Dealing with a Rude Boss

Here's the question:

Well, I pretty much hate my boss. I asked him for one single day off (in OCTOBER!!!) so I can visit a friend in Japan and he rejected me. It's not so much the rejection that irks me, but more how he said it. What did he say? "Absolutely not! Class is more important than friends." What an a-hole! My students even said they were okay if I made up the classes on a weekend or something. And what's worse is that the foreign manager isn't sticking up for me at all! What the hell is the problem?

Man oh man, I love intercultural manager-employee clashes. There's nothing more fun than trying to explain why an overly authoritative Korean boss acting like a complete dick is just "part of Korean culture" and what he really meant to say is "this". As a manager, I have had to deal with this far too often. If I were to translate the above response, it would be like this: "I'm sorry, but you see, if we cancel classes because of a vacation, then I'm afraid it would set a precedent where teachers could take control of when and where classes are held, therefore making you more of a freelance teacher rather than an employee here." Fun, right?

This is a huge question and one that I think should be addressed on many different levels. Let's break it down, shall we?

1) Why do Korean bosses act this way?

I don't need to lecture about respect in Korea. If you want a background on why old people talk down to others, just take a gander at what Confucius said. First, when dealing with Koreans of advanced age or position, it's best to approach the situation as if you were rushing a frat or are a fresh-off-the-bus enlistee waiting in line to get your head shaved. You've got no rights and no authority to express an unsolicited opinion. Most men excuse and attribute this behavior to their military service, but I don't. I see them as whiny frat boys. Just like the freshman who were waiting their turn to do the hazing, these men spent years and years being punished and subordinated by their bosses and when they finally reach that point, there's no way they're going to change the game. It's how it is and I have yet to see any signs of it changing any time soon.

2) Does a faux cultural translation actually benefit anyone?

This is something that always stumps me. Should I offer a sugary version of what the boss "meant" with his rant or should I let it stand as is? Some claim that the role of a foreign manager is more of a liaison rather than a actual authority figure, so smoothing over the rude tirades of Korean managers is part of the description I guess, but I have a feeling that when I sweeten the boss-talk I am somehow legitimatizing their crass behavior. Rude is rude and regardless of culture, there is a "right" way to tactfully talk to employees. But tact is cultural. Especially in the case of the questioner, the boss was speaking English and still chose to speak in a rude manner. Not only does that suggest they knew what they were doing, but shows very little respect or appreciation for the teacher. Korean bosses need to realize that without teachers, they have no business. One of the largest complaints that teachers have are dick bosses that don't listen. On the other hand, we are in Korea and even though English might be the language in use, teachers should be a little more tolerant of harsh words or criticism.

There probably needs to be a little give and take with the teacher/expat giving in a little more. I'm sure some might disagree, but many teachers aren't here permanently. This isn't about acceptance. It's about tolerance. This isn't the West and investing too much into the situation isn't worth it. At the same time, bosses should recognize the differences and try to be a bit more sensitive.

I think the best way to handle this situation is by doing what I do and cut all meetings between Korean management and teachers out. If there's a problem, my teachers come to me and I handle it with Korean management. There's no need for direct meetings in most cases anyways and since I took total control of these interactions, there has been little or no drama.

3) What is expected of me, the non-Korean employee?

This one is a little harder. What is expected of an English teacher? I have known many excellent teachers who were awful employees and vice versa. They are two very different things. No one can be a perfect teacher, but you can be a near-perfect employee with relative ease. As an non-Korean employee, you need to show up on time, follow the rules of the school/contract and do your best to represent your school well. As a teacher, you need to be passionate, flexible and planned. Your Korean boss doesn't expect anything more of you and you shouldn't expect more from him or her.

4) Why won't the foreign manager stick up for me?

Being a foreign manager can sometimes be a more of a curse than a blessing. Sure, the money is pretty great, but you sometimes become the whipping post for unhappy teachers and/or management. The foreign teachers assume that you'll be on their side regardless while Korean management sees you as more of an inside agent. For me, I try my best to listen to all problems and solve them, but sometimes I can't help to get a bit irritated when a new teacher is making unreasonable demands or being totally uncompromising. The teachers need to understand that their foreign manager might be in a very difficult place, trying to balance their loyalties evenly. Your boss wants to stick up for, but you gotta make sure you're being reasonable as well.

5) Is there a way to ask for a holiday or other favor without going through all the BS?

The best way to get favors is by giving favors. Sounds nasty, but it's not. If you go out of your way to help out when another teacher is sick or maybe you pick up an extra class for a month, your bosses will remember and when it comes time for you to ask for an extra day of vacation, they might be more accommodating.

In the end, I'm not surprised that your request was denied. Everybody wants an extra day off to go to Japan or spend a little more time in Thailand, but it's just not a reality. If you're looking for a lot of vacation time, then do your research beforehand and land a job in a uni or public school.

6-Month Contracts in South Korea

Here's the question:

I'm interested in teaching English in Korea. However, I cannot commit to a 1 year contract. Do you know of any places that have 6 month contracts? Or anything less than 6 month contracts?

Most schools and jobs offer the standard year contract. There are six month gigs out there, but they are hard to find, offer less benefits and no airfare or severance. Most schools don't want to mess with them because having a constant flow of short-term teachers damages reputations and decreases re-enrollment. So, I couldn't point you in any solid direction for those contracts, but if you cruise the jobs sites well enough, you might manage to find something. They surface from time to time on Daves though.

You have a couple options though. If you're totally into coming to Korea, then you can try to find a summer camp or a winter camp. They're usually five weeks of pretty full teaching days, but you can make some decent cash. Since it's nearing the end of the summer now, you'd have to shoot for the winter camps. However, those jobs typically get snatched up by F2/F4 visa holders or E2 holders who are already in country.

Of course, you don't have to teach in Korea. I would take a look at some international job boards. You can find some pretty good 6-month jobs on there.

Ticket Reimbursement and Air Travel to South Korea

Here's the question:

I am coming to South Korea to teach English in August with CDI. I have to purchase my plane ticket, and I was wondering if you knew what the best airlines were. My third party recruiter, Aclipse, offers a travel agent, but I'm concerned this might be a scam. Also, CDI says that they will reimburse me for the ticket or only for 1,000,000 won expense (why?). If you have any info on this, I'd appreciate it. There appears to be little info on the net, sadly, about the flights and reimbursements. Current information, at least. Thanks again. I love the site, keep up the great work :-)

Mathew

Thanks for the kind words.

Purchasing tickets beforehand is always a little unnerving for new teachers. When I was doing my pre-Korea research years ago, I stumbled across many schools that required self-purchasing, but I decided that stay away from them. It just didn't seem worth the risk at that point and still, I would suggest that teachers insist that the school take care of flight arrangements. I know that this might not be possible as some schools have well-established rules. CDI is one of those schools, yet I would not be concerned about reimbursement from them. Chung Dahm Institute is a reputable school so -assuming you have talked to a couple current AND FORMER CDI teachers- I'd say that you should have very little to worry about on that front.

The choice of airlines depends largely on you. Since it's still May, I would spend some serious time scouring the web looking for the cheapest flight. The reason CDI caps your ticket price is to prevent you from taking the best of the best or "accidentally" adding any extra or extended stops along the way. I would double check with your school about the 1,000,000 won though. For a long time, the exchange rate was hovering around 1 USD: 1,000 won (which is probably where they got the 1,000,000 won limit from), but these days currencies and exchange rates can fluctuate drastically. Today, 1,000,000 won will only trade for 789 dollars. Depending where you're flying from, that might not even be enough to cover the flight, so see if you can get them to put a 1,000 DOLLAR limit on there rather than a won limit. I say that with no idea of whether they will accept it or not, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.

I guess I should also mention that Korea is having a minor spat with teachers and swine flu and CDI in particular has closed down for a few days because of that "fear". It should be all cleared up by the time you arrive unless, of course, it turns into a hip summer protest like last years beef protests. I wouldn't worry about that though. If you're swine-free then you'll be fine.

For now, think about getting the dollar/won thing straightened out and maybe even send a current teacher an email and see what they think. Either way, suggesting an airline wouldn't help at this point. Deals change all the time. I'd start fishing around for cheap flights now since you have so much time before headind this way.

If anybody has any questions, just send me an email at asktheexpat@yahoo.com or leave a comment.