RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

At my main school, both of my fabulous co-teachers who I get along with so well are leaving. Also many of the other teachers I get along with. I hope my new handler and co-teacher are as great as these ones but it may be too much to hope for.

I'm in the same boat at my second school - my main co-teacher, who has been fantastic at keeping me updated with schedule changes etc, is leaving and isn't getting replaced, and the others are all 60+ dinosaurs who can't speak much English. So I feel ya pain 

Just saw a woman walking with a child who looked 2 years old or less.  Walked to the car, open the back door,  place child on back seat, no safety measures, not even a seat belt, close the door, get in front seat PUT ON HER SEATBELT and drive away.  As long as you are safe love!

I'll do ya one better. There's a car I walk past every day on my way to school, and the parents are putting the toddler in the front seat sans carseat. Never seen them put a seatbelt on him either.

I can do one better.  A couple of times, I've seen a dad allowing his 2/3 year-old son to stand between the front seats, with his head out the sunroof waving his arms around, whilst driving down a road at about 60 km/h.

Sounds like you guys need to get some cotton wool and bubble wrap, approach the parents in question and tell them, "this is how we do it in my country!" I'm sure they'll appreciate your help.

That ******. That fuckityfuckfuckfuck ing ******.

Long story short, I have a new arch-nemesis.

In lighter news, I've lost two USBs and a sports bra in this past week. No idea where they are, but they're gone.

Missing bra? You can’t “long story short” that one.

:)

Missing bra? You can’t “long story short” that one.

:)

Haha, the missing bra is completely unrelated to the "long story short," but if it makes you feel better I suspect that someone might have decided to keep it for themselves since there's only really one place I could have left it, and it hadn't been reported as thrown out or returned to the front desk. And since most women here would never be able to fit into my bras, I suspect it's become a showpiece. Which, I don't blame them. It was a very nice sports bra. xD

Missing bra? You can’t “long story short” that one.

:)

Haha, the missing bra is completely unrelated to the "long story short," but if it makes you feel better I suspect that someone might have decided to keep it for themselves since there's only really one place I could have left it, and it hadn't been reported as thrown out or returned to the front desk. And since most women here would never be able to fit into my bras, I suspect it's become a showpiece. Which, I don't blame them. It was a very nice sports bra. xD

Much better; thank you.

:)

Much better; thank you.

:)

Anytime.

Much better; thank you.

:)

Anytime.

I love The IT Crowd! And that would have been quite the story.

Deskwarming is boring and irritating. I only have 8 days left in this country, and I could be out sightseeing or packing but nooooo. I have to come to school and sit here. 

I've heard of things like this happening to other people, I never dreamed it would happen to me.

I took vacation days Monday and yesterday.  I come back today, and I see the cars in the parking lot.  I get to the teachers' room.  It is locked and empty.  I think maybe the teachers are in a meeting, so I go to the multipurpose room and then the gym.  Both empty. 

I don't know what to think.  Zombie apocalypse?  Alien abduction?  Did I miss the rapture?

I call my coT and another T.  Neither answer. 

I send my coT a text.  She responds that they'll all in another city for training.

It would have been so nice to be told.   

I've heard of things like this happening to other people, I never dreamed it would happen to me.

I took vacation days Monday and yesterday.  I come back today, and I see the cars in the parking lot.  I get to the teachers' room.  It is locked and empty.  I think maybe the teachers are in a meeting, so I go to the multipurpose room and then the gym.  Both empty. 

I don't know what to think.  Zombie apocalypse?  Alien abduction?  Did I miss the rapture?

I call my coT and another T.  Neither answer. 

I send my coT a text.  She responds that they'll all in another city for training.

It would have been so nice to be told.

Tell them to enjoy their day at the Olympics.

Deskwarming is boring and irritating. I only have 8 days left in this country, and I could be out sightseeing or packing but nooooo. I have to come to school and sit here. 

I'm in the same boat. Take solace in how diligent you are currently being.

Jokes aside, I feel like if you're not renewing you should have 2 "clear out" days where you can stay home and sort your sh*t out. It's not too much to ask considering they cut vacation days from 21 to 18 out of sheer spite.

The resentment at the moment is strong. I didn't mind too much at first since it gave me a reason to jump out of bed, but not this week. This is an absurd waste of time.

Deskwarming is boring and irritating. I only have 8 days left in this country, and I could be out sightseeing or packing but nooooo. I have to come to school and sit here. 

same same. it's my last week, contract ends at the end of this week. have had to come in the whole week and i am doing literally nothing.

my desk is all cleaned out, no lessons to prepare since i'm leaving the country, but nope, gotta come in and sit here all day for 8 hours doing sweet f-all because "it is what the contract says".  meanwhile none of the korean teachers are here, despite the fact that classes start next week.

it's insane. the NET who has nothing to do and is leaving the country has to come to work, but the korean teachers who should have classes and paperwork to prepare are scratching their hairy balls at home.

not going to miss this country or this job one bit.

Deskwarming is boring and irritating. I only have 8 days left in this country, and I could be out sightseeing or packing but nooooo. I have to come to school and sit here. 

same same. it's my last week, contract ends at the end of this week. have had to come in the whole week and i am doing literally nothing.

my desk is all cleaned out, no lessons to prepare since i'm leaving the country, but nope, gotta come in and sit here all day for 8 hours doing sweet f-all because "it is what the contract says".  meanwhile none of the korean teachers are here, despite the fact that classes start next week.

it's insane. the NET who has nothing to do and is leaving the country has to come to work, but the korean teachers who should have classes and paperwork to prepare are scratching their hairy balls at home.

not going to miss this country or this job one bit.

Seems a few of us are in the same annoying position. Leaving for good then? What do you have planned for life after Korea if you don't mind me asking?

Me: *Spends all of the winter break preparing lessons for the new semester*

My Co-Teacher, one week before the semester starts: There will be a new curriculum, and a new textbook!

 

they cut vacation days from 21 to 18 out of sheer spite.

Not spite. The purpose of that was to be able to fit in more English camp days during the break / get more work out of the native English teacher.

Me: *Spends all of the winter break preparing lessons for the new semester*

My Co-Teacher, one week before the semester starts: There will be a new curriculum, and a new textbook!

 

Don't you just love being kept in the loop?! 

Seems a few of us are in the same annoying position. Leaving for good then? What do you have planned for life after Korea if you don't mind me asking?

Same situation here. My plan? Return home (US), see family, buy a car and drive to Moab/Canyonlands area and camp and hike for several weeks. Relatively no people, fresh air, and no internet. The exact opposite of this country. Then, hitting up Denver for some much needed greenery time. After that headed to glacier national park for work.

Glad to have experienced this job but it wasn't what I had thought it was when applying.

How about you?

Why oh why did they split my holidays by bringing me back from abroad for 4 effin days of deskwarming!!!! 4 days!!!!  I mean, I did absolutley nothing in those 4 days. Zilch!!!! The kids were eating pizza and watching movies but I had to come back as I had to "work".

Deskwarming is boring and irritating. I only have 8 days left in this country, and I could be out sightseeing or packing but nooooo. I have to come to school and sit here. 

same same. it's my last week, contract ends at the end of this week. have had to come in the whole week and i am doing literally nothing.

my desk is all cleaned out, no lessons to prepare since i'm leaving the country, but nope, gotta come in and sit here all day for 8 hours doing sweet f-all because "it is what the contract says".  meanwhile none of the korean teachers are here, despite the fact that classes start next week.

it's insane. the NET who has nothing to do and is leaving the country has to come to work, but the korean teachers who should have classes and paperwork to prepare are scratching their hairy balls at home.

not going to miss this country or this job one bit.

Complains about Koreans not following contracts, complains when he has to follow the contract.

You signed the contract. You have to show up and be there. Besides, you're getting paid money to literally DO NOTHING.

You clearly have never worked an hourly pay job in which if you didn't get enough hours per pay period, you might not be able to go out and have fun or pay a bill. You also have clearly never done a job involving hard labor.
The Korean teachers don't have to come in because they are on a different contract and have different rights and privileges that are enabled through collective bargaining and being certified teachers and members of their respective unions.

Spoiled NET: "What do you do to earn you salary for the month?"
Person Who Does Manual Labor: "I have to be on site at 6AM and we don't leave until the project is finished. During that time I carry heavy objects while exposed to the elements, do energy expending repetitive motion work, and risk maiming. How about you?"
Spoiled NET: My boss is making me come in and sit at my desk and watch Netflix so I get paid. Screw this job. They're horrible. They won't let me off work and still pay me so I can run around town taking pictures for my Instagram account.

 

Anyone who whines and moans about deskwarming should be handed a shovel and told to dig ditches for 12 hours.

When I first started working, I once made the mistake of saying the words "This sucks. I've got nothing to do." while it was dead and we were just staring into space but couldn't get sent home yet. My manager promptly said "You want something to do? Go take down the ceiling panels and clean them."

That taught me about ever complaining about sitting around with nothing to do while getting paid good money to do it.

Now before you go and say "That's tyrannical." You know what it did? It instilled a work ethic, so that when I became manager (and even before then) sometimes during dead periods we would find things to do like clean this or do that or get something ready for the next shift to make their job easier.

Maybe you should do the same. Print out some stuff for the next teacher. Spruce up the classroom. Organize some files. If you're coming back next semester, get started on some plans and materials. Organize some books. Take out some trash.

"My school is selfish they never think of me."
"So what are you doing for the school or the next teacher?"
"Nothing, that's not my problem."