Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Plume D'ella Plumeria]

I'm a big fan of diplomacy and will choose it over confrontation everytime, if there is a way. I will also admit that there are times when nothing short of confrontation will do - but that's a drastic measure, best saved for drastic times.

I hated the last (ever!) hakwon I worked in and hated the hypocritical spotty-faced directress even more. I hated the curriculum, the inflexibility of the teaching style demanded and about a thousand other things. When I left after two and a half miserable months, I wrote the most pleasant and polite letter of resignation that I could muster up. I gave the proper notice, expressed regrets that things didn't seem to be working out, made vague noises about how my teaching style didn't seem to meld with what they were looking for and how as a non-Christian working in a "Christian" hakwon (unbeknownst to me when I was hired), I was just the tiniest bit uncomfortable with the praying and the evangelizing that went on. I got the letter of release, no problem and la directress and I even spent the last thirty days exchanging forced smiles and pretending that we didn't hate each other. I'm sure they were thrilled to have the anit-Christ out of their midst and I was thrilled to be away from the exploitative sweatshop that the "Christians" were running.

Moral of story: lie like a rug, make nice, be a phony little sellout for a month or so. It won't kill you and it may well just net you what you need - the all-powerful letter of release. Which, if I am understanding things correctly, they are NOT legally required to provide no matter how much notice you give them. Most of them WILL provide it if you give the proper notice and try to keep things civil, but if things DO turn nasty, they COULD refuse the letter. If I have this right, that is another reason to keep things civil.

[Squid]

I had two reasons for giving notice my last full-time position:

1. I wanted to spend more time with my family
2. The manager was a complete effing wingnut

No prizes for which I used in the letter of resignation. Fortunately the F2 allows me absence of LOR.

Honesty will get you further.

[Plume D'ella Plumeria]

Well, I don't suppose honesty is going to be too detrimental if you've got the F-2 visa and don't need the LOR. For those unlucky folk with the more modest E-2, who depend upon the LOR in order to move on, blunt honesty in the form of telling your boss he's an effing wingnut could prove a bit problematic in securing the LOR.

[Badmojo]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

My hogwan is doing nothing short of defrauding parents in some cases. There are some classes that are great where I can't find enough ways to reward them - and then there are a few where no one will learn anything until certain disciplinary problems are attended to. I have one with two 15-year-olds who have been coming since Kindergarten and still can't put a sentence together.

Put it this way, if you were a mechanic would you work for a shop that fixed cars with duct tape and then charged customers a premium? Would you work as a banker for a company that was defrauding investors? Then why, if you have any self-respect or take any pride in your work would you work for a hogwan that tells every parent everything is excellent all the time when their kids aren't learning anything but that they can get away with being insolent and rude? I work for a cheater and a liar, and as far as I'm concerned I've been more than polite enough, and you would not believe some of the shit I've put up with in the classroom without losing my temper. My boss has said he'll give me a release letter and if he doesn't there will be some very perplexed parents after I phone them with a bilingual Korean friend.

[crazykiwi]

[FUBAR]

[guangho]

I would write 2 letters. The one you would like to send and the one you will send. Notice the subtle differences.


Letter #1

Dear Dr. Goose*beep*er:

I am hereby resigning my position as the white monkey in chief of ADD Konglish Academy. There are numerous reasons for this, including your craptastic textbooks, morally degenerate management and the utterly loathsome offspring who befoul the corridors of this wretched hole.
Mere words cannot express the extent of my disdain for you. I can only hope that someday when your physical invalidity matches your present state of mental and moral regression, the greedy unholy fucks you have spawned will put you in a Japanese nursing home off the coast of Takeshima where you will be gang-raped on an hourly basis by orderlies in Godzilla masks while being forced to watch Barney the purple dinosaur on the tube.
Oh Dear Sweet Lord how I despise you.
If the Letter of Release is not forthcoming within 30 days I will spoonfeed you a gallon of lye while you are tied to your chair. Let me repeat: I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, Sweet Lord Almighty how I hate you.


Letter #2

Dear Dr. Kim:

It has been an honor to be employed by you at this fine Institute but I must ask that you grant me a letter of release at your earliest convenience. I think we both know that the children of the Institute deserve a more experienced instructor than myself. I have learned a great deal about myself and about teaching during these last few months and I am thankful and honored that you have granted me the privilige of working at Ding Dang Dong Institute.

I have attached, for your convenience, a sample letter of release which is written in Korean and English. Please sign and stamp with your dojang at the earliest possible time. Again, I want to express my appreciation for the opportunity you have given me and I sincerely hope that you will find an instructor worthy of the stature of this Institute.

Sincerely yours,
Yu Bum Suk

[buymybook]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Grotto]

FUBAR wrote

[jajdude]

I would avoid being confrontational. Being nice works better usually. Unless the boss merits mention of potential "legal action"

[Hwajangsil Ajumma]