Korean Job Discussion Forums

daddy daycare · Joined: 15 Apr 2008

Just interested to know what you recieved from your schools, with regards to furnishings, when you moved into your apartments?

We had an old bed, used blankets and torn pillows, a 15 year old washing machine, dirty pots and pans, etc.....

Another teacher recieved an apartment without a wash basin in the bathroom, broken tiles in the the bathroom, unpainted kitchen, a broken rice cooker and a broken microwave (they now claim it worked and that he broke it).....etc......

Should we moan????

Or should we just lump it and buy new stuff?

Are hagwons obliged to supply it?

How many of you had to buy your own stuff.....??

Just interested ... any opinions would do !!!!

SA gal · Joined: 18 Oct 2008

your contract should state whether the apartment comes with furnishing, well mine did.

daddy daycare · Joined: 15 Apr 2008

it says it comes with furnishings, but now she claims that after 3 months we are liable for everything !!

that is to fix and to replace !

Also just curiois who had to buy their own stuff, and the school did not supply......

WE are currently having a problem getting our washing machine replaced ......

cruisemonkey · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:31 pm Post subject:

sarbonn · Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: Michigan

My apartment has actually been a nice part of the trip here. My boss made sure that I got everything I needed (even sent a flunky with me to Emart to buy everything that was missing or needed, including the first grocery items). So I definitely have no reason to complain when it comes to the housing.

OiGirl · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: Hoke-y-gun

When I worked for a brand-new hogwon, we got all new furnishings. Very, very basic, but new. We even got to take our work desks home when they remodeled the office.

Working for an established hogwon, we had more comprehensive but really crappy old furnishings. Sofas that had been mauled by cats, mattresses slept on by overweight people with hygiene issues, etc. And groceries that had been passed around the missionary and lay expat community for decades. That said, all the appliances worked.

cruisemonkey · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 6:58 pm Post subject: Re: Stingy Boss

saw6436 · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Daejeon, ROK

Wow! Sounds like the OP has a pretty good place. When I first got to the ROK my Hagwon's housing was a place built in 1920. Bathroom was a cobbled on affair. Had to go outside then back in to the house through the cellar to get to the bathroom. Sliding wood and paper doors without locks. Ditto on the windows. We routinely caught rats, snakes and feral cats in the house.

Great location and a stunningly beautiful garden. We were half way up a mountain overlooking downtown Suncheon. Views extended to the ocean. Groovy thing is my place was used by the NORKS as a barracks.

OP, your contract probably specified furnishings but nowhere did it specify the age or condition of the furnishings. Welcome to Sparkling Korea!!

cruisemonkey · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 7:24 pm Post subject:

princess · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: soul of Asia

Well, in Korea, many times, "furnished" means a bed, washing machine, fridge and a TV....and maybe one bowl and one fork and one spoon. If you get aything beyond this, consider yourself lucky. Many times, you will have to go out and buy a crapload of stuff to get yoursefl set-up.

ben-ja-mas · Joined: 20 Jan 2008

I must say then I am blessed. When I got my apt the hagwon director asked me to write a list. Apart from the usual stuff I also asked for a Sofa, TV, DVD, Computer with internet access and OS in English. Got everything brand new.

daddy daycare · Joined: 15 Apr 2008

Ben Ja Mas

No place open at your school???

Join Me · Joined: 14 Jan 2008

Do not pay to have the washing machine fixed or replaced or you are headed down a slippery slope. What happens if you get a leak in the heating system under the floor. Let me tell you. They have to tear up the whole floor to fix it. This happened to me and my landlord and boss fought about which one of them was going to pay for it while I lived without heat or hot water. Once you agree to replace the washer you agree to fix everything else that can go wrong. Do you want to spend your hard earned money to buy a new refrigerator for the next teacher.

Big Mac · Joined: 17 Sep 2005

I've had three jobs in Korea and all three of them had new or close to new furnishings. I never had anything break, but I'm assuming that if I had, then it would have been replaced pretty quickly.

I work for a public school now and they were just moving stuff in when I got here. It appears that they had bought everything in my apartment that day. Throughout the next week or so, they were bringing me things like frying pans, a fan, a vacuum cleaner fresh out of the box. In fact, I had so much cardboard that week from all the new stuff I didn't know what to do with it all.

Every job I've ever had gave me new bedding and new mattresses.

So, it looks to me like you're getting a raw deal. How well did you research this school before you took the job? If the situation with the apartment is like this, I'll bet the situation at work will be pretty similar.

Tobias · Joined: 02 Jun 2008

That does sound raw. I definitely would not be furnishing the place myself. You don't know how long you'll be there. Maybe it'll be a great place to work and you'll stay 5 years. But maybe it'll suck and you won't last five weeks.

NEVER furnish your employer-provided digs.