RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

... She goes on to leave used tissues all over my desk...

That's completely disgusting and entirely passive aggressive 

Could very well be. Then again, she is extremely untidy and leaving tissues on the desk (which we share), seems about right.
On the hike, all the teachers sat down to share food from a single large bowl. Hacking and sneezing away she heartily indulged whilst her, and all the other teachers, seemed perplexed and perturbed by the fact that I kept my distance and opted not to eat from the same bowl as her and 8 other people.

Ah, a shared desk. Maybe not intentionally passive aggressive then but still disgusting. Hurk

My one co-teacher last year used to leave her used tissues all over my desk--sometimes on my open book--but then would proceed to passive-aggressively suggest that my desk is messy.

You have to pay extra for the milk. It's a separate purchase from any school fund.

This is correct (although the milk is free for the students -- it's just teachers/staff who have to pay for it if they want it).

i'm always amazed at the sheer amount of stuff kids in this country get for free. milk, school lunch, even stationary like glue, scissors, compasses for math ... all free. pretty much everything and anything they need for school is just given as a hand out. great for the poor kids out in the rural areas who really need it, but when you have 10 year old kids walking into class wearing North Face down jackets like they do in my city .... perhaps the government could spend that money better in certain regions.

The free lunch for everyone thing is a fairly recent development, having only been implemented about three years ago. That's actually why some provinces cut their NET numbers by as much as 50% a few years ago: They needed the money for the new programs like lunch and day care, but without a tax increase to pay for them, they had to find the money elsewhere. In this case, "elsewhere" ended up  being the English program.

Hindsight being 20/20, do you know understand what you did was wrong?

I ask, because it didn't sound like it from you post.

It sounded more like you were justifying it, rather than accepting responsibility for making trouble.

He said he didn't know it was a test question, so your earlier complaint didn't apply to that situation. He wasn't trying to meddle or second guessing the KETs, he was just answering a question a student had.  He wasn't "inserting himself," and he couldn't have "redirected them to ask the teacher who made the test," because he didn't even know it was from a test.

So hindsight being 20/20, do you see now how what you said doesn't apply to him there?

Well, you are either simply being ignorant or taking the piss, because only a mouth-breather would think that a student would ever ask you an English exam question for "shits-n-giggles", especially someone who is a known "ringer".

That is why, as others have said countless times, when asked a question, you ask "Why?" before sticking your foot in your mouth.

I had this happen once. Kid asked me like a week after getting their test back about something during class as I was walking around monitoring an activity. If I asked every kid who asked me a question why they were asking that question I wouldn't have time to teach...

Hey, you do it your way!  Give your opinion about questions from a test that you didn't write, nor edit!!!

When your relationship with your coteacher turns to crap, just don't come here and act the fool, like you don't know how it happened.

One time.
In three years.

My CT was like wtf. I was like woops sorry.
Then we had lunch and complained about the bad kids.

Far superior to the following;

Student: How do you spell _____?
Me: Why do you want to know?
Kid: Blank stare of complete incomprehension.

Every 30 seconds for 4-6 classes a day.

I've almost entirely given up cow's milk for almond milk. That stuff is addictive.

I saw some almond dream banana almond milk at a mini stop.  Is that exclusive to Korea or is that a thing?

Probably a Korea thing. They love their banana milk here. I tried the Blue Diamond "Almond Breeze" banana flavor once. Not my thing. I prefer original or unsweetened. Less than 200 calories in an entire liter and tasty!

Urg.

1.  We have the 1.5 hour delayed start tomorrow for the university exam... but they've just shifted the day and erased 7th hour, which I'm not scheduled for, so none of my classes are canceled.

2.  The mugunghwa train is so goddamn crowded since they've canceled a few of the routes.  They've been running out of standing tickets more and more lately which forces me to just sneak on because I'm not going to wait over two hours for the next one.  If this was in my country I would be writing and calling the company to complain every day.  I can't be the only one mega inconvenienced by this.

3.  Every single day all the students and teachers who aren't me are given a carton of milk.  They give me so many shitty rice cakes and other gross bs every day that I don't want, and the milk would be the one thing I do want.  I don't understand why I don't get it... I pay into the school fund...  Luckily a few of the teachers give me theirs if they don't want it that day.

Your waygook.org username seems like a bit of a misnomer.

Also, regarding the train: You sneak on the train (read: you don't pay, so you're literally stealing). You know that's illegal, right? Stealing? Tickets for trains, especially the old, slow ones, especially not on peak days like national holidays, only sell out (if they do sell out at all) if you leave it until the very last minute before you try to buy it. I've even bought tickets as late as the night before and I've never encountered any being sold out for standing tickets, unless it was Chuseok or something.

Insufferable.

It never happened to me, so it's not possible it happened to you.

Hindsight being 20/20, do you know understand what you did was wrong?

I ask, because it didn't sound like it from you post.

It sounded more like you were justifying it, rather than accepting responsibility for making trouble.

He said he didn't know it was a test question, so your earlier complaint didn't apply to that situation. He wasn't trying to meddle or second guessing the KETs, he was just answering a question a student had.  He wasn't "inserting himself," and he couldn't have "redirected them to ask the teacher who made the test," because he didn't even know it was from a test.

So hindsight being 20/20, do you see now how what you said doesn't apply to him there?

Well, you are either simply being ignorant or taking the piss, because only a mouth-breather would think that a student would ever ask you an English exam question for "shits-n-giggles", especially someone who is a known "ringer".

That is why, as others have said countless times, when asked a question, you ask "Why?" before sticking your foot in your mouth.

I had this happen once. Kid asked me like a week after getting their test back about something during class as I was walking around monitoring an activity. If I asked every kid who asked me a question why they were asking that question I wouldn't have time to teach...

Hey, you do it your way!  Give your opinion about questions from a test that you didn't write, nor edit!!!

When your relationship with your coteacher turns to crap, just don't come here and act the fool, like you don't know how it happened.

One time.
In three years.

My CT was like wtf. I was like woops sorry.
Then we had lunch and complained about the bad kids.

Far superior to the following;

Student: How do you spell _____?
Me: Why do you want to know?
Kid: Blank stare of complete incomprehension.

Every 30 seconds for 4-6 classes a day.

Now, you are simply being obtuse.

I know some people are rather clueless in certain social settings, but can you really not see the difference inside and outside the classroom setting?

This sort of thing happens four times a year, after the midterms and finals of each semester, so it really isn't rocket science, unless you are socially handicapped.

Teacher asks you, "Are you busy?"  If you are a special kind of mouth-breather, you will say "no", but if you have the slightest clue, you'll ask, "why?"

If you were in the middle of teaching writing and I student asks you how to spell something, as they are writing, do you seriously think one should ask "why?"

If you do, you are beyond help.

Grab an f'ing clue!

That said, do it your way, and let us all know how it goes when you give your opinion about which answers are right or wrong on an official test, throwing your colleagues under the bus.

Some folks on her are seriously jacked!

Urg.

1.  We have the 1.5 hour delayed start tomorrow for the university exam... but they've just shifted the day and erased 7th hour, which I'm not scheduled for, so none of my classes are canceled.

2.  The mugunghwa train is so goddamn crowded since they've canceled a few of the routes.  They've been running out of standing tickets more and more lately which forces me to just sneak on because I'm not going to wait over two hours for the next one.  If this was in my country I would be writing and calling the company to complain every day.  I can't be the only one mega inconvenienced by this.

3.  Every single day all the students and teachers who aren't me are given a carton of milk.  They give me so many shitty rice cakes and other gross bs every day that I don't want, and the milk would be the one thing I do want.  I don't understand why I don't get it... I pay into the school fund...  Luckily a few of the teachers give me theirs if they don't want it that day.

Your waygook.org username seems like a bit of a misnomer.

Also, regarding the train: You sneak on the train (read: you don't pay, so you're literally stealing). You know that's illegal, right? Stealing? Tickets for trains, especially the old, slow ones, especially not on peak days like national holidays, only sell out (if they do sell out at all) if you leave it until the very last minute before you try to buy it. I've even bought tickets as late as the night before and I've never encountered any being sold out for standing tickets, unless it was Chuseok or something.

No.  If I ask for a ticket on the 22:00 train and they tell me standing is completely sold out, I will buy a ticket on the 23:00 train but still take the 22:00 train anyway.  If they checked my ticket, which they rarely do, I would show my 23:00 ticket and not understand anything they said as followup.  I wouldn't sneak onto a train without paying because as you pointed out, stealing is illegal and as I can't protest verbally, I like my continued patronage to show that there's a demand for more frequent trains.

And you're obviously not familiar with the route I have to take EVERY DAY, because standing has been selling out every weekend now that they canceled a bunch of trains after the recent strikes.

Urg.

1.  We have the 1.5 hour delayed start tomorrow for the university exam... but they've just shifted the day and erased 7th hour, which I'm not scheduled for, so none of my classes are canceled.

2.  The mugunghwa train is so goddamn crowded since they've canceled a few of the routes.  They've been running out of standing tickets more and more lately which forces me to just sneak on because I'm not going to wait over two hours for the next one.  If this was in my country I would be writing and calling the company to complain every day.  I can't be the only one mega inconvenienced by this.

3.  Every single day all the students and teachers who aren't me are given a carton of milk.  They give me so many shitty rice cakes and other gross bs every day that I don't want, and the milk would be the one thing I do want.  I don't understand why I don't get it... I pay into the school fund...  Luckily a few of the teachers give me theirs if they don't want it that day.

Your waygook.org username seems like a bit of a misnomer.

Also, regarding the train: You sneak on the train (read: you don't pay, so you're literally stealing). You know that's illegal, right? Stealing? Tickets for trains, especially the old, slow ones, especially not on peak days like national holidays, only sell out (if they do sell out at all) if you leave it until the very last minute before you try to buy it. I've even bought tickets as late as the night before and I've never encountered any being sold out for standing tickets, unless it was Chuseok or something.

No.  If I ask for a ticket on the 22:00 train and they tell me standing is completely sold out, I will buy a ticket on the 23:00 train but still take the 22:00 train anyway.  If they checked my ticket, which they rarely do, I would show my 23:00 ticket and not understand anything they said as followup.  I wouldn't sneak onto a train without paying because as you pointed out, stealing is illegal and as I can't protest verbally, I like my continued patronage to show that there's a demand for more frequent trains.

And you're obviously not familiar with the route I have to take EVERY DAY, because standing has been selling out every weekend now that they canceled a bunch of trains after the recent strikes.

Nope. Wrong. You are wrong. It never happened to #basedcowboydouche, so it certainly never happened to you. Please feel free to ask him what other things that you have experienced are literally impossible, because they havent happened to him.

Lol right

Urg.

1.  We have the 1.5 hour delayed start tomorrow for the university exam... but they've just shifted the day and erased 7th hour, which I'm not scheduled for, so none of my classes are canceled.

2.  The mugunghwa train is so goddamn crowded since they've canceled a few of the routes.  They've been running out of standing tickets more and more lately which forces me to just sneak on because I'm not going to wait over two hours for the next one.  If this was in my country I would be writing and calling the company to complain every day.  I can't be the only one mega inconvenienced by this.

3.  Every single day all the students and teachers who aren't me are given a carton of milk.  They give me so many shitty rice cakes and other gross bs every day that I don't want, and the milk would be the one thing I do want.  I don't understand why I don't get it... I pay into the school fund...  Luckily a few of the teachers give me theirs if they don't want it that day.

Your waygook.org username seems like a bit of a misnomer.

Also, regarding the train: You sneak on the train (read: you don't pay, so you're literally stealing). You know that's illegal, right? Stealing? Tickets for trains, especially the old, slow ones, especially not on peak days like national holidays, only sell out (if they do sell out at all) if you leave it until the very last minute before you try to buy it. I've even bought tickets as late as the night before and I've never encountered any being sold out for standing tickets, unless it was Chuseok or something.

Insufferable.

It never happened to me, so it's not possible it happened to you.

accurate description of basedcowboyshirt

It sounds like you're trying to buy your tickets at the train station right before the train you want to take. That's probably why they're sold out. Train tickets do sell out when you try to buy them too late. If you're taking it every weekend, and you know you're going to take it, why are you waiting so late to buy your tickets? It's not like you're having to suddenly make a surprise trip.

  No.  It's gotten to the point on weekends that I can try booking even a few hours in advance and it's completely sold out.  And I don't always know how long I'm going to be out and about and which train I'll want to take home.  Plus, if it wasn't me who didn't get on the train, it would just be someone else.  My entire rant is that I don't understand why they can't just run more trains since the demand is obviously there rather than just cramming everyone in like sardines at inconvenient times.

Some folks on her are seriously jacked!

Insufferable.

accurate description of basedcowboyshirt

Is someone going to start a poll?

Now, you are simply being obtuse.

I know some people are rather clueless in certain social settings, but can you really not see the difference inside and outside the classroom setting?

This sort of thing happens four times a year, after the midterms and finals of each semester, so it really isn't rocket science, unless you are socially handicapped.

Teacher asks you, "Are you busy?"  If you are a special kind of mouth-breather, you will say "no", but if you have the slightest clue, you'll ask, "why?"

If you were in the middle of teaching writing and I student asks you how to spell something, as they are writing, do you seriously think one should ask "why?"

If you do, you are beyond help.

Grab an f'ing clue!

That said, do it your way, and let us all know how it goes when you give your opinion about which answers are right or wrong on an official test, throwing your colleagues under the bus.

Some folks on her are seriously jacked!

Pecan, this is a little bit rich coming from you don't you think?

Now, you are simply being obtuse.

I know some people are rather clueless in certain social settings, but can you really not see the difference inside and outside the classroom setting?

This sort of thing happens four times a year, after the midterms and finals of each semester, so it really isn't rocket science, unless you are socially handicapped.

Teacher asks you, "Are you busy?"  If you are a special kind of mouth-breather, you will say "no", but if you have the slightest clue, you'll ask, "why?"

If you were in the middle of teaching writing and I student asks you how to spell something, as they are writing, do you seriously think one should ask "why?"

If you do, you are beyond help.

Grab an f'ing clue!

That said, do it your way, and let us all know how it goes when you give your opinion about which answers are right or wrong on an official test, throwing your colleagues under the bus.

Some folks on her are seriously jacked!

Pecan, this is a little bit rich coming from you don't you think?

I don't think so.  This is entirely the sort of thing I've come to expect from him.  Opinionated, content-free, and inflammatory.

Hindsight being 20/20, do you know understand what you did was wrong?

I ask, because it didn't sound like it from you post.

It sounded more like you were justifying it, rather than accepting responsibility for making trouble.

He said he didn't know it was a test question, so your earlier complaint didn't apply to that situation. He wasn't trying to meddle or second guessing the KETs, he was just answering a question a student had.  He wasn't "inserting himself," and he couldn't have "redirected them to ask the teacher who made the test," because he didn't even know it was from a test.

So hindsight being 20/20, do you see now how what you said doesn't apply to him there?

Well, you are either simply being ignorant or taking the piss, because only a mouth-breather would think that a student would ever ask you an English exam question for "shits-n-giggles", especially someone who is a known "ringer".

That is why, as others have said countless times, when asked a question, you ask "Why?" before sticking your foot in your mouth.

I had this happen once. Kid asked me like a week after getting their test back about something during class as I was walking around monitoring an activity. If I asked every kid who asked me a question why they were asking that question I wouldn't have time to teach...

Hey, you do it your way!  Give your opinion about questions from a test that you didn't write, nor edit!!!

When your relationship with your coteacher turns to crap, just don't come here and act the fool, like you don't know how it happened.

One time.
In three years.

My CT was like wtf. I was like woops sorry.
Then we had lunch and complained about the bad kids.

Far superior to the following;

Student: How do you spell _____?
Me: Why do you want to know?
Kid: Blank stare of complete incomprehension.

Every 30 seconds for 4-6 classes a day.

Now, you are simply being obtuse.

I know some people are rather clueless in certain social settings, but can you really not see the difference inside and outside the classroom setting?

This sort of thing happens four times a year, after the midterms and finals of each semester, so it really isn't rocket science, unless you are socially handicapped.

Teacher asks you, "Are you busy?"  If you are a special kind of mouth-breather, you will say "no", but if you have the slightest clue, you'll ask, "why?"

If you were in the middle of teaching writing and I student asks you how to spell something, as they are writing, do you seriously think one should ask "why?"

If you do, you are beyond help.

Grab an f'ing clue!

That said, do it your way, and let us all know how it goes when you give your opinion about which answers are right or wrong on an official test, throwing your colleagues under the bus.

Some folks on her are seriously jacked!

You are correct sir. I am absolutely obtuse. An entire and utter mystery to those who surround me. Impossible to understand. I've got more disjointed and unfinished plot lines in me than Lost.

That's probably why you I fucked up when reading writing this really simplistic sentence in my original comment:

during class as I was walking around monitoring an activity

And then proceeded to write not one but two rants about it.

You might be magic but my materials almost always include the current material I'm teaching and references back to what I've taught before. Unless of course, after teaching a new word it is never mentioned again what you are suggesting is impossible.

Beyond this one simple fact, my kids don't take exams. They're like 7-10 years old. I'm lucky if they don't get glue stuck in their nose half the time. They do take tests (which is what the original comment mentioned).

You might be surprised to hear but; I do not give a flying **** about your special situation. If you meant kids that take EXAMS best mention it. I and no one else on the planet cares about what you do. I don't keep a lil rolodex here with all the waygook users and all previous info they've shared on hand so I can best interpret their comments.

It sounds like you're trying to buy your tickets at the train station right before the train you want to take. That's probably why they're sold out. Train tickets do sell out when you try to buy them too late. If you're taking it every weekend, and you know you're going to take it, why are you waiting so late to buy your tickets? It's not like you're having to suddenly make a surprise trip.

  No.  It's gotten to the point on weekends that I can try booking even a few hours in advance and it's completely sold out.  And I don't always know how long I'm going to be out and about and which train I'll want to take home.  Plus, if it wasn't me who didn't get on the train, it would just be someone else.  My entire rant is that I don't understand why they can't just run more trains since the demand is obviously there rather than just cramming everyone in like sardines at inconvenient times.

AFAIK they can't run more trains because they are still on strike. they don't have the capacity to do it. they've severely curtailed train service in my city. trains to Seoul used to run multiple times per hour and now it's only once every 2-3 hours 

but i've had the same experience as you. even before the strike you used to have to book tickets a full week in advance to go to Seoul on the weekends, and come back on Sunday evening. now since the strike it's been almost impossible to book tickets in advance. i don't even bother with the train anymore.

but even before the strike you'd think they would run more trains, since they used to sell out so often.

See, that's a question I have now -- why are they on strike?

You guys are saying that the booking was bad even before the strike and that they really needed more trains anyway. Is it because they wouldn't hire enough people to service/man those trains to begin with, leaving the workers in the shaft, that would be part of the reason for the strike?

I honestly don't know what the details are.

It sounds like you're trying to buy your tickets at the train station right before the train you want to take. That's probably why they're sold out. Train tickets do sell out when you try to buy them too late. If you're taking it every weekend, and you know you're going to take it, why are you waiting so late to buy your tickets? It's not like you're having to suddenly make a surprise trip.

  No.  It's gotten to the point on weekends that I can try booking even a few hours in advance and it's completely sold out.  And I don't always know how long I'm going to be out and about and which train I'll want to take home.  Plus, if it wasn't me who didn't get on the train, it would just be someone else.  My entire rant is that I don't understand why they can't just run more trains since the demand is obviously there rather than just cramming everyone in like sardines at inconvenient times.

AFAIK they can't run more trains because they are still on strike. they don't have the capacity to do it. they've severely curtailed train service in my city. trains to Seoul used to run multiple times per hour and now it's only once every 2-3 hours 

but i've had the same experience as you. even before the strike you used to have to book tickets a full week in advance to go to Seoul on the weekends, and come back on Sunday evening. now since the strike it's been almost impossible to book tickets in advance. i don't even bother with the train anymore.

but even before the strike you'd think they would run more trains, since they used to sell out so often.

I've given up on the trains at this point. Now I'm all about that luxury bus. Because of my distance from every city worth visiting, it's about the same price and travel time as the Mugunghwa.

See, that's a question I have now -- why are they on strike?

You guys are saying that the booking was bad even before the strike and that they really needed more trains anyway. Is it because they wouldn't hire enough people to service/man those trains to begin with, leaving the workers in the shaft, that would be part of the reason for the strike?

I honestly don't know what the details are.

AFAIK the strike is because they want to move to a performance-based pay and promotion system. and the unions don't want that because they say there are no clearly defined criteria for performance. or something like that. i haven't really been following it that closely.

with regards to before the strike, i think KORAIL just doesn't have enough money to run more trains. last i read they were in massive amounts of debt and most of their train lines (the mugunghwa anyway) lose money.

never thought i'd say this but if they are losing so much money why not increase ticket prices? it seems they can. the cost of a train seat from my city to Seoul is about 2-3,000 Won LESS than the cost of an express bus, if they made it the same, i don't think many people would mind.

See, that's a question I have now -- why are they on strike?

You guys are saying that the booking was bad even before the strike and that they really needed more trains anyway. Is it because they wouldn't hire enough people to service/man those trains to begin with, leaving the workers in the shaft, that would be part of the reason for the strike?

I honestly don't know what the details are.

AFAIK the strike is because they want to move to a performance-based pay and promotion system. and the unions don't want that because they say there are no clearly defined criteria for performance. or something like that. i haven't really been following it that closely.

with regards to before the strike, i think KORAIL just doesn't have enough money to run more trains. last i read they were in massive amounts of debt and most of their train lines (the mugunghwa anyway) lose money.

never thought i'd say this but if they are losing so much money why not increase ticket prices? it seems they can. the cost of a train seat from my city to Seoul is about 2-3,000 Won LESS than the cost of an express bus, if they made it the same, i don't think many people would mind.

I don't know what city you're from, but in my experience, taking the bus from my city (Daegu) to Seoul is actually about 30 minutes faster than taking the Mugunghwa due to all the stops they make. I think that might account for the price difference.