Another example of how wrong I can be...
Got your attention with that title, didn't I?
Back in 97-98 I lived in Korea and got to work with two good friends of mine - greywar and Different Hanja. For most of the time I was there, only greywar had a car of the three of us. He'd often drive us home after flights or over to main post to do laundry. He'd also drive us to Osan Air Base to use the commissary. At the time, the Camp Humphreys commissary was a little larger than a big 7-11, but the Osan commissary was just like a real grocery store from the states (well, except for the ajjumas pushing you out of the way for the frozen ox tail).
Well, since Different Hanja moved off base before I did, he'd usually meet up with greywar before they came to pick me up, so I often rode in the back seat. If we happened to be together when leaving, standard shotgun rules applied.
Once, when we were returning from a run to the Osan commissary, we were sitting at a red light and I was riding in the back seat. When the light turned green, the truck behind us immediately laid on the horn. greywar and Different Hanja both commented on the guy being a jerk but I did what came naturally to me. I gave him the finger. But I immediately realized that being a Korean, he may not know what the finger meant, so I quickly changed my hand gesture to the Korean equivilant (something they don't teach you at DLI in culture studies class).
Well, this pissed off the driver more. As we were driving, he pulled up alongside us and started yelling at us in Korean. greywar and Different Hanja had no idea why this guy was acting this way and all I could think to do was continue to show the guy my awareness of his cultural/social gestures.
The guy then sped up and pulled in front of us and hit the brakes (the road was a six lane mini highway). As greywar drove around the truck, the guy and his buddy were actually getting out of the cab of the truck. I guess they thought that we would stop and discuss this in an adult manner in the middle of the road, or something.
It was at this time I told greywar and Different Hanja about my hand gestures. They were predictably angry with me. As we neared our exit, the truck once again caught up to us. It sped past us onto the overpass while we exited and prepared to drive away. The truck pulled over on the side of the overpass and the passenger got out quickly. He launched a screwdriver at us from his higher position. I started laughing when I saw the guy actually lob the screwdriver at us. greywar slowed down the car but that ended up causing the screwdriver to hit smack in the middle of the roof of the car. Stopped my laughter for just a moment and then I lost it again.
Good thing greywar had the standard hand me down ¶ËÂ÷ (BBAK CE - crap car) that most Soldiers drive while stationed in Korea. But I still got in trouble for my actions. From that day onward I was not allowed to make any hand gestures, no matter how called for, and it was preferred if I sit on my hands just to be safe.