I know..you guys may think (largely because of the distance, absence of experience, or equally because of my woeful lack of communication) that I'm living the 'life 'o Reilly' over here. But nay say I...take the prior two weeks as example. So about 12 days ago, I get a phone call on my hand phone (i.e. cell phone) at about 11:30 pm...it's Sunny, a recruiter who I'd e-mailed, met, and interviewed with previously. The job I'd e-mailed her about was a kindergarten teaching gig at a subway station about 20 minutes north of my home. In my McNamara'n efficious way, I thought I could best serve my ends by working 10-12 at a kindy in the wee hours of the morning for 35-40 bucks an hour, running to my elementary school and teaching until 530, racing home and catching my evening classes that very, but average a finish time of 930 or later...little did I realize. So, she called..I could hear the pleading in her voice from the outset...a woman desparate does not protect herself at all..a lesson for you ladies. (Toss nature into the pot..and lord help us if the man 'stirs' at all...
So...she had a foreign teacher who bailed on his/her teaching gig without a trace, literally, turned off the cell phone and disappeared like a fart in the wind...everyone knows it is there..but nobody can track the source. So she's begging me to fill-in, to sub. at the very kindergarten that had snubbed me after a world-class interview. I had the President of the school on the ropes with my Korean...I drew a crowd to watch my 'demo class' (mind you, I had no warning...literally, sitting in the lobby of a kindergarten..meeting across the counter from the President, a hapless charmisa-deficient Canuck to my left, and she and I bookending Cap'n no-charm, she says 'so, you can do a demo class now...only 15 minutes...here's a book...there are 12 five-year-olds...go ahead..." Uh...the Canadian balks..I pounce! No more than 3 minutes later there are 4 or 5 adults standing at the door, the President standing at the opposite end of the table, and me, shamelessly ignoring them all and focusing on just those who I many years ago devoted my being to, the students. I nailed it...one shot, solid, no wavering, nutted it, to the hilt. And yet the Pres. deferred for someone else...as usual, nothing to do with ability, pure illogical crap...(second-guess my description all you want...I live here, I've seen it over and over...) Six days later..they phone me. 'Nuff said.
My first day the Pres's son meets me at the subway station, I ride in a 50,000,000won car (yes, that's worth peanuts due to the exchange rate now..but I invite you to bring enough peanuts to buy one...) wheels me in and sets me off with zero prep. Two hours later, as he drives me back to the station, he says, "Before now I was so stressed and worried...but now, you have made me calm..." Again, something I have devoted my being to...
As the days tick by..Korean teachers that initially could not speak to me, relax and find common ground, they start joining in our songs, they stop moping, they stop looking helpless and find some resolve...the teacher with the 4-year-olds...(that means 2!! in US age) stops hanging her head on the table during a 20 minute class, stops looking so dejected and helpless...and stops throwing her arms up in fatalistic futility and realizes, oh, I can teach these kids...I even have them using numbers, letters, and even subject pronouns correctly...yeah, they're 2!
Teachers ask me to stay...say I should not leave. One foreigner comes to interview..during his 'demo class' the recruiter, Sunny, finds me and says...we can't hire anyone like you...adding a derisive, thanks a lot! I tell her simply...'I know.' It's a pleasure having qualified confidence. She really can't find another teacher like me. She can find worse, and yes, she CAN find better..but like me, no, never.
After seven days, a woman arrives, she fits the bill. She young-ish, naive-ish, she is outgoing. Incredibly, with that 'skill-set', she fits the bill. After a few minutes of feeding her the low-down, she asks for some advice for her demo-class...she pulls out a hand puppet from her plastic sack...I say, "if you've got puppets, you don't need my advice." I know I'm done there.
I'm right. The pres. takes her...it comes down to 30 minutes. See...he wants a teacher from 10am-1220pm. I have to leave at exactly 1150am. I should finish my class..run 5 minutes to the bus stop...wait praying for the 107 blue bus to arrive so I can catch the only direct bus to stop near my elementary school. I ride for 20-25 minutes checking the clock on my hand phone every 30 seconds to determine how fast I should run up the hill and if I have time or not to buy a snack at the convenience store. I get off the bus at 1225 and run up the hill to my school before the manager calls my phone asking where I am. So, the Pres. of the kindy can't keep me, even though he wants to.
Now...he had me for 7 days..he's grateful, right? Sure... How grateful...let me show you. Time's up. Time to pay. I fought for and got the recruiter to agree to 35,000won per hour. I begin teaching at 950 and leave at 1150...two hours right? Wrong! The Pres. wanted somebody for 2 hours...to finish at 1220. So..Montezuma's revenge..sort of. I had to leave early...how does he jab me for it. Here's how. Final day..I covered the recruiter's ass and help him out. I'm in the back room filling out my lesson plan for the week and waiting for him to come back and pay me so I can run. He calls the recruiter and I hear what's coming. 2 hours? No! 1 hour and 40 minutes per day. Why, you ask? Well...I had a 5 minute break between classes...so, we couldn't dare count those precious minutes where I was racing to change books and get to the next room as work, could we? Of course not...fools! So...here I stand..watching him whip out 490,000won and removing 70,000 that he will pocket...
Now..I hear you..why dont' you fight for it. Many reasons. First, saving face in Korea. Simply put, you wouldn't understand. Second, saving the face of the recruiter, if I burn her for 70,000 now, she'd never find me another job where I could make 70,000 in one morning. Third, maybe it's not in my DNA...while I could just as easily break this fucker's nose..and the thought did cross my mind, and I did feel the fingers flex...I know how much sweeter the pleasure will be...he'll get his...we all do. And...the recruiter promised me..so before I hung up with her, I knew she would pay me anyhow..so I let him feel big and superior..and I'll get my full 35,000 anyway..but now I know the measure of that man...maybe it'll never pay dividends...then again..maybe it will. Anyhow, I have that investment.
Maybe long-winded, but it isn't even a percentage of all the antics that went into one job this past two weeks. And it was enough to make me take 2 long weeks off of my workout regimen...so that should tell you how serious it was. I was worried about simple starvation and exhaustion...I started working out again tonight....
M
No comments:
Post a Comment