Urinal Conversation

As I've noted in earlier posts, many Koreans know at least a handful of English words and phrases, even if they're usually too self-conscience to say them aloud. But when they do expound one of these manufactured, tourist-friendly idioms, it's usually either endearing or uncomfortable. My most recent encounter was the latter.

I was using the urinal at my school when another young male teacher entered the bathroom. In typical westerner fashion, I kept my eyes down and made no acknowledgment of another human being in the room.

But my newly arrived companion for this bladder-evacuation expedition wasn't familiar with these unwritten public bathroom rules. Standing two stalls away from me he unzipped, began his business and then turned to me with a smile.

"How is the weather today?" he asked.
Since he was actually closer to the window than I was and therefore in a better position to judge the weather, I assumed he meant something closer to, 'isn't the weather nice today,' so I replied, "It's very nice," and again diverted my eyes away.

But I could feel his gaze burning a hole in the side of my head. So I eventually turned to look at him again hoping I could give him a smile and a nod and he'd turn back to his own affairs.

Smiling again, although now with a devilish curl at the corners of his mouth he said, "You must be careful." Having finished what he set out to do, he turned and walked out of the bathroom without another word.

Was this a clairvoyance's helpful fortune telling? Or a local crime syndicate warning me to play ball or face the consequences? Needless to say, I washed my hands thoroughly before returning to work.