Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kimchieluver]

Actually, negotiation can be quite difficult. Especially if you are a woman in Korea. I really don't think CLG really threw a "hissy fit"... she probably had to raise her voice. I've had to raise my voice a few times here.

1. Medical coverage. Everyday for the first two months .."soon soon' "tomorrow" " Friday"

2. Broken boiler. No heat for 2 weeks. 36 hours trying to fix it .. waiting for them to come in on a Monday .. do what I did to get it fixed and have it break down .. ten minutes later. Yup, had to raise my voice on that one too.

3. Paid late 3 times in a row. So late I was receiving half of my last pay with half of my current pay on payday. Everytime "It will get better in a few months" "Next month, everything will be fine"... Negotiated that one to death..still had to raise my voice.

Those are the ones that come to mind. The negotiation thing breaks down when the co-teacher can't argue with the top dog or the top dog thinks he can calmly talk you out of your position with an empty promise.. Like more vacation time or whatever they can think of. Then, when it comes down to the crunch they will just try to play dumb. Circular reasoning....not exactly the best way of thinking for negotiation.

[joe_doufu]

[Kimchieluver]

Actually I am a man, however my politically correct sauve leads many to be confused. ha ha ha...

I did the not show up for work thing once. It was one out of the two days I missed work here. I don't think it helped much and that isn't negotiation. That's what you do when negotiation breaks down. I'm not saying skipping work is a bad thing. If justified, do it. If CLG is going to move on to a uni though I wouldn't rock the boat too much. A good letter of reference from a school goes a long way.

I never fall for empty promises

[Kimchieluver]

well sometimes I do

[joe_doufu]

I've never withheld work because of a dispute but just because, coincidentally, I "got sick" the week my hours were changed with no pay raise. Actually I really was sick. Though normally I would have gone to work anyway, those couple of days I decided to take it easy and stay home.

[crazylemongirl]

I've stated my case, which is basically give me this or I won't re-sign. But remember my boss doesn't speak any english and the Korean teachers are not ones to rock the boat. At the moment my best bet is to just serve out the 3 months I have left and leave with a good recommendation.

I could 'win' my extra few days vacation leave, but in my experience any 'win' is just going to result in more crap later on. Sometimes it best to think about winning wars, not battles. Koreans think very much in the here and now, however once you piss them off, hell hath no fury.

[Kimchieluver]

agreed

[Incognito]

CLG...we need a report!

[crazylemongirl]

Gyeonngi Do people are coming into my school tomorrow. No doubt they'll recommend no vacation time for me this winter, as I've already had two weeks this year. Seems like some beaurcrat in the education office has finally discovered my area and has got his chainsaw out.

I'm not re-siging there and may have a job lined up for next year already. Woohoo!

[Incognito]

Hogwan, Public School, University?