RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Uuuuugggggggghhhhhhhhh.

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUGGGGHHHHNNNNNA LSDKFJALSDGJLLLL'ASDFLIJASDGH

So I'm doing special themed classes with my first graders because this is the free semester where they get to do a lot of fun activities and stuff.

We're on our last one, and it's arguably the most popular one, which is why we saved it for the end of the semester. Let's go out with a big bang, right? But because it's near the end of the semester, and because with fun activities comes projects that students have to complete in order to showcase what they did or learned, we have a limited amount of time we can spend on this or that. Makes it super tight, but possible as long as the students are cooperative and stay on task.

When they don't cooperative, we fall behind, and that results in the need to cut certain things out.

I just finished arguing with a teacher who feels that we should cut the English portion of the lesson out and focus entirely on the fun part, because she wants them to experience all of it. I refused. Instead, I insist that we sacrifice the fun parts so that students can learn that dragging their feet in order to get out of doing any work is not going to pay out in my class. I don't want to reward laziness.

So then she goes on to tell me that all of the students were diligent. That no one was copying each others' work, that every student was writing all of their sentences, that the class behavior was on the level, and that the reason why we never get to finish all of the activities is because the drilling exercises are too long.

The drilling part is literally only three minutes. But the amount of time that was wasted due to student laziness averages to about fifteen minutes. I have consistently caught students copying each other, or trying to get away with not writing anything at all. I have had to hover near or over them, scribble or erase their sentences so that they can write their own, move them to different seats so that they can't just copy their neighbors, only to have her tell me that I've hallucinated all of it because I'm only "misunderstanding" the students. I've had to tell her multiple times that just because a student says that he isn't copying his neighbor doesn't mean he's not doing it. I ****** watched him do it, several times. Oh, his answers were different when you checked? That's because I ****** made him change those sentences. I just ****** told you that. Several times. You watched me do it.

She knows none of that is true, but for some reason she thought she could gaslight me and convince me otherwise just so that she can spoil the **** out of these kids. And I'm just sat here, angrily guzzling my tea, and ****** livid about the whole thing. It's one thing to express disagreement. It's another when you try to tell someone they're only imagining things in order to win an argument.

I mean, I can understand her feelings. This is a great lesson, with a great experience for the kids, and she doesn't want the good students to miss out on any of it just because of the behavior of a handful of other students in the class.

But that's ****** life. I'd be willing to compromise, but not at the cost of discipline. I don't understand why any teacher would allow students to walk all over them when all that does is make it harder to deal with them later. Just. 

*quiet empathetic fist bump*

*quiet empathetic fist bump*

I swear to gawd I'm gonna wear devil's horns the first week of the spring semester next year.

So unfortunately I have to leave Seoul  soon, I've only been here 3 months and I've had some serious health issues (my appendix burst, stomach was so badly infected they couldnt even operate on me (they tried, they just couldnt remove the appendix) so I had to go through 2 1/2 months of treatment and finally I had the operation last week) all while having to work at an absoulute nightmare Hagwon. The teachers at the hagwon are great and a couple i'd consider pretty good friends now, but with how I've been treated and the way they've been screwing me with pay (im on an hourly contract, thats a whole other long story) there's no way it's financially viable for me to stay here at this job.


All in all my rant is that its just got me super depressed, the point was to come out here, make a little bit of money for myself all while having a new experience. I had my 27th birthday not too long ago and it was probably one of the most miserable days of my life as I was working in that hagwon and getting yelled at by the owner for a problem that got sorted within 5 minutes (and was actually her fault). Has anyone had to return home before because their hagwon was so bad? My plan is to mentally and physically recover and come back for the jobs hiring around Feb/March but the entire experience has just left me so dejected. I guess the other feeling is confused, because I honestly don't understand how the owner of my hagwon functions in every day life being that bitter of a person, making all of the staff there totally miserable. She just seemed to train her sights on me more ever since the first time I got out of hospital, she demanded I come back and work the very next day and when I said I need a couple days to recover, she just made my life hell afterwards.


It's a shame as I really enjoy Korea and I think the few times I've been able to actually go out and experience the country I've really enjoyed myself.

I am beginning to wonder if this behaviour is on purpose to get herself fired. If she gets fired, they have to pay her out.  If she quits she gets nothing.

Employees like that give the rest of us a bad name. 

How many months do they have to payout if they fire her?
Depending on how long the lady plans to hold out, it might just be better to bite the bullet, accept the loss, and fire her. 

I think she is still in the probation period. I think they could fire her at any time right now.  But her boss has had a hard time keeping staff and doesn't get her bonus if so many people quit on her team in a year.  But i can tell her boss is getting frustrated with her behaviour too.  The partner stays in the class even though she 'can't' talk. I ask her to help out the lower level students (if she's at work, she should work).  She leaves the class and asks her boss to do it for her.  Her boss talks to the parents with me at the end. But this partner of mine can't suppress her natural self to want to be in the limelight.  She talks while we are talking to the parents, in front of all the parents.  She also, in our one on one with parents, will explain to parents what she did in class, to make herself look important.  Her boss is starting to find her behaviour ridiculous as well.  it's now been a week of not talking in class or to me...will be interesting to see how this plays out today. By the way, none of my coworkers here in 3 years, have gave up doing their duties in class because they have a sore throat.  They drink lots of hot water and push on.

So unfortunately I have to leave Seoul  soon, I've only been here 3 months and I've had some serious health issues (my appendix burst, stomach was so badly infected they couldnt even operate on me (they tried, they just couldnt remove the appendix) so I had to go through 2 1/2 months of treatment and finally I had the operation last week) all while having to work at an absoulute nightmare Hagwon. The teachers at the hagwon are great and a couple i'd consider pretty good friends now, but with how I've been treated and the way they've been screwing me with pay (im on an hourly contract, thats a whole other long story) there's no way it's financially viable for me to stay here at this job.


All in all my rant is that its just got me super depressed, the point was to come out here, make a little bit of money for myself all while having a new experience. I had my 27th birthday not too long ago and it was probably one of the most miserable days of my life as I was working in that hagwon and getting yelled at by the owner for a problem that got sorted within 5 minutes (and was actually her fault). Has anyone had to return home before because their hagwon was so bad? My plan is to mentally and physically recover and come back for the jobs hiring around Feb/March but the entire experience has just left me so dejected. I guess the other feeling is confused, because I honestly don't understand how the owner of my hagwon functions in every day life being that bitter of a person, making all of the staff there totally miserable. She just seemed to train her sights on me more ever since the first time I got out of hospital, she demanded I come back and work the very next day and when I said I need a couple days to recover, she just made my life hell afterwards.


It's a shame as I really enjoy Korea and I think the few times I've been able to actually go out and experience the country I've really enjoyed myself.

That sounds pretty terrible. Unfortunate.

Hagwons are such a gamble. I have friends who have great hagwon situations. And then you hear the stories like yours. You can give it another go. Obviously if you didn't have the health issue you would have been in a position maybe to change jobs or something. But nothing is stopping you from going home, getting right and then coming back again. Either way, I'm sorry you had such a shit experience. One of the worst, by the sounds of it.

So unfortunately I have to leave Seoul  soon, I've only been here 3 months and I've had some serious health issues (my appendix burst, stomach was so badly infected they couldnt even operate on me (they tried, they just couldnt remove the appendix) so I had to go through 2 1/2 months of treatment and finally I had the operation last week) all while having to work at an absoulute nightmare Hagwon. The teachers at the hagwon are great and a couple i'd consider pretty good friends now, but with how I've been treated and the way they've been screwing me with pay (im on an hourly contract, thats a whole other long story) there's no way it's financially viable for me to stay here at this job.


All in all my rant is that its just got me super depressed, the point was to come out here, make a little bit of money for myself all while having a new experience. I had my 27th birthday not too long ago and it was probably one of the most miserable days of my life as I was working in that hagwon and getting yelled at by the owner for a problem that got sorted within 5 minutes (and was actually her fault). Has anyone had to return home before because their hagwon was so bad? My plan is to mentally and physically recover and come back for the jobs hiring around Feb/March but the entire experience has just left me so dejected. I guess the other feeling is confused, because I honestly don't understand how the owner of my hagwon functions in every day life being that bitter of a person, making all of the staff there totally miserable. She just seemed to train her sights on me more ever since the first time I got out of hospital, she demanded I come back and work the very next day and when I said I need a couple days to recover, she just made my life hell afterwards.


It's a shame as I really enjoy Korea and I think the few times I've been able to actually go out and experience the country I've really enjoyed myself.

I'm so sorry that you had to experience this. I don't know why people like that exist.

Just focus on taking care of yourself. I know it's disappointing to leave before you've had the chance to really experience the country in the way that you'd hoped, but it sounds like you're not giving up on that. You just need a break.

So unfortunately I have to leave Seoul  soon, I've only been here 3 months and I've had some serious health issues (my appendix burst, stomach was so badly infected they couldnt even operate on me (they tried, they just couldnt remove the appendix) so I had to go through 2 1/2 months of treatment and finally I had the operation last week) all while having to work at an absoulute nightmare Hagwon. The teachers at the hagwon are great and a couple i'd consider pretty good friends now, but with how I've been treated and the way they've been screwing me with pay (im on an hourly contract, thats a whole other long story) there's no way it's financially viable for me to stay here at this job.


All in all my rant is that its just got me super depressed, the point was to come out here, make a little bit of money for myself all while having a new experience. I had my 27th birthday not too long ago and it was probably one of the most miserable days of my life as I was working in that hagwon and getting yelled at by the owner for a problem that got sorted within 5 minutes (and was actually her fault). Has anyone had to return home before because their hagwon was so bad? My plan is to mentally and physically recover and come back for the jobs hiring around Feb/March but the entire experience has just left me so dejected. I guess the other feeling is confused, because I honestly don't understand how the owner of my hagwon functions in every day life being that bitter of a person, making all of the staff there totally miserable. She just seemed to train her sights on me more ever since the first time I got out of hospital, she demanded I come back and work the very next day and when I said I need a couple days to recover, she just made my life hell afterwards.


It's a shame as I really enjoy Korea and I think the few times I've been able to actually go out and experience the country I've really enjoyed myself.

sounds horrible. "treat others as you would like to be treated" seems like such a foreign concept to many bosses in korea

Deat Korea, if there is no left facing arrow painted on the lane, you can't turn left from that lane, you may nearly collide with the oncoming traffic turning right.  If you are driving a bus full of school children whilst doind said turn, you deserve to die, or at the very least lose your job.

So unfortunately I have to leave Seoul  soon, I've only been here 3 months and I've had some serious health issues (my appendix burst, stomach was so badly infected they couldnt even operate on me (they tried, they just couldnt remove the appendix) so I had to go through 2 1/2 months of treatment and finally I had the operation last week) all while having to work at an absoulute nightmare Hagwon. The teachers at the hagwon are great and a couple i'd consider pretty good friends now, but with how I've been treated and the way they've been screwing me with pay (im on an hourly contract, thats a whole other long story) there's no way it's financially viable for me to stay here at this job.


All in all my rant is that its just got me super depressed, the point was to come out here, make a little bit of money for myself all while having a new experience. I had my 27th birthday not too long ago and it was probably one of the most miserable days of my life as I was working in that hagwon and getting yelled at by the owner for a problem that got sorted within 5 minutes (and was actually her fault). Has anyone had to return home before because their hagwon was so bad? My plan is to mentally and physically recover and come back for the jobs hiring around Feb/March but the entire experience has just left me so dejected. I guess the other feeling is confused, because I honestly don't understand how the owner of my hagwon functions in every day life being that bitter of a person, making all of the staff there totally miserable. She just seemed to train her sights on me more ever since the first time I got out of hospital, she demanded I come back and work the very next day and when I said I need a couple days to recover, she just made my life hell afterwards.


It's a shame as I really enjoy Korea and I think the few times I've been able to actually go out and experience the country I've really enjoyed myself.

I'm so sorry that you had to experience this. I don't know why people like that exist.

Just focus on taking care of yourself. I know it's disappointing to leave before you've had the chance to really experience the country in the way that you'd hoped, but it sounds like you're not giving up on that. You just need a break.

Yeah totally, if money wasn't an issue then I may give it a go at sticking it out here for a couple more months to see how it went. But looks like im getting a temp job back in England for a month or two before I hopefully land a jobs starting in Feb, thats the plan at least. It was majorly frustrating because I seemed to feel like every other TEFL teacher out here was earning money but I was LOSING money being at this job.

This woman who ran this hagwon though...my god she's one of the worst people I've ever met. The only thing I'm looking forward to now is writing the horrifically negative review for when I leave.

So unfortunately I have to leave Seoul  soon, I've only been here 3 months and I've had some serious health issues (my appendix burst, stomach was so badly infected they couldnt even operate on me (they tried, they just couldnt remove the appendix) so I had to go through 2 1/2 months of treatment and finally I had the operation last week) all while having to work at an absoulute nightmare Hagwon. The teachers at the hagwon are great and a couple i'd consider pretty good friends now, but with how I've been treated and the way they've been screwing me with pay (im on an hourly contract, thats a whole other long story) there's no way it's financially viable for me to stay here at this job.


All in all my rant is that its just got me super depressed, the point was to come out here, make a little bit of money for myself all while having a new experience. I had my 27th birthday not too long ago and it was probably one of the most miserable days of my life as I was working in that hagwon and getting yelled at by the owner for a problem that got sorted within 5 minutes (and was actually her fault). Has anyone had to return home before because their hagwon was so bad? My plan is to mentally and physically recover and come back for the jobs hiring around Feb/March but the entire experience has just left me so dejected. I guess the other feeling is confused, because I honestly don't understand how the owner of my hagwon functions in every day life being that bitter of a person, making all of the staff there totally miserable. She just seemed to train her sights on me more ever since the first time I got out of hospital, she demanded I come back and work the very next day and when I said I need a couple days to recover, she just made my life hell afterwards.


It's a shame as I really enjoy Korea and I think the few times I've been able to actually go out and experience the country I've really enjoyed myself.

I'm so sorry that you had to experience this. I don't know why people like that exist.

Just focus on taking care of yourself. I know it's disappointing to leave before you've had the chance to really experience the country in the way that you'd hoped, but it sounds like you're not giving up on that. You just need a break.

Yeah totally, if money wasn't an issue then I may give it a go at sticking it out here for a couple more months to see how it went. But looks like im getting a temp job back in England for a month or two before I hopefully land a jobs starting in Feb, thats the plan at least. It was majorly frustrating because I seemed to feel like every other TEFL teacher out here was earning money but I was LOSING money being at this job.

This woman who ran this hagwon though...my god she's one of the worst people I've ever met. The only thing I'm looking forward to now is writing the horrifically negative review for when I leave.

Be careful.  Korean libel laws are very much in her favour regardless of truth.  If you harm her business, she could sue you.

yep. probably the most bullshit law ever to exist

So unfortunately I have to leave Seoul  soon, I've only been here 3 months and I've had some serious health issues (my appendix burst, stomach was so badly infected they couldnt even operate on me (they tried, they just couldnt remove the appendix) so I had to go through 2 1/2 months of treatment and finally I had the operation last week) all while having to work at an absoulute nightmare Hagwon. The teachers at the hagwon are great and a couple i'd consider pretty good friends now, but with how I've been treated and the way they've been screwing me with pay (im on an hourly contract, thats a whole other long story) there's no way it's financially viable for me to stay here at this job.


All in all my rant is that its just got me super depressed, the point was to come out here, make a little bit of money for myself all while having a new experience. I had my 27th birthday not too long ago and it was probably one of the most miserable days of my life as I was working in that hagwon and getting yelled at by the owner for a problem that got sorted within 5 minutes (and was actually her fault). Has anyone had to return home before because their hagwon was so bad? My plan is to mentally and physically recover and come back for the jobs hiring around Feb/March but the entire experience has just left me so dejected. I guess the other feeling is confused, because I honestly don't understand how the owner of my hagwon functions in every day life being that bitter of a person, making all of the staff there totally miserable. She just seemed to train her sights on me more ever since the first time I got out of hospital, she demanded I come back and work the very next day and when I said I need a couple days to recover, she just made my life hell afterwards.


It's a shame as I really enjoy Korea and I think the few times I've been able to actually go out and experience the country I've really enjoyed myself.

I'm so sorry that you had to experience this. I don't know why people like that exist.

Just focus on taking care of yourself. I know it's disappointing to leave before you've had the chance to really experience the country in the way that you'd hoped, but it sounds like you're not giving up on that. You just need a break.

Yeah totally, if money wasn't an issue then I may give it a go at sticking it out here for a couple more months to see how it went. But looks like im getting a temp job back in England for a month or two before I hopefully land a jobs starting in Feb, thats the plan at least. It was majorly frustrating because I seemed to feel like every other TEFL teacher out here was earning money but I was LOSING money being at this job.

This woman who ran this hagwon though...my god she's one of the worst people I've ever met. The only thing I'm looking forward to now is writing the horrifically negative review for when I leave.

Be careful.  Korean libel laws are very much in her favour regardless of truth.  If you harm her business, she could sue you.

Wait really? Even on an anonymous review submitted to glassdoor? I'd take extra care to make it look as if it wasn't me writing it (I'd have to leave out the part of how I was treated after my first operation as that would make it pretty obvious). What an absolutely insane law, it protects an absolute sociopath...

So unfortunately I have to leave Seoul  soon, I've only been here 3 months and I've had some serious health issues (my appendix burst, stomach was so badly infected they couldnt even operate on me (they tried, they just couldnt remove the appendix) so I had to go through 2 1/2 months of treatment and finally I had the operation last week) all while having to work at an absoulute nightmare Hagwon. The teachers at the hagwon are great and a couple i'd consider pretty good friends now, but with how I've been treated and the way they've been screwing me with pay (im on an hourly contract, thats a whole other long story) there's no way it's financially viable for me to stay here at this job.


All in all my rant is that its just got me super depressed, the point was to come out here, make a little bit of money for myself all while having a new experience. I had my 27th birthday not too long ago and it was probably one of the most miserable days of my life as I was working in that hagwon and getting yelled at by the owner for a problem that got sorted within 5 minutes (and was actually her fault). Has anyone had to return home before because their hagwon was so bad? My plan is to mentally and physically recover and come back for the jobs hiring around Feb/March but the entire experience has just left me so dejected. I guess the other feeling is confused, because I honestly don't understand how the owner of my hagwon functions in every day life being that bitter of a person, making all of the staff there totally miserable. She just seemed to train her sights on me more ever since the first time I got out of hospital, she demanded I come back and work the very next day and when I said I need a couple days to recover, she just made my life hell afterwards.


It's a shame as I really enjoy Korea and I think the few times I've been able to actually go out and experience the country I've really enjoyed myself.

I'm so sorry that you had to experience this. I don't know why people like that exist.

Just focus on taking care of yourself. I know it's disappointing to leave before you've had the chance to really experience the country in the way that you'd hoped, but it sounds like you're not giving up on that. You just need a break.

Yeah totally, if money wasn't an issue then I may give it a go at sticking it out here for a couple more months to see how it went. But looks like im getting a temp job back in England for a month or two before I hopefully land a jobs starting in Feb, thats the plan at least. It was majorly frustrating because I seemed to feel like every other TEFL teacher out here was earning money but I was LOSING money being at this job.

This woman who ran this hagwon though...my god she's one of the worst people I've ever met. The only thing I'm looking forward to now is writing the horrifically negative review for when I leave.

Be careful.  Korean libel laws are very much in her favour regardless of truth.  If you harm her business, she could sue you.

Wait really? Even on an anonymous review submitted to glassdoor? I'd take extra care to make it look as if it wasn't me writing it (I'd have to leave out the part of how I was treated after my first operation as that would make it pretty obvious). What an absolutely insane law, it protects an absolute sociopath...

If you don’t intend to come back, let her have it!

Korean libel laws are very much in her favour regardless of truth.  If you harm her business, she could sue you.

That just shows the Korean sytem of priorities:


No. 1. making money/ profits.

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.
.
.

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No. 3956937847. Social justice/ creating a happy society

yep. probably the most bullshit law ever to exist

I dunno, Australia just passed a law or something, that when you make a sausage and bread, and use onions, you have to do it in this order: Bread, onions, sausage, sauce/mustard.
Because someone slipped on a bit of onion that slipped off of one.

Korean libel laws are very much in her favour regardless of truth.  If you harm her business, she could sue you.

That just shows the Korean sytem of priorities:


No. 1. making money/ profits.

.
.
.
.

.

No. 3956937847. Social justice/ creating a happy society

Well it depends on how the law is applied. Does it also prevent your boss from leaving a review about YOU on a website? What if we were employers and we had a disgruntled employee leaving BS reviews? What if what they said was technically true but lacked context? I'm not saying the law is right, only that it's not the open and shut case you're making it. In fact, in an era of internet mobocracy, it might be the way we're heading. Just because something is different, doesn't make it "stupid" or "wrong".

That being said, there must be some limits to Korea's law as the food delivery apps all allow reviews and some of them have certainly had stuff that could be "damaging". I'm talking 1 star reviews with pictures of bugs or hair and stuff.

Why are some students always so shocked when you exclude them from fun activities and games because they consistently broke the rules and avoided doing their work?

I mean I'm used to the sense of entitlement that a lot of these kids have, but that usually results in indignation over not being rewarded for misbehavior, and I expect that. But it's the legit shock that surprises me every time. It's one thing to feel like you shouldn't have to face consequences (to include losing rewards), it's another when you don't ever expect to. Like all they ever expect to get is a scolding, and that's it. I don't really get how kids can get to middle school without understanding life's basic concepts.

Today I wasn't able to complete an activity with a particular class because half of the class thought that they could **** around with the teachers and still get to participate in the fun. I've written down the names and student numbers of every single one of the guilty and made it clear to all of them that they'll be sitting in the teacher's office next week while the rest of the class will get to complete the activity. The shock, man. But, really, what else were they expecting? They're the worst behaved class of their grade level, and I've never, ever let them slide on anything. Why are they still always so ****** surprised?

Why are some students always so shocked when you exclude them from fun activities and games because they consistently broke the rules and avoided doing their work?

I mean I'm used to the sense of entitlement that a lot of these kids have, but that usually results in indignation over not being rewarded for misbehavior, and I expect that. But it's the legit shock that surprises me every time. It's one thing to feel like you shouldn't have to face consequences (to include losing rewards), it's another when you don't ever expect to. Like all they ever expect to get is a scolding, and that's it. I don't really get how kids can get to middle school without understanding life's basic concepts.

Today I wasn't able to complete an activity with a particular class because half of the class thought that they could **** around with the teachers and still get to participate in the fun. I've written down the names and student numbers of every single one of the guilty and made it clear to all of them that they'll be sitting in the teacher's office next week while the rest of the class will get to complete the activity. The shock, man. But, really, what else were they expecting? They're the worst behaved class of their grade level, and I've never, ever let them slide on anything. Why are they still always so ****** surprised?

'Cause they're dumb.

R.I.P. Stephen Hillenburg

Another creator of a cultural giant has passed... Spongebob has (at least in my life) played a huge part in connecting me to so many people from high school up until now. As strange as it might seem, Spongebob is a big cultural phenomenon, one that won't soon be forgotten.

This didn't hit as bad as Stan Lee, but all together this is more than I can take. 

R.I.P. Stephen Hillenburg

Another creator of a cultural giant has passed... Spongebob has (at least in my life) played a huge part in connecting me to so many people from high school up until now. As strange as it might seem, Spongebob is a big cultural phenomenon, one that won't soon be forgotten.

This didn't hit as bad as Stan Lee, but all together this is more than I can take. 

Really?!!  That sucks!! 

I loved Rockos Modern Life. (still do!)  Still one of the funniest cartoons around next to The Angry Beaver.  Spongebob was great up until season 7, then it stopped being 'punny'.  Regardless, SpongeBob will always be great.  So sad!  R.I.P.