Korean Job Discussion Forums

Keepongoing · Joined: 13 Feb 2003 Location: Korea

In your school/university/hogwan how is your relationship with the Korean office staff? Is it amiable and mutually supportive? Are you friends?

Zyzyfer · Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 6:09 pm Post subject:

First 7 months were great; now it stinks. We're all just a bunch of angry people.

just because · Joined: 01 Aug 2003 Location: Changwon - 4964

Korean office staff??????

I've never had any, always been the wonjang.....

manlyboy · Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 7:41 pm Post subject:

My wife is on the office staff at a university. She's a very kind and helpful lass, so after a few days on the job, her co-workers asked her quizzically, "Why do you help the foreigners so much"?! "If you help them once, they will never stop asking for your help"!

butter808fly · Joined: 09 May 2004 Location: Northern California, USA

When I first arrived I was told that I was 'rude' from the Korean point of view. I forgot to bow and sometimes left without everyone else (group mentality). I was never told any of my wrong doings directly. I really didnt like them to much.

Now, there are 3 foreigners and 4 Koreans. When we sit around the table to enjoy a pizza, they speak Korean to each other and we speak English. How are we ever supposed to be a group when they isolate themselves like this? I think THAT is rude.

The Koreans are told things from upper management about students and the goings on of work things, and we are left in the dark. It really irritates me to feel this inequality. But, I know this is par for this environment. Not to mention the management always complaining and never complimenting.

Thankfully the kids are basically cool and the Koreans on the outside of work are usually kind and interesting. Otherwise, I might have a slight hatred for Koreans in general.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

When I started we had three great KTs and a stupid bitch supervisor. Now we have one great KT, one who's pretty nice, a nice but spineless supervisor who's stuck between the boss's BS and the reality of the classroom, and one intensly frustrating KT who can't speak English and is the most disorganised person you could imagine. At the end of the day, though, it's the boss who tries to get by without enough staff and doesn't really care about educating kids properly. It's little wonder that we have such a revolving door re: staff, and far too many kids who act like lunatics.

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

Apple Scruff · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

Homer · Guest

At my current school it has been excellent.

At a school I worked at 3 years ago it was less then warm.

Simple question of compatibility and common interests mixed with the working environment.

desultude · Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 3:06 am Post subject:

In both of the departments I have worked in, the relationships have been great. I get help when I need it. If I need copies, they stop what they are doing and do them immediately, even if I don't need them until the next day.

More importantly, when I have needed real help (emergency room for a broken foot and other medical stuff, immigration problems, even when I had something stolen downtown) they have swung into full gear to take care of everything.

Here is my favorite example- After my first year here, I returned to the States over Christmas. I had a real problem with my ATM card (Korean) and my credit card (Korean also). I was in the piney woods where my dad lives, so my access to much in the way of banking was limited. I emailed the office assistant and asked him to call the bank for me and tell me what the problem was. He went to the bank and paid my credit card off (almost -500,000 won) out of his own pocket, and sorted out the problem with my ATM. I felt very embarrassed, but I could tell it was not a problem for him, and he even felt good being able to rescue me.

Office staff? They have a teacher's day, they should also have a day for them. Don't forget to say thanks for everything they do, no matter how inconsequential, and bring them a plant, candy or flowers on occasion.

darbyjh · Joined: 09 May 2005

This is my first post but I do have to say that I have been reading these forums for a while.

I have spent five and a half years in Korea and have worked with all types of Korean personalities. To be frank, I have had no "serious" issues with staff or faculty. I have worked with foreigners who have had "serious" issues with the staff. I used to get peeved sitting in our weekly staff meeting listening to all the gripes (and to those who griped, for the most part, had valuable points, but tended to be close-minded). I knew that when I would go to Korea for the first time there would be major differences between us. Fortuneatly for me, I had a very good friend in university who was an ESL student from Daebang (and we got together a couple of times while I was there) who taught me a lot about Korean culture. So I guess you can say that I went with an open-mind. I am not Superman and have had my fair share of negative experiences with my first director but once things worked out, I tried not to let things become personal. I know it can be stressful. To tell you the truth, I actually had more issues with two foreign teachers than I ever had with a Korean worker. Primarily the reason I left Korea was because of those issues. But I miss the place, the people, the culture. I don't miss being back in America though.

But to answer the question, the majority were very amiable and supportive. I got one heckuva reference from my director.