RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

This is super petty, but I don't care.

When there's a facebook article and some just writes their friend's name as a comment.

Joseph Smith Lisa Lionheart

You know you can share a post as a PM, right? I click on the article and 75% of the comments are just iterations of the format above.

If you're gonna do that, at least write something to start a conversation, oi vey. 

My rant...people who self-identify as liberals yet tear apart and insult anyone with a differing opinion usually with "phobe" or "racist" or "bigot" attached somewhere.

Generally speaking,Liberals are the most closed-minded people I have ever met . Especially these days. Most can be found blindly giving Obama a pass on everything including being a bit of a racist (he dumped his white girlfriend for Michelle cuz it played better to the public) while universally trashing Trump or his wife, or his kids, for anything from opinions to shoes.

What? They have been married since 1992 and started dating 3 years prior. He didn't even serve until 1996, that's quite the long game to get married for.

But, he was an activist in the Chicago black community before he served.  I've heard that he felt dating a white woman was not good for his image as a black activist a number of times and it makes sense.  No idea whether it's true or not.  And I'm absolutely not a Trump fan.

"I've heard..." doesn't really cut it, though, does it?

The info is out there.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/new-biography-obama-dumped-white-girlfriend-race-political-liability/

My rant...people who self-identify as liberals yet tear apart and insult anyone with a differing opinion usually with "phobe" or "racist" or "bigot" attached somewhere.

Generally speaking,Liberals are the most closed-minded people I have ever met . Especially these days. Most can be found blindly giving Obama a pass on everything including being a bit of a racist (he dumped his white girlfriend for Michelle cuz it played better to the public) while universally trashing Trump or his wife, or his kids, for anything from opinions to shoes.

What? They have been married since 1992 and started dating 3 years prior. He didn't even serve until 1996, that's quite the long game to get married for.

But, he was an activist in the Chicago black community before he served.  I've heard that he felt dating a white woman was not good for his image as a black activist a number of times and it makes sense.  No idea whether it's true or not.  And I'm absolutely not a Trump fan.

"I've heard..." doesn't really cut it, though, does it?

I thought this was old news.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2017/05/02/before-michelle-barack-obama-asked-another-woman-to-marry-him-then-politics-got-in-the-way/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.47ee72161ab2

This forum is infested with frogs!

This is super petty, but I don't care.

When there's a facebook article and some just writes their friend's name as a comment.

Joseph Smith Lisa Lionheart

You know you can share a post as a PM, right? I click on the article and 75% of the comments are just iterations of the format above.

If you're gonna do that, at least write something to start a conversation, oi vey.

Wunna hear something super petty?
A friend of mine contacted me a few months ago to catch up (over facebook), she's living in the Phillipines, pregnant with her Fiancee's baby.
The Fiancee got super jealous, thinking I was an ex-bf of my friend, logged onto her account after she went afk for a moment, sent me threatening messages from her account then deleting them.

Then a month later, after not really talking to my friend in that time (mostly due to both of us being busy), he done it again, this time my friend noticed and spoke to me about it; then spoke to her partner to not do it again.

A couple days ago, after not hearing from my friend since last time, the guy does it AGAIN, this time, blocking me on my friend's account, and her instagram account so I can't contact her at all. Even though, I have never been interested in her romantically, and even though he was told, repeatedly, I'm only a friend and have no interest in her as more than a friend.

In this case, the guy is super petty. :p

I have to  go to immigration to renew my ARC tomorrow, and my principal won't allow anyone to accompany me because the rules don't say he has to. Based on my past experiences with my local immi office, it's going to be a bit of a crapshoot whether or not anyone there speaks English well enough to address any issues that might come up. I doubt I'll have any problems, but I'm still annoyed that His Royal Highness forbids anyone from helping me.

To make it even more fun, I've just been told I have to use a vacation day to do it, because my school is far enough away from immi that I wouldn't be able to make it there and back without missing all of my classes. I have to use one of my days to go take care of official documents that are required for me to continue to live here (and by extension teach here), nevermind that I'm only going tomorrow because we have to have appointments ahead of time to see anyone at immi now and tomorrow was the earliest appointment I could get despite making the appointment weeks ago.

Ugh. That was a rambling mess, but I'm too grumpy to sort it out.

I have to  go to immigration to renew my ARC tomorrow, and my principal won't allow anyone to accompany me because the rules don't say he has to. Based on my past experiences with my local immi office, it's going to be a bit of a crapshoot whether or not anyone there speaks English well enough to address any issues that might come up. I doubt I'll have any problems, but I'm still annoyed that His Royal Highness forbids anyone from helping me.

To make it even more fun, I've just been told I have to use a vacation day to do it, because my school is far enough away from immi that I wouldn't be able to make it there and back without missing all of my classes. I have to use one of my days to go take care of official documents that are required for me to continue to live here (and by extension teach here), nevermind that I'm only going tomorrow because we have to have appointments ahead of time to see anyone at immi now and tomorrow was the earliest appointment I could get despite making the appointment weeks ago.

Ugh. That was a rambling mess, but I'm too grumpy to sort it out.

Can't you talk to someone at the education office about it? Whenever I've needed to do that stuff, it had to be put in as a business trip. :o
Granted, I had to go by myself last time to renew my ARC too, and I'm 2 hours away from my nearest immi office. Luckily, when there was a problem, the immi guy called my co-T and they sorted it out on the phone :D

I have to  go to immigration to renew my ARC tomorrow, and my principal won't allow anyone to accompany me because the rules don't say he has to. Based on my past experiences with my local immi office, it's going to be a bit of a crapshoot whether or not anyone there speaks English well enough to address any issues that might come up. I doubt I'll have any problems, but I'm still annoyed that His Royal Highness forbids anyone from helping me.

To make it even more fun, I've just been told I have to use a vacation day to do it, because my school is far enough away from immi that I wouldn't be able to make it there and back without missing all of my classes. I have to use one of my days to go take care of official documents that are required for me to continue to live here (and by extension teach here), nevermind that I'm only going tomorrow because we have to have appointments ahead of time to see anyone at immi now and tomorrow was the earliest appointment I could get despite making the appointment weeks ago.

Ugh. That was a rambling mess, but I'm too grumpy to sort it out.

with regards to the 'taking a vacation day', could you not do a half-day holiday? a '조퇴' (go out but not come back)? so have school in the morning or until 11am for example and then take the rest of the day off to do your stuff?  in a one year contract you need to have a full 8 hours of 조퇴/외출 for it to be considered a vacation day. with 외출 you're expected to come back to school.

with regards to the 'taking a vacation day', could you not do a half-day holiday? a '조퇴' (go out but not come back)? so have school in the morning or until 11am for example and then take the rest of the day off to do your stuff?  in a one year contract you need to have a full 8 hours of 조퇴/외출 for it to be considered a vacation day. with 외출 you're expected to come back to school.

Nope. I'm familiar with that possibility, but my school is far enough away that it wouldn't be feasible to go to work a half day and still make the appointment on time.

with regards to the 'taking a vacation day', could you not do a half-day holiday? a '조퇴' (go out but not come back)? so have school in the morning or until 11am for example and then take the rest of the day off to do your stuff?  in a one year contract you need to have a full 8 hours of 조퇴/외출 for it to be considered a vacation day. with 외출 you're expected to come back to school.

fwiw, this was changed and isn't true anymore (at least in busan). if you take one hour, it takes away the vacation day. you then have 7 hours to use before they'll take the second day (ex. 9 hours would take away 2 vacation days).

I find it strange how so many teachers are willing to believe that students are super innocent, even the teachers with a ton of experience. A lot of them believe that the best way to understand these kids is to think the best of them, no matter what they do, and it's such a naive way of thinking. You can't just ignore certain behaviors and accept any excuse a student may give for them. Kids ****** lie, and they're not always so benevolent. And it isn't always the most obvious problem students who are the biggest troublemakers.

But that's an old story.

Also:

I have to  go to immigration to renew my ARC tomorrow, and my principal won't allow anyone to accompany me because the rules don't say he has to. Based on my past experiences with my local immi office, it's going to be a bit of a crapshoot whether or not anyone there speaks English well enough to address any issues that might come up. I doubt I'll have any problems, but I'm still annoyed that His Royal Highness forbids anyone from helping me.

To make it even more fun, I've just been told I have to use a vacation day to do it, because my school is far enough away from immi that I wouldn't be able to make it there and back without missing all of my classes. I have to use one of my days to go take care of official documents that are required for me to continue to live here (and by extension teach here), nevermind that I'm only going tomorrow because we have to have appointments ahead of time to see anyone at immi now and tomorrow was the earliest appointment I could get despite making the appointment weeks ago.

Ugh. That was a rambling mess, but I'm too grumpy to sort it out.

First, if you work for EPIK or SMOE, a trip to the immigration office to renew your visa is 출장. It's explicitly stated in the Korean guide for managing native teachers. He legally can't make you use a vacation day. Call your local MOE. Don't take that nonsense from him.

Second, you've been here for a pretty long time. You've gone to immigration at least once a year during that time, I'd estimate. Why would you need someone to go to immigration with you? I've been here for almost nine years and literally only had someone go to immigration with me the very first time, to collect my ARC. No wonder the VP has a bad attitude about it - if your school is far away from immigration, and he sends someone with you, then that person's going to be away most of the day, too, so suddenly there are two instructors out of work instead of one. I feel like you're probably competent enough that you could do it yourself.

I have to  go to immigration to renew my ARC tomorrow, and my principal won't allow anyone to accompany me because the rules don't say he has to. Based on my past experiences with my local immi office, it's going to be a bit of a crapshoot whether or not anyone there speaks English well enough to address any issues that might come up. I doubt I'll have any problems, but I'm still annoyed that His Royal Highness forbids anyone from helping me.

To make it even more fun, I've just been told I have to use a vacation day to do it, because my school is far enough away from immi that I wouldn't be able to make it there and back without missing all of my classes. I have to use one of my days to go take care of official documents that are required for me to continue to live here (and by extension teach here), nevermind that I'm only going tomorrow because we have to have appointments ahead of time to see anyone at immi now and tomorrow was the earliest appointment I could get despite making the appointment weeks ago.

Ugh. That was a rambling mess, but I'm too grumpy to sort it out.

First, if you work for EPIK or SMOE, a trip to the immigration office to renew your visa is 출장. It's explicitly stated in the Korean guide for managing native teachers. He legally can't make you use a vacation day. Call your local MOE. Don't take that nonsense from him.

Second, you've been here for a pretty long time. You've gone to immigration at least once a year during that time, I'd estimate. Why would you need someone to go to immigration with you? I've been here for almost nine years and literally only had someone go to immigration with me the very first time, to collect my ARC. No wonder the VP has a bad attitude about it - if your school is far away from immigration, and he sends someone with you, then that person's going to be away most of the day, too, so suddenly there are two instructors out of work instead of one. I feel like you're probably competent enough that you could do it yourself.

Well, that's pretty presumptuous going and ASSUMING someone is competent.  Rude, even. 

Well, that's pretty presumptuous going and ASSUMING someone is competent.  Rude, even.

Well, you know what they say about assuming, right? It makes an "ass" out of "u" and... uh... some random dude named "Ming".

You've gone to immigration at least once a year during that time, I'd estimate. Why would you need someone to go to immigration with you? I've been here for almost nine years and literally only had someone go to immigration with me the very first time, to collect my ARC.

Tbf, it really depends on who you get in the office, and not all offices are created equal. There are immi offices that have really toxic work environments and that don't properly train their staff, and some officers absolutely WILL lie and give people wrong info whenever they come across something that they don't know how to handle.

It's a pretty smooth transaction as long as there aren't any problems with your paperwork or with anything that  immi has on file, but it also depends SOOO much on the immi officer not being a giant asshole.

I've had problems twice. The first time was my previous school's fault, but immi tried to penalize ME for it. It took over an hour to sort out, and there's no way I would have been able to do it on my own. The officer that was handling my paperwork was incredibly rude and uncooperative the entire time, and kept trying to shoo me out of the office.

The second problem was the immi officer's mistake, but that one took around ten minutes to sort because the officer wasn't being a dick and actually consulted his supervisor about it.

You've gone to immigration at least once a year during that time, I'd estimate. Why would you need someone to go to immigration with you? I've been here for almost nine years and literally only had someone go to immigration with me the very first time, to collect my ARC.

Tbf, it really depends on who you get in the office, and not all offices are created equal. There are immi offices that have really toxic work environments and that don't properly train their staff, and some officers absolutely WILL lie and give people wrong info whenever they come across something that they don't know how to handle.

It's a pretty smooth transaction as long as there aren't any problems with your paperwork or with anything that  immi has on file, but it also depends SOOO much on the immi officer not being a giant asshole.

I've had problems twice. The first time was my previous school's fault, but immi tried to penalize ME for it. It took over an hour to sort out, and there's no way I would have been able to do it on my own. The officer that was handling my paperwork was incredibly rude and uncooperative the entire time, and kept trying to shoo me out of the office.

The second problem was the immi officer's mistake, but that one took around ten minutes to sort because the officer wasn't being a dick and actually consulted his supervisor about it.

Yeah. I mean, I've been here for way too long, and I've had a couple miserable experiences with rude workers at immigration, too. I think everyone has. But, I never had anyone come to immigration with me beyond the very first time, and I somehow managed to work it out whenever problems came up.

Waygook.org user Mister Tim:

What I would suggest, is if you have someone who would be willing to spend an entire day going to immigration with you, instead of trying to take them away from work for a whole day, just make sure they've got their phone handy so that if a problem comes up, you can call them and they can help you.

Your VP will be happy he's not having to lose a day of work from two of his teachers instead of one. Your coworker will be happy they don't literally have to go to immigration for probably no reason.  And you'll be happy because everything will be okay. 

My new CT is 5 for 5 in asking me if I'm familiar with the food at lunch.

Wondering how many times I'm gonna have to say "Yes" before he gets the picture

Ajeossi on Subway: How long you been here?

Me: 5 years.

Ajeossi: Do you know ddeokbokki?

Me: FFS 

*On our way to the Cafeteria*

Me: Today's lunch is 함박스테이크.

CT: Oh!

Me: ...

CT: ...

Me: ...

CT: Do you know 함박스테이크?

 

My new CT is 5 for 5 in asking me if I'm familiar with the food at lunch.

Wondering how many times I'm gonna have to say "Yes" before he gets the picture

Ajeossi on Subway: How long you been here?

Me: 5 years.

Ajeossi: Do you know ddeokbokki?

Me: FFS 

*On our way to the Cafeteria*

Me: Today's lunch is 함박스테이크.

CT: Oh!

Me: ...

CT: ...

Me: ...

CT: Do you know 함박스테이크?

 

I've been here for almost nine years, and I still get people at work being surprised that I can eat the 'spicy' kimchi.

So. Yeah. It never goes away.

My new CT is 5 for 5 in asking me if I'm familiar with the food at lunch.

Wondering how many times I'm gonna have to say "Yes" before he gets the picture

Ajeossi on Subway: How long you been here?

Me: 5 years.

Ajeossi: Do you know ddeokbokki?

Me: FFS 

*On our way to the Cafeteria*

Me: Today's lunch is 함박스테이크.

CT: Oh!

Me: ...

CT: ...

Me: ...

CT: Do you know 함박스테이크?

 

I've been here for almost nine years, and I still get people at work being surprised that I can eat the 'spicy' kimchi.

So. Yeah. It never goes away.

I'm just saying, in this particular case, if I'm bringing up the specific food and have no questions about it, it would be sensible to ASSUME that I know what it is. It's not as if I said it with a confused tone. Didn't even mention that he went on to explain what it is after that... I need a *sigh* emoji

First, if you work for EPIK or SMOE, a trip to the immigration office to renew your visa is 출장. It's explicitly stated in the Korean guide for managing native teachers. He legally can't make you use a vacation day. Call your local MOE. Don't take that nonsense from him.

You must have some information that my Provincial Office of Education doesn't, because the first thing I did when my school told me I'd have to use a vacation day was contact my EPIK/POE liason, and he told me the same thing the school did. If I couldn't use a half-day/조퇴, I had to use a vacation day. Since I'm far enough away that I wouldn't be able to get it done with just a half day given the only time slot I was able to make an appointment, I'm SOL. If you know some Korea-wide law/regulation and can give me a link to something I can show them proving them wrong, that'd be cool.

Second, you've been here for a pretty long time. You've gone to immigration at least once a year during that time, I'd estimate. Why would you need someone to go to immigration with you? I've been here for almost nine years and literally only had someone go to immigration with me the very first time, to collect my ARC. No wonder the VP has a bad attitude about it - if your school is far away from immigration, and he sends someone with you, then that person's going to be away most of the day, too, so suddenly there are two instructors out of work instead of one. I feel like you're probably competent enough that you could do it yourself.

First of all, I don't know if you're trying to sound condescending, but you are. Just putting that out there, and letting you know that it's taking some real effort for me to not say something I might regret later right now.

Second, it's precisely because I've been here so long that I'd prefer someone comes along. As Chinguetti rightfully pointed out, sh!t can and does go wrong from time to time. Since you've been here a while too, you know that as well as we do. I don't necessarily expect that there will be problems, but I acknowledge the possibility that there might be and prefer to be prepared. That, plus if a coworker were able to take me and help out, I might've been able to only have to use a half-day rather than a full vacation day.

Incidentally, I did go, and got it taken care of. I made sure I was properly prepared with all the documents they could potentially ask for, and I had a few people I could call in case there was an issue. There wasn't, thankfully, but that doesn't mean I can't be annoyed that I wasn't allowed to have anyone accompany me.