Korean Job Discussion Forums

[atomjuice2]

I was working for JungChul near ByeonJeom Subway Station. When I started, they knew I had to do a quick run to Japan to get a new tourist visa ( so as to allow me time to get the BCB check from Canada ). They kept promising to send me 'next week'...which never came. I helped them develope their website in my spare time at no cost. I did all I could to be the best teacher I could be. Even though no contract had been signed ( they kept insisting I work until I got the tourist visa renewed ), they deducted 80 000 a month income tax ( which I know never was paid ), made me pay 30 000 a month maintenance fee on a dumpy no window apartment, never paid into pension or any health plan...on and on... Well, after waiting until my present visa almost expired ( and was illegal in the first place )...I was almost begging to be deported. However, I got very sick with some sort of asian flu the kids at the school had lugged in with them because their parents force them to attend when they are sick. I had no cellphone, or housephone for that matter...so I could not call them to advise them I was too ill to teach. I was literally soaking in sweat in my bed unable to even run to the pharmacy.
At 2:35pm ( starting time was 2:30pm )...the husband half of this hideous school bangs on my door...I crawl over and unlock the door and tell him I'm very sick and probably will not be able to teach for a few days. I never had any conflicts with this dude before. He usually just hung around the school, bloodshot from the night before, while his wife did all the work. He then proceeds to start yelling at me at the top of his lungs...even being sick...without even knowing how I did it, I jumped to my feet and quickly 'ushered' his @ss out of the apartment for being so rude. This guy is 30...I'm 43...by their own social norms, yelling to an 'older' person is almost unthinkable to a Korean. However, being the white fly in his monetary ointment made him lose himself in a temper tantrum. He fired me on the spot...told me to get out or he would call the cops. Well, the cops came. They quickly saw I was very sick, but threatened to arrest me. I said' arrest me for what?". When they saw I was not the least bit afraid of their threats, they then turned to the guy from the school and said that he should pay me the half a months salary they owed me ( I told them they could forget about the tax money they skimmed ). He started to yell and argue with the cops! After about 20 minutes of the group pow-wow, a cop bent down and said 'sorry, hope you well soon', then left. Frustrated, the guy from the school left after slamming the door. To make a long story short...I had to stay another 2 nights in that apartment because I was too ill to move. A third party ( the agency which placed me there to begin with ) sent me an e-mail telling me that my internet would be cut that night...and that the school offerred to pay 300$ of the 1000$ they actually owed me. After the two days recovery in the apartment, he shows up with 200 000$ and asks for the keys. Still sick and just grateful he coughed up anything, I took the 200k and went to a hotel to complete getting over the flu. Now I have 1 week until my tourist visa is expired, no money left,...and the same agency that placed me in that mom-pop operation, set me up at a new school where I'm now waiting to fly to Japan, sleeping on a bare floor...and thinking how lucky some people are to get deported. To sum it all up...stay away from recruiters and greasy hogwans...something I know has been said a million times before on here. Just think everyone should know about the JungChul operation near ByeongJeom. Stay away from them!

[thematrixiam]

well not all hagwons are bad...

but the no window room should have been the first clue.

[the ireland]

[quote="atomjuice2"][b] After the two days recovery in the apartment, he shows up with 200 000$ and asks for the keys.

200 000$, sounds like a great hagwomn to me

[Bibbitybop]

I'll read your story if you take out the bold print headache.

[Lekker]

I was fired without notice because I asked my boss why he was being dodgy when it came to deliberatley fucking around with my tax information, given the whole "get out of my apartment or you will be arrested..." nonsense.

Like you said, arrested for what?? SO many people from so many walks of life, who are here in Korea, told me to stay away from hagwons and I was too naive to listen to them. Now I can't thank them enough for their advice.

Yes, not all hagwons are bad, but the majority of them suck ass so hard. I'm sorry that happened to you. I can relate completely. I hope your next stint is much more rewarding.

[that guy]

[ryouga013]

[JamesFord]

You're 43 years old. You shouldn't be pissing around in situations like this.

[atomjuice2]

Sorry for the boldtype people...new to this post really...usually just pop in once in a while to see what's what's. I never expected the pension or health insurance until everything got sorted out with the CBC paperwork. The tax deductions of 80 000w, and the ridiculous fee of 30 000 maintenance for the apartment, plus paying all the utilities was too much considering the treatment I got when I had the flu...really put me in a 'spot', which I'm not out of yet. I know there are some good schools out there, but I've had a run of bad hogwans for aout 2 years now...each one jilts me, leaving me in a position where I'm economically unable to be selective about the next setup. Kind of like a rack of bad dominoes with an inertia I'm unable to stop unless I fluke out and get a moral director. I'm tired,exhausted, and yet notin the position to finance a flight back to Canada...life is the spiritual pickle that is preserving my body from decay at this point...to quote Ambrose Bierce...I'm still an hopeful inspite of it all. Can't say I have warm fuzzies for koreans after all this ( to say the very least ).

[ajgeddes]

Paragraphs please

[SHANE02]

[air76]

Pretty much all apartments here have a maintenance fee that the teacher must pay....that being said it sounds like your apartment was unreasonably bad.

[captain kirk]

Best read on Dave's for awhile. Screw the lack of paragraphs, etc. Visceral, gut wrenching, stomach turning with a rat-faced director attempting to command police. A story roaches run away from. And he survived!

[esetters21]

[Zaria32]

I've worked at two hogwons...both great experiences