Korean Job Discussion Forums

[philipjames]

I like my job, but I share a classroom with two Korean female teachers. They yap to each other non-stop. And if they're not yapping to each other, they're yapping on the friggin phone. Not only do they talk at four times the necessary level, but the tone of their voices is like nails on a chalk board. I put in earplugs but they don't help much, and my co-teachers, being Korean, have a complete inability to pick up on hints (the earplugs) or to imagine that they might be in any way annoying someone (me). Then their ajumma teacher colleagues come in for a coffee and it's five of them now driving me mad at talking levels that defy reason. If I get up and leave the classroom they fail to pick up on that hint too. When I return they're still yapping up a storm.

Does anyone have a similar situation? Also, can someone please tell me where I can find heavy-duty, co-teacher repellant, earplugs?

[mistermasan]

find a different room. always go to the library. don't be there.

[pkang0202]

Ask to move to a different office. If you have an english classroom, then move your desk into that classroom.

[Siesta]

Bose noise cancelling headphones? Pricey here but what's your sanity worth?

[Bingo]

I have a similar problem. But my biggest problem is trying to get my co-teacher to stop slamming the door as she goes in and out. It's driving me mad. She can't take a hint either. I tell my students, in the co-teacher's presence, that when they enter the classroom they should do so quietly. They should not slam the sliding door as they enter or leave. Does my co-teacher pick up on the hint? Of course not. She slams it on the way in and the way out. Doesn't help my efforts at instilling good manners into my students.

When I go in and out I close the door making an absolute minimum amount of noise. I had hoped she would notice and follow suit. Of course not. On several occasions when she has gotten up from her desk, preparing to leave the room for some reason, I have even walked to the door, opened it for her and closed it behind her - without following her out of the room. A normal person would think, 'That was odd. Why would he cross the room and open the door if he didn't intend to leave the room?' The intented hint, of course, does not register.

I have even grimaced or grumbled on occasion when other Korean teachers have entered the room and, of course, slammed the door. My hope was that my co-teacher would notice this 'indirect' hint that I dislike unnecessary noise.

For some reason subtelty is totally wasted on Koreans.

[Dome Vans]

I can only think of four options:

1. Move.
2. Tell them to SU.
3. When they start talking, stand up and start dancing until they stop talking, then sit down, when they start again get up and start dancing, more expressively and more violently the more that they are talking. Hopefully they will notice some kind of pattern. Unless they really like you dancing and start to throw money at you.
4. Buy a gun.

[philipjames]

Ever tried dropping hints to your Korean colleagues that their table manners or horking were grossing you out? Waste of friggin time and energy. There's a couple of teachers at my school who make more noise than ten dogs combined. Occasionally I will lift my eyes at the lunch table and direct an annoyed glance at them, but they don't pick up on the hint at all.

And the thing is, many of our co-teachers have spent a year or two living in North Amerca, the UK, or Australia. Yet they still eat like pigs. Did they not pick up on the looks they received from people at restaurants when they lived overseas? Did not one irritated look from a fellow diner in Melbourne or Vancouver register with them? I just don't get their inability to pick up on hints. Is there a cultural reason that I'm missing here?

[TheChickenLover]

Leave work @ 3pm or earlier if your classes are done. There is no justification to make you sit in a room for hours on end to listen to noise pollution.

I've done this & my school understands, but doesn't necessarily approve. I've asked for a private office but they were unable to do that, so I in turn leave early.

No real problems so far.

Chicken

[Dome Vans]

My co-teacher always tells me that Korean's have no idea about their actions in relation to others. Especially when it comes to noise levels. That's why you get the door slamming, the street arguing, the obvious invasion of personal space when out drinking soju at the school functions. I suppose you've just got to get used to it, and let it go.

From experience when I was younger, my mum and dad would say "close your mouth when chewing" "don't speak with your mouth full" "turn your music down" "be quiet" etc. If you learn from a young age to be aware of your actions and how they affect others then you're probably going to be ok in later life, but if you're not taught them then......

Trying to gesture to them that their behaviour is wrong is futile. If they don't think it's wrong then they won't understand what you're on about.

[PigeonFart]

Well done phillipjames....i like this thread.

Sometimes the annoying little things in Korea cause me more strife than the bigger problems. I know exactly what you're talking about.

[Oreovictim]

I still haven't gotten used to how whiny some Koreans are when they talk. My old coworker said, "If you think that that's bad, wait until you go to Thailand." Actually, I think the Korean whine gets on my nerves more, and it's even more annoying men it's a man doing the whining. But at my last job, I found their table manners just downright crazy. I wasn't even that bad when I was seven years old, jeez.

[ernie]

i suggest drowning their conversations out with some computer speakers (a 10 000 W homeplus model will suffice) and some hardcore punk, metal, or grindcore... blasting dissonant guitars, screaming, and non-standard beats will certainly get their attention...

[Horangi Munshin]

[philipjames]

As someone mentioned above, it's not just the loudness of their talking and the fact that they rarely shut up. It's the dreadful tone of their voices.
My co-workers' voices drive me nuts. It's the same on Korean television. Everyone has conversations (or does narration) in voices that are much too loud and much too unpleasant to listen to. I for one mute the television as I change stations from one English program to another.

[waynehead]

I'm in an office with about 10 koreans who don't speak a lick of english, with the exception of my co-teacher who's seated next to me. I've more or less learned to tune them out, and they must think I'm horribly rude because I try not to acknowledge their presence at all, but, hey, it works.

I agree with what some others have said, tho, when it gets to be too much get out of there. Go for a walk, go to the gym, go take a long lunch...I do these things frequently and it makes the day a lot more pleasant.