Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gord]

[VanIslander]

Thanks for the defense Gord, I'm by no means being a troll by expressing my different position on the matter, a position consistent with my other beliefs. I admit that I too sometimes can't believe the other side is being serious: Complaining about following the letter of the contract, about this "should" be done and that "shouldn't" be done, just breeds indignancy and militancy.

I recommend one doesn't get all high on their morals about the letter of a contract. Examine your needs and wants to determine what you really want, and what you can live without. (Gord, I'm not saying anyone lied or that there's an objective determination of "basic needs") If you deem it important enough, then it's your own assessment of what your basic needs are. Express your concern over the contract change in terms of what you feel you need: "I need to get paid for overtime. I work hard and I like my job but I can't do more hours without more pay. I need my rest and I need money. How can we resolve this?" If one says something like that, one is coming from a position of self-interest, and with a problem-solving, positive attitude.

One doesn't have to get angry or combative or otherwise challenging. It's possible for everyone to save face. One can calmly and clearly communicate by one's patience and consistent resolve, always with a smile and a desire to preserve the relationship. Be firm but soft, an approach hard to take if one keeps thinking about what they "should" or "shouldn't" have done and what you have a right to get by law.

That's my advice from my perspective.

And, BTW, Gwangjuboy, no thanks for the ad hominem attack against the man instead of the argument, and for the strawman instead of accurate reflection of my position. Are you often so dismissive?

My assertion about payday was not about Koreans getting paid late but about how many foreigners are paid late, and how this common practice doesn't have the same stigma as it does in, say America and Canada, where paying your employees two days late is a sign of insolvency or incompetency rather than convenience and importance. Foreigners here are often paid late, even by otherwise good managers who go out of their way in every other regard to make the foreign teachers life comfortable and satisfying. I was speaking from my experience, those of a couple of others I know, and, less so, of comments by past teachers. My advice was to be patient and tolerant as long as the pay was only a couple of days late, to ask for part of the pay at least if you need it earlier, and express your need to get all of it earlier, if you really need it, but if you can afford to wait two or three days then why not do so? Be accommodating where you can, expressive about your needs where you feel you must. I have often been paid two or three days late, and only once early. I just don't have the exact same expectations to be paid on a "payday" as I did back home, which is good because. like it or not, pay practices are different here than back home for many of us, and approaching it as a practical problem (where and when it is one) rather than as a moral issue is helpful.

If you want, you can keep criticizing Korean managers for their lack of planning, inconsiderateness or other "faults". The confrontational approach of asserting your legal rights and demanding every contract term be followed to the letter (even the admittedly minor terms) can work for you, and there is a time and a place for it.

Yet there is another way.

G'day.

[Gwangjuboy]

[Gwangjuboy]