RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Because it's time and money being wasted.
We see it, and our coworkers definitely see it. We're not at fault for any of this, obviously, but others look at us sitting around doing nothing and can't help but note what a waste of resources we are. This reflects poorly on us, and can influence how others judge the NET programme in general.
    Why in the name of all that's holy would people want to throw money into a programme that is paying folk to binge-watch netflix or whatever? If I were a Korean teacher, these deskwarming periods would definitely cause me to question the worth of the NET programme.

     I, personally, would much rather be working during this time. Or, barring that, send me home with reduced pay. Or heck, just send me home *with* pay: out of sight, out of mind. Forcing NETs to deskwarm is the Ministry of Education messily cutting its own throat insofar as their foreign teacher policies are concerned.

This is probably the best explanation I've ever read (and I've read a lot) on the useless time spent on desk warming. Very thorough and well thought out. Especially concerning how actual Korean teachers perceive the NET program and the NET.

On the other hand...Mr. D has a point. Signed a contract and you gotta fulfill your contract. PS teachers coming here for the first time aren't told what their duties will be, the lay out of the schedule, or how their time will be spent. And yet they sign the contract (myself included). We are getting paid to post random shit on a forum that means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. I used to be a housekeeping manager. Time could be spent deep cleaning hotel rooms or toilets. Watching and reading the intricacies of the Mueller investigation is awesome. Esp being paid for it :)


The problem arises when NET (and this includes myself) start reflecting on how much better the NET program could be run. On how things could be way more efficient. On how the English language could be taught way more effectively. Desk warming is time spent by people who mostly (generally speaking) like being productive with their time. And not "organizing files" productive. Not "cleaning the classroom" productive. NET know how shit (books, classrooms, teaching methods etc) changes on a dime here so why spend time on organizing teaching files when the next NET has a TOTALLY different teaching style?

Essentially...Mr. D is right is exclaiming his annoyance at people complaining about getting paid to chill and people complaining about how stupid Desk warming is are right to feel upset about being used as a pawn.

Except for the person who was brought back from abroad for 4 days. That person got screwed over royally for no reason.

You have no clue what you are talkig about...You have no idea why some teachers come in, and others don't...principals and vice principals who delight in mild racism to get them through their mundane lives.

Accuses me of not knowing what I am talking about, issues blanket accusation of racism against people he's never met.

Blaming people you've never met based on what, their ethnicity? Isn't that "mild racism"?

I'l write in point form as paragraphs don't seem to be understood.

It's pretty much a given that NETs leave Korea in their hoildays.
No one forced me to take a holiday abroad, but seeing family once a year is pretty much normal when living abroad.
NETs are given around 24 days.
I was asked to spilt my holiday of 24 day to return to Korea for 4 effin days to desk warm.
I had NO CLASSES in these 4 days.
This is a very ignorant thing to do.
I was then given 10 days off to complete my 24 days.
The clause in the contract is something like "vacation can't interrupt the smooth running of the school"
Sitting at a desk for 4 days does not affect "the smooth running of the school".
Other NETs can have the full 24 days off, so the insurance argument is crap.
My gripe is NOT about desk warming. I signed the contract and I know 100% that desk warming is part of the deal.
This IS about having to come back to Korea for 4 days to do NOTHING and then be given 10 days off.
This is NOT about insurance; it's pure bureaucracy and zero ability to step into someone else's shoes.
Please no more "would you rather be digging ditches" comments.

You have no clue what you are talkig about...You have no idea why some teachers come in, and others don't...principals and vice principals who delight in mild racism to get them through their mundane lives.

Accuses me of not knowing what I am talking about, issues blanket accusation of racism against people he's never met.

Blaming people you've never met based on what, their ethnicity? Isn't that "mild racism"?

Siding with Korea against all other ethnicities?, isn't that severe racism?

You'll just have to let Steelderails get away with this one.

If you've never done hard, manual labour for 20 hours a day in the sweltering sun before, not served your country, a non smoker, don't swig whiskey from the bottle while checking your fantasy football results, not a dick waving Trump supporting republican and most importantly; complain about Korea then you are not a real man.

We will just have to accept it. We are betas. We are wrong

If you've never done hard, manual labour for 20 hours a day in the sweltering sun before, not served your country, a non smoker, don't swig whiskey from the bottle while checking your fantasy football results, not a dick waving Trump supporting republican and most importantly; complain about Korea then you are not a real man

And organise your whole life though your smart phone in Korean 

Why are there so often so many guys in the public bathrooms cleaning their teeth, washing their face, blowing their nose in the sink and coughing up blood? Man it's disgusting. Gets me pretty moody especially when I am a bit tired and hungry. If I clean my teeth at the sink at least I move away so others can get in. I don't know what happens in the female nathrooms but I think it would probably be more civilized than this. 

Internet explorer is so crap. I am at a public library. Log into Facebook because I needed the full Facebook site. Try to log out and it doesn't display the log out settings button. So I install chrome to see if I can find it and it's there on chrome and I can log out. I go back to IE and it's still logged in. I delete all the stupid toolbars and I still can't get to then top of the page to log out. So I restart the computer and then use chrome that I had to install. Problem fixed now but wasted a lot of time. Bye.

Why are there so often so many guys in the public bathrooms cleaning their teeth, washing their face, blowing their nose in the sink and coughing up blood? Man it's disgusting. Gets me pretty moody especially when I am a bit tired and hungry. If I clean my teeth at the sink at least I move away so others can get in. I don't know what happens in the female nathrooms but I think it would probably be more civilized than this.

Yeah, I've lived in 10 countries and this place is the most extreme for crowding in public toilets. I don't know whether there aren't enough of them or Korean men like to go more often but they're nearly always full. It's incredibly rare to go into one and find no one there.   

this came up in my suggested videos on youtube.

right on cue with regards to the whole deskwarming argument:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQAv0Bn96Gc

No one forced me to take a holiday abroad, but seeing family once a year is pretty much normal when living abroad.

Going home to see your family is not a right. It is what you chose to do with your vacation time. You can't be upset with your school because they "only" gave you 14 days to visit your family (which in fact is not what they did- they gave you 14 days vacation time and then 10 days as they were contractually obligated to do).

I had NO CLASSES in these 4 days.
This is a very ignorant thing to do.

SCHOOL WAS IN SESSION!!!

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".

Absolutely you had to be there. We're not talking 4 days when school wasn't in session and there were no camps. You had students coming to school as part of the school calendar year.

Sorry, you have zero leg to stand on. This job doesn't exist to provide you a travel experience and time off with family. Your purpose for being here is not to explore the world. Your purpose here is to fulfill the terms of your contract and that means being at work during the school year.

Other NETs can have the full 24 days off, so the insurance argument is crap.

Other VPs chose to do that and assume the risk. They can do that. They will also suffer the consequences if something goes wrong.

YOU CANNOT BLAME SOMEONE FOR NOT WANTING TO ACCEPT RISK TO THEMSELVES.

This is NOT about insurance; it's pure bureaucracy and zero ability to step into someone else's shoes.

AGAIN, YOU ARE THE ONE NOT STEPPING INTO SOMEONE ELSE'S SHOES.
YOU ARE THE ONLY LOOKING AT THIS THROUGH YOUR SELFISH PERSPECTIVE.

You don't even realize how you are selfish and how you are failing to step into someone else's shoes.

No one forced me to take a holiday abroad, but seeing family once a year is pretty much normal when living abroad.

Going home to see your family is not a right. It is what you chose to do with your vacation time. You can't be upset with your school because they "only" gave you 14 days to visit your family (which in fact is not what they did- they gave you 14 days vacation time and then 10 days as they were contractually obligated to do).

I had NO CLASSES in these 4 days.
This is a very ignorant thing to do.

SCHOOL WAS IN SESSION!!!

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".

Absolutely you had to be there. We're not talking 4 days when school wasn't in session and there were no camps. You had students coming to school as part of the school calendar year.

Sorry, you have zero leg to stand on. This job doesn't exist to provide you a travel experience and time off with family. Your purpose for being here is not to explore the world. Your purpose here is to fulfill the terms of your contract and that means being at work during the school year.

Other NETs can have the full 24 days off, so the insurance argument is crap.

Other VPs chose to do that and assume the risk. They can do that. They will also suffer the consequences if something goes wrong.

YOU CANNOT BLAME SOMEONE FOR NOT WANTING TO ACCEPT RISK TO THEMSELVES.

This is NOT about insurance; it's pure bureaucracy and zero ability to step into someone else's shoes.

AGAIN, YOU ARE THE ONE NOT STEPPING INTO SOMEONE ELSE'S SHOES.
YOU ARE THE ONLY LOOKING AT THIS THROUGH YOUR SELFISH PERSPECTIVE.

You don't even realize how you are selfish and how you are failing to step into someone else's shoes.

Have you ever had yourself checked for autism? Just saying.

Article 14. (Paid leave). If the requested vacation period intereferes with the smooth operation of the programming of the school or institute, the Employer and the Employee shall negotiate an altenative vacation date(s) during the vacation.

I had no classes; therefore, my absence in no way affected the smooth running of the school.

As I've said several times, other schools allow their NETs to have their winter holiday without the need the come back.

The decision was based purely on a look at the calander. This had nothing to do wih risk. Stop talking about risk. I was allowed out at lunchtime to go to the shops last week without the need to enter my absence from the school into the computer system. There was risk in this, but luckily at least the head teacher has a little sense and flexibility.

I've never experienced this level of stupidity and bureaucracy anywhere in the workplace apart from Korea, and, for the record, I've done the rounds in Asia. This is really something else.

Talking about being selfish and stepping into someone else's shoes in this context is simply beyond me. What planet do you live on?

This had nothing to do with risk. Stop talking about risk. I was allowed out at lunchtime to go to the shops last week without the need to enter my absence from the school into the computer system. There was risk in this, but luckily at least the head teacher has a little sense and flexibility.

I hate this shit. I'm 32 and I've been here for 5 years. I don't need to be held and asked if I can cross the street by myself.

This had nothing to do with risk. Stop talking about risk. I was allowed out at lunchtime to go to the shops last week without the need to enter my absence from the school into the computer system. There was risk in this, but luckily at least the head teacher has a little sense and flexibility.

I hate this shit. I'm 32 and I've been here for 5 years. I don't need to be held and asked if I can cross the street by myself.

YOU SIGNED THE CONTRACT! Stop being selfish and entitled. I don't know, people sign contracts and expect to be able to grab a kimbab oacross the road without entering all of their details into a computer system. What's next? Flushing toilet paper instead of putting it in the nasty overflowing bin? Sheesh!

There's an Olleh store on every corner, but for some reason I have to go aaalllll the way back to Gangnam to end my contract. I have an egg that I have to pay off (since I'm cutting the contract a year short), but you'd think I could pay for that at any shop. I might jump into an Olleh store near here and see if I can cancel it, just in case the employee my coteacher talked to was mistaken.

There's an Olleh store on every corner, but for some reason I have to go aaalllll the way back to Gangnam to end my contract. I have an egg that I have to pay off (since I'm cutting the contract a year short), but you'd think I could pay for that at any shop. I might jump into an Olleh store near here and see if I can cancel it, just in case the employee my coteacher talked to was mistaken.

Yeah, I don't understand the way they have this kind of thing set up, either, but it's true, many businesses (especially cell phone businesses) restrict certain transactions so that they can only be done at certain locations (being described as "main" branches). Could be a law, could be some kind of policy meant to guard against something shady, could be they only want certain trained employees to have access to that kind of information and will only provide that kind of training to certain branches, I've got no idea.

When I bought my new phone, there was literally only one KT store in my entire town where I could go to get a new SIM card for it, and since that particular store was NOT open on weekends (wtf?), I had to take a taxi right after work to get there before it would close. Took me three ****** days to finally make it on time, lmao.

those phone shops are always open on weekends, but you can't even buy a phone on the weekend!
seems completely nonsensical, both in terms of policy and why they're even open..

those phone shops are always open on weekends, but you can't even buy a phone on the weekend!
seems completely nonsensical, both in terms of policy and why they're even open..

Is it still the policy that they can’t activate phones on weekends?

those phone shops are always open on weekends, but you can't even buy a phone on the weekend!
seems completely nonsensical, both in terms of policy and why they're even open..

Is it still the policy that they can’t activate phones on weekends?

yeah. why is that?

those phone shops are always open on weekends, but you can't even buy a phone on the weekend!
seems completely nonsensical, both in terms of policy and why they're even open..

I agree that the whole "shutting off the activation servers over the weekend" thing is outdated and silly. That said... if you already have service with the company, you can buy a new phone over the weekend (so long as it doesn't need activated). I just did this a few weeks back. I'd been using the same phone since 2014 and decided that it was time for an upgrade.  All they really have to do in that case is swap the sim cards. So I'd imagine that is the kind of thing they're open for on the weekends.