Thursday, June 16, 2005

Mmmm...tastes bitter.

Work hates us. More than the normal "You're white, so automatically not welcome...and while we're at it we are also totally jealous of the fact that you get to travel, even though if we were given the opportunity we wouldn't take it anyway" kind of way. The Korean teachers at work were so pissed at us for missing our flight. We got completely ignored on Monday, despite our futile attempts at Asian-style groveling and humble-pie-eating. I've been eating humble pie for the past eleven months and truth be told, I never really liked the taste of it. The mere thought of anymore makes me gag.

I'm all for respecting cultural differences but somethings are just ridiculous. The idea that our missing the flight was directed at any one person as an individual is ridiculous. What is more ridiculous is the idea that we should be shunned and shut out for some unknown period of time until the unnamed powers that be decide we are forgiven. It's one week since our "incident" and we are still being ignored. I mean point blank "Hello's" being greeted with stony faced "Humphs" and followed with a pivot and walk away. Jeez.

Retaliation also seems to be a favoured technique here. We've been publicly embarrassed and reprimanded, forced to carry a heavier teaching load than normal and basically mistreated. The worst part is that we have three weeks left and they have their hands around the purse strings...which contains our bonus. Our whole reason for being.

I'll swallow my pride...and wash it down with some more humble pie.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Three more weeks, Caroline. Almost done.

That's all rather silly, and I suppose you'll just have to suck it up and hope forgiveness comes soon (as in, soon enough that they forget when bonus time comes). But it's a crappy situation, to be sure.

Suzanne said...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but start mentally preparing yourself to lose that bonus. Or at least some of it. My limited Korean experience spawns this vast generalization about Korean school directors: They are looking for any excuse to not pay you. I walked out of Korea almost ten years ago with the bitter (and unfair) thought that the entire country would sell their own mothers for a won or two. And yes, I only got about 35% of my bonus and kicked out of my house a week early. Other friends got nothing or were physically assaulted for asking for their bonus...I got lucky. Sorry.