Business owners are voicing similar complaints, fueling concerns over social media’s influence on teenagers
A group of teenagers has sparked public outrage after one of them threw cash at a part-time worker while paying at a cafe in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, news reports said Thursday.
In videos circulating in online communities, one of the boys flings several 1,000-won bills at the face of an employee standing behind the cafe counter.
The employee bent down to collect the scattered bills from the floor while the boys giggled.
The videos quickly drew outrage online, fueling growing resentment among small business owners toward teenage boys in particular.
A cafe in Seoul recently sparked controversy after posting a sign banning middle and high school boys from entering.
"Middle and high school boys are not allowed inside because their behavior has made other customers uncomfortable," the sign read.
The Seoul cafe is not alone. Posts on "I'm the Boss Because It Hurts," one of South Korea's largest online communities for small business owners with 1.97 million members, show that some establishments have already banned male students, while others are considering similar restrictions.
Some business owners blame social media for encouraging teenage boys to engage in disruptive stunts for online attention.
"Many of our customers come to read or study, but some boys swear and shout so loudly that you'd think they were fighting. They take photos and videos of themselves, apparently to post on social media. I've had to step in many times because they were disturbing other customers," wrote Song, who runs a large cafe in Incheon.
"Not all teenage boys are like that, but some do really weird things. It really shows how important it is to teach kids manners at home," wrote a Threads user who said they run a snack bar in Incheon.
However, some argue that excluding certain age groups does little to solve the problem.
"Everyone shouldn't be restricted because of the behavior of a few. It's not just teenage boys — you get rude and disruptive customers everywhere. These issues should be resolved through communication, not blanket bans," one user wrote on X.
cjh@heraldcorp.com