Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nautilus]

Do you handle it well? Do you prefer working with Korean men, or K-women?

i've noticed that K females can be a little bit*y to foreign women. Likewise it appears that K-men and foreign men are naturally averse.

Working with korean women has generally been sweet! They are usually very easy to get along with and kind. And flirty.

However, the problem arises when i work alongside k-men. First up I'm not really used to woking with them. i'm used to hagwons which rarely have korean male teachers. Second, they seem to regard the workplace as their territory. Especially when you chat to female staff. they come out with some really odd and insecure behaviour. They appear jealous and uncomfortable when you enjoy conversation with female staff, no matter how platonic. They try and dominate evrything, its a heirarchy. They invent supposedly cultural ideas which you are supposed to kow-tow to, that seem designed to bolster their egos. They seem to try and patronise or infantilise you. They subtly mock english etc. in short..they can be hard work. A lot of it is below radar. But i sense it, even though I can't speak korean.

no doubt the western women here will say that K-men are a joy to work with, but not K--women.

would you agree? or am I just being too sensitive?

[crazylemongirl]

[babtangee]

I worked with two male Korean public school teachers and they were both great. I do think it helped that they were both the exact same age as me. One year older and there could have been friction ("I'm your senior!"). Maybe.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I get along really well with some of them but with others, it seems they're way worse than women for things going in one ear and out the other. The best English teacher I've worked with by far has been a man and the most useless by far was a woman (though she was really hot).

[ChuckECheese]

Personally, it really doesn't matter to me whether I work with K-women or men. I work well with them as long as they don't cross my boundary and I don't cross theirs. At work I never flirt with K-women or adult students and it�s all professional and they respect me as a teacher.

[rawiri]

There's nothing wrong with flirting with korean teachers. Some of the girls at hagwon's iv'e worked at were total hotties, take the stick outta your asses. You can still be professional about your job and date people you work with, especially over here where it's an ingrained part of the culture that men and women hook up in the workplace.

[nautilus]

[khyber]

in my hagwon experience i thought the women were being flirty (talking to me dearly, expressing love, spanking/grabbing my butt). I think it was just them as people though; that's how they expressed affection.

Weird, very weird but not bad.


My coworkers in my public school? I'm not really convinced that gender is an issue...ever.

[kimchi story]

I second the 'flirty isn't flirting' point raised by khyber. My female coteachers are flirty and forward, but we are all very professional. I disagree with the criticism that flirty and unprofessional go hand in hand as suggested by a previous poster.

I find both male and female coteachers to be colegial, but in different ways. The females are affectionate, the men tend to have more of a sporting rivalry going on. Sometimes in the heat of things that rivalry becomes tense, and every couple of months we have a guys night and go get smashed. That was last night, and I today the only rivalry is who feels the worst. I think I won for the first time ever. Woke up in yesterday's clothes and I can't shake the taste of soju from my mouth.

[nautilus]

This is not supposed to be a thread about flirting.

What I'm trying to say in a nutshell is:

Korean women are generally easy to work with.

korean men, generally aren't.

[ChuckECheese]

I never said that flirting at work place is right or wrong. It's all up to your personal choice. I choose not to flirt at work because it could end up in more than a flirting situation. When the relationship is in the rosy state, it's fine, but when things don't work out at the end, there are many unpleasant possiblities since you're working together.

Besides, there are plenty to be had outside of your work place.

[rawiri]

Yeah but there's nothing spice's up the hum drum nature of hagwon work than a nicely drawn out love affair ending in tears (from an observers perspective).

[Ya-ta Boy]

So far, no one has agreed with the OP and I'm not going to break the string. As far as I'm concerned, it's individual personality that makes the difference. I've worked with both great co-workers and crummy ones and the difference was not gender.

[Homer]

Worked with both....

It depends more on the personality than on the gender..sorry nautilus...Age would also play a factor in certain cases.

I have worked with idiots of both genders and great co-workers of both genders....I have also had male and female bosses over the years....it is definitively about the person and not about the gender on most cases.

[Wrench]

Depends on the age. I find men tend to be a little more open and less intimidated.