From The Author: This Coulda Been Me
Shelton Lee Bumgarner
So with a tear in my eye (as in 'tare') I bid farewell to Anseong this
afternoon and Korea next week. I'm off to Taiwan for another merecenary
postion clouting ingrates into shape.
As I wait for my bus, I've been busily blacklisting my previous hogwan
Ewha ALS Inchon Nambu Campus on every site I can find.
Here's my complaint. Thought I'd share it with you...
My experience with this school, and its owner
has been nothing short of horrific.
To start, the school was sold to her the week I
arrived. I had no idea this rendered my E2 visa invalid
and, being pretty clueless, I'm not sure she did
either.
When I went to pick my ARC up at Incheon Immigration,
they told me there was a problem and that I needed to
return quickly with my old director (Brian Lee- who I
met briefly on my first day- he gave some blah about
'You as teachers are the most important thing in this
hogwan' before disappearing out the back door) and my
new one, Patricia, plus about 2 million won in fines.
I tried to tell x this when I returned to x,
but she brushed it aside saying it was no problem and
that I would just have to make another visa run to
Japan. Then she started having a go at me, saying I
spoke weird and she had had complaints from parents. I
am actually well-spoken but am British, which to her
was a problem- this despite the telephone interview
she had had with me before I left the UK.
3 weeks passed and finally she said 'We need to go to
Immigration this afternoon'. In the interview room,
the immigration officer shouted at her and me before
giving me a deportation order.
I was taken down to the cells by two goons,
photographed and locked up for a couple of hours
during which time I thought I'd be on the next flight
to Heathrow wearing handcuffs. When I came back,
Patricia had bribed them (surprise surprise) and
instead of immediate deportation, I was given a 14 day
exit order.
Still x said this wasn't a problem. When I got
back from Japan however she told me that Immigration
would refuse an E2 visa sponsored by her for me and I
would need to get another job.
My recruiter who- apart from getting me the x job
in the first place- has been extremely helpful through
all this and so shall remain nameless- hooked me up
with a position that came under Suwon Immigration
jurisdiction.
When my new boss tried to get me the visa permission,
it was refused even though Immigration knew the
original 'crime' was not my fault- I had committed an
offence and that was that. I have now been barred from
getting work for three months in Korea, so am having
to go to Taiwan to look for a teaching position. It
sucks.
In addition, x pays late every single month-
sometimes by two or three weeks, coming up with weak
excuses ('mugged by Japanese gangsters' for example)
and avoiding the issue.
She didn't pay me the full amount she owed me when I
left and bonuses for staff who left there in the
summer have still not been paid. She says this is x
Head Office's fault. Hmmm.
x itself is thoroughly disreputable. x, I
found out, has nine similar offences to his name and
is now being sued by the government. The x
textbooks are amateurish in the extreme and the
textbooks for the more advanced kids are deliberately
aimed too high so they won't learn anything and will
have to keep on paying for lessons.
All in all, it's been a bad bad experience. Take my
advice- avoid like the plague!!
Sincerely
Rick
# posted by Lee Teacher @ 1:43 AM :: 1 comment:
It could have been you, oh yes. But it was me.
You got the willies. I got the assfucking...
Rk