Korean Job Discussion Forums

bundangbabo · Joined: 01 Jun 2008

I bet there are some right tight fisted gets on here who refuse to bring in snacks for their Korean colleagues - anyway - come out of hiding and tell us why and if there is any resentment from the rest of the staffroom? Laughing

nomad-ish · Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 10:07 pm Post subject:

last year i brought in stuff, but so far this year, i haven't done anything. there's no resentment from any of the teachers in the staffroom right now, but i'm planning on bringing in rice cakes or donuts soon anyway.

jkelly80 · Joined: 13 Jun 2007 Location: you boys like mexico?

I put in 10k every three weeks or so for food I don't like or eat (떡 and persimmons being the favorites). I'm basically financing everyone else's snack time, so I feel no obligation to do any extra leg work.

Ultimo Hombre · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Location: BEER STORE

The kids mothers bring us snacks all the time. Otherwise I just order food. Why would you feel obligated to bring in snacks for your coworkers?

marlow · Joined: 06 Feb 2005

I don't eat snacks. It makes me fat.

pidgin · Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Location: Seoul

never. but i don't eat them either. no snacking at work for me.

KYC · Joined: 11 May 2006

I have never brought anything in. The teachers that share an office with me even bought a cake on my bday. Am I cheap? No. I just don't want to snack every hour like they do. I'm not even in the office much...maybe 1 hour a day max.

IncognitoHFX · Joined: 06 May 2007 Location: Yeongtong, Suwon

I rarely do. By rarely I mean, I did it once.

I have some apples in the fridge now I might move onto the communal table, but lately I've just been eating the apples myself.

The only reason I don't do it is because of a fear of bad etiquette. I don't know when or what procedure I need to follow in order to pull it off. I'm a procedural kind of guy and I don't like doing stuff without a plan. Which is why you could take one of my classroom lectures--record it, play it over a different classroom lecture and have the dialogue match up almost perfectly, including the jokes (unless they fail).

Plus, I put $10 in the bucket once a month.

The first time I brought in communal snacks was yesterday, actually. Just a big bag of rice cakes. Everyone seemed happy about it.

I've sensed no resentment from not bringing anything into the office in half a year.

bundangbabo · Joined: 01 Jun 2008

Otherside · Joined: 06 Sep 2007

I don't. That's because I spend about 14 minutes in the staffroom each semester. When I'm not teaching, I'm in my office (which I share with my co-teacher).

Ultimo Hombre · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Location: BEER STORE

Horangi Munshin · Joined: 06 Apr 2003 Location: Busan

I used to bring in stuff more regularly when I didn't pay into the snack fund. I do drink a lot of the coffee but they only buy a 200 pack every once in awhile, I don't know where the rest of the money goes...

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

I don't like to eat snacks all the time when I am working. When I worked at a hawgwon back in my early days they provided cup raymen for all the workers, so people just ate that. Parents also brought stuff...mostly we didn't snack.

When I worked at a high school, I had snacks for the kids that I gave out as prizes, but I didn't share with the teachers unless they were hungry and needed a sugar fix. No one brought in snacks.

My last job, some of us teachers shared an office with an office staff. The Korean teachers would bring in snacks and share with the office staff. The parents would bring in snacks and share with the office staff. Why the hell should I buy snacks to share with the office staff? They never brought anything in, and they weren't really associated with our program, they just ran the government building it was in.

The question should be, why the hell do you bring in snacks? I go to work to work, not to snack.

Rusty Shackleford · Joined: 08 May 2008

I bring snacks to the people who hook me up. The parents association lady brought me galbi the other day so I gave her some cadburys my mom sent me.

I don't really know the protocol for bringing for everyone. Maybe I will at the end of my contract so I leave a good impression. It's a good tradition in my opinion though. If that's all it takes to foster goodwill with your co-workers, why not shell out 20 or so wons?

Oreovictim · Joined: 23 Aug 2006

I don't have to. Most of my students have parents who are well-off. There's always gourmet coffee, Krispey Kreme donuts, you name it, we get it. Today each teacher got a box of fancy-shancy chocolate.

My hollier-than-thou coworker likes to preach about how he doesn't eat "junk." (Yet he drinks like a fish.)

Coworker: Those donuts are full of sugar and flour and lard.

Me: I like them, too.