the short stick

When it comes to co-teachers, I got the short stick. It’s taken me two and a half months to admit this, even to myself, but after much consideration, I have to say that I’d be better off without him a lot of the time.

I work in only one middle school, my co-teacher (the one “in charge” of me) is in his late thirties/early forties, and thinks that he’s gods gift to English education. I think he’s an asshole – excuse my language, hope it doesn’t offend anyone, but he is. He likes to put on these airs of being so great because he spent a month or two in the US on some exchange program, but really he’s the worst teacher at the school. His students have the worst grades of any of my six other team-teachers.

That however, is not my main issue with him. Since the day I have arrived he’s tried to pretend to be nice and to “take care” of me, until I really need something then he has no idea what is going on and tries to just tell me to accept things. “This is the way it is in Korea,” or “you must do this,” or “you must listen to me,” more recently I have been having trouble with him regarding my pay and clarifications on the deductions that are being taken.

In September I got paid one amount and in October I got paid less. When I tried to find out why, he told me “this is just how much you will get paid now.” Sorry, but that is an unacceptable answer in my books. When I pushed him to get me a pay slip he tried to convince me that I don’t need one. Then he told me all of the amounts deducted were normal, which they are not. I don’t know a single other ESL teacher in Korea who has to pay unemployment insurance, do you? He tried to tell me that when the year is over I can claim it, which is a load of crap, I am not allowed to claim Korean unemployment, I’m here on a contract, and when that contract is up, my visa expires and I have to leave the country.

It has been over a week since I asked for a pay slip and I still don’t have one. I finally had to get the supervisor of my province’s English teachers program on the phone. He has assured me that I would have a pay slip in a few days and if not to call him back.

This is not the only reason I call him an asshole.

Yesterday morning I woke up feeling terrible. I didn’t sleep all night because my throat was so sore that I kept waking up, I also had a fever and the sickest headache I’ve ever had. So, I went to school because I didn't know how to call in sick, and I knew I needed to go to the doctor - thus I was in need of a Korean. Too bad for me that the one I have to go to is my co-teacher.

When he finally got in (he's always late) he told me to go rest in the ladies room (we have a room for female teachers to sleep in when needed) and after something - pictures? I’m not sure what he was talking about, I was pretty out of it – he would take me to the doctor. Well, he forgot about me and left me there for two hours. At least I was able to get a little sleep, though it's hard with screaming kids running around outside.

So, I finally went and told him I needed to go to the doctor. He said he would take me, though he acted as though he were my savior and as if he were going out of his way. The doctor told me that I have tonsillitis, and that I should rest for a few days. He gave me a prescription to fill, and the mandatory “shot” that you get at the doctors. We were on our way; he would take me to the pharmacy and drive me home.

Of course, being Korean, he illegally parked while we were at the doctor's - it's not my place to tell him not to, last time I did that he told me that it was ok...and to never mind. Well, this time he got a ticket.

He couldn't wrap his head around it, a ticket? A ticket? “What do you think about this ticket?” he actually asked me that. I said, "Are you kidding? I can barely speak and you're asking me what I think of this ticket? It’s a ticket." Then he said, "Well I think you should pay for half of it." To which I replied, "this isn't the time, are you serious?" The doctor just told him that I needed to get home and get to bed and stay there, no stress, no work... and he's asking me about a parking ticket? WTF? Then he says, “Well, if you don't want to pay for it, then I’m just going to go back to school now and you can walk home.” At which point he pointed at the door as if to say ‘get out of my car.’ So I called him an asshole and walked home.

Am I over-reacting here? This is not the first time that he has done something like this to me, but I would have to write a short novella if I wanted to tell you everything… the first time he brought me to sauna and napped in the same cubby hole as me, the time he asked me how many men I’ve slept with, the two times he sent me to immigration by myself, the times that he’s tried to make me feel like I was indebted to him for him doing his job… I can keep going here.

I am friends’ with several other Korean co-teachers in my city and friends of mine have told their co-teachers about mine, and they all seem appalled by his complete indifference and lack of ability. I don’t want to make it seem like all co-teachers are like this, I don’t think that they are, like I said, I just got the short stick.