RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

When I started working at my main school this year, every Korean teacher I talked to from my other schools said something along the lines of "Oh, you're lucky. That school does an amazing ski camp every year."

 My coteacher knows this and when I make a comment about how I'd love to go skiing (at this point not expecting to attend but hoping), says "Oh, you didn't think you could go, did you?"

I've never been invited to any other event at my school. Not even the sports day. I'm just left to desk warm instead. I've never even been invited to a hweshik.

damn that is HARSH. I know they're speaking their second language, etc, but man.

I haven't been invited on any of the field trips or whatever of my school either, but that's because only the homeroom teachers go, and I'm not a homeroom teacher. I get it. Me and the rest of the subject teachers just do whatever. I've felt jealous of people at other schools since they go on hikes and hwesiks and all that too

that being said, not to sound like Pecan, but if you had hoped to go, you should've nagged whoever was appropriate about whether or not you were going for at least a month. There's no way they'd just randomly invite the foreign teacher on an expensive trip like that unless you were really in their faces about it (and maybe not even then, but at least you would've known you weren't going sooner)

When I started working at my main school this year, every Korean teacher I talked to from my other schools said something along the lines of "Oh, you're lucky. That school does an amazing ski camp every year."

It rolls around to the time of this fabled ski camp. The school has ordered in a set of gloves and goggles for every student. There are stacks of hand warmers and snacks in the teachers room in preparation. I walk in on Friday last week to this sight and comment on it. Ski camp is mentioned. It's on a day I'm meant to be at my travel school but it's also been confirmed that all my classes at said travel schools are cancelled that day. My coteacher knows this and when I make a comment about how I'd love to go skiing (at this point not expecting to attend but hoping), says "Oh, you didn't think you could go, did you?"

I know I shouldn't have hoped to be allowed to go. I've never been invited to any other event at my school. Not even the sports day. I'm just left to desk warm instead. I've never even been invited to a hweshik. Also I was meant to be at another school that day so if they haven't arranged for me to go it might be a little troublesome...
But I dunno, I would have hoped my coteacher would show a little care for my feelings as I don't think I was super subtle about wanting to attend. Oh well, she's proved multiple times over the past year that she has no concept of other people having feelings or troubles, so this shouldn't be anything new or unexpected.

Oh well. Guess I have a wonderful day of deskwarming ahead of me as my kids and every single other staff member at the school gets to go skiing.

Umm.. I would request a your monthly pay stub... 100$ says they are charging you the "teachers" fee, yet aren't inviting you to the dinners ahhaha.. hopefully not but... jesus, you realize the "meetings" are paid for by the staff, which includes you.

I always tell my school no thanks, and I won't be contributing out of my pay for that. Plus, I don't have to waste time at dinners with old men telling me not to fondle the girls or whatever, the women talking about how they don't drink etc... and no one wanting to talk to me anyway... woot.

I haven't been invited on any of the field trips or whatever of my school either, but that's because only the homeroom teachers go, and I'm not a homeroom teacher. I get it. Me and the rest of the subject teachers just do whatever. I've felt jealous of people at other schools since they go on hikes and hwesiks and all that too

that being said, not to sound like Pecan, but if you had hoped to go, you should've nagged whoever was appropriate about whether or not you were going for at least a month. There's no way they'd just randomly invite the foreign teacher on an expensive trip like that unless you were really in their faces about it (and maybe not even then, but at least you would've known you weren't going sooner)

same goes for you

wheresmycoffee has a lot of rants he needs to get out. he's that bitter NET we were told about at orientation.

so kind of him to worry about my paycheck, but on my very first paycheck I checked exactly where each won different between my listed salary and my received salary were and there have been no abnormalities month-to-month

wheresmycoffee has a lot of rants he needs to get out

 I wish someone would just give the dude his coffee then maybe he can relax.


  Thunderous applause 

wheresmycoffee has a lot of rants he needs to get out

wheresmycoffee has a lot of rants he needs to get out

Yeah, I have been having a solidly crap week, but I think he is having a far worse one.....

wheresmycoffee has a lot of rants he needs to get out

 I wish someone would just give the dude his coffee then maybe he can relax.


  Thunderous applause 

sometimes I worry that I'm too whiny. I never have to worry again. lol

wheresmycoffee has a lot of rants he needs to get out

Personally, they're giving me life.

wheresmycoffee has a lot of rants he needs to get out

He's just imparting life lessons onto everyone, whether they want them or not. Gosh, moonbrie, why are you so hostile?

wheresmycoffee has a lot of rants he needs to get out

He's just imparting life lessons onto everyone, whether they want them or not. Gosh, moonbrie, why are you so hostile?

wheresmycoffee has a lot of rants he needs to get out

 I wish someone would just give the dude his coffee then maybe he can relax.


  Thunderous applause 

Thank you, wheresmycoffee, for ranting in the ranting thread.

I know it feels good to talk/type your problems.

that being said, not to sound like Pecan, but if you had hoped to go, you should've nagged whoever was appropriate about whether or not you were going for at least a month. There's no way they'd just randomly invite the foreign teacher on an expensive trip like that unless you were really in their faces about it (and maybe not even then, but at least you would've known you weren't going sooner)

Oh I don't blame the school in any way. Not for this one at least. I would have nagged for a month if I had known the date of the trip before the monthly calender was updated to December. I have a calender of school events but only the ones that pertain to me, which ski camp clearly doesn't.

This rant was more just general annoyance at myself for hoping when I should know that I am never going to be invited to events ever by now and my coteacher's attitude about it. Her English isn't perfect but it's good enough to realise that that is not a cool way to respond to that situation. She just doesn't care.

And WheresMyCoffee I know I need to do that but I have tried before and just got a print out of what I was paid, nothing about deductions or what wage was for what. Just you got paid x amount in 6 months. Unfortunately I have to go through my coteacher as none of the admin staff speak a word of English and she isn't the most willing to help.
To clarify the kind of person she is, she counted the trip we took to the bank to set up my bank account, in my first week in the country, as unpaid leave for me... I needed that account to receive my wages, banks don't open on weekends, and I am away from home, in the sticks 8:00-5:30 every day. Apparently no other coteacher in my province has ever logged it as such.
If I am paying that money it's almost worth it to not have to bother with dealing with it... :/

that being said, not to sound like Pecan, but if you had hoped to go, you should've nagged whoever was appropriate about whether or not you were going for at least a month. There's no way they'd just randomly invite the foreign teacher on an expensive trip like that unless you were really in their faces about it (and maybe not even then, but at least you would've known you weren't going sooner)

Oh I don't blame the school in any way. Not for this one at least. I would have nagged for a month if I had known the date of the trip before the monthly calender was updated to December. I have a calender of school events but only the ones that pertain to me, which ski camp clearly doesn't.

This rant was more just general annoyance at myself for hoping when I should know that I am never going to be invited to events ever by now and my coteacher's attitude about it. Her English isn't perfect but it's good enough to realise that that is not a cool way to respond to that situation. She just doesn't care.

To clarify the kind of person she is, she counted the trip we took to the bank to set up my bank account, in my first week in the country, as unpaid leave for me... I needed that account to receive my wages, banks don't open on weekends, and I am away from home, in the sticks 8:00-5:30 every day. Apparently no other coteacher in my province has ever logged it as such.

Man I don't get a monthly calendar, that's lucky by my standards haha

I think my coteacher logged my bank visit as unpaid leave, but my immigration visit as paid leave... *shrug*

Take sick days if you aren't renewing.

You can go on neis to see a detailed section on your pay, taxes, and deductions.

that being said, not to sound like Pecan, but if you had hoped to go, you should've nagged whoever was appropriate about whether or not you were going for at least a month. There's no way they'd just randomly invite the foreign teacher on an expensive trip like that unless you were really in their faces about it (and maybe not even then, but at least you would've known you weren't going sooner)

Oh I don't blame the school in any way. Not for this one at least. I would have nagged for a month if I had known the date of the trip before the monthly calender was updated to December. I have a calender of school events but only the ones that pertain to me, which ski camp clearly doesn't.

This rant was more just general annoyance at myself for hoping when I should know that I am never going to be invited to events ever by now and my coteacher's attitude about it. Her English isn't perfect but it's good enough to realise that that is not a cool way to respond to that situation. She just doesn't care.

And WheresMyCoffee I know I need to do that but I have tried before and just got a print out of what I was paid, nothing about deductions or what wage was for what. Just you got paid x amount in 6 months. Unfortunately I have to go through my coteacher as none of the admin staff speak a word of English and she isn't the most willing to help.
To clarify the kind of person she is, she counted the trip we took to the bank to set up my bank account, in my first week in the country, as unpaid leave for me... I needed that account to receive my wages, banks don't open on weekends, and I am away from home, in the sticks 8:00-5:30 every day. Apparently no other coteacher in my province has ever logged it as such.
If I am paying that money it's almost worth it to not have to bother with dealing with it... :/

Rates vary among schools but mine is $50 a month so that would quickly add up to a hefty chunk of change. My school asked me at the beginning if I wanted to pay into it though, so I was made well aware that it was optional.

You should ask the admin office yourself for your monthly pay stubs, even if you just show them the Korean on a written piece of paper. I think it should be " 월급 명세서 주세요" (monthly salary statement, please) according to someone's post from long ago that I had written down.

To clarify the kind of person she is, she counted the trip we took to the bank to set up my bank account, in my first week in the country, as unpaid leave for me... I needed that account to receive my wages, banks don't open on weekends, and I am away from home, in the sticks 8:00-5:30 every day. Apparently no other coteacher in my province has ever logged it as such.
If I am paying that money it's almost worth it to not have to bother with dealing with it... :/

She probably logged it as (외출) 'going out' rather than '무급 휴가' unpaid leave.  I had to take my laptop to the repairers last year and my vice-principal told me to do it as 'going out'.  Only took thirty minutes.  Bit stupid really.  Thing is, you aren't actually deducted money if over the whole year, your 'going out' or 'unpaid leave' adds up to a total day.  So at the end of last year I only had 6.5 hours, but nothing was deducted as it didn't make the full day.

Ooh that's good to know! I'm sure mine won't end up equalling that either

that being said, not to sound like Pecan, but if you had hoped to go, you should've nagged whoever was appropriate about whether or not you were going for at least a month. There's no way they'd just randomly invite the foreign teacher on an expensive trip like that unless you were really in their faces about it (and maybe not even then, but at least you would've known you weren't going sooner)

Oh I don't blame the school in any way. Not for this one at least. I would have nagged for a month if I had known the date of the trip before the monthly calender was updated to December. I have a calender of school events but only the ones that pertain to me, which ski camp clearly doesn't.

This rant was more just general annoyance at myself for hoping when I should know that I am never going to be invited to events ever by now and my coteacher's attitude about it. Her English isn't perfect but it's good enough to realise that that is not a cool way to respond to that situation. She just doesn't care.

And WheresMyCoffee I know I need to do that but I have tried before and just got a print out of what I was paid, nothing about deductions or what wage was for what. Just you got paid x amount in 6 months. Unfortunately I have to go through my coteacher as none of the admin staff speak a word of English and she isn't the most willing to help.
To clarify the kind of person she is, she counted the trip we took to the bank to set up my bank account, in my first week in the country, as unpaid leave for me... I needed that account to receive my wages, banks don't open on weekends, and I am away from home, in the sticks 8:00-5:30 every day. Apparently no other coteacher in my province has ever logged it as such.
If I am paying that money it's almost worth it to not have to bother with dealing with it... :/

seriousy, ffs.... STAND UP FOR YOUR ****** SELF! Listen to those around you. They are stealing from you, also THEY HAVE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A MONTHLY STATEMENT if you ask for it, not some bullshit paper. I don't know whats worse, people that are willing to be walked over, or actual problems at work due to Korean staff.

No wonder I have only been asked to resign at 1 of my previous schools, because they want a pushover NET that they can take advantage off. Your bank is a business trip, not unpaid leave.

You want to complain about stuff fine. Rant about stuff fine, WHEN YOU ACTUALLY TRY AND DO SOMETHING about it, and it still is a struggle. For the most part, Koreans are the shadiest people ever, they will stab family in the back for money, you NEED to put your foot down.

If you don't know something, don't just roll over, ask people that have experienced it, call the coordinator.

wheresmycoffee: the arbiter of what is and isn't ok to rant about in the ranting thread

To clarify the kind of person she is, she counted the trip we took to the bank to set up my bank account, in my first week in the country, as unpaid leave for me... I needed that account to receive my wages, banks don't open on weekends, and I am away from home, in the sticks 8:00-5:30 every day. Apparently no other coteacher in my province has ever logged it as such.
If I am paying that money it's almost worth it to not have to bother with dealing with it... :/

She probably logged it as (외출) 'going out' rather than '무급 휴가' unpaid leave.  I had to take my laptop to the repairers last year and my vice-principal told me to do it as 'going out'.  Only took thirty minutes.  Bit stupid really.  Thing is, you aren't actually deducted money if over the whole year, your 'going out' or 'unpaid leave' adds up to a total day.  So at the end of last year I only had 6.5 hours, but nothing was deducted as it didn't make the full day.

Ooh that's good to know! I'm sure mine won't end up equalling that either

That's cool.  As you're paid by the day they can't seriously deduct salary for hours away.  So just keep it under the 7 hour mark (1 hour lunch not included on NEIS).  (외출) 'going out' is if you intend on coming back to school.  They also include (조퇴) 'early leave' if you have no intention on coming back to school.  As my dad came to Korea last year, we had two afternoons (2x3 hours) together, that was done as 'early leave'.  They have all this stuff in the admin, for all the teachers.  They can print off your list and you can check what's been done.  They had put one hospital visit down as 'going out' whereas it should have been a hospital half day.  He changed it, so no harm done.

oh right... thanks for reminding me... haha

I've used up like two vacation days on early leave already

I guess I wasn't thinking about it like that because I never even considered giving up pay as opposed to vacation days