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3DR
Joined: 24 May 2009
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 Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 5:01 pm Post subject: Negotiate a better apartment? |
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I just arrived for my second stint and wanted to know what my options were. I know it's basically free (or it's our compensation so please don't start that argument again lol), but I just wanted to take a chance anyways.
It's a very old building. Tile in my bathroom is falling off, bathroom light doesn't work (but was fixed), there appears to be a place where a huge leak occurred from heavy rain, and the noise has woken me every morning and night since I've been here (why must people stomp on the floor constantly? LOL).
Has anyone ever negotiated to be moved right after they arrived? I'll say I could probably deal with it for a whole year (except for maybe the noise), but I figure it couldn't hurt asking. |
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lifeinkorea
Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China
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| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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It depends on when the apartment lease is up. You should have discussed this with them before you returned. They may have paid for another year. This is not a good time for apartments to get new tenants.
You need to talk to the hagwon about it and see if they can negotiate something with the landlord. This might mean waiting until March or April. |
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ReeseDog
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Location: Classified
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| Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 4:40 pm Post subject: |
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Work hard, play hard, sleep hard. You'll not notice the apartment if you're only there to sleep.
If you're thinking about bringing home a bit of fluff, that's another story. |
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RMNC
Joined: 21 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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You only options are to either stay there and take the chance at being miserable or to ask your school to move you and to risk another apartment.
I asked my old employers to move me and they did so happily. They just got the key money from the landlord and moved me to a different building that was the same cost. Good luck with yours, hopefully their first choice doesn't reflect their appreciation of you. |
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3DR
Joined: 24 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 6:30 pm Post subject: |
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Well thanks for the advice. I talked to the director yesterday and it seems he wasn't budging after a 20 minute discussion. Though he did seem to be thinking about. He also said the last teacher before lived there and never said anything (never said anything about the light either)...but I think he has been having foreign teachers in this apartment for a good while, so even if I don't renew, it's time to move on from this one.
So oh well. I like the school so far, seems like I found one of the good hagwons (we'll see in a few months though lol) and the apartment is tolerable. I figure maybe I do a good job and maybe he thinks about it a bit more and I'll get my wish. |
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lifeinkorea
Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China
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| Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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| he wasn't budging after a 20 minute discussion |
Find out the lease arrangements. If he just paid for another year, that will explain his behavior.
If things get nasty, you could pressure him a bit and say, "I would like to rent my own place, so please give me a housing allowance starting next month".
He'll probably rethink this and fix the lights and other stuff.
Koreans don't get subtle hints unless it hits them in their pocket. My first hagwon offered to pay for everything if I stayed in a small house with 2 other Koreans who were construction workers. Well, this was ok, but they left and a family moved in. Due to this awkward arrangement, I asked for an apartment of my own. He didn't want to do this because he would have to sigh a year contract he said. So, then things got worse from there and when I told him I wanted to leave, he asked "Why?"  |
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Troglodyte
Joined: 06 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 1:58 am Post subject: |
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| lifeinkorea wrote: |
| Quote: |
| he wasn't budging after a 20 minute discussion |
Find out the lease arrangements. If he just paid for another year, that will explain his behavior. |
This is the most likely explanation.
| lifeinkorea wrote: |
If things get nasty, you could pressure him a bit and say, "I would like to rent my own place, so please give me a housing allowance starting next month".
He'll probably rethink this and fix the lights and other stuff.
Koreans don't get subtle hints unless it hits them in their pocket. |
I think that they get the subtle hints. They just don't care.
| lifeinkorea wrote: |
| My first hagwon offered to pay for everything if I stayed in a small house with 2 other Koreans who were construction workers. Well, this was ok, but they left and a family moved in. Due to this awkward arrangement, I asked for an apartment of my own. He didn't want to do this because he would have to sigh a year contract he said. So, then things got worse from there and when I told him I wanted to leave, he asked "Why?" |
Are you serious? You agreed to share a place with two other workers? Since most hogwons don't employ constructions workers I assume that these two guys weren't even co-workers. Why on Earth would you even agree to that? After the family moved in, I would have flipped out. How many people where in the family? How many bathrooms did the place have?
I would never have agreed to that situation unless there was some major compensation or benefit being offered in exchange. If I somehow DID end up in that situation and then they moved in a family, I'd make a point of continuing to live there as if I was sharing the place with a couple of bachelors. Come home drunk. Walk around in my boxers. Bring girls home. Use obscene language. Have the occasional party on Saturday night (and of course I'd invite my room mates to join the party - anything less would be rude).
No one taking a job here needs to accept to share accommodation. Not with co-workers, and especially not with strangers. |
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lifeinkorea
Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 4:05 am Post subject: |
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| Why on Earth would you even agree to that? |
I had no money, and this gave me a chance to save up 2 million won for 6 months. Then I moved to Seoul.
I am not going to bore you with the details. Just simply put, it's not 100% as bad as it seems. The workers were only there three nights a week and I just stayed at the school while I saved up money to afford a move to Seoul. The hagwon owner was more of the kind to not spend money, he wasn't like the usual kind that doesn't pay and overworks teachers. This hagwon owner would pay me everything I was entitled to. However, he wouldn't spend on additional stuff. I could relate to his way of thinking and I share the same spending habits.
But yes, I did kind of flip out when I woke up one morning to find the grandfather of the family throwing my stuff out with the stuff the construction workers left behind That was the final straw, and I said either they go or I go. It seemed more fitting for me to leave, considering I was seeing my ex-girlfriend at the time and she lived on the other side of Korea (7 hours by bus), the hagwon owner wanted to teach my classes and save money, and I couldn't stand living in the Andong area. |
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TheresaTheresa
Joined: 24 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 10:15 pm Post subject: |
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| lifeinkorea wrote: |
| Quote: |
| he wasn't budging after a 20 minute discussion |
Find out the lease arrangements. If he just paid for another year, that will explain his behavior.
If things get nasty, you could pressure him a bit and say, "I would like to rent my own place, so please give me a housing allowance starting next month".
He'll probably rethink this and fix the lights and other stuff.
Koreans don't get subtle hints unless it hits them in their pocket. My first hagwon offered to pay for everything if I stayed in a small house with 2 other Koreans who were construction workers. Well, this was ok, but they left and a family moved in. Due to this awkward arrangement, I asked for an apartment of my own. He didn't want to do this because he would have to sigh a year contract he said. So, then things got worse from there and when I told him I wanted to leave, he asked "Why?" |
Ah that phenomenal intelligence of Korean hagwon owners... |
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TheresaTheresa
Joined: 24 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Troglodyte wrote: |
| lifeinkorea wrote: |
| Quote: |
| he wasn't budging after a 20 minute discussion |
Find out the lease arrangements. If he just paid for another year, that will explain his behavior. |
This is the most likely explanation.
| lifeinkorea wrote: |
If things get nasty, you could pressure him a bit and say, "I would like to rent my own place, so please give me a housing allowance starting next month".
He'll probably rethink this and fix the lights and other stuff.
Koreans don't get subtle hints unless it hits them in their pocket. |
I think that they get the subtle hints. They just don't care.
| lifeinkorea wrote: |
| My first hagwon offered to pay for everything if I stayed in a small house with 2 other Koreans who were construction workers. Well, this was ok, but they left and a family moved in. Due to this awkward arrangement, I asked for an apartment of my own. He didn't want to do this because he would have to sigh a year contract he said. So, then things got worse from there and when I told him I wanted to leave, he asked "Why?" |
Are you serious? You agreed to share a place with two other workers? Since most hogwons don't employ constructions workers I assume that these two guys weren't even co-workers. Why on Earth would you even agree to that? After the family moved in, I would have flipped out. How many people where in the family? How many bathrooms did the place have?
I would never have agreed to that situation unless there was some major compensation or benefit being offered in exchange. If I somehow DID end up in that situation and then they moved in a family, I'd make a point of continuing to live there as if I was sharing the place with a couple of bachelors. Come home drunk. Walk around in my boxers. Bring girls home. Use obscene language. Have the occasional party on Saturday night (and of course I'd invite my room mates to join the party - anything less would be rude).
No one taking a job here needs to accept to share accommodation. Not with co-workers, and especially not with strangers. |
to the bold |
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3DR
Joined: 24 May 2009
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 12:47 am Post subject: |
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Found a roach in my suitcase yesterday as I was unpacking the rest of my stuff (left my suitcase open while I was out)
Don't think it's an infestation though. Bought some Raid crap today just in case though. |
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NYC_Gal 2.0
Joined: 10 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 1:24 am Post subject: |
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| 3DR wrote: |
Found a roach in my suitcase yesterday as I was unpacking the rest of my stuff (left my suitcase open while I was out)
Don't think it's an infestation though. Bought some Raid crap today just in case though. |
If there's one, there are many. Spray the entire perimeter of your home, all doorways, etc. Pour bleach down the drains, in the toilet.
Keep your grains in tupperware. |
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lifeinkorea
Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 2:21 am Post subject: |
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| Roaches in winter? That can't be good. Some neighbor has food lying around. |
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eb
Joined: 24 Nov 2010
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 9:24 am Post subject: |
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This sounds like my old boss. I showered in the dark and lived in a flood. I keep hinting that I wanted to move, but he just keep putting it off untill he just kicked me out of the apt complety one day and I had no place to go, so I literaly lived on the street. You can't win for loosing .In the end, you'll just end up resenting your director for reasons that even God himself couldn't name.
Oh and on top on that, it wasn't my personal choice to work there. The recruiter just decided to randomley give my documents and my signed contract over to that hagwon. |
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