Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Saxiif]

Just a short story to warm your hearts by showing that it is possible to emerge victorious against even the most evil wongjangnim. If you have any similar stories to tell please post 'em.

Anyway, I first came to Korea just over a year ago. I was fresh out of college and damn stupid. The most serious job I'd had before teaching here was chopping a wide variety of vegetables into remarkably small pieces. I was stupid enough to give my boss my passport at one point and stupid enough to start working a 40-class (45 minutes each with annoying 15 minute breaks between each one that split up an already split-shift schedule even more) week with enthusiasm.

Then I started getting worn down and started dating a girl (who's still putting up for me for some reason) who I could only reach by taking a bus, the last one of which left 35 minutes before the end of my last class. Then my first payday came and went without me getting a sip-won. At this point I posted a thread bitching about my situation here and got thoroughly flamed by Gord about how I was making unreasonable complaints and should go back to burger flipping.

Then I kept on not getting paid. Then I got not paid some more. It was three weeks after my first pay day that I got paid for the first time and I was down to my last 5,000 won and feeling hungry at that point. But I got paid in full that time, it was the last time that would happen. After that I got paid a week or two late and a couple hundred thousand short (the shortfall would always be made up "next week"). It took me a while to save up enough to be able to afford airfare home, and I've never felt more trapped when for that time when I didn't have enough for that.

After I got enough for an air ticked home I didn't bail. I knew if I bailed without a release letter I wouldn't be able to get back into the country (at least officially) until the end of my contract and I'd totally kiss all my back pay goodbye. I stuck around for months and months to stay with my gf and to keep on trying to squeeze out my backpay that was coming "next week."

Finally I gave notice on March 31st and left on May 5th to come up to Seoul. I was owed 2.6 million plus the work I did that first week of May. He said he'd pay me "next week" after I left, but I thought I'd never see it again. But I kept on calling him just to annoy him as much as anything. And kept calling and kept calling...

Then my gf's brother got word of what was happening. He's sort of a model Korean adjossi. Hard drinking, tough and hardworking enough to somehow claw his way into being the youngest manager at an Import/Export company despite never stepping foot in a university. And someone who always always takes care of his friends.

He IMMEDIATELY wrote up forms making him officially my own personal collection agent and he started calling my boss pretending to be a loan shark who I owed money and was now coming after my back pay as my collateral or something. I'm not sure which I relish more, the thought of my old boss being convinced that I'd sent the Korean Mafia after him and he was about to get the Korean equivalent of a horsehead in his bed or getting my back pay, every fucking won of it.

So I made pretty much every mistake I could make and things turned out just fine. So its good to remember when reading depressing stories about getting ripped off in Korea that no matter how slimy some Koreans may be when it comes to business arraignements, they're make some of the best and most reliable friends in the world.

[Bulsajo]

Great post, thanks for sharing it.


P.S.- I hope things continue to work out with the GF (cause if they don't you'll probably have to run fast and far ).

[Demophobe]

Bravo! Really cool post with a great finish!.Kudos to you for hanging tough!

I sincerely hope your second time around is better.

[Dalton]

Great story. I met a young unmarried couple teaching in Korea four years ago. They worked at different schools in a small town. She became very sick with pneumonia but her boss reacted terribly and harrassed her to work anyway. They met a Korean preist (I think that was his religious designation). He used to be a member of a Korean special services outfit. He stepped in and she ended up working at her boyfriends school after recovering a month later. They got married in Korea a few months after that. Both their families came to the wedding. They never learned the details of how the priest helped them. He just did it.

[PatrickSiheung]

Great story for sure!

Reminds why I love this country so much.

[ActionInternational]

Well done, Saxiif! So glad to see that against all odds, your patience and tolerance paid off in the end! Close korean families and friends can be very loyal and helpful when needed.

[Saxiif]

[shawner88]

[rapier]

I was in a similar scenario once, I walked at the 3 weeks late mark, upon which moment he paid up.
If it happened again, i'd have no hesitation at walking on day one of non payment.
I've always noticed that A korean wife/inlaws, or staunch friends are the best defence a waegook has in this country- forget the "foreigner helpline."

[Real Reality]

Saxiif wrote,
"Victory is mine sayeth the waygook!"

How much energy, time, and money did you spend trying to collect what was lawfully yours? Is your time of any worth or value? Were you really victorious? Who really got the money (back pay) you or a Korean?

"Victory is mine sayeth the Korean."

Seoul City has been inviting foreigners and listening to their complaints to address these problems since 2000. Some municipalities also have opened their own reporting centers and are operating. However, the centers are not functioning properly because problems are hardly solved, and reporting centers in local areas lack publicity. An official in the International Cooperation Division of Seoul City admitted, "The same complaints regarding visas, transportation, education, and environment are raised every year without being solved, due to the lack of cooperation from government agencies involved and their passive attitudes."
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2004070522448

[Gord]

[shawner88]

[Real Reality]

shawner88 wrote,
"I'll back this up. I can't say why as it'll give then end of my book away, but it really does help to have a Korean friend/ girl to help out."

Overall living conditions, including education, housing, medical care, transportation, immigration, and access to the Internet are pointed to as inconveniences. Not only inconveniences caused by different systems and customs in Korea, but also special discriminating practices, such as the practice of submitting two years of monthly rent in advance like a deposit, which is required of foreigners just because they are foreigners, are ubiquitous. "Even though Korea has achieved some degree of globalization in going abroad, it has still a long way to go for globalization in embracing foreigners inward," said foreigners residing in Korea.
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2004070522448