Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rapier]

Do any of you have a workplace fraught with tension, an oppressive silence, punctuated by abnormally over the top scenes of warmth or humor, emotionally/ politically charged? Do you have a lot of silly interpersonal politics happening, a rollercoaster, unpredictable atmosphere of subterfuge, skullduggery, and mistrust, of backstabbings, humiliations, of wild mood swings?

I do. Its hardly easy going. I always thought i was on an even keel with my moods and temperament. But not anymore. Nowadays i'm as changeable as the average korean co-worker.

The root of the problem, is having an untrustworthy sly boss, a biatch of a supervisor on an ego/ power trip, disgruntled and humiliated employees, the usual Korean waegook miscommunications and jealousy, etc etc...

In addition, Koreans seem to view easygoing banter as somehow disrespectful to the office, indicating a casual, careless approach to work. Also we all face eachother over the typically communal deskplan, where every conversation is intimately overheard by everyone else. Its all kinda awkward... and our supervisor enjoys talking down to people, thus creating more general hatred. A multitude of arguments and rows has never deterred her..
Some days i feel like being all happy, amusing, and funny with everyone. But then they suddenly find you more approachable and offload a dam burst of pent up things onto me they've been meaning to discuss.
Or some days I'm stone cold, fully armed with a "don't cross me" warning sign over my head, and have an equally sh*t day...
the ups and downs of it all...stressful...

[Corporal]

My first hagwon was pretty fraught with tension. We had six foreign teachers and as many Koreans and it was a total "us against them" scenario.

My new job is good. I'm the only foreigner, and the other three teachers are working WITH me, not against me.

It's better.

[humanuspneumos]

School # 1- hardly any tension amongst fellow workers. We respected each-other's space. Everyone disliked the boss together- Korean and non-Korean teachers alike.

School # 2- again- Koreans and foreigners got along well. Everyone got cheated pay and some hadn't been paid for months- so- there was a unity. Yeah- I loaned the Korean manager 1.2 million won because the police "were coming to get him."

School # 3- the Korean teachers were blamed for anything bad that happened and surprisingly they didn't hate the foreign staff.

School # 4- all H broke loose. A snitty-arrogant-self-absorbed foreign lady came in and set everyone and everything aflame. Then she brought her daughter. Talking about tension. A percentage of the staff just relocated their desk to another floor to get away from her nattering mouth and negativity towards negativity. After that everything just kept going further- and further down the drain in terms of office relationships. That was 24 months of pure-unadulterated-office-tension.

School # 5- the owner calls me into his office to say- "I'm a dangerous man, bla, bla, bla. Later I discover that he was deeply involved in some kind of corruption that was on a very serious note." Just that caused tension. The majority of the staff claimed that they really didn't like him. The Korean teachers were giving notice left/right/center. Finally, everything just caved in.

Does getting punched, being threatened with being sued 2 X, having a chair flung in front of my face, hiding in a friend's mother's brothel loft area, doing 12 classes a day forever, getting up at 5:30 and going until 11 PM, having a Korean manager's friend living with us knocking on my door drunk to threaten us with Tae-Kwon-do, seeing a teacher put in hand-cuffs, seeing another teacher beat by a former boss, having a death threat and being told to tell 2 other teachers that death could be in the cards for them if they "slandered" his school one more time, being cheated, having a school go bankrupt, IMF (40 % loss in exchange), visa card stolen from my apartment, sitting across from a lawyer to protect myself, getting a serious case of influenza, getting so sick I actually had to have surgery.... sound stressful? Yip.

That's over 7 years- what will the next 7 bring?

The funny thing- was never fired in it all- oh yes- that one time when I quit- got fired- and then begged by the boss to come back- and then the bankruptcy afterwards.

[Mr. Pink]

Rapier aren't you the guy who kicked a co worker in the head?

[rapier]

[FUBAR]

Yeah, I had a coworker like that. He was some 50 year old burnout who had been fired from many jobs prior to coming here. At first he seemed somewhat ok, although a little different. After a month he exploded on me; saying that I was basically the worst person he had ever met in his whole life. After that went down, I refused to talk to him for the remaining 10 months left on my contract.

At first I began to question what he said, then he pulled the same sort of thing on another guy who disagreed with him. Basically all the co-workers and staff hate him except the director. She respects the MBA so he will always have a place at the school. Unfortuntately for her, some of the other staff will be quitting if he signs on for a 3rd year.

To say that the school was tense would be an understatement.

[rapier]

FUBAR: C'mon, don't identify me with the idiot who let loose on you. I'm a cool guy, seriously. I was being sarcastic in my earlier post...obviously it doesn't transmit well in typescript...
My former fighting is a dead, forgotten issue....

[Ya-ta Boy]

Please. Unless you are working with my PREVIOUS co-worker, you have nothing at all to complain about.

Unless this person (and that is a very loosely defined term) was born in the islands off the east coast of Florida, but claims to be a native speaker, you are just whining and feeling sorry for yourself. Get in contact with someone working at a new school near Incheon for the most current up-date.

You can check my posts for the last year and find stories about the champion dysfunctional co-worker. Unless you can beat someone who makes a mistake about what time to start teaching and who then blames you by standing behind her door and chanting/singing to 'god' about forgiving 'my co-workers who don't know how much pain they cause' in a voice guaranteed to come through the steel door and across the hall into your apartment, you have nothing at all to complain about.

I don't mean to say that my pain was greater than your current pain and discomfort, but it WAS greater than your current discomfort. Count your blessings that you are not sharing an office with the humanoid I am referring to.

[just because]

[paperbag princess]

my hagwon is wrought with tension. we have three foreign teachers and three korean teachers. there really is an "us against them" mentality, which sucks.
has this ever happened to anyone? one of the korean teachers spies for the bosses. not only that, but she sets you up for them as well. she will ask you questions while the boss sits outside the classroom and listens, we only know it's true because we caught them doing it. isn't that weird??

[just because]

We had a spy at my last hagwon.

I used it for my own advantage if i had a problem with things i would mention it to her and they would magically be fixed. Just don't say things you don't want the boss to hear. It proved useful nonetheless.

[batman]

It is difficult to find a school with a harmonious staff. Because of the difference in work loads, hours and pay between the Korean staff and the Native teachers. Throw in a director who plays people off on one another and things can really be fun.

Most of the places I have worked in suffered from the "We hate foriegners because they make more and work less" syndrome. (That and the Korean English teachers that I have, in general, worked with couldn't speak English all that well and didn't like it when I spoke Korea to them.)

Part of the problem also lies in the fact that Koreans always expect the other person to act first (especially, it seems, when the other person is a non-Korean). So I would suggest that you bring drinks and donuts (Koreans do seem to love sugar) to the office. After that invite them all out for dinner and drinks (Korean restaurants are cheap as is soju). Get them full and drunk then head off to the nearest Nori-bang. After that you should find the atmosphere in your office improves a bit.

(As a last resort you could always offer to sleep with the bunch of them.)

[lawyertood]

humanuspneumos wrote:

[rapier]

By the above accounts, sounds like I've actually had things good all my time in Korea. I better not complain anymore...

[Corporal]