Korean Job Discussion Forums

[joonhashin]

The ex-boss came to (technically her's) my officetel just now to pick up something of her's that she needed right away. She called me a few times before but I knew better not to pick up the phone.

When she came in, the first thing she tried to do was convince me to work for the the rest of this week. She said "Wouldn't that be better for your conscience as well? It would be much cleaner ending than this." I ignored her extremely tempting offer and told her that I've already made my decision and I'm not going back on it. I must have sounded quite firm, because she didn't ask me again.

Right before she left, she got all mellow and apologetic again, telling me that she's sorry that she couldn't pay me and that because of her, my first experience working in Korea has been tarnished. Not sure if she said that because she truly meant it or if she simply wanted me to drop my guard. I don't care. Either way, I ignored it and told her goodbye as she was leaving.

I haven't eaten anything since I've got up and I've only had about 4 hours of sleep since last night. But I feel so good. I feel so free. This is the best I've felt about myself since I got here.

This one's a bonus; here's the letter that I wrote, and hand delivered to her. Names have been sanitized for obvious reasons.

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To Director X,

Last night, I had thought long and hard about whether or not I had made the right decision by saying that I will work for you until the end of this month. I had even contemplated on working for you until my replacement arrive. Now I have realized that would be wrong for me to do.

As of now, you have already made a grave mistake as a Director. Not only me, but you have failed to pay all of your employees on time, even the ones that are no longer working for you. You've told me already that John hasn't been paid in full this month. To make things worse, I heard from John that this wasn't the first time that this has happened. You've told me that you still haven't paid Jason, Bob and Riley their final paycheck. Not only did you not pay me on time, you have yet to reimburse my airfare, which was supposed to be provided in my first paycheck, as written in the contract.

The worst part is that you haven't paid Jackie in two months.

Two months! That is ridiculous. I was really surprised when I first heard that. On the surface, Jackie tries to appear tough and mean (mostly to students), but I know by now that she is one of the nicest person I've ever met. You may or may not know that you are taking a huge advantage of her kindness. I don't think you realize just how badly you've treated her so far.

You are failing to realize that because of your ambitions to make your business successful, you are hurting everyone else around you. How far are you willing to go? You've already done a lot of damage to the people that put their trust in you in order to make a living. It's incredibly irresponsible of you to think that it's okay for your employees to go days, weeks, or even months without being paid while you are trying to save what's left of your business. The right thing to do would have been to close down this business months ago and making sure that everyone gets their last paycheck before they leave your business. Not giving up while things are tough is an admirable act, but I believe knowing when to give up is also an important skill.

It's not too late for you to realize your mistakes and do the right thing. Close down this school immediately and focus on how you will pay back money to the people you owe, including Jackie, Jason, Bob, Riley and myself. Be honest, at this rate, can you pay Edward and Fiona in full, and on time? Based on what you�ve told me so far, I don�t think you can.

Once you've paid back all your debts, you can start over again. You said that you started this business with absolutely nothing right? Do it again, but not until you've paid back everyone that you owe money to.

As for me, I am quitting as of today and will empty out your officetel by tomorrow. You�ve broken two clauses in our contract, which means that our contract has been terminated:

Compensation:
A) Payment will be made once a month. The 20th working day of every month will be payday.
C) The cost of a one-way air ticket from the employee�s country will be reimbursed by HAGWON_X in their first pay.

Even if you decide not to take my advice and continue this business, do not bother hiring my replacement; it's obvious what is going to happen to him. He will go through the same thing that I've been through and will become very disappointed. You'll eventually see that at this stage, no matter who you hire, they will not stay for long and leave after a few weeks. You can't afford to hire my replacement, you couldn't even afford me.

Please, I'm begging you to do the right thing. I believe you are a good person that is trying to do the right thing, you were merely mistaken. I hope that you'll open your eyes and see that for the past four months, you've been dragging everyone down along with you.

Sincerely,

joonhashin


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Note: Everyone except "John" is a Korean teacher. "Edward" and "Fiona" are new Korean teachers that started work about a week or two after I did. Their first payday is coming up soon...

[YTMND]

You might want to remove specific names.

[Son Deureo!]

Well done, you made the right call here. I hope you've contacted the Labor Board for their advice on how to proceed in collecting what you're owed. It's the only way you'll get anything from her now.

[CentralCali]

She stated that she changed the names. What I'm concerned about, though, is that the boss didn't give any written agreement about the OP working another week, but this letter states that such an agreement was made and the OP is reneging on that agreement. I wouldn't put it past the boss to claim that the OP's letter is libelous/slanderous and the OP's actions are an impediment to the business.

Yet another reason why I'm against giving written notice to bad bosses, especially detailed explanatory written notice. In this case, a simple "Buh Bye" would've been sufficient, in my opinion. Or simply leave without telling the bad boss.

[radcon]

Moral of the story: if you decide to quit your job for whatever reason, get your money then just disappear. If you give notice you just increase your chances of getting screwed.

[PatrickGHBusan]

[radcon]

[PatrickGHBusan]

Then again I quit from 2 jobs and got all that was owed to me. I also know several teachers who resigned and got all they were owed and lots more who contacted the LB and got their money. There also some teachers who did get cheated.

All this is so context-specific and highly depends on what the teacher did to protect him or herself.

[CentralCali]

[EZE]

Was this a Wonderland branch?

[PatrickGHBusan]

[radcon]

[PatrickGHBusan]

Odd for how the employer negociated with the OP, what the employer said, the tactics employed.

Bad because clearly this is a situation where the OP got deceived (for whatever reason) and that can in no way be a good relationship with your boss.

All clear now?

[oppa637]

I think its great that you left.

I do think your letter is in poor taste and could come back to bite you. Anytime a resignation letter is written, it shouldn't be with emotion (well , that's my opinion)

Hope you find another place that's better.

[CentralCali]

I would define the OP's relationship with that boss as victim. The OP was a victim. Sadly, I can't really say that's odd because, as evidenced by a number of threads on this site, there are more than a few people who are victimized by hagweon bosses who don't pay some or, in this case, all of what's owed.

That letter will come back to haunt the OP in the event that the OP takes legal action. The boss will use that letter to sow the OP reneged on an agreement and thus it's all the OP's fault that the boss doesn't have the money, even though it's just a week. Lesson learned here is: don't put anything in writing for a bad boss. Make them work hard to get away with cheating you.