Told You So…
I once asked a co-worker named Fred why he didn’t get a job with a new company. He’d recently married a Korean girl and planned on being in the ROK for quite a while. Fred looked at me for a second and said “I prefer the devil I know to the devil I don’t”.
In news that is not at all shocking, I just got word that the hagwan I worked for went teets-up. An expert from the e-mail….
“…its caused by bad choices and arrogant stubborn foolish management decisions of the last five years. No less than three different teachers and assorted business degree holders had warned them that unless they changed key factors to meet the demands of the new marketplace their business would fail. They kept acting like it was Korea circa 1990. And they always replied with the same derisive laughter, saying, “were professionals, we know what we are doing!” Followed of course by…. Now SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH and get your ASS BACK IN CLASS and make us OUR FUCKING MONEY!
Well they were NOT professionals and they DIDN’T know what they were doing and they PISSED OFF too many students and school principals so when things were really bad, one of those that had been previously fucked over by BCM decided to return the favor.
The Fuckee became the Fucker and reamed BCM-Nowon/Sanggye in the ass. They waited till the worst possible time for BCM then they kicked them in the teeth…. repeatedly.”
To anyone who had the misfortune of landing a job at my old company, this news is not at all surprising. The writing was on the wall long before I set foot in Korea and frankly, I don’t know how they stayed afloat as long as they did.
I take some measure of pride in knowing that I was able to make it through the entire year with this floundering company who treated it’s teachers and students alike as though they were cattle. Of the four people who arrived at the same time as me, I was the only person to finish out the original contract. Sean wised up and found a new, better company. Jared and Jordan re-negotiated for better conditions. Tim, slack jawed dullard that he is, cut and run about a month in. Anthony, a guy I never talked about, arrived in February and was done by July.
It might have been foolish for me to tough it out, but I was able to endure quite a lot more than I ever thought I might. Endure. Koreans use that word a lot. It seems engrained in them to grit their teeth and get through life, no matter how bad the situation might be. I danced with the devil for a year and I endured. I like the way that sounds.
