Korean Job Discussion Forums

[uberscheisse]

so i've been at work for about 5 hours. i've taught a 3 hour morning class with 2 breaks, had a long lunch and then came back for 2:30 class.

i had about 30 canadian dollars (brought it to show kids what alien money looks like) and 30,000 won in 500 won coins in the top drawer of my desk. i didn't really advertise it, but i also didn't really keep it a secret. i like the idea of giving people the benefit of the doubt. until they screw up, that is.

i got to the first break in the 2:30 class, open my drawer and all the money is gone. i cannot for the life of me think who could have done it, or when i was away from my desk long enough to have someone rip me off.

the kids in my class bore the brunt of my anger but we turned it into a pretty constructive discussion about trust, friendship and just how much it sucks to have some piece of shit steal from you.

our school installed cameras a few years ago, so i have that as a bit of an ace in the hole. i told all my kids "i will find out who it is, so you all have one chance to tell the truth." but lo and behold the school hasn't bothered to put tapes in the VCR for months.

but i can still threaten them. i have a big message drawn on my board - "to the student who stole money from me, i know who you are. you have until next monday to come to me and be honest or i will phone your parents and the police."

i wonder what that will accomplish. mostly i hate being stolen from. it's only really happened about 3 times in my life, and in a situation like this, it's kind of heartbreaking.

that's what you get for treating a bunch of mewling, marginally disciplined whelps like adults, i guess.

[spliff]

Idiot!

[ChinaBoy]

I lock up pens, pencils, erasers, EVERYTHING

[seoulman1]

yeh thats really screwed up. U made a mistake by telling them though you could have played detective by posing questions...

You could also consider that the cleaner / caretaker took it and not your students?

[jaganath69]

It won't matter. Some cunning or creative lie will be invented to save face should the person who did it be found out. Coworkers of mine have caught students blatantly cheating and parent's responses have varied from, 'oh it doesn't matter because she is a good student' to 'my son wouldn't do that, you must be lying'.

[uberscheisse]

[Alyallen]

One of my friend's had her IPOD stolen at her hagwon and never found out who did it. I wonder if you'll ever get your money back.

I say punish everyone and let it be a lesson on honesty and group responsibility...

[shaunew]

[VanIslander]

Someone stole 12,000 won from my desk at the hagwon in my second year in Korea and I made a huge deal of it, getting upset in front of everyone and mentioned it with a painful look in every class, stopping my candy giving for an entire month, every time a student asked I said "Someone took my money" as if that was the reason.

There were three really good suspects, all grade 5 boys, but it could have been one of a dozen other students.

These days I've been storing my candy and chocolate treats for the students in my desk and am a bit surprised that the stash is never pilfered. A matter of time I guess...

[mrsquirrel]

I had a freshly filled jar of coffee snatched off my desk one night.

I had just topped it up. One of those Mocha Gold jars the big ones.

I had only topped it up with the red coffee though I was just reusing the jar.

Ha ha

Still can't believe somebody nicked it though,

[wylies99]

OP- 65 "bucks"?

[uberscheisse]

[wylies99]

I understand, but I'm sure there are others who have no idea what "bucks" means. BTW- What are kids gonna do with Canadian money?

[seoulman1]

[Bibbitybop]