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Good grief, does Korea always work this quickly?

 
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CanKorea



Joined: 23 Jun 2003
Location: Pyeongchon

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 12:37 am    Post subject: Good grief, does Korea always work this quickly? Reply with quote

After about 2 weeks of hearing nothing, my school called me up today and told me they REALLY need me by next week. I'd been preparing for a mid-September departure. I agreed (stupid move?) and it seems I'll be leaving next Wednesday. All this time I'd been wondering if they still wanted me to teach anymore.

Is this usual Korean business tactics? It's going to take some getting used to. Though lord knows I should be used to it after being in China.
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BTM



Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Back in the saddle.

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Everything - everything! - is always 'wait wait wait wait wait....wait a bit more....OK NOW NOW YOU MUST DO IT NOW!' over here. If it's not done at the last minute, it's not done right, by golly!

Unless it's to your benefit. Then it's usually 'wait wait wait... forget'.
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Tiger Beer



Joined: 07 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 3:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is ONLY the beginning. Its always been a HURRY UP and wait. I can't even begin to think of the many many many examples..
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Hyalucent



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: British North America

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 4:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's almost a week to get ready. It sounds like you may have found one of the better schools.

I had four days to prepare for my first job (luckily I had already applied for my passport on the assumption I would go somewhere).

My current job took four months of "searching" by a recruiter to find a place in Seoul. Each time I called a school she had given me to confirm, it turned out there was no job offered at all. The recruiter was dropping names to justify themselves, I guess.

[For those who say I should have known enough to conduct the job search on my own, let me explain that my initial hope had been to stay in the same hagwon chain-- just a different franchise. The recruiting firm I used handled all of their H.R.]

In the end, I did land a spot though it was with a different chain. I was given 30 minutes to pack my apartment and move to Seoul-- largely because the recruiter contacted my original school about my job offer before ever mentioning it to me, and they had already flown in my replacement. He met me at my door one night, which is how I found out about getting the Seoul job. Confused

Anyway... wait until you get here and they start giving you the "Where are you? You have class now! Why didn't you know of the schedule change?" phone calls.
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Tiger Beer



Joined: 07 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 4:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My first contract, I came 3 schooldays before my contract so I could observe the classrooms and other teachers.. instead they threw me in front of the class 3 days earlier and farmed me out to a Middle School in addition..

But anyhow, back to the 'hurry up and wait'.. sounds like this current job.. I was staying VERY comfortably at my friends house and signed this contract. They had to find an apartment for me, called me and said it was all ready so pack my stuff and get over here immediately!! I packed, took a taxi over and ended up waiting for 10 hours while they called around apartment buildings with all my stuff scattered all over the floor.. grrrrrrrrr
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crazylemongirl



Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Location: almost there...

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 4:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah I had the same deal with my job less than one week notice. I worked till the day before I left New zealand including 14 hours the day before I took off. Anyway for the purposes of aiding you in your new country I'll give you a defintion of 'korean time'

KoreanTime.

Variant of Island time (where everything runs two hours late). Korean time means that schedules are always late however when events happen they happen with very little or no notice.

CLG
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Trinny



Joined: 01 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 7:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hear you guys.

A lot of my clients always say their works have to be done immediately. The matter of fact is they sit on a project until the very last minutes and then finally pass it to me, saying it should be done overnight and if I can't get it done immediately, they will lose very important business deals or whatever.

I always make a point of reminding the clients that a rush job will compromise quality. But, I have the feeling that you can't teach an old dog a new trick.
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crazylemongirl



Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Location: almost there...

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 7:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have carefully explained the concept of heads up to no avail. I'm currently writing reports due tomorrow which I found out about a few days ago.

CLG
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CanKorea



Joined: 23 Jun 2003
Location: Pyeongchon

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 7:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hmm, well, at least it's not just me. During my last job, we'd get notified of things about 12 hours in advance (for small things) and if we got a week's worth of warning we considered ourselves extremely lucky!

Wish me luck guys, now I'm nervous. Excited, but nervous.
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Son Deureo!



Joined: 30 Apr 2003

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 4:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

crazylemongirl wrote:
I have carefully explained the concept of heads up to no avail. I'm currently writing reports due tomorrow which I found out about a few days ago.


This is where I tell them "I'm sorry, I have an appointment. You should have told me sooner", and walk out the door.

Even if I don't have an appointment, it teaches them two valuable lessons.

1) My time is valuable, too.

2) Hogwon report cards are not ever an emergency.
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syclick



Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2003 6:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hyalucent wrote:
Anyway... wait until you get here and they start giving you the "Where are you? You have class now! Why didn't you know of the schedule change?" phone calls.


This is so true it isn't funny...
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Walter Mitty



Joined: 27 Mar 2003
Location: Tokyo! ^.^

PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 8:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hyalucent wrote:
Anyway... wait until you get here and they start giving you the "Where are you? You have class now! Why didn't you know of the schedule change?" phone calls.

This is what makes cellphones so great. I got one of these calls at my last hagwon and the manager was all flustered.

"You have class now!"
"No, I don't. You gave me my schedule yesterday and there was a class at this time on Thursday, but not today."
"I made new schedule this morning. You have to come to school now!"
"Sorry, I can't. I'm in Gangnam right now." (I lived/worked in Bundang at the time.)

She ended up having to teach the class herself, and my schedule was always spot-on after that.
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CanKorea



Joined: 23 Jun 2003
Location: Pyeongchon

PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 9:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hmm...reasons to not get a cellphone.

Walter Mitty, I like that picture you have there. That game was fun.

Now I'm waiting for my plane ticket to come. Maybe I'll get it Wednesday morning.
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Walter Mitty



Joined: 27 Mar 2003
Location: Tokyo! ^.^

PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CanKorea wrote:
Hmm...reasons to not get a cellphone.

Actually, that's a good reason to get a cellphone. If you have a phone in your apt. and the boss calls you there, he/she knows exactly where you are. If you have a cell, you're anywhere you want to say you are.
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