Korean Job Discussion Forums

crazykiwi · Joined: 07 Jun 2003 Location: new zealand via daejeon

Well it goes like this.

A quick background. My hagwan is one of those run by one of those "public school recruiter hiding behind his hagwan" type deals. Though im sure he is getting a fair bit of money from the two foreign teachers and numerous chinese ones, the hagwan has maybe 18 or so students total.

Anyway, today i found the korean teachers keys placed in my bag. now strange as this was, i though nothing of it. i proceeded to walk into the foyer area, presented the keys to her, to which she freaked.

"how did you get these? why were they in your bag? how....h...h....how???"

now this was definitely not done in an accusatory manner, just shocked. she explained to me these keys were in a zippped pocket inside her handbag, which was zipped, which was in a drawer in her desk. i then checked my bag, as i had a little cash sitting in it. lo and behold, 20 thousand is missing. only one kid is allowed or more accurately just left there for any amount of time. he did it, no doubt about it.

my conundrum is such. if my boss goes to the mother, scrseaming and yelling, she will pull him out. and his sister. and herself, out of the program. she is a doctor, who is a big class of doctors at the hospital tht the other teacxher teaches at. I dont want my boss to lose all this buiseness, nor do i want this little shit to get away with it. ive told my boss that i dont want him to talk with her just yet, wait till ive cooled off and we can talk tomorrow about some appropriate action. problem is, im the only teacher that teachers this kid, one on one also the sister. take them away, you take away most of my classes. what should i do?

and please dont comment on my spelling ort grammar is dont give a toss. thanks for letting me rant.

TheUrbanMyth · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired

jacl · Joined: 31 Oct 2005

Bye, bye 20,000. Bye, bye candy for the kids for the rest of your job.

You can't prove who took it and you shouldn't leave money unattended.

Your story is weird. I can only speculate on why someone else's keys were in your bag. Could have something to do with your hagwon only having 18 students.

At least this thread doesn't give me as much a headache as the one about a 5-year old complaining about a class being boring.

ontheway · Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 6:19 am Post subject:

No, no, no.

Your boss should call the kid's mother and explain that you do not want to make a fuss, but that little johnny is a thief. That she (the mother) should talk to little johnny and explain to him why it is wrong to steal. If johnny has good parents they will administer appropriate punishment at home. Then little johnny should bring the money back to you, alone, and apologize to you. This will be a good life lesson for little johnny and save the family the huge embarrassment of exposing little johnny publicly. Forget the money. This is a really important lesson for johnny and the family should be grateful.

Then, after the apology and return of the money by little johnny, you should all keep this as secret as a priest guards a confession.

We went through almost exactly the same episode. Two siblings, one thief. We did the call, got the apology and the item returned. I still teach both students, 3 years later. A really good lesson for the kid.

princess · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: soul of Asia

Allways keep your bag with you AND your money^^

poet13 · Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 3:25 pm Post subject:

I agree that you cant let it go away. It should be addressed. If the thief thinks he got away with it this time, what about next time? Does the crime escalate? Likely...

TheUrbanMyth · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired

jacl · Joined: 31 Oct 2005

This is where management comes into play. It should be announced to everyone what happened. Like announcements on the intercom at school.

crazykiwi · Joined: 07 Jun 2003 Location: new zealand via daejeon

Thanks for the advice.

To put a few more facts into it here goes. I am 99% sure it was him. He was the only one in the staff room for an hour, doing his homework whilst his sister had a class. If it happened that it wasnt him, he sure as hell knows who did it! As for the keys, well its a WTF moment thats for sure. As i was angry at the time, i told my boss, if he didnt report this to the mother, then i would. the mother is fluent so he knew i could. I was never intending to do so, i just wanted him to know i was pissed off and wanted something done about it. also the boss gave me 20 bucks to be quiet about it so......good on him for that, i guess. we'll see what was done tonight at work. i would like an apology from the kid, and the chance to berrate him about it all, but i guess we'll just have to see. ill give an update tonight if interested.

pegpig · Joined: 10 May 2005

You got the money. Forget about the apology because this will definitely happen:

Hotpants · Joined: 27 Jan 2006

If you are 100% sure that the kid stole the money, you have to report it to the parents. Who cares (imo) how they handle it in regards to their attitude with the school. It's important for them to know if the kid is into stealing - perhaps he has stolen before, perhaps he will steal again. Ask yourself: if you were a parent, would you like to know what your son has done today? Some parents might deny it - I don't think that's purely a Korean phenomenon, but at least they've been warned.

If you are 99% sure that the kid stole the money, I think you should have the manager ask the kid directly, but in a non-confrontational way. If the kid denies it, I think you just have to continue as usual, but keep a close eye on any valuables. It's true that you can't trust anyone with your belongings here. Theft is about as commonplace in Korea as back home.

The fact that you've delayed the option, and now the boss has paid you off, means that you have little option in going to the parents now. Only if it happens again must you insist to the boss to inform the parents.

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

poet13 · Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 7:55 pm Post subject:

uhh, how do someone accidentally drop their keys in someone elses bag, and if so, why not take all of a second to recover them? If that person didnt notice that they dropped them.....how is that possible? uh uh. I dont buy that theory, but without a witness or other evidence hard to say anything.
If it were me, I would set up the same situation, record the numbers of some bills, leave the boy in the classroom, tell him I would be out for 30 minutes or whatever, and when i returned, check for the money. If it's gone, bring the director in, ask the child if he took it. If he denies, ask him to empty his pockets. Be prepared to toss his bag, open his books to all pages, etc... Show the director the recorded numbers, and then call his parents.
We did this to a boy in private school. Caught him red handed. The shame of having 40 of his angry peers crowded around while the numbers were checked was too much. His father picked him up the next day, never to return.

Pyongshin Sangja · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!

Any situation, any country; never leave money around kids.

I should know; I used to be one.

Chalk it up to experience.