Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Felix the Cat]

Okay, so I'll be back in Korea for a short stay in a few weeks after finishing my contract in Bangkok. The day I left Korea last March, my hagweon director screwed me out of 1.2 million won, promised to wire half of it to me in a week (I didn't believe it even at the time), and of course wormed out of that promise. I called him six weeks later from Bangkok and was very un-Korean in my bluntness, demanding an explanation and thwarting his attempts at obfuscation. He didn't handle it well. Neither did I; I got really angry and yelled at him. It's a good thing I didn't have any hopes of recovering the money through that method.

The man hates, I mean he's utterly shit-in-his pants terrified by direct confrontation. During my visit, I'll be dropping down to Daegu for a little talk with the guy. If I mind my P's and Q's, in other words don't knock his nose through his head, can he cause any problems for me while I'm there? I don't plan on doing anything illegal or violent to the guy (even though he deserves it). I simply want him to deal with me face-to-face. Given the slight corruption in Korea, I am a bit worried that he can dial the police on his mobile phone and have me arrested for spying for Pyongyang or child rape or some other ludicrous charge and I'll never see the outside world again.

[Tiger Beer]

I don't know the answers to any of those questions.. but hoping you tell us what happened. If we don't hear from you, we'll imagine the worst-case scenario was the end results..

Hope to hear from you soon! Good luck on the mission.. I'd be interested to hear how your old boss handles it and how he responds.

[mrroboto]

what happened?

[Felix the Cat]

Nothing's happened yet - still haven't left for Hanguk. I don't want to write exactly when I'll be there, as the boss is so scared of confrontation that I wouldn't put it past him to simply avoid the school for a few days if he knew I was in town. Will keep you posted, though.

[Wombat]

One of my old bosses weasled out of paying me about 1.2 million won before I left. Bent of getting what was owed to me (oh, so young and green), I got a friend to come with me to the school so we could confront him. It was a sad sight; Koreans seem to befogged by their embarrassment at being called out to be able to think logically.

He became very desperate, pacing around the school, repeating "Time for you to go, time for you to go," and wouldn't answer any direct questions about why I wasn't being paid. Instead he would give a nervous laugh and start looking around, avoiding eye contact. It was pitiful; I actually started feeling bad for him, but then remembered it was his fault that I wasn't going to have enough money to get up to Varanasi, in India. So I held firm.

He made threatening gestures as if he was about to punch me in the face, hurled insults - all whilst I calmly said "Look, I just want my money."

Then he said that if we wouldn't leave, he'd call the police! We were totally unafraid since we'd done nothing wrong and called his bluff. He turned BEET RED at the prospect of now being unable to back out of calling them, and did so sheepishly, whilst we smugly awaited their arrival.

We sat in the teacher's room, quietly fuming. He slipped out to the front reception area (really, just in the other room; this was a tiny school), and beetled out the door! When the police arrived, the receptionist had to make all sorts of apologies that it was a mistake etc. and the "director" was nowhere to be seen! What a coward! We rang him on his mobile and said, "Hey the police were just here and they were annoyed that there was no reason for them to be called; where are you?" He replied that he had to "get something".

We gave up and left. On the walk to the train station, I actually found myself crying out of sheer frustration and monetary loss. It was totally unfair.

So - Koreans afraid of confrontation? It's pathalogical. I say go for it; he has no power over you, and it's worth trying to get what you're owed. I hope you fare better that I did.

Wombat

[Felix the Cat]

That's a coincidence, Wombat. I did quite a bit of traveling after leaving Korea - flew into Bali and initially planned to make my way to Mumbai (Varanasi en route, of course), from which I'd return to Bangkok for work. However, being 1.2 million won poorer than I'd first planned, I stopped at Burma and turned back to Bangkok. Soon starting law school in the States, I can't afford to spend every cent I have before going home.

[denz]