Issues with language. It is simple and clear, but it's not effective?

Alright, r/korea. If you're not a huge fan of my sense of humour, here's your chance to roast me. I don't want any praise or sympathy, I merely am asking if the taxi driver overreacted. Here we go.

I get on the cab. XXX학교 가 주세요. We've all said it hundreds of times.

The school is NOT far. It's a 5000W ride. So, halfway there, I realise that my bank card is not in my wallet. Last night, I had slipped it in my pocket, I changed my pants. No card.

NOW, this is my fault. 100%. I admit that. So I tell the cab driver

**"아, 문제했어요. 저의 집에서 나의카드 저기있어요.**

This really is the key phrase. We get to the school. His hand comes out. *uhhhhh* I repeat. Again, I know my language isn't perfect. But I repeat. And I say,

"HOUSE LOCATION* 가주세요. 죄송합니다, 하지만 은행카드 없읍니다. 집에서 카드는 저기있어요. I even point to my wallet where the card should be and say 은행카드 없읍니다, 죄송합니다 a few more times.

So he loops back to my house. The bill is 7000W at this point.

We arrive and I say 1시 30분. 집가요. 카드받아요. 택시가요.

This is where he explodes. WHAT????? PAY ME! CARD. CARD.

I tell him, what? I said my card is at home. I said that.

MONEY. NOW. MONEY. I tell him again. This is my house. My card is there. (This is all in Korean).

돈! 돈!! I tell him I only have 2000W. It's a 7100W ride at this point.

아~~~~~ 씨발. 돈!!!!!!!

"이천원 괜찮아요?"

씨발, 돈 돌려!!!

I give him the 2000W and he blasts off. I go to my house. I get my card, I come back and take another taxi.

Now, obviously I'm not the hero in this tale. I made a mistake. We all do. My concern is that "Is my Korean so shitty that the driver should have acted surprised that I didn't have my card on me?" I get that my Korean isn't great (and yeah, my pronunciation is 90%. Someone is gonna come in here and tell me like I sound like rural Georgian straight off the plane, and that's NOT the case.)

So, is what I said pretty straightforward?

OH, PROBLEM. My HOUSE. BANK CARD. IT'S THERE. i DON'T HAVE BANK CARD. IT'S AT MY HOME. SORRY. NO CARD. IT'S AT MY HOME. GO TO MY HOME. I GET CARD.  I COME TO TAXI.

Obviously I sound like a 3 year old, but if anything it's very simple and direct, while still using 요. Do you have any stories of using what you thought was pretty clear Korean and then having it be a massive problem?

I wouldn't worry about it: it was mostly his issue, I'm sure. Older folk can either be your instant best friend, or completely unwilling to go to any length at all to understand you.   

My first year in Korea, I asked a taxi driver to let me off at the lotteria in my town. It's the only lotteria, and it's pretty central, so everybody here knows about it.
But apparently my pronunciation was a bit off, because I had to repeat myself like 20 times before the dude understood. 20 times! No exaggeration! Okay, maybe like 5 or 6 times, but definitely not less.


He was like: "아아아앟! L-o-t-t-e-r-i-a-!"
I was like: "말했다!!! "
Then he was like: "뭐?"


It's doesn't happen much anymore -- I doubt that it's because my Korean is a whole lot better (it is a bit better, but...), but rather I think that foreign accents have become a lot more common, so Koreans are becoming more familiar in the interesting ways in which their language can be mangled.


Also, this situation happens **all** the time. Makes me super duper grumpy. 

I seem to recall you saying one of the your cardinal rules you always abide by, is "always have at least 50,000 won in cash on you." 

As to the language did you throw in a lot of hand gestures and body movement?   

The most frustrating was when I lived in Guro. And no, I'm not some mealy-mouthed moron. Of all the things that can be said about my Korean, my pronunciation is pretty spot on. I sound like a 3 year old, but it's FINE. Can you verify that? No, but I am very good at it. I became fluent in French at 5 years of age. Mimicking other languages is one of my language strong points.


  신구로초교 ㄱㅈㅅ요


  어디? 신길초교?

  신. 구. 로. 초. 교.

  뭐?

  SHEEN like CHARLIE SHEEN. GOO like something that oozes. ROW like a goddamn boat. SHEEN GOO ROW

  신길?

You'll have to take my word for it, but I was NOT the issue in this situation. REALLY frustrating. It would be like an Indian person saying "Wonderful" at half capacity and you hearing "Won the baseball game?"

It's ridiculous.

I seem to recall you saying one of the your cardinal rules you always abide by, is "always have at least 50,000 won in cash on you." 

As to the language did you throw in a lot of hand gestures and body movement?   

OMG, and the one goddamn time, of course it happens. Yeah, that's my rule and it's the one day I don't bloody have it.

I keep a 50,000 in my phone case. Has saved me hundreds of times! Dozens! More than twice!

I keep a 50,000 in my phone case. Has saved me hundreds of times! Dozens! More than twice!

I keep an RBC VISA hidden in a special place.  It saved my ass a couple of times too.  (Though I use my TD VISA more often.  Seems to work with more vendors and more globally than the other one.)

Good idea.
Smart to never put all your eggs in a single basket!

Go Soviet style, comrade! Insert it under the sole-insert of one of your shoes. Looking like an idjit while retrieving it is actually a bonus: it'll prevent you from using it lightly.

As for the tomatoes, they're growing nicely! Here's a pic: