Dabang
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Tabangs are Korean coffee shops, but they differ markedly from the more traditional coffee shops.[citation needed] There are many in the smaller towns as the meeting and socializing places for the town's residents, in lieu of the fact that there might not be any where else for them to go.
Tabangs had their origin in 1902.[citation needed] A Madam Lyuov[1] opened a hotel and called the coffee shop a tabang. They proliferated from that point on as places where people could come and talk or discuss business over a tea or a coffee.[citation needed]
They function as many things, depending of course on the owner proprietor. Some are places for old people to play Paddock or Go (a Korean-Chinese board game),[citation needed] others merely serve tea or coffee to its patrons, others deliver coffee or juice to its patrons, and others are small mom and pop stores where the family might be living in the back.
Of the numerous types of Tabangs, one particular type called a "Ticket Tabang" is known in South Korea as a source for discrete prostitution. Ticket Tabangs make up a small percentage of Tabangs. Often when a person orders coffee from a Ticket Tabang, they are aware the service includes sex. Ticket Tabang women often deliver the coffee on a scooter and then provide a sexual service upon arrival. Ticket Tabang employees can be seen driving scooters to and from Ticket Tabangs in the more rural communities throughout South Korea.[2] There is a culture of acceptance about the services the girls offer. The service is seen as a need where ever there is construction, and or hotels or motels. Even with the potential for prostitution the service the girls provide is just part of the overall scheme of things like a mobile food vendor, or pizza delivery service.
Location
Tabangs are everywhere. In some provinces they are called Tashils. The smaller villages have many of them, because it's where people socialize. The prettier the agashis of course then there is more socializing. You will see them on every corner in some of the smaller towns.
Other Services
Many customers use the girls to service clients with coffee while they conduct buisness. Others use the girls to help them clean up there apartments. For foreigeners they are a good source of local information, and help with appliances in one's apartment that he or she is not familiar with. Some tabangs as well as the girls, even have a cute guy to deliver to female customers. Sometimes the term "Pedal" is applied to the girls derlivering coffee the same way it's applied to the delivery of meals or pizza.
The Girls
Many of the girls come from dysfunctional families. Others come from functional poor families. Now and again you will meet a coffee girl who wasn't satisfied with her previous job, and opted to be a tabang girl to make more money. University students become tabang girls in the semester break sometimes. Some girls even send money home to support parents, and or brothers and sisters. Some tabangs are quite brutal in their control of the girls, and the girls working in those tabangs are forced into a servitude that is almost impossible for them to paye off. The majority of the tabangs though are very fair, and allow the girls to come and go as they please. Most of the girls are quite cute, and they need to be, to ensure possible call backs for more coffee. Tabang owners naturally look for ways to maximise their profits.
Costs
A customer in a tabang would never pay more than W3000 for a cup of coffee,[3] or sometimes less for a tea. Tabangs are the best place to try Korean teas, because they serve all of them. Some have their own special brews, but if one wants to get a handle on Korean teas, tabangs are a good place to start. They also sell and deliver (by auto bike or car) juice, urmul cha or nang urmul Cha.