Korean Job Discussion Forums

[calendar]

Here you all go demanding 'rights' when you know the culture dictates you are to come in when sick. To you it doesn't make sense but to the Koreans it does and since everyone is in Korea, which way do you think They will apply?

Sure it is an inconvenience to you but then your not showing is an inconvenience to them and the students. They are the bosses. Think about it. These issues can always be worked out but you have to earn their trust, their respect and their confidence to get such benefits.

There is a process but most people like to skip it and get to the good stuff. Just like those newbies who complained to the POEs when they weren't getting the great summer/winter vacation benefits the old timers were getting. They didn't want to earn them.

Yes sick days are in the contract but sometimes rights take a back seat until suspicions are cleared.You all are so narrowly focused and you really need to see the bigger picture.

One question. Why are so many of you fighting for sick day 'rights' when so many in the west are signing their rights away for supposedly better security? Sick days are not that high on the priority list but you all write like not getting them is the end of the world.

[calendar]

[cj1976]

People shouldn't abuse sick days. I know guys here who go out drinking during the week, then call in sick the next day. That is taking the mickey a little bit. Sick days cost the UK economy billions of pounds every year, so I think it's good that Koreans aren't such slackers. But Korean people take it to the other extreme by coming in sick when they really shouldn't.
If I am sick, I will not go to work. I missed 4 days of winter camp last year because I had a stomach bug. There weren't any repercussions at all for me. My school trust me enough to know that I wouldn't lie about it.

[cj1976]

Calendar, you clearly do love this country and the people so why can't you see that the practice of violating legal agreements is bad for Korea? you stress the importance of foreigners complying to unwritten codes of conduct, yet dismiss the notion that Koreans should adhere to the stipulations in officially documented legal agreements. That makes no sense whatsoever.

[lichtarbeiter]

[calendar]

You people are all the same and it is not worth continuing to talk with you. You will not see reason and think some slighthas been made to you by your Korean employers when it is not. They are asking you to do the same thing they ask of their Korean employees.

If they didn't you would charge them with hypocrisy or some other accusation because you will never be happy here and yo need something to exert your 'independence'. If you want to run the show, feel free to start your own school and do things the way you want them done. The Koreans own these ones and have the same right.

In the other thread you said you had a stake in someone elses's problem because you taught here and you said I was part of the problem for certain actions taking place, well you are part of the problem because you are now causing problems for everyone else because you demand your sick days regardless of the culture.

Kind of like calling the kettle black, don't you think? You all who make a big argument over this issue are causing problems as many problems for other FTs and those who may follow you.

Oh and the culture doesn't change, it remains the same whether it is a hagwon or a public school.

[cj1976]

Calendar, when you say "you people", you are talking about foreigners and I happen to know you are one too. Do you include yourself when you criticize foreigners or do you see yourself as an honorary Korean now?
Your arguments are so flawed that it is laughable. You talk about Korean culture being set in stone and something that we must all follow without question. Is the contract we sign somehow exempt from being part of Korean culture? The contracts are written here in Korea, by Korean officials and are relevant to a working relationship here in Korea. By following the guidelines in that contract, we are respecting an aspect of Korean culture. When Korean employers choose to ignore the terms of the contract they agreed to, aren't they breaking the rules of conduct you regard as so important?
Really, the more you write the worse you look. Give it up now, son.

[calendar]

[iRock]

[northway]

[radcon]

When would this "permission' to use a sick day be forthcoming?

[northway]

[calendar]

[valhor]

[cj1976]

Since when have we needed permission to use sick days in PS? I thought that it only becomes an issue when a certain number of days are used consecutively. Maybe Calender signed a different contract to everyone else.