Korean Job Discussion Forums

[IAMAROBOT]

I've been a teacher here for a while and I'm sure like most people here I pay dues monthly into a pool so the teachers can go to dinners, occasional trips, and the odd funeral or wedding that pops up. We pay about 50,000 won a month and I've paid it, begrudgingly, because I don't get any value out of it. It feels more like a shakedown.

The dinners are awkward and the trips are highly unpleasant. I don't enjoy getting drunk with the teachers on the noraebus and trying to avoid passes from the drunk ajosshi teachers. Has anyone gotten out of the teacher friendship club? What'd you say to make it easy? What happened when you did?

[jcan]

50,000?! That's steep.

At my first public school we paid 20,000 won a month for snacks and coffee, neither of which I consumed. I eventually got out of it, with the excuse that I had to send money home for my bills. A bit of an awkward conversation but that's it.

[Rutherford]

50,000 is a lot of money. It's 15,000 at my school.

[Catfisher]

Dude, that's totally way too much. After my first year at a public school and halfway into the second year, I just stopped going and participating. It kind of isolated me from some of the teachers, but who cares? It's not like you have a permanent career at that school.

[Chris.Quigley]

I think it was 20k at my school per semester. 50k per month... Where the hell are they taking you?

[geldedgoat]

My first school had something similar with its birthday fund, and I declined at the first mention of it. Things like that are incredibly distasteful in my mind. If you're friends with someone, you'll be drinking with them and giving real birthday presents anyway. If you're not, you're not likely to enjoy coughing up your money to have these kinds of awkward social encounters.

[jonpurdy]

My school is 30,000 a month but that includes fried chicken four or five times a month after volleyball on Wednesdays, plus occasional trips and such. Just for the post-volleyball chicken alone it's worth it.

[eamo]

I thought heads of departments were given the school credit card when they take the staff out.

I've worked at two high schools and have never been asked for monthly dues.

Maybe your school has a small group of eager-beavers who have organized more than the usual social gatherings for the staff....so the schools staff entertainment budget doesn't cover that stuff.

Or maybe someone is on the take!!

[toniyellow]

That's crazy. For social club at my school I pay 10,000 every two months. We only have one outing every two months, in small groups. All the english teachers go in a group, all the third grade home room teachers in a group etc. There are also big school dinners, but the school pays for that.

The only good excuse I have found for getting out of anything social with teachers is something they approve of. Oh I have Korean class that night. Oh I have to study, I want to take the GRE. Oh I made a plan to call my family that night. Either start taking some kind of sport/language class, or pretend that you have, and its making you too busy to socialise.

[Slowmotion]

I rarely have to pay at 회식s. We only have them a few times a semester. 50,000 a month is a lot!

[tanklor1]

I think I pay 30000 a month. But I drink A LOT of coffee to ensure that I get my money's worth.

[Kaypea]

I don't pay a thing. We bring our own coffee and stuff. When we go out to eat occasionally, the school or a department pays for it.

[Morticae]

I don't pay anything. Snacks are brought in by other teachers on a "do it if you want" basis. Sometimes I bring something in, sometimes not. Coffee is bought by the school. On occasion we have staff dinners, the school pays for it.

[Yaya]

Ask yourself what the ramifications would be if you decided not to pay the fee. If it's gonna make all of the other teachers frown on you, well, you might think about sticking it out.

[SinclairLondon]

Take up Islam, running or martial arts.