... Maybe I’m so attractive the answer is obvious?? I wonder how actual Russians answer that question...
I have
whilst wearing a Canada baseball cap.
The first expats I met at the hotel when I arrived were Russian.
Why do people here react so unpleasantly?
I'm one of those people that will probably do my best to ignore you...Ignoring people is my first instinct now.
The reluctance to help people extends far beyond the street however. Reticence to disclose helpful information often extends to people whose duty it is to disclose helpful information, like doctors and managers. My wife is almost pathologically adverse to engaging with strangers on the street. Don’t get it and she would be hard pressed to explain it beyond, “I don’t want to bother them,” but I feel like it runs much deeper than that. That all said, I hardly think this trait is true of most Koreans, just more than you would expect in a random sample of the population.
but there are times when you NEED a Korean to help you because they understand how "the system" works. not to mention it's super easy for them to hop on naver and look up something whereas my google search will not find it, because it's a Korean issue I'm looking to resolve.
Yeah, I hate asking for help, too, but you nailed it. Kevin, can't you figure it out? Like, I don't even know HOW/WHERE to even begin figuring this out? Could take me an hour? Maybe? And I might not even have the correct thing. It's a total crapshoot. Fine, I'll do it. *2 mins later* Got it. It was in 려ㅏ호제대ㅑㅓㄹ제ㅓ매ㅔ네ㅐㅓ맨ㅇ르ㅐㅡㅜ걀대ㅑ귷ㄷㅈ. Where? You know, in the 뎌ㅑㅐ랴ㅐㅈㄷ루ㅗㅈ댜ㅐㅜ잳루재댜룾댜ㅐㅜㅐㅑㅎㄷ개ㅑㅜㄷㅎㄳ. Yeah, you could give me 2 weeks with a computer and I wouldn't have figured that out. And it's the same in turn. If you're going to Toronto, I'll hook you up with some good restaurants. I'M FROM THERE. Don't JUST use naver blogs to research a place that ISN'T in Korea. It'll take me 2 mins to give you ten restos .
Yeah, if it's a huge query or if you constantly nag with mundane life shit like you said, then I get it. But, it literally takes 45 secs to call and with her being a native speaker, there's ZERO confusion.
Before you judge those who roll their eyes at helping, try being the office waygookin problem solver for 12. You'll probably do it too for some things.
While what you're saying is true about not being the best help, at the same time, a lot of people here tend to demand help (and English service) as a right, rather than a favor. Also, you get people who ask for help first, rather than trying to solve it themselves first. Finally, you have people who become "help dependent" and don't really try to get better at things. I mean, just look at the posters on here who throw a temper tantrum the second they have to deal with a Korean website. Or the wifi freeloader we all know. Or the skinflint who won't accept a simple solution that costs 1,500 won but wants a difficult won that costs nothing and expects the person to spend 20 minutes of their life trying to save them 1,500 won (meanwhile said person constantly complains about their wage).Are plenty of Koreans the types who can't be arsed? Sure. But as someone who transitioned from being someone who needed help to someone who can help, let me say that it's a real different experience when you're on the other side. Before you judge those who roll their eyes at helping, try being the office waygookin problem solver for 12. You'll probably do it too for some things.
I like how you assume the worst of us while giving everyone else massive benefit of the doubt
Agreed. If it's just some random guy in the office who's unhelpful fine you won't ask them for help again. If it's someone's specific role in their job description, that's a different matter. I guess problems arise when someone with an attitude problem, like DM, gets assigned a role to help people unofficially or against their will and ends up resenting it. Makes you wonder what these people are like as teachers though, considering virtually their entire job day in day out is to help people with stuff they probably should have spent more of their own time trying to get the hang of .