Flattered, and at the same time, creeped out
Korean life September 8th. 2008, 10:00pmI was walking home on a busy street in a nice area of town that has a lot of academies and other businesses. I was walking on the sidewalk near a busy street, and was headed towards a subway stop two blocks away. I was listening to my mp3 player, as always, and minding my own business. All of a sudden, a car pulled over a few meters in front of me, a man dressed in business slacks, business shirt, and a tie gets out of the driver’s side of the car. I wasn’t really paying that much attention, as people park illegally all the time.
As I was walking by, the man jumped into my field of view and said to me, “EX-cuse me, do you have some time?”
I looked at him like I had been slapped by a fish. “Huh? Uh…no…I’m going home…now….” I spoke in a declarative, yet slightly confused tone. I mean, he was the guy clearly making time for me by illegal parking and cutting me off on the sidewalk to meet me. I was worried by his bizarre behavior. I didn’t know if he was going to interview me for a job, ask for an autograph, or ask me to hop into his car for sex. I must have said it forcefully enough that he didn’t feel the need to follow up, as he left me alone.
I thought, “What a weirdo. Jumping out of a car to talk to me? A complete stranger? What the hell? Who would do that? He must be really desperate to talk to a foreigner about something. That makes me feel oddly important.” When I finally got to the subway, I was laughing about it.
But when I explained what had happened to my wife, I thought, “What a weirdo. Jumping out of a car to talk to me? A complete stranger? What the hell? Who would do that?” and was genuinely creeped out by that sort of attention. I can usually deal with this sort of stuff, but for whatever reason it sort of set off my spider-sense that something was going on that I didn’t know about.
Anyway, for any Korean readers, swerving, illegal parking, then trying to strike up a conversation= TRYING WAY TOO HARD.
3 Responses to “Flattered, and at the same time, creeped out”
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September 8th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
North Korean Agents trying to take you up north to train their secret agents
September 8th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Had a similar experience. I was jogging at night and this guy stepped out onto the sidewalk and flagged me down. Then he proceeded to try to make small talk.
I think your guy cutting you off with the car takes the cake though.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Once, I got a phone call in the middle of a conversation: wrong number. I hung up.
Two minutes later, the guy CALLED BACK. “So, uh, where are you from? How long have you been in Korea?” etc.
I laughed. Later. When I stopped being annoyed: this was only a month after the fat guy in a jimjilbang stuck his naked fat gut and old man junk in my face and asked me where I was from. I pretended I didn’t speak English.