Korean Job Discussion Forums

[grandpa]

I'm new to Korea. I do the bills. When I get a bill I like to pay it immediately.

I pay my bills by going to a bank near my school, which is a different bank than I have an account with.

I'm at a public school, so the banks are closed by the time I leave school.

I get bored sitting around at school when I'm not teaching, so I enjoy the walk to the bank.

I'm not allowed to leave school property unless I ask for permission. I always let my co-teacher know when I'm going to the bank. Once I'm finished my banking I come right back to the school.

When I asked my co-teacher about holidays for winter vacation she told me that I lost one day of paid holidays, because of the times I've left school to do my banking.

Are all public schools this "anal" about going off school property to deal with matters that can't be dealt with outside of work hours?

[CentralCali]

You don't have to go to the bank to pay the bill while the bank's open. You can take care of it at the ATM.

[grandpa]

[schwa]

Some (not all) schools are strict like that. If its any consolation, you're being treated the same as your K-colleagues.
In fairness though, your co-teacher should have warned you beforehand.

[yingwenlaoshi]

That's just stupid.

Can you go during lunch? Or did you?

[grandpa]

[lifeinkorea]

So far, I haven't really been burned by these restrictions, but it is something to look at.

In my case, I had 20 days with GEPIK. I used up about 15 and saved the extra days. I am not the kind of person who likes getting sick, and from 2003-2007 I worked without vacation days. Simply put, I just didn't use them.

Then, I had to get ready for a new school. I didn't know if I needed a new CRC, but I went ahead and got it anyway. This cost me 2 vacation days. I had to go to the US Embassy in Seoul to get a notarized request with a copy of my passport for identification and a second time to get the actual CRC notarized for the school. I used up another one for an interview with a school. After a couple weeks, the new school and I decided we didn't want to work together. I had to find another school quickly and the school through GEPIK let me use one day to sign the contract with the second school and get the visa transferred.

I had a good working relationship with my co-teacher and we saw eye to eye on these things. He had to go see his girlfriend in the hospital sometimes and was called for army training. I didn't cause a stink over it, and I would come in later than normal usually. I often left like 10-15 minutes early. No one cared from this "time shaving", so long as it wasn't blocks of time.

I suggest you talk to your co-teacher and be frank. Them them you like flexibility and you can't work under such restrictions. Realize this, the vacation days are in your favor, not theirs. They are days they owe you. So, as long as you like your job, there is no point in leaving them yet. Use up vacation time and if they aren't flexible after that, find another school. I doubt they will change much if they have already decided to mark you for one day. Personally, 1 day is no big deal. I'd live with it and see how much/often you can leave without being hit for 2

Now, with my current school, I am supposed to sign in. Part of taking the job was that I didn't have to sit around. I am only there for like 5 hours a day, but in the contract it says 7. So, I obviously don't want to sign in. I refused a couple times, and one day I was welcomed by a few people in the office and the owner of the program. Basically, the owner was looking for a way to fire me, picking out every condition he could to fault me with. The other people there who spoke and understood English listened to me and the one who interviewed me was there too. She knew what she promised me and was stuck between the owner and myself who couldn't speak the language of the other. It's funny in these situations, and it shows how much your co-teacher is the main figure in this cause they speak both languages. MAKE YOUR CO-TEACHER HAPPY, AND YOU WILL BE HAPPY TOO.

So, it ended up where I do have to sign in, but I don't have to sign in immediately when I arrive. In fact, I can wait a few days before signing in LOL.

Yes, to your answer, they are that anal. However, you just have to snake through their system. Cross your t's and dot your i's

[yingwenlaoshi]

That's just petty crap. It's your lunch hour. What a bunch of idiots.

[Scouse Mouse]

Fight it. The law states that your lunch hour is your time to do with as you please. If they say it is not, ask for something to that effect in writing and stamped. Once you have it, you can go to the labor board. Forcing somebody to work an 8 hour day without a break is illegal.

Now... your school will moan and tell you "all the other teachers do it". They will try and make you feel bad about that. Tough. Fight them and win. If you don't want to deal with the labor board, you can try going over them to the GEPIK co-ordinator (if Dain Bae is still there, she will give them hell). Get that paper in writing though.

Oh... whatever happens, you won't be getting a new contract there. Be sure to use those sick days

[halfmanhalfbiscuit]

[hockeyguy109]

There's no way in heck they can take vacation away for going off school grounds during your lunch break. I, along with most of my other PS school friends go off school grounds everyday for lunch hour. Are you with GEPIK, EPIK or what? In GEPIK contracts it states that we are free to do whatever we want with our lunch hour. Is it different in other peoples contracts? I would call the gepik, epik, or whoever's office and talk to them about this.

[Big Mac]

It's written into my contract that they can deduct time from vacation for going to the bank or for other personal time. This is the exact wording...

"1. GETs need to sign in and obtain approval for the following matters:
Absences, tardies, early leavers, unofficial leaves for personal reasons (i.e. bank, post office, etc.) and official trips (i.e. school visits, interviews, immigration, visa processing, etc.)

2. All the hours will be totaled from the GETs tardies, early departures and leaves for personal reasons. For each total amount of 8 working hours, the day(s) will be deducted from the allotment of vacation days."

Now, this is petty as hell and yes, makes me feel like a child. Public schools are increasingly moving toward treating their foreign teachers like children.

That being said, my school has never enforced anything in this section. They laughed when I brought up how stupid it was during contract negotiations and said "don't worry about it."

However, if they did start deducting vacation days then I wouldn't be able to complain about it because it was in the contract that I signed.

I'd bet your contract says the same thing. Sounds like your school is just sticking to every word in the contract. Unfortunate for you.

[storysinger81]

They CAN, but if they do, then it indicates you don't seem to have a good working relationship with them. For example, I just got out of a 10-day hospitalization, missing work for 9 days (the day before and two days after I went into the hospital), but they wrote down in the book that I only took 7 days because on the first and last days, we switched around my schedule with other teachers so that I would make up all my classes (yeah--teaching 6 classes in a row sucks, but it means I still have sick days left now if I break my leg or something).

I agree with the poster who said someone in admin dislikes you or your co-teacher does. Find out who, fast, and get some advice on how you can repair this relationship (presents might work; if you are male and they are also male, going out drinking is a good idea; if both female, treating them to starbucks works wonders; if you are opposite genders, proceed with caution, but still make some overtures--help them out with a translation or teach them some funny English or talk to them in Korean about their favorite Korean foods... stuff like that goes a LOOOOOONG way).

(BTW, I even have jerky rules-sticklers for principal and VP, so the above example comes from a LOT of relationship building capital over the last year and a bit.)

If you are new as of Sept, it's possible that the last foreign teacher screwed them on stuff like that or took major advantage of break times. Find out if that's the case, 'cause then you'll have even more repair to do, unfortunately.

[Scouse Mouse]

Regardless of what any contract says, the law trumps it every time. Think about it... if you sign a contract that says you can murder kids, does that mean you won't be prosecuted when you do it? A contract can not take away your legal rights.

[bixlerscott]

No, most public schools are not this anal. I ate lunch the 1st month and explained that I needed to eat a low sodium diet that involved fresh fruits and vegetables and they accepted this to allow me the freedom to use my 1.5 hour lunch break as I wished. They understood that a Westerner has different dietary needs due to being a different race, respect this out there being some truth to it, and left it at that. I didn't even explain all that to them, but they assumed it so I went on that to my advantage even though I could survive on gimchee, rice, and jiggae. They already know a foreigner finds it difficult to impossible to be all Korean though we do successfully live and work there just like how a Chinese gold fish live in aquariums across America by feeding them something that sustains their lives.

There is a huge difference before you ever say or do anything putting up a barrier of awkwardness with them being so reserved so this requires all your inner personal skill to build re pore. That's the real challenge determining your success in one of these jobs; not good effective teaching in itself though they know if you are sincerely trying and actually producing results.

It was easy to just tell the one co-teacher that spoke English I needed to go pay bills, visit the doctor, or immigration office. The 1st time she drove me and the bank teller showed me how to do ATM bill pay. No issues with being out of the office as long as I was responsible and professional about it as to not just be sneaking off not to say you did that. I was there every time they tried to talk to me about a change or something yadda yadda, because they always knew about my granted flex time to be out on business and these times are called, "business trips." When my co-teacher took me for business matter, they paid her gas and our salaries. The school did clearly see I was putting forth a sincere effert in my job and the students were very happy, but improving in their English. The non-English speaking staff knows when they hear more and more English being spoken more than they've ever heard in their school with increasing student/teacher interactions. I found it took less to impress them generally speaking vs. back home due to the language barrier present, but communication and building re pore is awkward as they are so very reserved and often silent for days over there.

As long as the kids are happy and you got a working relationship without contention, there should be no problems with you being out with permission to handle business matters when not scheduled to teach. I had any afternoon to do as I pleased, but did respect the contract to work until 5pm 19 work days out of every 20 work days even though I just piddled around in the office doing nothing productive most of the time. Easiest job I ever had, but most lonesome, boring, and isolating. I should had just resigned on for another year like the other American did, because it's better to be stacking Franklin bills and taking nice vacations to South Asia than to be unemployed in boring Mid America spending your savings. Distance also made life easier vs. being home dealing with relatives drama.

You might try communication despite how difficult it is to achieve and also dress up a bit more often if wearing casuals so far. Build re pore.