23/01/10: Speed
Category: Korea
Posted by: LiteraryHero
Ok, not exactly Speed. Imagine Speed if there was no Sandra Bullock or Keanu Reeves. Oh, or a bomb. My story takes place on a bus, ok!? This evening I dropped Jisun off at her place. Normally I just send her off on the bus, but today it was early and I figured I would be a nice guy. That and the Homeplus near her home has a good peanut butter selection, of which I was in dire need.
So we got peanut butter, some fruit and meat from her local market (for some reason it is much cheaper than mine!), and then got on the bus to head back home. Riding the bus isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but today there was a big fight! About two stops from Jisun's home we were pulling away from the stop when some old guy started banging on the side of the bus really loudly. Normally the bus drivers ignore these things, but for some reason, today he opened the door.
This older ajossi guy climbs into the bus and just starts screaming at the bus driver. He is complaining about how he wasn't let on the bus properly in the first place and blah blah blah. The bus driver tells him that he had every opportunity to get on the bus and it isn't his fault that the older ajossi couldn't manage to get on the bus at the right time. This goes on and on for like five minutes while we are parked on the side of the road, which starts to heat up the other passengers.
One by one, the older ladies (we call 'em ajummas) start yelling at the guy to just sit down so the bus driver can drive. The ajossi now starts to yell at them on top of it all. He is yelling at the bus driver, who is yelling back at him, and he is also yelling at the ajummas, who are also yelling back at him. Soon enough, everyone is yelling at this guy, and things are getting heated. Sensing that he has lost, the ajossi leaves the front of the bus to find a seat in the back.
Take a wild guess where he sat. If you guessed in the seat next to me, you are correct. In over five years of living in Seoul, no one has ever sat next to me on the bus or on the subway. I swear, the bus could be packed with people standing on top of each other, and the seat next to me will be empty. I don't consider myself that scary of a guy, but that is just the way it is. Today, though, was different, this guy chose the seat directly next to me. Normally I would be grateful that someone sat next to me on the bus, it would give me a feeling of fitting in. However, this time I didn't feel that way at all, I just felt uncomfortable.
The ladies were still yelling at this guy, and he was angry and speaking rudely to them. It was very, very uncomfortable. The ajossi was talking about filing a complaint and suing the bus company and saying all these crazy things, which apparently upset the bus driver. Because of this, at the next stop, the bus driver asked to collect the ajummas phone numbers so he could use them as witnesses against the crazy guy (who was sitting right next to me). Once this happened, the tides seemed to turn.
I guess the crazy guy finally realized that everyone was against him. He started speaking in the polite form and lowered his voice. After a few more minutes, he ended up apologizing to the old ladies and then walking up to apologize to the bus driver. Fortunately he didn't come back and sit down next to me again, choosing instead to get off the bus. I guess he was ashamed by his actions and wanted a new start on a different bus. Who knows what he was thinking.
There are a couple strange points about this situation. The first is that he didn't seem to be drunk. I have seen drunk guys act like total jerks on the bus before, and am no stranger to that. This guy seemed to be stone sober, though. Also, he didn't actually appear to be crazy. His clothes were of decent quality and seemed clean enough. His hair was brushed and his eyes seemed able to focus, which all lead me to believe that he was just angry for some reason. On top of that, in this situation, who would actually apologize? Personally I would have just gotten off the bus and pretended like nothing had happened. Weird all around, but it did give me a fairly exciting ride home.
So we got peanut butter, some fruit and meat from her local market (for some reason it is much cheaper than mine!), and then got on the bus to head back home. Riding the bus isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but today there was a big fight! About two stops from Jisun's home we were pulling away from the stop when some old guy started banging on the side of the bus really loudly. Normally the bus drivers ignore these things, but for some reason, today he opened the door.
This older ajossi guy climbs into the bus and just starts screaming at the bus driver. He is complaining about how he wasn't let on the bus properly in the first place and blah blah blah. The bus driver tells him that he had every opportunity to get on the bus and it isn't his fault that the older ajossi couldn't manage to get on the bus at the right time. This goes on and on for like five minutes while we are parked on the side of the road, which starts to heat up the other passengers.
One by one, the older ladies (we call 'em ajummas) start yelling at the guy to just sit down so the bus driver can drive. The ajossi now starts to yell at them on top of it all. He is yelling at the bus driver, who is yelling back at him, and he is also yelling at the ajummas, who are also yelling back at him. Soon enough, everyone is yelling at this guy, and things are getting heated. Sensing that he has lost, the ajossi leaves the front of the bus to find a seat in the back.
Take a wild guess where he sat. If you guessed in the seat next to me, you are correct. In over five years of living in Seoul, no one has ever sat next to me on the bus or on the subway. I swear, the bus could be packed with people standing on top of each other, and the seat next to me will be empty. I don't consider myself that scary of a guy, but that is just the way it is. Today, though, was different, this guy chose the seat directly next to me. Normally I would be grateful that someone sat next to me on the bus, it would give me a feeling of fitting in. However, this time I didn't feel that way at all, I just felt uncomfortable.
The ladies were still yelling at this guy, and he was angry and speaking rudely to them. It was very, very uncomfortable. The ajossi was talking about filing a complaint and suing the bus company and saying all these crazy things, which apparently upset the bus driver. Because of this, at the next stop, the bus driver asked to collect the ajummas phone numbers so he could use them as witnesses against the crazy guy (who was sitting right next to me). Once this happened, the tides seemed to turn.
I guess the crazy guy finally realized that everyone was against him. He started speaking in the polite form and lowered his voice. After a few more minutes, he ended up apologizing to the old ladies and then walking up to apologize to the bus driver. Fortunately he didn't come back and sit down next to me again, choosing instead to get off the bus. I guess he was ashamed by his actions and wanted a new start on a different bus. Who knows what he was thinking.
There are a couple strange points about this situation. The first is that he didn't seem to be drunk. I have seen drunk guys act like total jerks on the bus before, and am no stranger to that. This guy seemed to be stone sober, though. Also, he didn't actually appear to be crazy. His clothes were of decent quality and seemed clean enough. His hair was brushed and his eyes seemed able to focus, which all lead me to believe that he was just angry for some reason. On top of that, in this situation, who would actually apologize? Personally I would have just gotten off the bus and pretended like nothing had happened. Weird all around, but it did give me a fairly exciting ride home.
