The interior of a bus. This photo is not directly related to the incident. [Yonhap]
The interior of a bus. This photo is not directly related to the incident. [Yonhap]

A video showing a woman berating a bus driver who asked her to end a loud phone call — and then spitting on the bus floor as she got off — has spread widely online.

The video was posted Wednesday to the online community Bobaedream under the title "Video of an ajumma fighting with a bus driver."

According to the person who uploaded the post, a middle-aged woman had been on her phone at high volume from the moment she boarded, apparently discussing automatic payment issues with a credit card company or bank. "She talked loudly for a very long time from the moment she got on," the poster wrote. "It was really noisy and unpleasant, but all the other passengers were just putting up with it."

The driver asked her several times to end the call, and when she continued, he raised his voice: "Ma'am, please hang up the phone." The woman shot back, demanding to know why he was shouting at her, and a loud argument broke out.

The woman reportedly told the driver, "You're a bus driver — just drive. How dare you talk back to a customer?" She also said, "A person on the phone might not realize how loud they are. Don't give me orders. Am I your servant?"

She then said she would report him to the customer service center for making her uncomfortable, photographed the driver, sent the image to the center and filed a complaint by phone, the poster said.

The video shows the woman saying, "A public transit driver should just drive," while appearing to film the driver with her phone.

She also turned on the other passengers, saying, "If you don't want to hear this, take a taxi. Drive your own car. Why are you even riding this bus?"

"She kept arguing, and right when she reached her stop, she spat on the bus floor and got off," the poster wrote. "I hope this video spreads widely so that woman realizes what she did wrong."

Online commenters criticized the woman's behavior. "If she's the problem, she should be the one taking a taxi or driving her own car — why is she telling other passengers to take a taxi?" one user wrote. Another said, "If she talks that loudly on the phone, a taxi driver would probably kick her out too."

Under South Korean law, verbally abusing or physically confronting a bus driver in a way that disrupts service can constitute obstruction of business.

In a recent case, a man in his 70s was sentenced to six months in prison in July for hurling insults and threats at a city bus driver in Daegu's Seo-gu and disrupting service for about 17 minutes. The man had reportedly become angry after the driver refused to pick him up at a location that was not a designated bus stop, and told the driver, "You have no heart driving a bus" and "When an elder asks you to let them on, you should let them on."


bbo@heraldcorp.com