Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mika_21]

Someone help me through the madness!
Ok I am the only foreign teacher at my brand new school, which hasn't even opened yet (although I am working there already.)
The Korean teachers, although nice at first, are now getting angry because I:
1. Don't have to stay until the owner leaves,
2. Don't have to do Saturdays unless it's a special circumstance.
3. Am not asked to do the bs work that they do (secretarial, etc.)
The reason I don't have to is because I made these things clear before I signed the contract. I want to avoid the "hogwan nightmare" circumstances that many people experience here.
I feel bad for them that the boss makes them do so much. But should I let that guilt make me cave and do all this extra shit?
Working longer hours is just going to make it worse for the next foreign teachers who come. I don't want to be the foreign teacher that gets blamed for making Saturdays mandatory. But the thing is, I can't change anything for the Korean teachers. I can't make the boss give them better hours. This is part of their culture.
I did feel bad for them until they started (passive-aggressively, of course) attacking me because of my shorter hours.
What can I do? I can either sell out, become a workaholic, and make the director think that Wonderland-type hours are ok. Or I can have the Korean teachers hate me if I stand firm.
What to do?

[William Beckerson]

Stop being so damned insecure and accept that the Koreans will always hate you for having shorter hours, less work, and better pay.

And then start kissing some butts and trying to make nice-nice with your Korean co-workers by doing a few of the following things:

1) Do the occasional overtime. Including Saturdays. This is a new school and it needs all the help it can get.
2) It wont kill you to help them occasionally with the office work.
3) Take them out for a bite to eat.

[Corporal]

Don't worry about it. No matter how much you help out or play nice they are probably always going to resent you anyway. My co-workers were always very subtle about it. Hey, it ain't my fault they have to work on Saturdays and I stipulated that I wasn't going to. You can't really win. If we (the foreigners) felt like they were being left out of things and we invited them to come have a beer on Friday night, we'd hear: "I don't know, I have to get up early tomorrow morning" for like the zillionth time. So I always replied, "Oh, that's right, you guys have to work on Saturdays don't you?"

Probably didn't improve their feelings for me, but who cares.

[mika_21]

Yeah, it seems to be mind games right now...
They really were kind at first, and everything was great. Except for the subtle "do you want to work Saturdays" (in other words, misery loves company.)
I just got off of work right now (Friday night)...I was talking to them and said that I was about to go. And they were like, "so SOON? See you TOMORROW..."
I had already established with my boss that I would not being working tomorrow (Saturday), so I smiled and was like, no I won't be in tomorrow, sorry, see you guys on Monday." Very politely, of course.
Then I hear from one of them about how I don't talk to her enough, "you always make me talk to you", which completely isn't true, and blah blah blah.
Mind games, know what I mean?
If there were other foreign teachers, a line could be drawn. But the other Korean teachers (as so common here) are seeming to think that I should stay until the boss leaves, like they do, etc, etc.
Will I also get in trouble for not waiting until the end of my meals to eat rice (and doing other things differently)? Grrr... I understand their resentment, to a point, but there's nothing I can do to help lower their hours.

[rapier]

Snap. I genuinely feel sorry for the poor teachers, doing endless tests and working 10 hours a day.
Take them out for dinner? a nice suggestion, but I don't enjoy sitting with a group of people I'm barely able to communicate with, for ages. Its traumatic.
Kiss some butt? I guess I should do a bit more of this. But there's very little i can do for them that they can't do a whole lot better by themselves.

That leaves me with favors I could offer them... free English lessons? Sorry, but I'm too worn out, come the weekend, to have to prepare and concentrate all over again. I Value my free time too much.
Its a tough world. But I've a feeling that a lesson in the ring with middle schoolers is probably equal (in stress level) to 3 lessons for them. W'ere teaching people who by and large don't really understand or like us that much, nor want to learn. They're teaching people in their own language.
Maybe they should be pitying us.

[The Lemon]

At the end of the day (literally), this is between you and your boss. Terms of your employment are none of their business. AT ALL. Live up to what you promised to the boss, and see to it he does the same. Be polite to your co-workers, but remember they ARE NOT your boss.

What are they going to do if you refuse to stay as long as them or work Saturdays, take away your birthday?

[hellofaniceguy]

Don't sweet the small stuff; just do your job and let "them" do theirs. That's the problem that the KT's have to deal with and stay out of it. You'll make matters worse. All korean employees bow, kiss a#$, to the owner and then talk bad about them behind their backs. You're a foreigner and will always be. Until koreans start standing up for themselves, they will get walked on. You got the best deal for you and that's all that matters. You can try and make a go at having a cordial work place but expect to get stabbed in the back. Buy pizzas and coke every now and then for everyone. Working saturdays? I would NOT do it; the next teacher will be expected to work also then. Your contract and 99.9% of all other contracts for foreign teachers in korea state "NO saturdays." So why work? Even if you work once in a while just for good PR, you'll still get stabbed in the back by the owner or co-workers. In the long run, it won't matter if you did. You need to sit back for a spell and watch; observe who the better teachers are and who the gossips are. Keep the good ones close and keep the bad ones closer. Try telling the KT's that "hey, I got the best deal for myself as do other foreign teachers in korea. No weekends, no staying til the boss leaves, etc." I tell co-workers very simply, I'm not korean, I don't follow korean style. I follow the world style.

[Derrek]

You're not going to be able to do a thing.

If you work Saturdays, it's not going to help. You'll still make more money than them. Working Saturdays will still seem like an option for you -- the damage has already been done. It's not your fault. You will only lose your freedom and gain only a temporary reprieve from scorn. You will never truly be "korean" to them, or on the same playing field.

Just try to be nice, develop a thick skin, and remember that you are the English speaker. Sure, you were born into that, and probably don't even have a degree to teach it, but you still speak it better than any foreigner there. In Korea, that's a skill, oddly enough. And your pay/hours are proof enough that you are an important commodity.

You also gave up your life overseas to work in Korea, which is difficult in itself. Cut yourself some slack and realize what you had to give up and what challenges you faced to get here. It's not your fault that you make what you make, or work the hours you do. It's the law of supply and demand, and you are the benefactor.

It was the same thing at my school. I made the mistake of answering pay questions for my former girlfriend, who taught at the same school. She work tons harder than me, was there an hour before me, and often left later. She did hours of homework every other night, and had to grade the boss's class papers. She made 1.6. I made 2.2 and had housing paid. She was lucky -- they had a University student there who was doing 3/4 the same as her and making 800,000 a month.

After we broke up, the word spread about foreigner pay, and I know that is why they kept telling the boss to "fire" the foreign teachers whenever they reported a negative comment by a student.

It's human nature to feel the way they do about it.

[EFL Teacher]

Everything that hellofaniceguy, Derrek, and The Lemon said.

[kimcheeking]

[The Lemon]

[Derrek]

I agree with lemon on that. You can't deviate from your contract. Every little bit you give in will become expected later. You will look weak, and they will lose respect rather than think you are a nice person.

[kylehawkins2000]

Yeah, just do what your contract says.....but do it well.

Always be prepared for your classes. Take the time to converse with your co-workers on a professional level. If you share a class with another teacher make sure that you discuss the students development with them on occasion. Work hard but play by your own rules. If you are a good teacher and are dedicated to your students you will gain respect despite all the other k-rap. Give it time.....

[The Lemon]

[harryh]

It's true the Korean teachers stay longer at work. At the school i'm working at, the Korean teachers are there early and leave late (they agreed to that when they were negotiating their contracts).
When I have a lunch break, I leave the building. When the last lesson finishes, I usually leave for home.

I don't think the korean teachers are happy about staying later, but I work 44 sessions a week, the three korean teachers do 23, 24 and 31 sessions a week. They spend a lot of time on the internet, on their phones, doing word searches etc which i don't do.

But, I can only speak about what happens at my school.