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chungbukdo
Joined: 22 Aug 2010
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 Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 10:45 am Post subject: My K-GF Makes Under $6 Per Hour |
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My Korean girlfriend wakes up at 6 to get ready and go on over an hour and a half of public transportation to get to her job, and finally gets home at around 9:30 PM on a normal day. On other days, she will work until 11PM with no overtime pay (but they'll pay for a cab for her to go home). Busy weekends she will also be expected to come in without pay.
So on a normal day she spends 15.5 work related hours, including transport, getting ready, and her lunch. She gets paid like $2000 Canadian (can't remember the exact Korean won salary) per month. In other words, she makes about $6 per hour to work as a pissant secretary in a dead end job, and that's not including the occasional late nights or unpaid weekends.
She spent several years and racked up tens of thousands of dollars of debt getting a degree so she could do this job (which is basically a secretary position they'd hire a high school girl to do in Canada, however it's considered "prestigious" in Korea because she works in an office in a nice part of Seoul). She can't afford to move out of her parents house with this job or pay back her student loans. If she did move out, she would have to live in a sardine can. Her degree that she spent tens of thousands on is in French, yet she can't speak French.
Her hobbies include getting to go to the gym once a week on Saturday, because that's the only time that it is open and she's not working. Yet she told me when we met three years ago that she wanted to be self-employed or own a business, work an alternative job compared to the Korean corporate route, travel around the world with me, etc.
Yet I have to move to Korea so she can focus on her job? |
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Ribena
Joined: 07 Apr 2011
Location: UK
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 10:51 am Post subject: |
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| Shouldn't you be telling your girlfriend all this instead of this board? |
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chungbukdo
Joined: 22 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 10:52 am Post subject: |
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I did, she got mad at me about it so I'm venting, haha.
Anyone else in this situation? I understand there are a lot of guys who date Korean women here. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 12:44 pm Post subject: Re: My K-GF Makes Under $6 Per Hour |
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| chungbukdo wrote: |
| she wanted to be self-employed or own a business |
I always find this interesting, people who haven't owned a business have a romanticized image of it. Many seem not to realize it's hard work and most fail at it and end up in a worse financial position than before. |
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Ribena
Joined: 07 Apr 2011
Location: UK
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 1:48 pm Post subject: |
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| chungbukdo wrote: |
I did, she got mad at me about it so I'm venting, haha.
Anyone else in this situation? I understand there are a lot of guys who date Korean women here. |
Let this be a lesson, treat such things as a "holiday romance" type senario, don't take overseas relationships seriously. Dump her and move on. |
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radcon
Joined: 23 May 2011
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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| 2000 dollars Canadian is about 2.3 million won. Many many Korean women are making much less than that. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 2:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Those are some long hours, but that's a pretty decent overall take-home in Korea. Even for a male that wouldn't be terrible. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| Those are some long hours, but that's a pretty decent overall take-home in Korea. Even for a male that wouldn't be terrible. |
Agreed. If she's living at home, she should be putting a serious dent in any loans she has.
Honestly, by Korean standards, what you explained is not all bad. Here they call it 'life'. |
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jeremysums
Joined: 08 Apr 2011
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 4:52 pm Post subject: Re: My K-GF Makes Under $6 Per Hour |
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If she can save and not spend it would be a lot, but if she's not able to save money, its probably tough.
| chungbukdo wrote: |
My Korean girlfriend wakes up at 6 to get ready and go on over an hour and a half of public transportation to get to her job, and finally gets home at around 9:30 PM on a normal day. On other days, she will work until 11PM with no overtime pay (but they'll pay for a cab for her to go home). Busy weekends she will also be expected to come in without pay.
So on a normal day she spends 15.5 work related hours, including transport, getting ready, and her lunch. She gets paid like $2000 Canadian (can't remember the exact Korean won salary) per month. In other words, she makes about $6 per hour to work as a pissant secretary in a dead end job, and that's not including the occasional late nights or unpaid weekends.
She spent several years and racked up tens of thousands of dollars of debt getting a degree so she could do this job (which is basically a secretary position they'd hire a high school girl to do in Canada, however it's considered "prestigious" in Korea because she works in an office in a nice part of Seoul). She can't afford to move out of her parents house with this job or pay back her student loans. If she did move out, she would have to live in a sardine can. Her degree that she spent tens of thousands on is in French, yet she can't speak French.
Her hobbies include getting to go to the gym once a week on Saturday, because that's the only time that it is open and she's not working. Yet she told me when we met three years ago that she wanted to be self-employed or own a business, work an alternative job compared to the Korean corporate route, travel around the world with me, etc.
Yet I have to move to Korea so she can focus on her job? |
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whatisinmyhead
Joined: 31 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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| she got a degree in french, and she can't speak french...? double fail! i think she's doing great, given this. what was her plan with a french degree in korea? |
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wishfullthinkng
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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yeah... 2.3 is quite decent for a female in korea who is just getting started. as another poster said, some get paid much less than this.
and 2.3 is definitely enough for her to live by herself. she won't have a ton left over but most korean women live with their parents until they get married anyways you know. |
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UknowsI
Joined: 16 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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Sounds very similar to a friend of mine. She doesn't work weekends, but have to get up a 5 every day to get ready to work. In the weekends she will spent at least one day sleeping to recover from the week. Everyone are very proud of the job because it's at a prestigious company and it was a lot of competition to get it, but she hates it. Last time I heard from her she was planning to quit after she finished her first year since staying for a year would give her a bonus.
2.3 is a good starting salary, but I guess she is expected to save most of. |
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methdxman
Joined: 14 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 6:13 pm Post subject: Re: My K-GF Makes Under $6 Per Hour |
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| chungbukdo wrote: |
My Korean girlfriend wakes up at 6 to get ready and go on over an hour and a half of public transportation to get to her job, and finally gets home at around 9:30 PM on a normal day. On other days, she will work until 11PM with no overtime pay (but they'll pay for a cab for her to go home). Busy weekends she will also be expected to come in without pay.
So on a normal day she spends 15.5 work related hours, including transport, getting ready, and her lunch. She gets paid like $2000 Canadian (can't remember the exact Korean won salary) per month. In other words, she makes about $6 per hour to work as a pissant secretary in a dead end job, and that's not including the occasional late nights or unpaid weekends.
She spent several years and racked up tens of thousands of dollars of debt getting a degree so she could do this job (which is basically a secretary position they'd hire a high school girl to do in Canada, however it's considered "prestigious" in Korea because she works in an office in a nice part of Seoul). She can't afford to move out of her parents house with this job or pay back her student loans. If she did move out, she would have to live in a sardine can. Her degree that she spent tens of thousands on is in French, yet she can't speak French.
Her hobbies include getting to go to the gym once a week on Saturday, because that's the only time that it is open and she's not working. Yet she told me when we met three years ago that she wanted to be self-employed or own a business, work an alternative job compared to the Korean corporate route, travel around the world with me, etc.
Yet I have to move to Korea so she can focus on her job? |
Sounds like your GF has a good head on her shoulders since she doesn't have this inflated sense of entitlement that she deserves a certain level of salary that she probably doesn't deserve yet.
Unemployment rate here is low. Great success!
What exactly did you study that qualified you to become an English teacher? |
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Kennyftw
Joined: 08 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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| My fiance makes more than I do, a team leader at an international trading company. I must be lucky. |
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Lazio
Joined: 15 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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That's a good money for a young Korean female. Enough for a family of three even with paying monthly rent.
She payed a lot for a useless degree and will take some time to pay back the loan. Because of that, she can't move out from home so has to commute 3 hours a day. Who is to blame for this?
Actually, she should consider herself lucky. A lot of women more qualified than her would kill for that money. Most workplaces in Korea are like that in terms of long working hours and unpaid overtime. Usually for much less money.
Without the loan she could move somewhere closer, getting 2 hours for herself every day. |
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