Korean Job Discussion Forums

Vietman · Joined: 25 Sep 2005

Anyone ever experience this? Money coming late, or in pieces, or not at all? Also, they're trying to move me into a small apartment in a dingy part of town. I'm not impressed with this cost-saving manipulation. The place isn't doing well, and is run poorly (even the management staff are often AWOL while the phones are ringing).

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

I have. My first job here. I was forced to move at the end of my first week here. From a two bedroom place to a shoe box.

Is your boss a really skinny guy who blinks and twitches a lot. Goes (went) by the name Lee? Wears his one suit (icky green) every single day? Goes through your mail (if it's delivered to the school)?

I didn't know at the time, but my boss wasn't keeping up on his rent payments. Landlords would wait to be paid till their patience ran out then demand the teacher(s) move. The boss didn't care much, except for the hassle of finding a new place to stash his teachers...ever farther from the school.

He ran a similar scam on the Japanese teachers and the office secretaries. None stayed more than 3 months because they were never paid and by month 3 they saw they never were going to be paid.

Around payday he'd call the bank and see how much each of us had in our accounts. Then he'd 'test' our honesty by asking us. If we admitted to having money, he'd beg off paying till 'next Tuesday'.

A couple of years after I left, he sold the school to one group of investors in the morning and to a second group of investors in the afternoon, then skipped town with all the money.

Your school is sinking. Nothing you can do about it except start looking for a new job in case you show up on Monday to find the doors locked.

Good luck.

jacl · Joined: 31 Oct 2005

My very first hagwon. I worked there less than a month. I found out some things about the owner and these older Koreans were coming in later in the evening shouting, etc. Found out a bunch of teachers weren't paid and the other one was still owed money. Meanwhile I still hadn't been sent to Japan to get my visa. The owner was selling the school. Still owes me about 1.3 million which I will never see. I think there were only about 40 students with 2 foreign teachers. I think the recruiter knew what was going to happen to me. I ended up where I am now and have always been paid on time, etc.

ontheway · Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:03 am Post subject:

How many students does your school have? How many teachers, Korean and Foreign? Is there a hogwan van? Do they have plenty of supplies (markers, chalk, pencils, paper) or never enough? Do they have broken equipment that never gets fixed (copier, computer etc.)? Answers to these questions will help reveal the financial condition of the business.

It sounds like your school may go bankrupt anytime. Sure they might muddle through. Some do. But, you should be prepared.

Be ready to jump ship. Prepare your life raft.

Get all of your documents ready to get a new job quickly. Keep them in a safe and secure location.

Keep up with the jobs available on the net or shop around at other schools in your area or, if you like recruiters, call one and discuss your possible availability.

If you have some friends in the area, try to set up a "safe house", a place you can move to on a moment's notice.

Be mentally ready to move on 20 minutes notice.

red headed stranger · Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Location: Seoul

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

some waygug-in · Joined: 25 Jan 2003

I understand your situation. In all likelyhood, the only financial/business plan that the school has is "let's see how much we can screw the wayguk-in".

If you are being paid....I guess you can stick it out, but when pay starts gettin later and less.........it's time to move on. Don't count on ever getting back pay........it won't happen without some kind of legal challenge or some other kind of blackmail on your part.

Having gone through this all last year, all I can say is walk away. It's not worth all the sleepless nights and frustration that you are likely to be experiencing right now.

Let me add, you will have to figure out if it is worth staying on....as in, how much will it cost you to move on vs how much will it cost you to stay.
If you can afford it you may be best to just cut your losses now, if you can't afford to leave........then I hope you are at least getting some of your money. I don't know where you are, but if you are anywhere in a smaller center, don't expect the labor board to be much help. If you decide to go that route, take a Korean friend whom you can trust. They probably won't speak any English there.

Good luck