Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Wombat]

Well, *I'm* glad they did a runner. I now have a full-time job!

Zzang

W.

PS - Dunno how Bill feels. The disses fly hard and fast in the teacher's room.

[William Beckerson]

You're just another skirt to me.

[rapier]

Last year i flew out of K. with 2 months still remaining on my e2 (my school had closed). The immigration guy questioned why i was leaving early, before my contract was up. He had no choice but to accept my (honest) explanation and let me go. Even with friends at immigration, no director can stop you leaving.

[Wombat]

[Homer]

Wildbill,

I am sure the Canadian governement will heed your warning and increase border security against "evil" hagwon owners...

Perhaps you are taking it a bit too far mate, then again, I could be wrong.

Perhaps you should call upon the Human Rights commission of the UN to help with your crusade:

[Arthur Fonzerelli]

I never did one...

I was upfront with my director and told him I wasn't happy with the housing and teaching schedule. I told him I was very tired and I couldn't do a good job if he didn't shorten my 8 hour day and improve my housing situation...

He told me he appreciated my honesty and we negotiated the hagwon would pay my airfare back home....

It may not work out as well for others, but I think it's better to work it out with your employer...

I feel good about leaving on good terms...

[Valora]

I admit that I made a midnight run from my school after 3 months.


They treated me horribly from the first day that I arrived there and were cheating me on every aspect of my contract, pay and expenses.

I agreed to work 30 hours per week in my contract, but when I arrived it magically increased to 45 hours per week with no overtime or increase in pay or negotiation just put with it. They docked me two days pay one month because I had to go to doctors appointments after my classes. If I didn't go to the doctor I wouldn't have been able to work I was very ill for 2 months.

They were directly insulting to my face calling me ugly and not beautiful in english among other things. A fellow teacher at the school who spoke some Korean told me that they were also calling me crazy, lazy, and stupid in Korean.

The materials were horrible and I was mislead about the class sizes and the types of classes that I was teaching. I was supposed to have 1 kindergarten class every morning and middle school classes in the afternoon. Instead I had to rotate between 2 kindergarten classes and had 2 kindergarten classes (1hr) in the afternoon. The kindergarten kids were a nightmare, they threw things across the room, constantly fell off their chairs, knocked the tables over, and gave the up your **** gesture to me every day. I also had the junior director's son in my class, he was a holy terror who bit me. Another student threw a chair at me.

I made many attempts to negotiate with the administration, but I got absolutely nowhere. They would just say 'very busy' and leave the room.

When I discovered a job posting for my school and my apartment I knew that they were going to fire me without notice so I quietly packed everything and collected my pay. Payday was a Friday and I left my apartment that Sunday afternoon. I spent the Saturday finishing packing and shipping my belongings. My flight left on the Tuesday afternoon and I spent 2 nights in very nice guesthouse near the airport. I got to spend Sunday and Monday doing a little sightseeing in Seoul which I was too sick to do before.

I don't regret what I did because the school cheated me out of so much money this was only way I could even come close to getting my money back. When I left they owed me a large amount of money after the airfare.

My school has a history of firing teachers to confiscate airfare, severance pay and housing deposits. They fired (or they ran because they were going to be fired) 13 teachers in less than 12 months. I think it was 9 or 10 that were actually canned.

I am back in my homeland now and I'm so much happier

No regrets
see my other posts for more info
Valora

[TheUrbanMyth]

[kiwioutofthenest]

Ok sorry this is a long one but i just copied it from my pc and cant be bothered editing it

The Brooke

To get the best performance from the Brooke employ three persons for dramatic purposes. It is best that one of the said persons be a negative, ugly, fat *beep* preferably with a missing incisor tooth and flabby under arms�


9.15pm Thursday 5th of June. Kiwi's apartment.

Kiwi: Thinking quizzically where her friend Brooke is and wondering what they will have for dinner.

Later

Kiwi: Still thinking quizzically where Brookes is, no answer by phone�hmmmm, perhaps she is with Angie at the gym?.....Picks up phone and rings Anna, no answer��Probably on their way home now.

Later still: Hmmmm strange that Brooke hasn�t rung as we are going to Seoul tomorrow, starting to get a little concerned that something has happened to them.

Later still: constantly ringing both Anna and Brooke and starting to go through the notions of genuine concern. �Right that�s it I�m going to the Gold finger (the local pub) to see if I have been non invited to a drink with them�. Picks up wallet and heads for door

1230 am Friday 6th of June.
Kiwi: Arrives back with beer thinking where the hell can they be?? Rings Debbie to see if she has heard from Brooke. A thought crosses Kiwi's mind�..i did give Brooke 2 million won today to change into American dollars for me and she does owe me about 600000 imagine if she did a runner? Thought leaves mind as highly improbable.
�Hi Debbie its Kiwi have you seen Brooke? I haven�t heard from her and we are leaving in the morning, I wonder if anything has happened to her? D �No and I hope something does�
Kiwi �What do you mean?�
D �I hope something does happen to her I don�t like her�
Kiwi �O.K�.. I wonder if Angie is with her?�
D �I�ll look out my window and see if her light is on� �.. �Ya her lights on I wonder why she isn�t answering her phone?�
Kiwi �Dunno but I�ve had a beer and I�m starting to get a little paranoid that Brooke has taken off with my money� �Na I�m just being Paranoid but I want to know if she bought the tickets for Seoul?�
D �Kiwi Brooke doesn�t have the weekend off how are you going to Seoul, I thought you were going to Busan?�
Kiwi �NO, we�ve been planning this for weeks were going clubbing� �I better go and see if I can get hold of Anna� ����..

Later
Kiwi: Finally gets hold of Anna �have you heard from Brooke?�
Anna: �Ahh no�
Kiwi �Shit I think I�m getting really paranoid but I think she has taken off with some money of mine, were suppose to be going to Seoul tomorrow and I haven�t heard from her?�
A: �How much money?�
kiwi: �2.6Million� A�.choking sounds...sigh� �Um�
Kiwi: �Spit it out what!�
A: �Brooke left after work today for Seoul, shit sorry Kiwi she made me promise not to tell you that you might try and talk her out of it� �..Silence��.
Kiwi: �I�m going over there�
A: �I�ll meet you there� ���..

1am Brooke�s apartment

Kiwi and Anna: Trying to open apartment door with set of keys no luck. Kiwi: � I�ll go round and see if I can climb up to her window� (apartment is on the second floor) Kiwi scales the building and climbs onto Brookes balcony forces the screens and walks in�hmmm something�s not right it smells funny�.it smells �.KOREAN! Shit I�ve broken into the wrong apartment!

Round 2: forces screen and walks in�everything is gone *beep* *beep* *beep* that *beep*. Opens front door for Anna.

After looking around apartment for any clues or notes. Kiwi: �ok I�m going to the police�
A: �ok lets go�

To explain what went on at the police station would just be an incredibly long waste of time needless to say we are in Korea and the police are Korean and thus it was an incredibly long waste of time.

1:30 am outside police station

Kiwi: �How the funk am I gonna get to Seoul?� After deliberating the girls decide to ring there friend to borrow his car and drive the five hours to Seoul. Following a fair amount of arm twisting and begging friend agrees that Kiwi can borrow the car.

Angie doesn�t want to make the Journey but Kate agrees to come along for the ride. After a fair amount of fucking about the two girls are finally on the road. The next 6 hours (due to getting lost and driving an arse about face way to Seoul) is spent discussing how it is possible that a close and trusted friend shits on your head. Whether the person has big hairy congas or just doesn�t give a *beep*.
Once one point of a persons character is questioned it brings the shadow of doubt over everything, did she ever go to Harvard? Was she in fact the sister that she told me about that went missing for 7 years without a word to her family? Was her name Brooke Jones? Had I been played from the start?

Finally arrive at Incheon airport at 10am and make their way to the departure area. The girls split up and ask various airlines whether they have a Brooke Jones on their flights to Oz or did they have on a morning flight.
After an hour Kate runs over to Kiwi at the Korean air counter �I found her, she is on the 8pm flight to Brisbane!!�

Kiwi: �*beep* yeah we got her!� �Ok I guess well settle in and wait�

345pm Incheon airport departure gates

Surfing the nets, Kiwi casually looks at the check in counter, walks back to Kate �she�s there�. Both girls look at each other gob smacked�.shit what to do?
*beep* this kiwi approaches the counter.
Brooke: �Hi there� said with a warm grin
Kiwi: �I don�t think anyone has fucked me over as much as you have, give me my money�
Brooke: �I left it with the security guard of your building ask Anna!
Check in Lady �how many bags?�
Brooke: �five�
Kiwi: �four this ones mine� reaching for the laptop bag.
CIL: �you�re going to have to pay for excess luggage�
Kiwi talking to CIL �ok well we will just go and discuss it, give us ten minutes?�

Brooke spends an unnecessarily long amount of time talking to the CIL eventually approaches.
Kiwi: �Give me my money�
Brooke: �Ok� and hands her the 2 million won.
Kiwi: �I�m taking the laptop�
B: �but its mine, ill pay you what I owe�
Kiwi: � no, I�m taking it�
B: �but that�s not fair, that�s like you stealing 600 000 off me!� Kiwi: �guess you should have thought of that before you fucked me over� B: �I wasn�t stealing�
Kiwi: �*beep* off Brooke, I�m off�
B: �I have a lot of things in that� indicating to the laptop bag,
Kiwi: �well I suggest you take them out because the laptop is mine� Brooke empties the pockets of the bag shaking and whining �Just let me pay what I owe you�
Kiwi: � Do you have any idea how much trouble we have been though to get here? Parking, tolls, gas, borrowing a car? I�m taking the laptop and that�s it�.
Kate: �I think you owe us a few explanations Brooke, why did you do it�? Kiwi: �You know what Kate it�s not important, we cant believe anything that comes out of her mouth� Both Kate and Kiwi turn and walk away without a backwards glance, leaving Brooke sitting amongst her scattered belongings looking like a negative, ugly, fat *beep* with a missing incisor and flabby under arms

as it happens Brooke had also sent the directors stereo to Australia, aparently she tried the microwave but it was too heavy! Why is it always the foreigners that try to craap on your head?

[NQP]

I did a runner. It was weird though. I didn't plan it, prepare it, or do it for financial reasons. It was a week before payday so I left a whole months pay. The school paid for neither my airfare to or from Korea. These are not ment to be excuses or rationalizations just evidence of the fact that my run wasn't out of malice toward my employer or a desire to rip him off. I lived in Korea for 2 years at the time and was on my second contract(first at that school).

I went to a bar and got really drunk(I am an alcoholic and am in recovery now). I know it sounds stupid and like a cop out, but the next clear memory I have is of being woken up by a stewardess in Japan telling me I have to get off the plane. In my drunken state I had convinced myself of how much better life would be back home and I needed to go there now. I had an open return ticket from the last time I came to Korea and I headed for Inchon at 6:00 am one day. I know how the hagwon business is and an owner would axe anyone anytime if it was in their best interest. I know this because I witnessed it at both schools I worked for and heard countless other's stories. The thing that I feel the worst about is sticking my co-workers with my classes and probably screwing their schedules up for a good while.

I do regret what I have done. It is never the right way to end a contract. I would rather loose my last months pay than carry the guilt of doing what I did, because my employer really wasn't bad and didn't deserve what I did. If I hated my employer due to serious mistreatment that may be a different story. I understand the shitty deal some of us get when we arrive. But this was not my case. I don't like to blame things on external factors nor try to mitigate my personal responsibility in this, but I was very ill(I think only friends of Bill W's will understand or sympathize).

I am currently(2&1/2 years post run) trying to see if I can return to korea. My understanding of Korean immigration law is that if you currently have an E2 the sponser of that visa must issue you a release letter to transfer sponsers, meaning get a new job. In my case my E2 has long since expired. The only thing which could keep me out of Korea is if my employer went through the process of having me put on the Korean Immigration barred from entry list. I think this envolves them filing a formal complaint relating to some criminal charges they want to bring against you. Again this is just an assumption on my part, not verified fact. I am getting a recruiter to enquire at immigration about my status on the "blacklist" as the Barred from Entry list is often called.

I did not write this for sympathy or absolution. I feel I will probably get roasted by many posters for being a flake and typical "drunk asshole ESL loser". Believe me I didn't start out that way, became it for a while, hope I am on the other side and can return to Korea.

[Corporal]

You're right, the part about waking up in Japan does sound stupid and like a cop out. Sorry.

[jajdude]

I did the run once. Just didn't show up and stayed at a buddy's place for a week or so till I left for another country. The hagwon wasn't totally horrible, I just felt a bit freaked out and made a snap decision to say the hell with it. And I wanted to try a country besides Korea. Several other people at that hagwon did the same within a few months before or after me. It had about 15 foreigners and a good few complaints. I didn't feel bad about it, though I admit giving notice may have been a better option in my case. After all, they were fair enough to me and did pay all on time. They didn't burn anyone on pay as far as I know. Sometimes, however, I would be wary of giving notice. It could have a bad result. I believe sometimes, for some people, the run is the thing to do.

[Felix the Cat]

If only I'd done the midnight run ...

Two other teachers at my old hagweon did the runner, and escaped with full pay. I negotiated an early end to my contract, the director guaranteed my salary, I agreed to forego my bonus and return airfare, thought all was settled. I ended up screwed out of 1.2 million won, on the last day of work.

Honesty doesn't pay in Korea.

[Arthur Fonzerelli]

No, I have not pulled a midnight run.

[humanuspneumos]

I pulled a runner 2/6 times.

First time- I did give notice and then it was the game- "Another week please." "Another week please." "Another week please." After the third week I just went. Which part of "I'm really sick- I need surgery." they didn't understand is beyond me.


Second time- money problems month after month after month after month after month........

I'm surprised by all the nice people in this thread who have not, would not, and dare not run. I wonder what the percentages of nice people are in terms of working at a university/public school vs. hogwan.