Seoul Hero

I always pay when I take the subway, but quite literally everyday I see people who don’t. In all my two years of daily commuting on the subway, daily observing many people who exit the turnstiles without paying, either by going over or under, I have only ever seen two people taken to task for this. The first was a student in Sinchon over a year ago. The second was yesterday, and it was my wife. My wife, it should be noted, does not cheat. Because she is the mother, just before I get to the turnstiles, I give her the stroller to push through the little gate (which requires the action of a guard to open), while I go through and pay my transit fee. She always just goes through, is never charged, and until yesterday she was never given any trouble for this. Anyway, yesterday, at Ewha Station (with apologies to my friendly blogging acquaintance EFL Geek), one of the ajosshis refused to let her go through with the stroller. He then took her card, read it, and told her her last points when she had used it some time before, essentially suggesting that he knew she was trying to cheat (which was not true). He then debited it for the 800 Won trip.

Chae Young has never been asked to pay while pushing the stroller before, and before she and I acquired a baby, she always paid. I think that anyone who actually requires that gate, whether it be mothers with newborns, carrying the future of the human race, or handicapped people, should go free. Especially with baby strollers, one shouldn’t have to push them through the gate, and then leave them unattended while one goes through the turnstiles (which may be several meters from the gate). (I’m sure there will be some stick-in-the-mud person to tell me otherwise, however). Anyway, I held my peace, but I was annoyed. That’s all.