Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Circus Monkey]

Capain Ob,

Perhaps Derrek is trying to put it behind him, but since the person who dumped him just happens to work at the same place it's probably harder. We also don't know what exactly transpired between the two parties. Sure, maybe Derrek is whining here but maybe his ex did use him. Either way, a hard lesson learned: don't date your co-workers.

CM

[batman]

When I was working at KC hell, the Korean co-workers were a miserable bunch.
Although I made several attempts at building relationships, none of my offers was accepted.
My so-called co-teachers refused all attempts at communication.
They would not even enlighten me as to what they were 'teaching' the students.
It is true that they do put in longer hours, but I will agree that the leve and qualityl of output was low.
I will never forget the one time my 'co-teacher' spent a couple of hours at the photocopier.
During that time she copied the entire set of teacher's manuals.
She then used this as an example of how hard she would work.
The fact that I would take the teacher's manual off the shelf, scan it for the information I wanted, and put it back on the shelf was taken as an example of my laziness.
As for the fact that the Korean teachers work longer hours and get paid a fraction of their foreign counterparts has nothing to do with us.
Considering the cost of living in this country would anyone seriously respond to an ad that invited them to:
" Come to Korea, work long hours for little pay. Airfare and accomodations not included"?
I seriously doubt it.
Besides, many parents and adult students choose a school based on the number of its foreign teachers.
We are the marketable product and not the Korean teachers.
My previous school had an English fair last fall.
I was unable to attend because of the fact that I had thrown my back out in class.
The day of the fair I was sprawled on the floor of my unheated 2 pyong apartment unable to move.
The following week I was subjected to an hour long meeting where my job 'security' was continually threatened.
The fiendish owners of the school felt that my absence had reflected negatively upon the school.
Because I had not attended the Fair, the parents had commented on the low number of foreign teachers employed by the school.
For that I was threatened with dismissal.
Hmm, for this and other reasons it is no wonder that I reported them to immigration.

[Ignatious Loyola]

William Beckerson, you have a good point.
Of course, some people work hard and some don't. Some people are bitchy and the rest aren't. With introspection, one can usually distinguish between a cultural trait and a human fallacy. The former should be tolerated, if not appreciated, the latter must never be accepted, whatever consequences one may fear. Rise above it and live by example.

[dogbert]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

At least he has the proverbial "spheres" to display for all the world to see....

[VanIslander]

I too have wondered about Korean women as co-workers, specifically in my hogwan. And I too share the original poster's concern that they can "fail to communicate, often want absolute control, gossip, and are real *beep* sometimes." Of course, there's nothing specifically female-oriented about that in this country.

I think I have great co-workers, kind and considerate, yet... there's a cultural wall between them and I, one that allows them to talk about me in Korean in front of me, and not even tell me what they are talking about; to prod me into changing textbooks without asking or discussing the topic; to inform me of class changes that all the Korean teachers knew about for days.

I have to keep telling myself that regardless of how normal everything seems after a while here, that, I'm still a stranger in a strange land.