Korean Job Discussion Forums

[r122925]

So here's an unusual situation that popped up for me recently. I teach at a public school in Seoul. I've been there for 3 years and it's been relatively problem-free. Once or twice a year all of the teachers and staff go on a one-night/two-day trip to some beach or mountain and get drunk, etc. I've gone on these trips more than once before. I did decline to go once just by simply saying I was "busy". It worked, but afterwards I never heard the end of it. "Why didn't you go?" Why didn't you go?" from every teacher in the school almost every day for a month. So since then I've always gone when invited since it seems to be a big deal to them, and I usually have an OK time, even if I'd rather be doing something else.

They usually schedule these trips for the beginning of vacation, after the semester ends and before camps/extra classes start. So in the past it always worked like this... Semester ends, trip with teachers, camp for a few weeks, and then I take my vacation days or show up to deskwarm as I see fit.

But this time they've scheduled the trip for the final week of vacation, the week just before the fall semester begins. So they'll go on the trip after I finish my vacation camp/classes. I agreed to go on the trip several weeks ago. Last week when working out the paperwork for the vacation days that I am going to take this summer, my coworker and I seemed to be coming up with a different number of days when doing the calculation. As it turned out, she is counting the 2 days that we are going on this trip against my vacation days. This seems ridiculous to me because I have never lost vacation days for going on these trips in the past. I tried to argue with her a bit but she just laughed a bit and said it's "the rule" since it's after my classes are finished and I'm not coming to school.

So it looks like my options are...

1. use the vacation days and go on the trip
2. use the vacation days and not go on the trip (come up with an I'm sick/I'm busy excuse)
3. decline to use the vacation days (I wonder what they would do in this situation. Would they really make me come sit in an empty school while all the other teachers go to the beach? And if they're all there, who would even know that I showed up? Or could they somehow force me to use the vacation days?)

In the grand scheme of things I suppose 2 days really isn't a big deal, but it does bother me a bit to be asked to use vacation days for a school sponsored trip. I also wonder if the Korean teachers are getting the same treatment.

So what do you think? What would you do in this situation?

[Ramen]

do you like mingling and getting drunk with them? if so, go ahead and spend your two days of vacations and go. if not, decline. simple as that.

[jonpurdy]

Tell her she is incorrect. School trips are not vacation, they're MT and don't get counted towards anything. If she needs a specific category tell her to use 출장, which is business trip.

[Ramen]

[oldtrafford]

Ask her if she thinks you're stupid. If their stupid trip is mandatory it's work simple as that, if it's a vacation tell them to do one!! Do these sad gits not spend time with their families?!!!!

[Malislamusrex]

My simple answer would be... sorry I can't make it.

The teachers may make a big deal out of it but the school won't, because that means going through the chief of the admin department and the VP, and the they don't care if the waygook is there.

[jonpurdy]

[Ramen]

[rainism]

if you want to "play the game", then going on such trips makes sense from that standpoint, and only from that standpoint.

but having such trips/days counted against your personal vacation time is 100% unacceptable. Don't bend a fraction of an inch on this! (I absolutely would not). You can be very polite but very firm on your position.

on the other hand, if they want to count the trip as one of your stupid desk warming days, then it's your choice to make

(though personally, I'd understand if you preferred to deskwarm)

at my school they call it "teacher training". Everyone climbs a mountain and gets drunk. I pass.

[rainism]

what is apparently "a rule" is that if you go outside of Korea, often that counts automatically against your vacation days.. no matter whether it's a weekend or a national holiday.

I had a family affair I needed to attend at the beginning of May, and the school was nice enough to give me the time off outside of the regular vacation schedule and it was midterms time, plus several national holidays,. on tops of a school birthday.. so in effect I missed no teaching time.

however.. for a 9 day trip they wanted to charge me 7 vacation days.. despite the fact, that 2 of those days were national holidays, one was a school birthday and another 2 were part of a weekend. Needless to say I was infuriated (and showed it) . I managed to get it knocked down to 5, but they wouldn't budge on any lower.

Since they were cool enough to give me the time off outside of the regular vacation time, I accepted it.. but very begrudgingly.

(but apparently this is a rule for K teachers too)

(which they often secretly break)