Pissed off

Well my Principal managed to really piss me off today.

Winter vacation began today for elementary schools in Suncheon. The students arrived, did a little clean up, got a speech from the Principal and were excused at 10:30am. The teachers then gathered for a brief meeting and then were excused at 11am. Things were looking up. One last thing to do before leaving for two months, sign the log book that would detail the times I would be out of the country on my trip to China in February.

Aside: My trip to China was to be paid for by working a series of Winter English camps that would have paid me 2.75 million won, more than enough for a nice trip and a new camera. One camp was to be here in Suncheon, while the others were to be up near Seoul.

The VP takes a look at the dates that I listed and then picks up the phone, speaks for a moment with who I later found out was the Principal and then tells my co-teacher that they need to check my contract and to get the dates of the camps I wanted to attend.

While all of this is going on around me in Korean, I'm left to wonder what is the big deal as it is explicitly stipulated in the contract that I get 26 vacation days in February. This was recently reinforced from the Provincial Education Office who sent a letter to all of the schools telling them not to interfere with the February vacation dates.

Finally I get my one co-teacher to tell me what is going on. The Principal wants me to come to school from January 9th till the 20th. This would obviously interfere with my camps. So I check the calendar to find out what is going on during this time. Nothing. So I ask again, what is going on? It turns out that it wasn't January, it was February that he wants me to be back in school.

By this time my younger female co-teacher (first year teaching) confirms that I am contractually guaranteed 26 vacation days in February. So she goes to talk to the Principal again. I wait.

After about 15 minutes she comes back and its obvious that she has been crying.

Well now I'm pissed off!

This fucking maggot has the temerity to blast my young co-teacher because his pissed off at me and the contract that he signed.

You want to be a man and rip into somebody, do it to me. But of course he won't see me as he can't speak English, I can't speak Korean and it would be very wrong for him to lay into me. Of course picking on an innocent first year female teacher is all good.

So now I have to go in to school throughout January and teach for an hour a day. Apparently, I'll be helping teach music and Korean literacy. All because my Principal can't accept the fact that I don't have to attend the two weeks of school in February that everyone else has to.

I'm fine with having to work, it's in my contract, but to act in such a immature and unnecessary manner is just wrong.

I just hope that they don't ask me to do anything for them from now on, because there is no way I'm going to reward such infantile and hurtful behavior.