Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

Any takers? Here's one from my vault:

There was this older guy who believed in seniority. So, when schedules came out he would interrogate every single co-worker and then pass judgment. A couple of gems:

You're not professional!
Must have been on your knees to get that schedule.

Fortunately, he was fired. Sadly, not until 11 months into my contract.

[Boodleheimer]

my boyfriend was sick one day and the substitute teacher (some woman from the USA) renamed all his students because the names they chose weren't very good. what a b*tch. she also started showing them New Interchange VCDs. what a waste.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I (thankfully) don't have a lot of experience working in Korea with other waygooks, but at the hogwan where I started there were two who would predictably get into a fight if they were both drinking in proximity of each other. Perhaps some people from the Incheon area will remember in 2004 a tall, dark-haired Kiwi named Sammy the drunk / Sammy the piss-head / Sammy the alcoholic? His idea of a good time was to get so drunk a woman could beat him up and then go around the bar randomly hitting on women and insulting guys, his favourite insult being 'hey n1gger!'. After talking him out of several fights I just gave up going out with him and decided that if we were at the Goose at the same time and he did that again he could just get the shit kicked out of him (like had happened many times before). Anyhow, after a rare staff dinner he and the co-worker who couldn't stand him started going at it right in the restaurant, until my other co-worker pulled Sammy the drunk off in one direction and I heaved-hoed the other guy (140lbs but very strong for his size) off in the other. I can't imagine what things would be like if the whole quartet of us were working at my public school, but I'm sure there would be a lot of meetings with us and the VP, who wouldn't see the idea of FTs quite as positively as he does now.

[alabamaman]

My counterpart didn't vacuum the floor in one of the rooms the other day

[captain kirk]

Man, I've met some doosies. And the funny thing was they thought I was a freak. Which is absolutely not true I swear.

The absolute worst was a Newfie, mid-forties, who annouced that she 'hates men'. She was head on confrontational about everything. It was her first time in Korea and she wrecked total mayhem. I can't think of a single aspect of her personality that wasn't spiked. Working with her was like the movie Rollerball. In hindsight I wish it were Aztec Mexico and she could have her heart rent from her body with an obsidian knife and be cast into a cenote as a sacrifice. But she'd probably smile, ascending on her broomstick from her well and cackle, 'catch you next lifetime, co-worker'. She was just too harsh for counselling. She'd tell her therapist to 'get a life and stop living vicariously in the minds of others'.

She's probably swinging from the mast of a pirate ship somewhere now. Or shrinking men's heads deep in the Amazon.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Oh some of the Newfies I've met over here - I could sure believe that. It's funny that all the Irishmen I've met have had hearts of gold, and many are really intelligent people, but an edumacated Newfie in Korea... They especially love it when you ask how hard they had to work to lose their accent.

I'z da by tat teaches da kids....

[happeningthang]

[captain kirk]

This fellow was awesome (but probably would have been a 'worst co-worker'. Anyway, he was a character!). He didn't actually make the cut at this public school two week orientation before the semester started. He partied with the group, though. This was in Taiwan and he was an 'old surfer'.

Not really 'old' but close to fifty, I'd say. Taiwan, unlike Korea, has good surfing along the East coast. It was after the day's orientation, at the parties going on in the dorm rooms, that he told surfing stories. He knew the greats, and was from Oz. A really cool guy. But 'freaky' only in that he didn't/couldn't inject his head into the focus necessary to take seriously teaching kids English in elementary school.

He dropped out like this. We were late into the second week of the orientation and doing sudden, small group prep on a few minutes notice of the classroom scenario to improvise for. Just about everyone could take the task seriously. Frantically seriously, most being newbs and plopped a ten hour plane ride cross the Pacific to sink or swim here. There were twenty participants, for effect some of us would pretend to be kids being taught by the teachers.

Well he just froze. Maybe he was too hung over from partying the night before. Maybe it was not being able to take it seriously. But he stood before the mock kids (other teachers) and couldn't speak. He just grinned as if to say, 'hell, I 'aint cut out for this game show jazz'. So he could have been someone's freaky co-worker, just for being all about surfing. Probably out surfing somewhere.....

[Ya-ta Boy]

Check most of the posts on the Freaky Way-Gook thread.

[Kimchieluver]

I had the pleasure of working with an ex-lawyer every so often. He was one of those types that had just given up on society. Instead of becoming a bum in the USA he thought he would try a career in ESL. Well we had to do game activities with middle school kids. He just whipped out a pack of Uno cards everytime and told the kids to play and then would leave the room. He would come back just as the class was about to finish and collect the cards. If any were bent or ripped he would freak out. He would do this everytime 3 times a day for about 25 days a year.

[bellum99]

I once knew an African Canadian woman who was from Quebec and hated anyone from Western Canada. She was hard core about being from Quebec.....tough to talk to someone who takes everything said in a racist "English" way.


Note: She was teaching English in Korea
--- all she needed was to be disabled and she could check every box on the census form.

[Young FRANKenstein]

This is going years back, co-worker (claimed he) was an ex-marine. Definitely ex-military in any case. Every conversation with the guy started out with whatever dumb thing he heard his students say the class previous, leading to how stupid Koreans were, leading to how much he hated Koreans, leading to Korea is a cesspool, (finally) leading to how he'd love to smoke the whole lot of them with his AK47. Many times this was said within hearing of his actual students (high intermediate for the most part, so it's not like they didn't understand what he was saying).

Man, I so couldn't take that 6:30am... I'm not a morning person at the best of times. He was the absolute MOST unpleasant person I've ever met. Took everything Koreans said to him as a personal affront and was constantly dopping gloves.

Karma's a bitch, though... last I heard, his Korean wife divorced him after he developed MS.

[simpleminds]

He hated Koreans and yet married a Korean woman? Crikey. Never will understand some people.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[laogaiguk]