You need a cab. You see one flying down the street. You squint to see if the red vacant light is
on. It’s on. You stick your hand out. The cab driver ducks his head and peers out
the front dash window. He slows
down. He gets to a distance when he sees
you clearly: a waegook (foreigner). This
is a crucial moment. Most of the time he
slows down and pulls up next to you. No worries. Then there are the other times: you can
almost see it, the contemplation occurring in his mind of whether or not he is
feeling brave enough to pick up a foreigner.
The slowing down turns into a stomp on the accelerator and he goes
zooming by without a glance. In most
instances when you do manage to grab a cab, there is yet another critical
moment. This is the moment that will
completely determine your fate for the next 5 minutes… Welcome to the Korean
taxi world.
There are 3 possible scenarios:
1.
Upon entering the cab, with
your biggest “annyoeong hasseyo” possible, if you only receive but a grunt, the
prospects are not looking good. At this
point you can assume 2 things:
A.
The driver will claim to not
understand a word you say
B.
The driver will claim to not
understand a word you say and in the mean time drive around in circles with the
meter running as he tries to “understand.”
We usually can
assume this outcome if the taxi driver is an elderly man. Experiences in the war must have not been
good ones. You can expect money to be
thrown at you. And don’t even think
about a “good bye.”
2.
Upon entering the cab, with
your biggest “annyeong hasseyo” possible, the taxi driver does the Korean “oh!” Now for those living in Korea, you know
exactly what I am talking about. There is
so much meaning behind a simple sound. There
are feelings of shock, surprise, resentment, excitement and panic. A foreigner. How will I communicate? Have I made a mistake by picking her up? At this point you speak as much Korean as you
can spit out to ensure that you have asked where to go in a formal and polite
manner. This ambitious trial of a
foreign language can take you 3 places:
A.
The driver assumes your Korean
is fluent and goes on speaking to you the entire duration of travel time
B.
The driver compliments your
Korean and keeps to himself occasionally asking you a random simple question to
test your Korean ability. If you are
American, this is the type of taxi driver that will usually yell “OBAMA!” and “Busch-ee
bad!”
3.
The last type is the one who
looks at you as if you were any one of the locals hopping in and out of his cab
all day. He takes your destination
order, drives you in peace, hands your money back respectably and greets you as
you climb out of the car.
If you are lucky enough you can experience
the “race car wannabe” cab drivers. These
drivers think the roads are the Grand Prix and seemed to be confused with the
reality of it all. The taxi’s will come
equipped with padded roofs, tinted windows, neon lights and even a fire extinguisher
for those unfortunate tricks-gone-bad. Do
a prayer and hold on. Focus on your
destination while he zips and speeds through the traffic and streets.
I would like to comment on the cleanliness
and obvious attention to detail in these cabs.
In the (what seems like) hundreds of cabs I have taken, EVERY SINGLE ONE
of them was immaculate. Not a pinch of
dust or scrape distorted the presentation of the dashboard. Leather glistens and the sweet aroma of air
freshner always attacks your nose full force.
on the sides of the roads in the long taxi stand, you can see the
drivers stepping outside for a smoke and to dust off their car with an
over-sized feather duster.
While they wait for a customer a few congregate
near the curb for some chit chat while others watch their TV’s drilled into the
dashboards and nod off.
Walking up to a Korean taxi is always a new
and interesting experience.
