How To Feel Like An Idiot For 12 Hours

It was a rushed morning when I flew out of Korea. I only had a hour to shop and it was a sensory overload. So many dazzlingly cute shops and not enough time to visit them all.

I got into a cab and my driver spoke a little English. He said his daughter was studying university in Sydney. When we got to the station, he claimed he had no change for my 10k WON note and he would get it from road side stall. I instantly seized up. The fare was 4.5k, how unreasonable was it to not have change? 

Things happened so fast. He got out and took my note and bought 2 red bean snacks. They handed him a bunch of notes. He counted 4.5k WON and gave it to me and for some reason, judging by the stack of remaining notes in his hand, I thought he had 8k which he was going to pocket. 

He could keep the snack but I said "hang on" and snatched the money out of his hands. Counted out HIS 4.5k and gave it to him. He was stunned. I walked off adamant that he tried ripping me off. How dare he!

I got my train and it took ages to get through security at the airport. I got there an hour before my flight and my heart sank as I saw massive queues to get through security. Even though I already had my boarding pass I was cutting it fine. 

Half an hour before flight departure, I only got to the end of passport control queue. The priority counter checked me through after being grumbled at for not getting to the airport earlier.

I raced to my boarding gate with vital minutes to spare. I triumphantly posted about my "taxi rip off" experience on Facebook, went to the bathroom and boarded the plane. It wasn't until I was in my seat, the penny dropped. 

The snack probably cost 1k so handing me back 4.5k was reasonable. And there was I being stupidly righteous, accusing a man who was only making an honest living. (Although he did get a bonus snack.)

It was too late to retract my Facebook post. The flight attendants wouldn't let back into the terminal to "send an important message". And I asked them very very nicely.

I watched the plane slowly pull away feeling like a monumental idiot. I imagined friends reading my post and inevitably question my ability to do simple maths. Quite rightly so.

The flight time to London is 12 hours. So lesson learned. Don't post anything on Facebook which you could later regret especially if you don't have the chance to delete it for a long time!