The final cut


Good bye Oedae

Well June 20th was the last day at my old School. To be honest I am so glad to turn that page in my time in Korea.

I worked for 2 braches of this company, the first one was in Juke-jon, Yong-in city and the second one was in Song-chon-dong Daejeon.

Those who know me, have heard of my displeasure of this first company, It was a nightmare to work for, the entire staff turned over 3 times while I was there, I quit learning the names of the new teachers, because they kept changing at a fast rate. He would have meetings in Korean and expect me to understand what was going on.

when the oportunity to transfer, i took it because I trusted my recruiter. (OK I know that I should have never had done that stupid thing!) Yong-in still owes me about 1 million won that I will never see, it was a very bad place to work and It has left a very bad taste in my mouth towards Oedae.

Now I have just completed 1 year at the songchong-dong branch. To be honest it was not that bad, the bull shit hapened during the last month. They really treated Stephanie like shit and it made me very upset, but it was funny when she went out and tried to find them a replacment teacher, they rejected her. Then we were susposed to get a new male teacher from Pittsburg and then the shit really hit the fan.

They told her that they did not know how to get a plane ticket from Korea to Pittsburg, (If they would have asked me I would have had it done in a few hours.) But when this new teacher would be arriving in Korea and leaving from the smae airport that they could not buy a ticket to. It was like they just bytch slapped her. I honestly could not believe it.

The trouble stared about 1 month before she was due to leave, (this is from steph letter)


Ok, so I started my job at a hagwon in Korea on June 12, 2005. The
two people that matter in this story are my boss, who speaks English,
and the hagwon president, who is never around and doesn't speak
English. After I'd been there a few weeks, they asked me to sign a
new contract saying that I started on the 10th. Nothing else had been
changed (I checked), so I signed it. On July 4th, I went to Osaka,
Japan, to get my E2 visa.

So today I asked my boss about something completely innocent related
to my leaving (I asked if there was any way my stopover on my flight
back could have a layover in San Fransisco) and my boss asked when I
was going. I said after June 10th, and she had a total hissy. She
said that I didn't tell her than I was going. I told her that I never
said that I was staying. They asked me once before to stay another
year, and I said no. She said that I told her that I would stay until
July or August. I told her once a few months ago that I might
consider that, but it was mentioned only once, they never brought it
up to me again, and I didn't sign anything saying such. Then she
asked me "if it was that urgent" that I couldn't stay until July, and
I said yes because I'd already accepted another job that starts July
1st. Then she told me that my visa isn't up until July so I have to
stay. I said my contract ends June 10th and I have no obligation
beyond that. She said I can't leave until they find another teacher.
I said that finding another teacher is her problem, not mine. Also,
I have two friends from NZ whose information I offered to send her,
and she said that "the boss doesn't want someone with that accent."
(As if the Korean accent they speak with is better.)
My boss was really belligerent with me about the whole thing, saying
things like "what do you want to say to me?" "do you think you can
just quit without telling anyone?" and "how can you be so
irresponsible?" and now she isn't speaking to me. I'm terrified that
this bad blood that just started to flow my affect my ticket home, my
visa, and my contract bonus. Is there anything that I could have done
differently, and what should I be doing to protect myself?

I hope this question isn't too little too late...

part 2 was this

This morning I got a call from my future boss. My current boss called
her today and asked her to "let them keep me" until July 31st. As if
I'm a borrowed piece of luggage or something! My new boss stood her
ground, though, saying that I told her my contract was up on June
10th. However, afterwards, my future boss called me, worried that I
was trying to skip out of my current contract early. I reassured her
that this was not the case. Of course, she's twice as happy to have
me now, since my old boss is pleading with her to let them keep me.

Does anyone know the name of a lawyer that I could tell my boss should
things get sticky? I don't think I'll actually need him, but if I
have a name, I think it will light a fire under their asses to leave
me alone and give me what I earned.

You were right on the money, my friend! Today, my NEW boss gave me my
flight itinerary since she's the one that's paying for the ticket
right now. My old boss, Winnie, said that she didn't know how to buy
the tickets. I think that's a big ol' lie if I've ever heard one, but
I don't even care. I have my flight home. Magically, they bought the
new teacher a ticket to Korea already... hmm...

She must take me for a total idiot.

As it turns out, my hagwon president is good friends with my new boss,
and now everything is going smoothly. My current hagwon president
didn't know that Winnie, the head teacher/my boss, had called the new
school and was LIVID with Winnie when she found out what she'd put me
through over the past week or two.

Now my biggest problem is that I have to be out of the apartment by
June 11th, and my flight doesn't leave until the 13th. My new boss is
the one that told me that today- my old boss hasn't mentioned it to me
yet. Surprise. But, hey, I'm sure I can get it all figured out. (and guess what happened, she was homeless for 2 days and the new teacher from pittsburg canceled on them at the very last minute. Isn't irony just grand. Steph found them a great teacher, that they rejected and would be here working, and the person they hired quit before he ever arrived.)

so you can see how the last month of work was, it was like walking into a landmine field, I kept wating for the other shoe to drop and thank godness it never happened.

Just watching all of this has really left a very bad taste in my mouth towards my last academy. I was paid and guess what it was late, When I left, they had not replaced me or steph. No idea when or if they will. So i leave there, very happy. I could not believe that I actually helped the recruiter who lied to me and I called a potential teacher from america and told her all about Daejeon. I told the truth so I was happy, but to actually help the man who lied to me.

So Goodbye Oedae.