Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gideon]

Hello everyone. I am new to the scene here at daves cafe. This is my story in short. I signed a contract with a school before leaving my home town in Canada. They pre-paid for my return flight before leaving my country. When I arrived at the school it all seemed ok to me. The school is not scheduled to open until March first. I arrived on Feb 11/04. Up until friday just past the school was having open classes (their promotion period). Anyhow it wasn't to long until I realized I was babysitting kindergarten kids. Not that there is anything wrong with kindergarten, but they told me I would be teaching elementary. Also they had me doing vacuming and mopping the floor. Yes thats right, they had me doing those things during "down-time". In addition I come to find out that they did not preferr me to leave the school during lunch hour as they would pre pay my meals. But I insisted that I would rather like to leave the school during lunch hour so that I could take a breather for awhile. Well apparently that was fround upon by the manager. In addition I was expected to be at work from the hours 9 am to 6pm. I thought it was a bit too much for me not to leave the school during lunch hour, which only amounted to 45 minutes. I just felt that I was more or less an order taker during my short stay.

Well last friday I decided it was time to leave the school. Now here are a few things to point out. They did not process my E2 visa because they wanted me to arrive at the school asap. From the time of contact to signing and then to arrival it was about 1 week. This school sounded to me according to my recruiter as a "great school". I did as much research on the school as I could. Although I didn't find anything about the school because they have only been open for 1 year and have managed to open 4 schools within that time. So anyway they don't have my passport so i am here on a tourist visa. My question is, can they do anything to me? Am I free to find another job. I ended on good terms with the manager. I told her I would be unhappy at the school and that I was mislead by my recruiter about the teaching ages. Hell they even had toddlers as young as 18 months (in diapers) they were signing up. They really didn't say a whole lot other than, "well you did sign a contact". I mean they did not process my visa and I havn't gone to Japan yet. The school name is Banana Island in Sanggye (almost at the end of line 4). At the end of the day I was given back my passport, actually they tried to hold it back from me last friday. But I told them that it was against the law to do so and that if need be I would contact the Canadian Embassy. I also told her that if there were some kind of accident or emergency back home that I had to leave ASAP that she could be in a lot of trouble by withholding my passport whereby not allowing me to leave the country. In addition to my passport I also got back my orginal university degree, transcipts and my return flight ticket (note: i paid them back the cost of the flight ticket before leaving).

Overall the school seems to be good in terms of the korean teachers, and the pricipal was polite, although she didn't speak much english.

So here I am today. I just left my apartment and am currently staying in a Yeogwon. Today while I was moving out of my place she told me that if I were to find employment at another school that they would be contacting her. How would she know that the school I am applying to is going to call her. I mean all I am going to say while I am here is that I just arrived on a tourist visa and thought it would be best for me to fly down and check out the schools before signing a contract. I hope you all can follow me here. Please all comments would be muchly appreciated.

[just because]

[rapier]

[ulsanchris]

message deleted

[shawner88]

Hold the phone. You may actually have a problem if they started the visa process, which I'm not sure if they did. If you have a letter of issuance for an E-2 in the system, you may need a cancellation (a kind of release letter) from your boss.

[Gideon]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. Muchly appreciated.

As for pampered brat?? hmm. I have a 7 year old son of my own. I know what its like to pick up, clean up, and all the other things associated with children.. but thanks for your post. I do love contructive criticism. Positive or negative

[Juggertha]

Soundsl ike your in the clear. IF they have not started the process your laughing. You seem to have your s**t together, either that of just got lucky. All that you've done seems to have worked out in your favor.

advice:
Get ta posting on here for jobs. Get some personal inteviews and get as much info of the school as possible (including foreign teachers e-mails and numbers).

Drop the expectations just a tad. If its a new school you might be expected to help out a little. I'm not saying agree with slavery but help where you can.

Its been mentioned that lot of hogwons expect you to stay during working hours... this happens. Pack a lunch. sit there. Smile pretty for some new kids.



good luck man... sounds like you've got some of it already.

[just because]

[Shadow]

If they started the immigration process then you may need a letter of release. If you do need a letter of release make sure it is in both Korean and English. It kind of sounds like these people didn't know what they were doing so I think your chances are good in finding gainful employment and you may not need the release letter after all. Just disregard that crack about mopping floors! You were hired as a teacher not Mr. Clean or Janitor in a Kimchi drum!

[dominic]

dont listen to chris he's obviously drunk at work. i had a job here 2 years ago that i didnt last long in. it was a new school and they expected us to wash the walls everyday since the walls still had paint dust on it, and wanted us to give up saturdays to hand out flyers at public schools to getmore kids, without pay id like to add. Mopping and 18 month old students? i would have left faster than you did. Shawn is right though, u need to check and see if the visa was started, if it was, u need to stop it. Shouldnt be hard because they cant do anything to u if u get another job since u dont have a visa. they are actually in shit because u were working without a visa. if they tell u that u need a release letter from them to get another job they are lying. im not surprised that ur recruiter lied to u, u should post his or name, my recruiter did that to me too, and when i called her to yell at her for lying to me, she denied it, what a shock, then i yelled at her some more, it was fun.

[dominic]

shadow...if he doesnt have a stamp in his passport with address and name of the school in the system, he doesnt need a letter

[dominic]

where in canada are u from man? im from canada too

[captain kirk]

He was told it was elementary and it wasn't. He cleaned floors and walls just to be busy. And couldn't leave during lunchbreak. And through it all has been patient and reasonable. Sometimes what Koreans like and don't like has to be ignored, especially if it's the whimsy of the boss. Going with the flow is great, but you're not Korean and aren't a Korean teacher. So what's with doing everything that they do, or are expected to do? If they seem to disapprove of you leaving the school during the 9 to 6 shift on the 45 minute lunch break I'd say THAT'S TOTALLY INSANE, so who cares. Go out the door and get a breath of fresh air and off your knees from scrubbing, haha.

[Gideon]

I forgot one other thing too. They also asked me to CLEAN the toys after the kids were playing with them. Oh yes, actually take a wet cloth and wipe down the toys. I know its a new school and new toys ect.. But hey your right um not Mr. Clean. If i wanted a janitorial job i would have taken one up at my old high school.. heheh.. Seriously tho, they also wanted me to SORT... yes thats right sort the toys out at the end of the day. One of the korean teachers asked me to do this. Need i say my response was "uhhh no". But being polite I made another suggestion. "Since your not so busy perhaps you could do it". I find Korean women very subservant. Its like they are little order takers. Sorry I don't mean to sound disrespectful, its just something i've observed since my arrival. Also it just me or does it take 10 koreans to do a job 1 person could handle. This is what i don't get about korean workplaces. I've been to numerous malls including Coex and others alike. I noticed in one paticular mall i was in, while I was handing out flyers for the school, that there were about 10-12 employees standing in the appliances dept doing none other than stand there and look pretty. Yes I know that there are thousands of people in the mall shopping, but hey it didnt seem that busy to have that many people stand around.

I know Korean society is very different from western society (carefully wording this not to offend anyone) so I don't mean to sound ignorant when it comes to social norms in this country. Hope i am making sense here. I've got a lot to learn about this country whereas I just arrive. Funny thing is, i might end up eating my words in months to come.. hehe

[Gideon]

Um from Canada EH!!! Halifax, Nova Scotia. And proud of it. You don't realize how good you have it once you come to a foreign country. It makes me appreciate where i'm from.