Korean Job Discussion Forums

[moosehead]

no sh*t!!

our hakwon was evicted today!!!



ok, am really starting to feel bad (sorta) cuz these people i've known for a few years and they are standup folks, always good to the FTs, one of the reasons i came back to work for them

so as i'm cruizing the net checking out celta programs in vietnam (ok, it had crossed my mind to leave K) several K men in suits come around making a bit of a ruckus. we have a lot of visitors from time to time for other reasons so i didn't think much of it but they don't seem to be there for a meeting like usually happens, then one who looks like a K edward g robinson when he played al capone - no kidding, chubby cheeks, a little bowlegged, all that was missing was the cigar (but he did smoke later 'till i insisted he get rid of it!) anyway - this guy comes into the main office where my desk is and his boys follow him and he starts talking loudly to me in korean and pointing at my desk and the other desks and i'm like, i don't understand what you're sayin!

and i see one of our employees who speaks enough E for me to say to him would you please tell him i don't understand?

finally all of them leave but continue the loud ruckus in the hallway. it really didn't look like it was going to calm down then my director comes in and she says don't worry

ok,

but then it gets really loud!!

so i go into the office where the best K english speaker is and ask him what's going on and he says its a foreclosure!!

and i'm like huh?? and he says they are going to take everything out now, and i'm like everything? and he's like get your stuff together and pack it separately

so we all do that and watch as these guys begin loading everything and i mean EVERYTHING up and out thru the upstairs window onto one of those sliding things like a ramp

and then - they just stack it up in the parking lot downstairs!!

oh my god!!!!!!!!!!

and i go into the main office and the president looks like he's crying!

and i go and start packing my stuff and print out what i was working on (am doing some curriculum devlp. stuff) and try and be calm.

my director comes by a couple of times and just keeps telling me not to worry

then she and the prez leave!! but turns out they just go downstairs - guess he couldn't bear to watch

is a long story about why all this happened but basically he lost a court case he had been battling w/the landlord

it wasn't really a foreclosure - but an eviction - seems they took all our stuff and just left in downstairs and we have to put it in storage somewhere

and we have another office downtown and will move our business there.

but WOW what excitement haven't had such an exciting day here maybe ever!!

just wanted to share

[Atavistic]

Is sucks when you're the teacher being evicted. I thought this was going to be a story that would give me some kin.

Ah well.

Guess not.

[Juregen]

"Why are they being evicted?" is the question.

[moosehead]

[Atavistic]

[tob55]

It makes sense to see all the evictions and closings as of late. I saw a news report on TV just before Christmas that said the average outstanding debt of Korean consumers is around 70 mil KRW and going higher. (Now, that is all Korean consumers, not just the ones who really have money) Koreans have notoriously been given the freedom to buy on credit with no thought of the consequences. The average Korean Joe is so far in hock that they will never see the light of day.

BTW, bankruptcy in this country is the kiss of death. Koreans who file for bankruptcy in this country really have it hard and can never again get any credit for any reason. They are also precluded from owning tangible property (i.e. cars and other consumables), buying real estate, setting up a bank account to do their normal business (this is why so many businesses are in the names of a family member or an associate), and so on.

The Korean credit system isn't bad. I have plenty of credit, even as a foreigner, but you don't want to play around with these people. The loan sharks are on the prowl and if the financial establishments don't get you the loan sharks will send Vito out to settle the score, which obviously happened in the case of your hagwon owner.

[moosehead]

[tob55]

Too bad at any rate. I certainly hope that you and the entire staff do not suffer from it in the long run. These things happen, but it is terrible when you are on the receiving end.

[moosehead]

[bassexpander]

This kind of stuff is bound to happen with all of the "Rushee-N-Cashee" type places advertised on TV. At least you don't see as many ads for them these days. I think the gov't clamped down on them. Parents were complaining that kids were singing the jingles like pop songs and such.

Those are loan places with rates as high as 40 to 60 percent if you miss a payment!!! Imagine your boss taking out a 10 million won loan to pay checks that month, and he can't pay it back the next.

By the way... a Korean friend just lost over 9 million won to a "friend of a friend" who was supposed to get her and several students a good deal on airline tickets to New Zealand. He just took the money and ran away.

I think we'll see a lot more of this type of thing happening in the next several months. Personally, I'm preparing for a huge economic downturn when Koreans realize the China Olympics won't be such a boom for them as they think.

[ryouga013]

[ontheway]

[Roch]

[expat2001]

[spamghod]