RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Current rant: when I provide helpful information, but nobody fact-checks and all my incredibly clever jokes go completely unnoticed. 

*Gets nervous*
Have I blindy accepted information from you that was meant to be a joke?
*Does research*

Current rant: when I provide helpful information, but nobody fact-checks and all my incredibly clever jokes go completely unnoticed. 

Don't forget about all the lurkers. I bet many of them see you 

11 weeks since I left Korea and STILL waiting for my housing deposit

Will my ties to Korea ever be severed  (probably not whilst I still stalk waygook.org)

Sorry to say, but chances are, if they have stalled this long, they aren't going to pay you.

Do you have boots on the ground who can help?

FALSE.

She worked at a public school so the money is safe/guaranteed unless she left the apartment in a right state.

THEY CAN'T NOT PAY YOU.

Sorry, but you are wrong.

In 1998-99, several foreigners were screwed out of money that worked in the public school system.

Watch and wait.

11 weeks since I left Korea and STILL waiting for my housing deposit

Will my ties to Korea ever be severed  (probably not whilst I still stalk waygook.org)

Sorry to say, but chances are, if they have stalled this long, they aren't going to pay you.

Do you have boots on the ground who can help?

FALSE.

She worked at a public school so the money is safe/guaranteed unless she left the apartment in a right state.

THEY CAN'T NOT PAY YOU.

Sorry, but you are wrong.

In 1998-99, several foreigners were screwed out of money that worked in the public school system.

Watch and wait.

She's an individual with a lazy school. This is not some province wide endemic.

11 weeks since I left Korea and STILL waiting for my housing deposit

Will my ties to Korea ever be severed  (probably not whilst I still stalk waygook.org)

Sorry to say, but chances are, if they have stalled this long, they aren't going to pay you.

Do you have boots on the ground who can help?

Well, the co-ordinator at my office of ed is supposed to be helping but he doesn't seem to have any sense of urgency about it  I feel like I'm probably not going to get it either, which is insane seeing as I worked for public schools. The new teacher at my school hasn't received her flight allowance yet either so it sounds like the school is having money problems

send them one last email. after that - labor board.

and point that out to the coordinator. this was supposed to be done within 2 weeks of your contract ending. technically they actually owe you interest on that money now too.

11 weeks since I left Korea and STILL waiting for my housing deposit

Will my ties to Korea ever be severed  (probably not whilst I still stalk waygook.org)

Sorry to say, but chances are, if they have stalled this long, they aren't going to pay you.

Do you have boots on the ground who can help?

FALSE.

She worked at a public school so the money is safe/guaranteed unless she left the apartment in a right state.

THEY CAN'T NOT PAY YOU.

Sorry, but you are wrong.

In 1998-99, several foreigners were screwed out of money that worked in the public school system.

Watch and wait.

She's an individual with a lazy school. This is not some province wide endemic.

Which is far worse and makes her chances far less likely.

11 weeks since I left Korea and STILL waiting for my housing deposit

Will my ties to Korea ever be severed  (probably not whilst I still stalk waygook.org)

Sorry to say, but chances are, if they have stalled this long, they aren't going to pay you.

Do you have boots on the ground who can help?

FALSE.

She worked at a public school so the money is safe/guaranteed unless she left the apartment in a right state.

THEY CAN'T NOT PAY YOU.

Sorry, but you are wrong.

In 1998-99, several foreigners were screwed out of money that worked in the public school system.

Watch and wait.

She's an individual with a lazy school. This is not some province wide endemic.

Which is far worse and makes her chances far less likely.

I disagree.

Did she tell you directly that you'd get overtime pay for this?

^Make sure to clarify about overtime pay. It may be that your school won't want to deal with that much overtime but who knows.

Did she tell you directly that you'd get overtime pay for this?

Yes, each of the teachers taking the class with me will pay me 20,000 in cash per class. It sounds kind of shady...

Also, I've only been teaching for 2 months. This sounds like a ridiculous increase in my workload. 

To be honest, I wouldn't do it UNLESS you really need the money. It just sounds like a complete hassle and I'd rather use my free time to prepare for lessons and camp which isn't too far off

Did she tell you directly that you'd get overtime pay for this?

Yes, each of the teachers taking the class with me will pay me 20,000 in cash per class. It sounds kind of shady...

Also, I've only been teaching for 2 months. This sounds like a ridiculous increase in my workload. 

I would politely but very firmly put my foot down right here. Don't do it.

It's illegal to "work" outside of your contract. You're not comfortable working illegally in a foreign country. Bingo. Excuse ready-made. 

Check your contract and politely point this out. Good luck.

Don't get suckered into doing it for free either, outside of school hours you're always vaguely "busy" from here on out 

Did she tell you directly that you'd get overtime pay for this?

Yes, each of the teachers taking the class with me will pay me 20,000 in cash per class. It sounds kind of shady...

Also, I've only been teaching for 2 months. This sounds like a ridiculous increase in my workload. 

If they are paying you in cash, then this is no longer an afterschool program and instead is private tutoring, which, assuming you are on an E2, is illegal. Just tell them you are uncomfortable with it and that you will not do it.



Edit: DMZabductee was much faster at responding.

Did she tell you directly that you'd get overtime pay for this?

Yes, each of the teachers taking the class with me will pay me 20,000 in cash per class. It sounds kind of shady...

Also, I've only been teaching for 2 months. This sounds like a ridiculous increase in my workload. 

Wait.

To go from 22 hours a week to 32 hours a week is 10 hours, which I assume is 5 classes of 2 hour sessions. If each teacher is paying 20k per session, and there are 10 teachers, then you are making (10*5*20k) 1,000,000 won per week extra? 

Geez! Let me know what school you are working at, and I will help relieve you of this terrible burden!

Edit: DMZabductee was much faster at responding.

Thanks for backing me up 

Did she tell you directly that you'd get overtime pay for this?

Yes, each of the teachers taking the class with me will pay me 20,000 in cash per class. It sounds kind of shady...

Also, I've only been teaching for 2 months. This sounds like a ridiculous increase in my workload. 

Wait.

To go from 22 hours a week to 32 hours a week is 10 hours, which I assume is 5 classes of 2 hour sessions. If each teacher is paying 20k per session, and there are 10 teachers, then you are making (10*5*20k) 1,000,000 won per week extra? 

Geez! Let me know what school you are working at, and I will help relieve you of this terrible burden!

I read it as 10 teachers (10 hours)per week x 20k per hour = 200,000k a week or ~800,000k per month.

Still not bad money but when I first started that bump in the hours would've freaked me out significantly. I was already planning lessons at home, another 10 hours would've sent me over the edge.

Did she tell you directly that you'd get overtime pay for this?

Yes, each of the teachers taking the class with me will pay me 20,000 in cash per class. It sounds kind of shady...

Also, I've only been teaching for 2 months. This sounds like a ridiculous increase in my workload. 

If they are paying you in cash, then this is no longer an afterschool program and instead is private tutoring, which, assuming you are on an E2, is illegal. Just tell them you are uncomfortable with it and that you will not do it.



Edit: DMZabductee was much faster at responding.

Yeah - I've had this happen a lot of times. Declined it every time. I used to do 6 hours of night classes at the old high school I worked at every week, but those were all above board and paid out by the school directly.

I never get asked by teachers for lessons, but I do get asked by random employees of shops and such that I go to. When my sister visited last year, we went to this small cafe and, being Korean-Americans who are fluent in Korean, we ordered our stuff in Korean. As we were ordering though, my sister was undecided and was just saying to me "I don't know if I want a coffee or a latte," but we speak to each other in English, and the girl behind the counter asked us for lessons. In exchange, she would teach us Chinese or something. No thanks. We took our drinks to go.

Did she tell you directly that you'd get overtime pay for this?

Yes, each of the teachers taking the class with me will pay me 20,000 in cash per class. It sounds kind of shady...

Also, I've only been teaching for 2 months. This sounds like a ridiculous increase in my workload. 

what they are doing here is getting a personal 1-on-1 tutoring session for 20k per hour. which usually costs 40-50k per hour.

THAT is why they are paying you cash, and why they don't mind paying 20k cash for it. because it's an absolute bargain for them. also sounds like your school/the teachers want all of this completely off the books (i.e., unofficial). so yeah, it is shady as hell, especially considering private tutoring is forbidden according to public school contracts.

the money is good so you can do it, although i would definitely try to negotiate up. or else tell them you only want official overtime. in terms of that, you can only teach a maximum of 28 hours per week before you can refuse.

What will happen...

You have a school holiday or no teaching one of the days, so you are under your 22 hours.

Then, they will say, "You have to teach the special class for free."

After all, you need to reach 22 hours before you get any extra pay ;)

Jujube tea is baller as heck and it smells amazing. Mix that life with some fresh ginger, and you've got a premium tea life going.

I'm okay with it but I'll admit that it's never going to be my first choice of teas.

Fresh ginger tea, though. I can't get enough of it.

No, its... I can't describe it. It's like a bastardization of a tea smell I'm familiar with. But its not jujube, though I have seen some of the teachers drying out some of those, so I'm guessing that tea will be coming soon too.

Trying to remember if arrowroot tea is strong smelling but I don't think it is. Let us know if you ever figure it out because now I need to try this stuff, whatever it is.