Korean Job Discussion Forums

pest2 · Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Location: Vancouver, Canada

One day, my boss was angry. He called me into a vacant classroom to chastize me about something. He told me the landlord had called him to complain that my girlfriend and I were making too much noise and also that I was a terrible tennant in the apartment he had found me because I had left a dirty towel and a bag of garbage outside the front entrance of my apartment.

I responded by saying that yes, sometimes we stayed up late and I guess its possible we could be loud-- if our normal conversation voices are loud. Also, we have this DVD player and when it is unplugged and then replugged, it automatically starts playing what ever DVD is in it on the highest sound level... that could go on for a few minutes sometimes until one of us finds the remote required to turn it off. (or unplug it)...

The garbage, yeah its there but no one can see it except us and I leave it there because that way I can take 1 trip w/2 garbage bags at the same time instead of making the long walk to the garbage drop of several blocks away each and every time I have a single bag of garbage.

The boss told me that this is all still bad because, AS WE ALL KNOW, the landlord lives below me.....

Now this was news to me. I thought the guy lived in another part of town. No one ever introduced him to me. I never saw him before. He never came to the door to introduce himself. Boss never told me before.

So, I told my boss: How could I know that it was the landlord who lived below me and not just another tennant? Given the way the law works in Korea regarding lease contracts and the lack of rights afforded to renters here, of course I'd have been more careful.

Boss replies: YOU NEVER ASKED ME IF THE LANDLORD LIVES BELOW YOU....

as if this is like some standard question we should all ask?

Any, I actually pretended he was joking and laughed but I think he got even more angry...

Any other quotables out there?

pest1 · Joined: 09 Feb 2006 Location: Korea

Here is one from my boss.

My co-worker received a lot of complaints from my boss saying he is not a good teacher. The fact is that he doesn't always follow the book and likes to do something extra with the kids. She simply thinks he is disorganized and unplanned. So he tried to explain to her that in the states(where he is from) being creative is a good thing. We call that "thinking outside the box". She was puzzled for a while and soon gave up trying to understand the gist of his reasoning. She took a pen box from her desk and said to him: "but things go inside the box!".

Soon things got really bad between them and he got fired. They gave him a really glossy reference letter saying that he is a wonderful teacher yada yada... A week later when he was looking for a new job she refused to act as his referee. She said the school will lose face if they even admitted that he ever worked for them, because the new employer will find out how bad a teacher he is. But you gave me a glossy reference letter my co-worker said. "Well in Korea these letters don't mean anything. If the new school calls us we will just deny we ever wrote the letter", was what she told him.

jacl · Joined: 31 Oct 2005

I'm worried about your health.

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

lets see....the list does go on and on Laughing

Yes!! Taxes are 5% Laughing

You must work Saturdays! Rolling Eyes

I am boss! I say u do! Razz

Students like you...you good teacher...oh parent complain...you bad teacher Confused

THIS KOREA!!! YOU MUST BE MORE KOREAN!!! Razz

NightSky · Joined: 19 Apr 2005

This *might* have been my boss...in a recent interview, I got asked, "Do you like boys or girls?"

Shocked

I like paychecks!

I didn't say that though.

CaptainConjunction · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul

"I'll have you deported from Korea forever and prevent you from getting married if you don't sign this addition to your contract."

"You don't have any contract. I never signed anything" (um, hello.. how did I get this visa processed)

And then the next day...

"I love you"

"I never made any threats against you"

"I want to offer you a raise"

At a teacher's meeting..

"From now on, teachers must not sit on the desks while teaching"

"Students are not allowed to speak any Korean at all in class.. even the lowest level classes"

After paying late again:

"Sorry, I forgot my wallet"

"I promise I'll pay you on time next month"

To other director friend on the phone:

"How's your d*ck after last night?"

The list is too long.. I could write all night.. Crying or Very sad

lawyertood · Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 7:43 am Post subject:

At a university interview

"I don't like people who argue logically."

At a hagwon job that lasted less than two months

"You don't belong in Korea, you think too much."
"I'm never going to hire another lawyer, you are always thinking about the law, you are a bad teacher."

Canadian Head Teacher at the same job

"It's my fault because I neglected to tell you that, but it's not my fault."

Korean-American manager to all teachers at a teachers meeting

"You have to make sure the students don't stop not coming."

Edited to correct my memory of what was said--was 8 years ago..... Embarassed

Moldy Rutabaga · Joined: 01 Jul 2003 Location: Ansan, Korea

[....]

tomato · Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:17 am Post subject:

Pest1, could your boss be the same one I worked for?
According to my boss, all the students just loved her classes and just hated my classes.
They hated sign language, they hated Braille, they hated music activities, and they hated educational games.
They all wanted to go by the textbook the whole hour, like they did in her class.
I was such a poor teacher that all the students were going to quit and she would have to close the school down.
She specifically said that parents in the 3:30 class were calling and complaining about Braille and sign language activities, and that happened to be the only class in which I had NOT used Braille and sign language.

She's an impeachable witness, anyway.
In her advertising circular, she said that I taught elementary school for 20 years and the other foreign teacher taught elementary school for 10 years.

Would we work for a nut like her if that were true?

captain kirk · Joined: 29 Jan 2003

For eight months there was a Korean American who was 'manager'. He was a powertripper and damned if he wouldn't be somebody so this was his chance. At the same time he hated teaching and hagwons. So, as manager, he acted as liason between teachers and the owner, whom he described to the teachers as 'the big cuckroach' (I've mispelled to get passed the swear filter).

The supervisor, a relative of the owner brought in to leverage him out of his position (because he complained too much and wasn't into doing his job) was 'the little cuckroach'.

So, he'd report, "the big cuckroach wants more work out of you employees. So he has hired the little cuckroach to micromanage you. I don't like it, either. That's just the way it is".

Then he'd head out into the stairwell for a sullen smoke dreaming of empires and scheme a way out.

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

When we complained about our split shifts (started at 6:30 AM, finished at 10-10:30, lived a 20 min subway ride away from the school) our boss told us that "healthy young men only require 4 hours of sleep per night".
Something he had learned in the military apparently.
That was my first contract in Korea- the one where the recruiter told me that Inchon was pretty much a 'seaside resort town'.
Did Dave's exist in early 1996?
If it did, I didn't know about it....
Might have saved me from a hellish recruiter/first contract.

Qinella · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Location: the crib

Squid · Joined: 25 Jul 2003 Location: Sunny Anyang

Company position:

Academic supervisor #1 "you can't rely on me for anything"

she got canned, then...

Academic supervisor #2 "don't trust what he (the director) says, trust me"

...sure thing...

Welcome to Korea.

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

Minder: You need your classes to be more challenging for the higher level students.
CLG: Ok. How about streaming the classes so that I can tailor the lessons better to abilty level.
Minder: Oh the mothers would never let you do that. We have to treat all students the same.
CLG: Well how about having an advanced placement class like we do for Math and Science.
Minder: Oh but those classes are traditionally only for Math and Science.
CLG: Why not english?
Minder: Because English is not important.

kermo · Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 7:06 pm Post subject:

My manager at the last hagwon was a well-meaning and earnest woman, prone to tactless comments and micro-management, but I liked her and loved to tease her.

For Hallowe'en, I dressed as a Cuban revolutionary, so I wore a little khaki cap and carried an air-rifle. I had some pictures developed after that night (non-digital, so I can't share 'em) and showed one to my manager as a joke.

ME: Do you remember you were telling that you'd like the school to have a reputation for toughness? Well, how about you post this picture of me on the website?

HER: (looks at me in horror) But... that picture has a cigarette in it!

ME: Yes... and a bottle of beer, and A GUN!

I also enjoyed a comment she made to a co-teacher of mine in the coldest weeks of December:

TEACHER: Could you please ask someone to check the heat in my apartment? I can't get any hot water.

HER: Well, it's probably just frozen pipes. You'll just have to wait until it warms up. It's very cold out, you know.

(the problem was quickly fixed by a savvy co-worker in her building, and of course, had nothing to do with frozen pipes, nor was my friend unaware of the recent changes in the weather... given that she had NO HEAT in her apartment.)