::A Geek in Korea::

It’s not often that I try to use other’s stereotypes to my own advantage. There are few situations where other’s misconceptions about me might lead to a favorable outcome anyway. I try to treat everyone with the same respect that I want to receive in return. Even if that isn’t a realistic thing to do, I still try to present myself in a favorable light. There are times where being the dumb foreign guy has it’s advantages.

For example, the last time I went to the movies with my wife, we had to purchased tickets before one of the people in our party had arrived. Since that person didn’t have a phone, was new to Korea, and hadn’t visited the theater we were in before, we were worried she wasn’t going to make it on time. The line for tickets was 45 people long, so we had only one chance for tickets. We took a number, waited, and when our number flashed, my wife bought the tickets alone. Five minutes before the movie was supposed to start, we got a call from our friend asking us to hold a ticket for her. She was at a pay phone nearby and needed us to get the ticket before the showing started.

My wife had kept the number ticket for getting the tickets. She looked at the next number to be called. It was too late. If we waited in line again, we would miss our movie. Instead, she handed me and suggested I use the ticket to go to another cashier that hadn’t seen the number before. She thought that they would let me get the tickets because they would assume that a foreigner wouldn’t be able to figure out the complicated “wait for your number to be called” system of getting tickets.

Now, this is dishonest. We didn’t wait in line for a second time, but I was going back to get a ticket for a friend. But if we didn’t get the ticket, we’d be snubbing a friend. This isn’t good either. I went against my principals. I summoned up my courage, and poor Korean skills the best I could. I would be that dumb foreigner for a friend!

My wife wished me luck, and I headed over to one of the cashiers with a confused look on my face. I asked for a ticket, held out the number card sorrowfully, apologized entirely in English, then asked for a ticket in a mash of Korean and English speech that would confuse anyone. It was good enough to get a ticket, but bad enough for them to know I didn’t know a damn thing about what I was talking about. I looked thoughtfully as the cashier circled the theater number and time on the ticket for me. I’m surprised she didn’t try to use a safety pin to attach the ticket to my coat for me so I couldn’t lose it. Ticket purchased, I went back to share the fruits of my stupidity.