Let me set the stage.
December/January....Super sick. Ask co-workers and look at contract for insurance information, Accidental death and injury, coverage only after 100,000w. No good, doesn't work for me. Doctor visits and prescriptions 2months later ~500,000w out of pocket lost.
February...tear ACL, doctor visits still not 100,000w, MRI 900,000 ok! can definitely use insurance now....ooooohhhhh, School now looks into insurance coverage. "Teacher, you have a 15,000w copay then covered up to 200,000w. ME "You told me 100,000 copay, and covered beyond" Yugin: "Ya, that's what I thought but it has changed." ME: pissed. Frustrated. Out 500,000w. Now, out another 900,000w.
April... Surgery (no, not for my knee). Everything goes fine- insurance wise, mentally....now damaged.
June- two weeks ago: Contract up, sign new one. Director: "Everything on the contract is the same but we are changing insurance to LIG because you get better coverage with them." Me: "Ok. great, thank you."
One week ago: ME: "Adeline, will you ask Jeanne (our HR who speaks very little english) about my insurance and the changes, what my coverage will be, and what needs to happen when the insurance chages, do we send in papers to the old insurance up until covered and then switch to the new...what?" Adeline: "I think...."
ME: "No, I thinks.....I need to know, I need you to know. No, I thinks. Will you ask Jeanne so you can know for sure." Adeline: "ok."
Yesterday: No answer from Adeline. I ask, Yugin. "Yugin, Do you know about the coverage for the new insurance and what I ned to do, or what needs to be done for the switch? "Yugin: "You have coverage up until the switch and then after that, the new insurance will not cover you becuase it will be a pre-existing injury." ME: Pissed. Fuming....Speechless. WTF. Many more words were said but you get the point.... I walk away from Yugin mid-sentence and leave.
Today: Come to work. "Adeline, Can you ask Mrs. Moon (the director) if I can talk with her during my kids gym time?"
Walk into meet with Mrs. Moon and both Yugin and Jeannie (HR) are there. I sit down and lay everything that I can spew out on the table. Mrs. Moon: Why do you think your insurance changed?" Me: "Because when I met with you, to sign my new contract you specifically pointed it out and told me it was for my benefit." Mrs Moon silent... "Did you talk to Yugin?" "Yes, yesterday, that's why I'm here." Moon: "not this morning?" me: "No." Jesters to Yugin to speak. "Uh, yes....I contacted your representative who is working your claim and they said that we can stay and extend your contract with them until you are finished with the doctor. What I told you yesterday, I was not right. We talk to middle men and they told us the wrong information, and the insurance companies are very confusing and I guess I was confused and I contacted the lady working your case and she said we can extend your contract with them because you already have a claim." ME: "that's good." Yugin: "You are a special case, I guess, and you will not change insurance but stay with the current." ME: "good. Thank you." Mrs. Moon: "You can trust us, we are not out to do better for the school." Me: "I came in trusting the school because I didn't know any different but I feel I'm lied to. I don't read or speak Korean so I have to rely on this school to provide me with accurate documents. Everything that I am given has something wrong with it, it not up to or it's out date. I am given wrong information all the time. People tell me things by what they think, and not what is known. A simple "I don't know, I'll look into it," would do. I am unbelievably stressed out by this school. I don't have to just deal with the insurance that's not in my own language or my country, but I have to tell you guys how to deal with it, You complain that the middle man gave you wrong information? I not only have to deal with the middle man, but my information travels through 3 different ESL people at this school. Do you know how many things are lost and/or changed in translation?"
A lot more words were said but you get the point, then Mrs. Moon proceeds to tell me that if I have future inquiries I need to ask Adeline and Yugin.
Seriously. I wish I had a curly cam to document my days at work.
Count down begins...160 days left.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The decision.
During lunch the next day, cont.
Yugin: "So...do you have something to tell me?"
Me: caught off guard "Uhhhhhmmm....I fully haven't decided yet, can I tell you at the end of the day?"
Yugin: "No, I need to know now. We have a teacher who isn't good but ok that we can hire and I need an answer."
Me: "Well, I'm sorry but I talk to people at home and I haven't had the chance to see if I have heard back from them. I'll let you know you as soon as I have."
(I didn't really talk to anyone at home, but seriously, give me a break!)
Yugin: "Well, I need an answer."
Me: "Yes, I understand. I was on my way to check my email to see if I had heard becuase I haven't had a chance since I have been working all morning. Can I go see, and then I'll let you know before lunch is over?" (We have 5 mins left.)
Yugin: "Mrs. Moon needs an answer asap. The teacher waiting needs to know.
Me: "Yes. And I will let you know as soon as I know." (as I walk off.)
Really. Who are you people?!
Needs to know ASAP, please. Maybe if you asked me 2 days or even a month ago when you were starting to look for my replacement, a whole 24 hours to let me think about wouldn't have been a problem but since you can't realize that that would have been the more smart thing to do, here we are....as we are everyday, as this stupid shit happens.
But after all that, as much as I wanted to walk straight out the door. I signed for another 3 month. How I will be able to put up with the BS that goes on here is beyond me. As awful as it is to work at my job, I still manage to enjoy myself on the weekends. And if you've ever lived your life waiting for the weekend, it goes by pretty fast. So, here's hoping!!
Start saving because once Nov. is up, I'm out!!!!!!!!! Thailand, Phillippines, Indo, Mayalsia.....anywhere, but here!!!!!!! Beach, cocktails, sun, semi- clean air...... and the best part, me!!!!
Yugin: "So...do you have something to tell me?"
Me: caught off guard "Uhhhhhmmm....I fully haven't decided yet, can I tell you at the end of the day?"
Yugin: "No, I need to know now. We have a teacher who isn't good but ok that we can hire and I need an answer."
Me: "Well, I'm sorry but I talk to people at home and I haven't had the chance to see if I have heard back from them. I'll let you know you as soon as I have."
(I didn't really talk to anyone at home, but seriously, give me a break!)
Yugin: "Well, I need an answer."
Me: "Yes, I understand. I was on my way to check my email to see if I had heard becuase I haven't had a chance since I have been working all morning. Can I go see, and then I'll let you know before lunch is over?" (We have 5 mins left.)
Yugin: "Mrs. Moon needs an answer asap. The teacher waiting needs to know.
Me: "Yes. And I will let you know as soon as I know." (as I walk off.)
Really. Who are you people?!
Needs to know ASAP, please. Maybe if you asked me 2 days or even a month ago when you were starting to look for my replacement, a whole 24 hours to let me think about wouldn't have been a problem but since you can't realize that that would have been the more smart thing to do, here we are....as we are everyday, as this stupid shit happens.
But after all that, as much as I wanted to walk straight out the door. I signed for another 3 month. How I will be able to put up with the BS that goes on here is beyond me. As awful as it is to work at my job, I still manage to enjoy myself on the weekends. And if you've ever lived your life waiting for the weekend, it goes by pretty fast. So, here's hoping!!
Start saving because once Nov. is up, I'm out!!!!!!!!! Thailand, Phillippines, Indo, Mayalsia.....anywhere, but here!!!!!!! Beach, cocktails, sun, semi- clean air...... and the best part, me!!!!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Insert profanity here.
Time: 2:40ish
Co- Teacher: "Yugin wants ask you about your contract."
Me: "Um, Ok. When?"
Co- teacher: "Tomorrow at 6:10. She's wants to offer you an extension of your contract."
Me: "Ughhh...Ok."
Co-teacher: "That's good!"
Me: "Yes, I know...but... :/ "
During my class, 20 mins later, Yugin walks into my classroom.
Yugin "Will you write a sentence for the class to write down so I can ask you some questions"
Me: "Uhhh, Um....ok?"
Yugin: "I hear you might be interested in extending your contract. For how long?"
Me: "Uh, I'm am thinking for 2 or three months. I will not stay until Febrary though, if that's what you want just because it's the end of the school year."
Yugin: "No, it's either the end of November or August."
Me: "August as in August when my current contract ends or August 2012?
Yugin: "A year, August 2012."
Me: "Ok...well, I definitely wont sign till August so it'd be only til November."
Yugin: "Ok! So we can stop interviewing for your position..."
Me: "Uhh....I'm not completely sure I want to stay, can I have a day to make the decision?"
Yugin: "Well, we don't need to interview new teachers if you are staying."
Me: "Yes, I know. But it's kind of a big decision and I don't want to answer when I am in the middle of a class, when I was told 20 minutes ago that you where going to ask me about it tomorrow. I haven't had time to think about it, can I have at least a day and tell you tomorrow, or maybe even two days?
Yugin: "We need to know so we can stop interviewing."
Me: "Yes, I understand. But this is the first time you asked me, I didn't know you were interviewing, and it's a decision I would like to think about so I can look at a calendar and my life to see what works best for me. Can I tell you tomorrow or even have two days to think about it."
Yugin: *ponders it for a moment* "yes, I guess that's ok, tomorrow."
She leaves, I go back to teaching my class.
REALLY...come on!!!
In the middle of my class, 20 minutes AFTER my co- teacher just told me she was going to talk to me the following day.....
Shit like this happens everyday.... EVERY god damn day. You do not tell someone you are going to do something, and then 30 mins later do something different, you do not interrupt a class in session to talk about extending a contract and then want an answer then and there, have some professionalism...or maybe even a brain. Ugggghhhh!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, you might understand more of where I'm coming from if you knew about my weeks prior to this.
Here's a little bit from an email I wrote my mom last week:
I had another meeting about how I'm not doing anything right, I need to change the way I do things, I need to scare my kids into listening to me.....blah, blah, blah. My co- teacher does this two days before my parent's meeting that I'm already stressed about. I had no proir acknowledgement that anything was wrong, my kids love me, they to listen me (they have their good days, and their not so good days but nothing unmanageable), As far as I know, my parent have no problems with me or my teaching as to they always write good things in my comment books, I got a ton of nice things for Teacher's day... It's just so frustrating! And then the next day I shed some tears at the coffee shop, cause I am holding on by threads here and some how the director found out, so my co- teacher asked why I was crying and if it was because two of my friends left? NO. No! That's not at all why I was crying!" I told her. UGhhhh... "yes, I'm a little sad because my friends left but no, I was crying because of this place. LCI. It's frustrating. It makes me sad. It makes me angry. It makes me unBEIVEably stressed out." I mean come on...You can't expect a person to take lightly a 30min conversation of how she is a failure.
THEN!! The next day, she talks to me about it (since she confronted me as I was leaving work.) I tell her if there is a problem tell me THEN, when it happens, so I can attempt to fix it, not 30 different problems at one time because then I don't even know/remember what or when it happened and why it was a problem. AND Then, she procedes to tells me, it's not even stuff that's happening now, it just things that the director remembers from my last class when i first came and I'm doing a great job but need to change a couple things now to help myself in the furture. Really? Are you kidding me?
The next day, I proceeded to have my parent's meeting and after I was told the parents love me and they told the director they want me to stay for the full year. Hince, why I'm sure my contract extension came up. Now, the director goes out of her way to tell me I'm doing a good job, and ask me how are things?....oh my hell....I'd say 90% of my stress from work is from, inefficiency, not thinking before things are done, the culture and the language barrier.
Do I really have to test my sanity and stay for a few more months just so I heal from surgery, have a little money to possibly travel and not hate my life when i go back home to no job, no car, and crutches?
Co- Teacher: "Yugin wants ask you about your contract."
Me: "Um, Ok. When?"
Co- teacher: "Tomorrow at 6:10. She's wants to offer you an extension of your contract."
Me: "Ughhh...Ok."
Co-teacher: "That's good!"
Me: "Yes, I know...but... :/ "
During my class, 20 mins later, Yugin walks into my classroom.
Yugin "Will you write a sentence for the class to write down so I can ask you some questions"
Me: "Uhhh, Um....ok?"
Yugin: "I hear you might be interested in extending your contract. For how long?"
Me: "Uh, I'm am thinking for 2 or three months. I will not stay until Febrary though, if that's what you want just because it's the end of the school year."
Yugin: "No, it's either the end of November or August."
Me: "August as in August when my current contract ends or August 2012?
Yugin: "A year, August 2012."
Me: "Ok...well, I definitely wont sign till August so it'd be only til November."
Yugin: "Ok! So we can stop interviewing for your position..."
Me: "Uhh....I'm not completely sure I want to stay, can I have a day to make the decision?"
Yugin: "Well, we don't need to interview new teachers if you are staying."
Me: "Yes, I know. But it's kind of a big decision and I don't want to answer when I am in the middle of a class, when I was told 20 minutes ago that you where going to ask me about it tomorrow. I haven't had time to think about it, can I have at least a day and tell you tomorrow, or maybe even two days?
Yugin: "We need to know so we can stop interviewing."
Me: "Yes, I understand. But this is the first time you asked me, I didn't know you were interviewing, and it's a decision I would like to think about so I can look at a calendar and my life to see what works best for me. Can I tell you tomorrow or even have two days to think about it."
Yugin: *ponders it for a moment* "yes, I guess that's ok, tomorrow."
She leaves, I go back to teaching my class.
REALLY...come on!!!
In the middle of my class, 20 minutes AFTER my co- teacher just told me she was going to talk to me the following day.....
Shit like this happens everyday.... EVERY god damn day. You do not tell someone you are going to do something, and then 30 mins later do something different, you do not interrupt a class in session to talk about extending a contract and then want an answer then and there, have some professionalism...or maybe even a brain. Ugggghhhh!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, you might understand more of where I'm coming from if you knew about my weeks prior to this.
Here's a little bit from an email I wrote my mom last week:
I had another meeting about how I'm not doing anything right, I need to change the way I do things, I need to scare my kids into listening to me.....blah, blah, blah. My co- teacher does this two days before my parent's meeting that I'm already stressed about. I had no proir acknowledgement that anything was wrong, my kids love me, they to listen me (they have their good days, and their not so good days but nothing unmanageable), As far as I know, my parent have no problems with me or my teaching as to they always write good things in my comment books, I got a ton of nice things for Teacher's day... It's just so frustrating! And then the next day I shed some tears at the coffee shop, cause I am holding on by threads here and some how the director found out, so my co- teacher asked why I was crying and if it was because two of my friends left? NO. No! That's not at all why I was crying!" I told her. UGhhhh... "yes, I'm a little sad because my friends left but no, I was crying because of this place. LCI. It's frustrating. It makes me sad. It makes me angry. It makes me unBEIVEably stressed out." I mean come on...You can't expect a person to take lightly a 30min conversation of how she is a failure.
THEN!! The next day, she talks to me about it (since she confronted me as I was leaving work.) I tell her if there is a problem tell me THEN, when it happens, so I can attempt to fix it, not 30 different problems at one time because then I don't even know/remember what or when it happened and why it was a problem. AND Then, she procedes to tells me, it's not even stuff that's happening now, it just things that the director remembers from my last class when i first came and I'm doing a great job but need to change a couple things now to help myself in the furture. Really? Are you kidding me?
The next day, I proceeded to have my parent's meeting and after I was told the parents love me and they told the director they want me to stay for the full year. Hince, why I'm sure my contract extension came up. Now, the director goes out of her way to tell me I'm doing a good job, and ask me how are things?....oh my hell....I'd say 90% of my stress from work is from, inefficiency, not thinking before things are done, the culture and the language barrier.
Do I really have to test my sanity and stay for a few more months just so I heal from surgery, have a little money to possibly travel and not hate my life when i go back home to no job, no car, and crutches?
I use to live my life by wants, then I came to Korea and now I have to live it by needs.
I am an American's "worst case scenerio" in Korea.
*Adeline, if you read this please don't take it personal, it's my way of telling people at home my experience, my thoughts and it's a way for me to vent....because if anyone knows what I have gone through here, it's you. Thank you for everything you have done, I can only imagine the frustrations you have with me. ;)
As for all you others....I've tried to stay positive but this place has broken me and I'm over it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)