just another American teacher in SK

Could this process possibly be any more unpleasant? 

First, I get reamed a new asshole when I called the Coordinator at the Office of Education to tell her that I’m leaving. Her response was “You can’t leave. You have a contract.” I suggested she talk with the American Embassy to confirm that I can, in fact, leave without her permission.

Then, my co-teacher goes absolutely ape-shit, convinced that I am leaving because I have contracted “swine flu” and requests my medical records from the hospital.   (This is not particularly nutty, as there is a teacher in Seoul who has been quarantined with symptoms of H1N1 ….  add it to the list of reasons to leave ….)

My original resignation letter specified May 31, but I had to work on May 30 because contracts cannot be terminated on a weekend, so my “official” last day is June 1.  Which means that I have to pay forward every associated expense (medical, pension, employer-sponsered living expenses …   you get the idea …)  for the entire month of June.

The administrative office is generating bills ~ May utility, June utility, June rent (which I don’t pay), June medical insurance premium, the last three months of insurance premium adjustments (because they “miscalculated”)  ~ every day for the past week I’ve had a new bill from the cracker-jack Accounting department …  urgh.  All I get is a request for payment (what the hell am I paying for?!).  When they give me another bill, I just pay it. 

Unfortunately, all transactions are in cash ~ and I never get a receipt.   I know, I know …  there are folks who are saying “you have to get a receipt” (my accountant, for example), but Korea is a “cash system”.  Cash is the normal mode of payment, and receipts are rare.     Just add it to the list of things that I can bitch about …

Millions of won have flown out of my pocketbook in the past week ~ when I said that the financial penalties for leaving are steep, I wasn’t kidding.   It’s worth it.  The sense of relief is worth a million dollars.

But, come on …  have you ever heard of a receipt?

This entry was posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 10:31 am and is filed under 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.