Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Grotto]

My apartment uses a boiler(oil) and I have to buy it by the drum. I just bought one last week 170,000 won. Now this drum should last until December or even January. I leave in a month.

I have asked the school to cover the costs of 150,000 which they can pass on to the new teacher. But I will be damned if I am going to leave behind 150$ of my money.

The school is trying to tell me that it is up to me to talk to the new teacher(they have no clue who it will be) and get the money from them.

Add on the gas for cooking(gas and tank deposit), the hookup fees that I paid for telephone, internet and cable.

Basically I figure it runs up to over 200$.

I just dont understand the schools thinking. If I have everything disconnected, they have to go through the hassle of hooking everything back up again. They should have paid for it last year but my coteacher from hell insisted there was no money in the budget. Now my new co-teacher is passing the buck saying it should have been done last year and this year there is no money for it.

Ahhh well rant over. Have to wait to see what happens.

[denverdeath]

Too bad you had to buy another drum before you left. We have to do the same, but we'll be leaving it on empty before we move in a year-and-a-half even if I'm washing me arse in freezing water for a week beforehand. Your story is actually easy to believe and not that hard to understand. Try this one on. In Dae-juhn back in '98, the "housing" people tried to say that the phone bill of a previous tenant (a Japanese teacher) was my and my roommates' responsibility. The bill was over 300,000, mostly in long-distance charges to Japan. The "housing" guy barely believed me when I told him that I hadn't made any calls there. He then instructed me to ask my roommate about it. Of course, my roommate had made no calls there either. After my first year, I was careful with bills and scams and always made photocopies of all bills. They tried to push it off onto the Japanese department who said that they were going to pay for it. A representative from Onsei(008) called us looking for money and hung up quickly when there was no Korean spoken. An "English" representative then called us looking for the money. They then sent a new bill to us and changed the billing dates on the thing. I couldn't believe it! I understand them wanting their money, but come on. I think the problem was finally solved when the cheap English department finally got the money from the cheap Japanese department.

Good luck with trying to get some $ for the expenditure.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

You said you live in a rural area, right? Perhaps take the drum of oil, everything else you paid for and are leaving behind, and have a bonfire?

[denverdeath]

Yeah, not a bad idea. Maybe invite that guy in your other post and some of his b*tches along.

[zappadelta]

Come on Grotto. You are not a newbie. Did you actually expect the school to pay for this?

[Grotto]

What I expect is the school to repay me for the cost of the oil and then get the new teacher to pay for it.

And yes I am stubbornly optimistic about my chances. Of course I could always just not pay my bills for the last two months and that would even out the costs.....but that would be a crappy thing to do.

Will the teacher have to pay for oil? Yes. Should I have to pay for his/her oil? No! does the school want to go through all the trouble of reordering cable, internet, telephone, gas etc? No they dont and they have already said as much.

Their dilemna stems from the fact that it should have been paid last year and they are reluctant to pay for it now as it might look bad on the books.

But yeah Zappa one way or another I will get my cash

[zappadelta]

Good luck with all that buddy.

[joe_doufu]

[Grotto]

Joe when I arrived in Korea I had to shell out over 300,000 won for oil, gas, hookup fees etc. I was pretty PO'd about it at the time because I felt that I shouldnt have to pay for stuff I hadnt even used yet.

Like I said though I will either pay my bills for this month and August if we reach a settlement OR I wont pay my bills and I will leave behind about 200,000 won in bills.

The fact is the school has to take some responsability for the snafu.

[steroidmaximus]

Grotto:

You are Wrong.

Joe Dufu nailed it on the head: it's a question of normal living expenses. Try to get the money from the next teacher, but if I were he I might tell you to take a flying leap off a short pier.

Most contracts in Korea provide the housing, but all bills are paid by the teacher. Why should you be special?

[keninseoul]

and the school should pay you for any detergent, laundry soap, toilet paper, etc you leave behind as well?


also ask the school to reimburse any credit left in your transit-card as well



get real

[fidel]

I wouldn't expect the school to pay you either. Sometimes you have to bear some costs, it happens wherever you live in the world.

[FUBAR]

Grotto: Is this the first drum that you are purchasing this year? If it is, then that means you were using somebody else's drum for free. It's just a cycle that works itself out.

As to the hookup fees. I don't see anyway around getting the stuff done, unless you work out a deal to split the cost with the new teacher. Even then, I doubt you would want your name remaining on the old bills.

I guess, I had it ok at this private school. I got the school administrator to hook everything up in his name and i didn't have to pay hookup charges except for my Sky Life bill. Gonna be selling that dish soon when I move.

[Grotto]

No this is the 5'th drum since I moved in. There was no oil when I moved in, zero zip zilch. If there had been oil in the apartment I would agree with you 100%

Thats another thing, everything is in the schools name...yet I paid for the hookup fees.

The school agrees that they should have paid for the hookup fees its just that they are hesitant to pay with this years money for something they should have paid for last year. Go figure.

[FUBAR]

Leave them with the bills. Tell them that you have no money this year, since you paid last year's bills with this year's money.

You might want to wait until you get your final pay to tell them that though.