visited earlier to look at some hiking pants.
She kept talking in Hangeul, said "police" and made a phone call. I had no idea what was going on. My cell phone was out of commission and I asked her repeatedly if I could use her store phone. Finally, she let me make a call to a tourist office and I asked them to help translate, but she hung up after talking to them? Police started showing up (eventually four in all). They didn't speak English and wouldn't even acknowledge me. When I asked if I could use a phone to call an interpreter I was told to "shut up!" I didn't know what to do. The police let the lady control the conversation. When I took out my camera phone that got their attention and when I started asking to speak to the U.S. Embassy that seemed to speed things along with one of the police officers talking to the lady and hearing her say "sorry" in Hangeul (but clearly not meaning it). I can only guess the lady was accusing me of stealing something. That rated a phone call and the arrival of four police officers.
What would you have done? |
Re: What would you have done?
what would you have done back home ? don't think koreans are so innocent . There are some good
koreans and bad koreans . Just like back home . Good people and bad people . She was a
bad person . Like when someone tries to kidnap you or attack you best way is to prevent it
going futher is to fight from the start . Usually when you fight with people from the start they back
off if you did not wrong Most bad people and criminals look for an easy target . Dont be
an easy target fight for your rights in your home country and in korea .
Re: What would you have done?
Re: What would you have done?
Re: What would you have done?
Re: What would you have done?
I would have just kept walking. She sounds like she was crazy.
FYI, "Hangeul" just refers to the Korean alphabet, not the spoken language itself. You can just call that "Korean".
Re: What would you have done?
If a Korean had this problem in USA they pretend they dont speak English . You can pretend you dont speak English . Just speak a third language most Koreans cant
speak a third language . Usa cops are wise to Koreans and other non americans who pretend not to speak English . They now sometimes take them to police office
Re: What would you have done?
At the time the lady grabbed my back pack and guided me into her store, I thought she was actually going to show me some more pants. It's not unusual in an open market for the vendors to grab or pull you to get your attention.
Boy was I wrong!
The first time I walked by the lady's store, she tried to sell me pants that were way too small. She wouldn't listen to me and took out a measuring tape. I pulled a used pair of pants from my small pack so she could compare pants sizes with mine, she handed me another pair that looked too small and I put it back while she had gone off to help another customer, saying goodby on my way out.
No problem when I left. That's the confusing part.
The second time I passed her store is when she grabbed my pack from behind, guided me into her store, blocking me from leaving her store and called the police?
I had no idea what she was saying in Korean. She was talking a mile a minute and wouldn't let me call anyone who could help translate, probably so she could control the situation when the police arrived.
The police went into my pack and took my used pants out to show her and she also showed them the pants she tried to get me to buy earlier.
Then she was told by the police to apologize to me.
Makes no sense?
The police officers behavior also makes no sense.
I was told to shut up when I asked to make a phone call that might have ended the situation quickly and could have avoided all of the aggravation they put me through (unless you consider that the police have a reputation for abusing their authority and then their behavior would appear routine for them).
Re: What would you have done?
Sadly the policemen probably know little or no english just shut up and the f bomb
people should not use words they dont know what it means . Someone walked by me and told me shut up I just told them duck cho that is the direct translation of
of shut up . If someone says a bad word to me in English I try to tell them the same word in Korean if I know it / Sometimes they people will bow to me and say sorry . Nowaadays does not happen as much as before . I would say it happens rarely if ever . Before would happen alot
Re: What would you have done?
Which begs the question, why didn't the police call their department interpreter to explain to me what was going on. Wouldn't that be the "normal" thing to do?
I called the tourist office employee I contacted that day and was told the store owner sounded agitated over the phone, took another call while they were talking on her mobile and then hung up on the tourist office without letting me talk to anyone?
Wouldn't a "normal" person want to help me understand what's going on by letting me talk to an interpreter?
I lodged a complaint against the police department (pending).