RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

People who put their feet up on chairs really bug me.  I mean, sitting down and then resting both feet on the seat of another chair. 

I see it everywhere I go so is it acceptable in Korea?  My students do it in class, my coworkers do it in the office, and I've seen people in coffee shops doing it.

I don't know why it annoys me so much.

yeah, it's one of those weird double standards in korea

putting both feet on a chair -> mostly fine
but wearing shoes inside your home -> ew, dirty!

wearing indoor slippers outside and to the bathroom -> fine
wearing your normal shoes in the classroom -> ew, dirty!

On the empty seat next to you in the cinema right next to your head  WTF

People who put their feet up on chairs really bug me.  I mean, sitting down and then resting both feet on the seat of another chair. 

I see it everywhere I go so is it acceptable in Korea?  My students do it in class, my coworkers do it in the office, and I've seen people in coffee shops doing it.

I don't know why it annoys me so much.

yeah, it's one of those weird double standards in korea

putting both feet on a chair -> mostly fine
but wearing shoes inside your home -> ew, dirty!

wearing indoor slippers outside and to the bathroom -> fine
wearing your normal shoes in the classroom -> ew, dirty!

I think that part of that is that they all know the rules, but few of them understand the reason for the rules. They see it as etiquette rather than a public health practice.

The reason I think this is happening is because teachers get harassed by parents and from a teacher's perspective it's not worth it to go to battle against White Wine or Tiger Moms who have nothing better to do.

Haven't come across this expression before, and Urban Dictionary is only giving me smut. I have a general sense of what it might mean, but... my general guesses usually end up embarrassing me, so...

A White Wine Mom in my mind has kid(s) and kind of regrets it. She thought it would be more like what she's seen on TV and movies. She's overwhelmed. Her husband works as a highly placed executive at a company which we all purchase products from. The family's finances are so safe that outside help can be paid for to do most of the parenting. Her friends hired Filipinas, so she does the same. Her kid accidentally called the nanny, mom. She was angry, but also felt a tinge of guilt. As they leave for the playground, she glances into her glass-door refrigerator, then at the kitchen clock. It's not too early, she tells herself.

Nice...

If I may add, calls other White Wine Moms her girlfriends, enjoys blowing a fortune on fancy gym memberships just so she can do yoga with her girlfriends and bitch about thinner girlfriends, to her girlfriends, at the juice bar. She gets physically aroused at the mention of Michael Buble. Thinks her little spazoid is going to be the next piano prodigy after he/she plonked together a weak ass Fur Elise, in the Key of 'H'.
Uses the word poofy to mean stinky. Couldn't park her SUV between 2 rugby posts. Speaking of posts, spends the next 6 months posting memes and other inspirational drivel on Facebook telling people to "Live dangerously", "Take the road less travelled" etc. after she took one puff from a joint at Muriel's bridal shower. 

Apparently, YouTube is broken...    I thought it was just my computer, but it won't work even on my phone.  Dang!  I needed to add some videos to my lesson plans...  Shoot!! 

So it's not just my computer.  I will look for the explanation and forthcoming apology on reddit. 

So it's not just my computer.  I will look for the explanation and forthcoming apology on reddit.

Savage 

So it's not just my computer.  I will look for the explanation and forthcoming apology on reddit.

Just make your own videos.

Doing a 5th year was a mistake. I should've left after I finished my 4th year. I don't know anymore if the kids are just especially poorly behaved and disengaged in this school or if my year long depression and lack of motivation is making my classes awful or if I'm just a bad teacher and I've been an awful teacher the whole time. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle: the kids are low level and thus difficult to engage, I'm depressed and unmotivated so producing bad lessons and so this whole year has been a colossal failure. Especially with 6th grade. The other grades are okay but 6th grade...

They hate role play. They hate writing games. They hate quiz based games. They don't talk. They hate charades. They hate pictionary. The hate broken telephone. The text book is bad. I've given up. I teach without a coteacher and the homeroom teachers are a waste of space in my classes...I don't know what to do with them anymore. I can barely bring myself to care.

My plan is to retrain to teach art when I get home but I'm starting to question if I should even be teaching at all. Maybe art, a subject I care about, will be better for me. Maybe teaching with a curriculum that isn't totally chained to a rubbish textbook will be better for me. Maybe teaching in an environment where I don't feel totally useless and invisible will be better for me. Maybe the 6 months of a 'break' and a year retraining will be good for me. I really don't know. Maybe I should seek some kind of medication for my depression. Maybe that would help. I don't know.

I have 6th grade tomorrow and I just don't want to teach them at all. I'm giving up on a game because they hate all of them and giving them a worksheet. I don't know what else to do with them.

So it's not just my computer.  I will look for the explanation and forthcoming apology on reddit.

Just make your own videos.

SHOTS FIRED

So it's not just my computer.  I will look for the explanation and forthcoming apology on reddit.

Just make your own videos.

SHOTS FIRED

I really hate the "well, do it yourself" argument. We're not subsistence farmers anymore.

We specialise. And that means that we rely on other people for goods and services. The VAST majority of them.

I've heard people say "Man, that flight/cell phone plan is way too much," to which they are told

  Well, make your own airline/cell company then.

Like, are you insane? It's just the dumbest argument imaginable.

  This food is terrible.

  WELL THEN WHY DON'T YOU OPEN A FARM AND ONLY GROW FOOD FOR YOURSELF AND THEN COOK 100% OF YOUR MEALS, HUH? STOP COMPLAINING.

Doing a 5th year was a mistake. I should've left after I finished my 4th year. I don't know anymore if the kids are just especially poorly behaved and disengaged in this school or if my year long depression and lack of motivation is making my classes awful or if I'm just a bad teacher and I've been an awful teacher the whole time. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle: the kids are low level and thus difficult to engage, I'm depressed and unmotivated so producing bad lessons and so this whole year has been a colossal failure. Especially with 6th grade. The other grades are okay but 6th grade...

They hate role play. They hate writing games. They hate quiz based games. They don't talk. They hate charades. They hate pictionary. The hate broken telephone. The text book is bad. I've given up. I teach without a coteacher and the homeroom teachers are a waste of space in my classes...I don't know what to do with them anymore. I can barely bring myself to care.

My plan is to retrain to teach art when I get home but I'm starting to question if I should even be teaching at all. Maybe art, a subject I care about, will be better for me. Maybe teaching with a curriculum that isn't totally chained to a rubbish textbook will be better for me. Maybe teaching in an environment where I don't feel totally useless and invisible will be better for me. Maybe the 6 months of a 'break' and a year retraining will be good for me. I really don't know. Maybe I should seek some kind of medication for my depression. Maybe that would help. I don't know.

I have 6th grade tomorrow and I just don't want to teach them at all. I'm giving up on a game because they hate all of them and giving them a worksheet. I don't know what else to do with them.

Sounds like you're having a rough time.  From the sound of things, it seems like you need to take a break from teaching altogether.  I doubt the kids ability to care has anything to do with your teaching methods.  Some kids just don't care.  Don't let that deter you from teaching.  Also, just from reading your 'rant' it does sound like you're depressed. [I'm no professional]  Whether it's from teaching or life in general, the best thing [in my opinion] is you need to take care of you.  If you feel like you need to see a professional, then please, do so.  I honestly think that [again, my opinion] you need to take some time off and just work on yourself before you do anything.  If art is what you love, then more power to you!  Go teach!  But again, make sure you're taking care of you before you attempt to take care of others. 

Doing a 5th year was a mistake. I should've left after I finished my 4th year. I don't know anymore if the kids are just especially poorly behaved and disengaged in this school or if my year long depression and lack of motivation is making my classes awful or if I'm just a bad teacher and I've been an awful teacher the whole time. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle: the kids are low level and thus difficult to engage, I'm depressed and unmotivated so producing bad lessons and so this whole year has been a colossal failure. Especially with 6th grade. The other grades are okay but 6th grade...

They hate role play. They hate writing games. They hate quiz based games. They don't talk. They hate charades. They hate pictionary. The hate broken telephone. The text book is bad. I've given up. I teach without a coteacher and the homeroom teachers are a waste of space in my classes...I don't know what to do with them anymore. I can barely bring myself to care.

My plan is to retrain to teach art when I get home but I'm starting to question if I should even be teaching at all. Maybe art, a subject I care about, will be better for me. Maybe teaching with a curriculum that isn't totally chained to a rubbish textbook will be better for me. Maybe teaching in an environment where I don't feel totally useless and invisible will be better for me. Maybe the 6 months of a 'break' and a year retraining will be good for me. I really don't know. Maybe I should seek some kind of medication for my depression. Maybe that would help. I don't know.

I have 6th grade tomorrow and I just don't want to teach them at all. I'm giving up on a game because they hate all of them and giving them a worksheet. I don't know what else to do with them.

Sorry to hear you're having a rough time. I know it can be really difficult to bring your A-game when dealing with depression. I dealt with it for a year teaching in Korea--mostly because the hagwon I was at was so toxic--and I'm dealing with it again as a teacher in the States. I wouldn't just jump to the conclusion you're a bad teacher, because depression just takes all the joy out of you and the kids can sense it and return those feelings back to you. Depression amplifies the smallest little things; something you'd laugh or brush off becomes a major issue. That sense of uselessness can be terrible. I don't know if you're looking for specific advice, but for me, my depression always becomes worse when I don't feel like I'm working towards a larger goal. As teachers, we're constantly being told we're in it for the "joy of teaching" or to "positively impact the lives of kids;" the other things like our personal happiness or decent pay aren't important. It leads us to thinking that if we don't love teaching for the sake of it, we must be selfish jerks. That's nonsense of course. For me, when I feel like I'm working towards something that will better my own life or improve me as a person, the depression starts to go away.

Taxi drivers who know how to use GPS but refuse to so that they can feign ignorance when they try to take the long way around.

Taxi drivers who know how to use GPS but refuse to so that they can feign ignorance when they try to take the long way around.

I HATE THAT!

  XX초등학교 가주세요

  Where is that?

  It's next to XX Catholic church. on XX Road (yes, XX are all the same hangeul symbols, it's a 5 min drive away, it's not obscure)

  I don't know.

  You havce navi, yes?

  Yes.

  Use that, my pronunciation is not the issue, just type it in.

  Aiiishhhhhhhhhhhhhh h

WHY THE FCCK IS TYPING 8 HANGEUL SYMBOLS A HUGE DEAL??? FFS

Taxi drivers who know how to use GPS but refuse to so that they can feign ignorance when they try to take the long way around.

I HATE THAT!
  XX초등학교 가주세요
  Where is that?
  It's next to XX Catholic church. on XX Road (yes, XX are all the same hangeul symbols, it's a 5 min drive away, it's not obscure)
  I don't know.
  You havce navi, yes?
  Yes.
  Use that, my pronunciation is not the issue, just type it in.
  Aiiishhhhhhhhhhhhhh h
WHY THE FCCK IS TYPING 8 HANGEUL SYMBOLS A HUGE DEAL??? FFS

+1.
Too right.
If I can type, search, and find an address all in Korean on my navi, so can a taxi driver who's done it a gazillion times.
I live in a small town, and I've had taxi drivers not know about the school I work at.
   "You know, the only middle school in town? The one with over a thousand students? The one that gives the entire surrounding neighbourhood its name? Yes, that one." 
   I get that taxis rove, and the driver may not be from the area, but c'mon!

Taxi drivers who know how to use GPS but refuse to so that they can feign ignorance when they try to take the long way around.

I HATE THAT!

  XX초등학교 가주세요

  Where is that?

  It's next to XX Catholic church. on XX Road (yes, XX are all the same hangeul symbols, it's a 5 min drive away, it's not obscure)

  I don't know.

  You havce navi, yes?

  Yes.

  Use that, my pronunciation is not the issue, just type it in.

  Aiiishhhhhhhhhhhhhh h

WHY THE FCCK IS TYPING 8 HANGEUL SYMBOLS A HUGE DEAL??? FFS

Can't be bothered with a few more seconds worth of effort

Taxi drivers who know how to use GPS but refuse to so that they can feign ignorance when they try to take the long way around.

I HATE THAT!

  XX초등학교 가주세요

  Where is that?

  It's next to XX Catholic church. on XX Road (yes, XX are all the same hangeul symbols, it's a 5 min drive away, it's not obscure)

  I don't know.

  You havce navi, yes?

  Yes.

  Use that, my pronunciation is not the issue, just type it in.

  Aiiishhhhhhhhhhhhhh h

WHY THE FCCK IS TYPING 8 HANGEUL SYMBOLS A HUGE DEAL??? FFS

Can't be bothered with a few more seconds worth of effort

I whip out naver maps, and type it if he takes me than 10 seconds to do so.

My mum  bought my wife a birthday present via amazon and had it sent to us here.
Amazon uses Apex shipping agents for delivery and Apex seem to change who they use on the final delivery every month. Recently it has been Hanjin Express Delivery. Hanjin are the most useless delivery company I have ever seen. I'm not in the least bit surprised they went bankrupt last year.

Tracked the package. Took three days from Wisconsin in the USA to Incheon airport. Three days across the US and then the Pacific, pretty good. It then sat at Incheon for 12 days, then just disappeared from the tracking system for another 5 days. 17 days in Korea, doing lord knows what.

Apex shipping refuses to admit it's their fault. Accuse us of not writing the address correctly. Swear up and down that we didn't write our city or province, which is just a direct lie. Refuses to even consider it may be their problem. The manager eventually does admit something has gone awry on their end.

They give US a number to call for the Hanjin delivery woman. The delivery woman says her father died so she couldn't make any deliveries. Fair enough, I'm not going to get angry with someone who has lost a family member. But what kind of company doesn't have some kind of system to cover these situations. "Kim is deathly ill. He has a van load of packages, some of which may be perishable. Should we assign someone else to do their deliveries? Nah. Wait till he gets out of hospital next month. People can wait."

Package turns up 20 days after landing at Incheon. I've had problems with Hanjin before. They seem to have massive problems. But what pissed me off most of all was the woman at Apex shipping refusing to believe us, accusing us of ****** up somehow and doing everything possible to deflect the blame away from her. I wasn't aggressive in the least, I just wanted to know where my missing package was. Serious problem with a lack of accountability.

Called them back and took photos of the address label to show it had our full address, city, province, zip code, phone number etc in English AND Korean. The guy this time was apologetic and said they get complaints about Hanjin everyday and they wont be using them anymore. And that he would give more training to the woman who called us liars. Bullshit.

My mum  bought my wife a birthday present via amazon and had it sent to us here.
Amazon uses Apex shipping agents for delivery and Apex seem to change who they use on the final delivery every month. Recently it has been Hanjin Express Delivery. Hanjin are the most useless delivery company I have ever seen. I'm not in the least bit surprised they went bankrupt last year.

Tracked the package. Took three days from Wisconsin in the USA to Incheon airport. Three days across the US and then the Pacific, pretty good. It then sat at Incheon for 12 days, then just disappeared from the tracking system for another 5 days. 17 days in Korea, doing lord knows what.

Apex shipping refuses to admit it's their fault. Accuse us of not writing the address correctly. Swear up and down that we didn't write our city or province, which is just a direct lie. Refuses to even consider it may be their problem. The manager eventually does admit something has gone awry on their end.

They give US a number to call for the Hanjin delivery woman. The delivery woman says her father died so she couldn't make any deliveries. Fair enough, I'm not going to get angry with someone who has lost a family member. But what kind of company doesn't have some kind of system to cover these situations. "Kim is deathly ill. He has a van load of packages, some of which may be perishable. Should we assign someone else to do their deliveries? Nah. Wait till he gets out of hospital next month. People can wait."

Package turns up 20 days after landing at Incheon. I've had problems with Hanjin before. They seem to have massive problems. But what pissed me off most of all was the woman at Apex shipping refusing to believe us, accusing us of ****** up somehow and doing everything possible to deflect the blame away from her. I wasn't aggressive in the least, I just wanted to know where my missing package was. Serious problem with a lack of accountability.

Called them back and took photos of the address label to show it had our full address, city, province, zip code, phone number etc in English AND Korean. The guy this time was apologetic and said they get complaints about Hanjin everyday and they wont be using them anymore. And that he would give more training to the woman who called us liars. Bullshit.

1 - F*ckup task
2 - Refuses to take responsibility/lies
3 - shifts blame to you or someone else
4  - if the situation doesn't go away, either continues to lie
5  - Finally, get the youngest junior to apologise for the f*ckup of his dumbass, ajushi boss.

Face saving culture, you can't beat it.

My mum  bought my wife a birthday present via amazon and had it sent to us here.
Amazon uses Apex shipping agents for delivery and Apex seem to change who they use on the final delivery every month. Recently it has been Hanjin Express Delivery. Hanjin are the most useless delivery company I have ever seen. I'm not in the least bit surprised they went bankrupt last year.

Tracked the package. Took three days from Wisconsin in the USA to Incheon airport. Three days across the US and then the Pacific, pretty good. It then sat at Incheon for 12 days, then just disappeared from the tracking system for another 5 days. 17 days in Korea, doing lord knows what.

Apex shipping refuses to admit it's their fault. Accuse us of not writing the address correctly. Swear up and down that we didn't write our city or province, which is just a direct lie. Refuses to even consider it may be their problem. The manager eventually does admit something has gone awry on their end.

They give US a number to call for the Hanjin delivery woman. The delivery woman says her father died so she couldn't make any deliveries. Fair enough, I'm not going to get angry with someone who has lost a family member. But what kind of company doesn't have some kind of system to cover these situations. "Kim is deathly ill. He has a van load of packages, some of which may be perishable. Should we assign someone else to do their deliveries? Nah. Wait till he gets out of hospital next month. People can wait."

Package turns up 20 days after landing at Incheon. I've had problems with Hanjin before. They seem to have massive problems. But what pissed me off most of all was the woman at Apex shipping refusing to believe us, accusing us of ****** up somehow and doing everything possible to deflect the blame away from her. I wasn't aggressive in the least, I just wanted to know where my missing package was. Serious problem with a lack of accountability.

Called them back and took photos of the address label to show it had our full address, city, province, zip code, phone number etc in English AND Korean. The guy this time was apologetic and said they get complaints about Hanjin everyday and they wont be using them anymore. And that he would give more training to the woman who called us liars. Bullshit.

1 - F*ckup task
2 - Refuses to take responsibility/lies
3 - shifts blame to you or someone else
4  - if the situation doesn't go away, either continues to lie
5  - Finally, get the youngest junior to apologise for the f*ckup of his dumbass, ajushi boss.

Face saving culture, you can't beat it.

Read his post again. The company that BS'ed him is based in the US.