Thursday 17 May 2007

just another...

i worked in a bank for almost five years. not in a branch, but in customer service answering the phones - on the front lines of complaints at that; for three of those years i was a supervisor. when i wasn't on a complaint call, there was other work to be done, but when that was done, all i could do was sit there and wait for the phone to ring. to alleviate the boredom i became addicted to cheesy online games like the ones at popcap. we weren't supposed to play games, but everyone just kind of looked the other way... when you're bored, you're bored... and you have to find anything to make work bearable.

this worked for a long time, but i was sick of my job long before i left it to come to korea. in fact the bank job was one of the reasons i came. i didn't want to just go out and find another mundane, run-of-the-mill kind of job, i was free from university and was looking for adventure... so i moved halfway around the world... and here we are.

the thing is, my job here, though at times crazy and full of excitement, has it's fair share of boredom as well. for instance, winter "vacation" - don't worry i won't get into it again!!! - spring "vacation", exam time, anytime that i don't have classes to teach really. i thought school #2 was different since they gave me time off last week and the week before when there were no classes, but today changed my mind about them.

i found out late in the morning that my afternoon classes were cancelled. i got excited; i imagined myself outside tanning in the glory of the days' sunshine, getting to the gym early, going home, taking a shower, making a nice dinner, relaxing in the evening... i should have left the dreaming for bed time. i was made to stay at school until 4:30 - FIVE HOURS.

five hours of doing nothing inside, at a desk, when i could have been outside fulfilling my day dreams. i just don't get it. i think it's one of those things that will confound me forever. all the other teachers were asking me why i was there, wondering the same thing as me. it's just crap. i can deal with it, but it threw off my whole day and just made me pissed off.

as i've said before, i could understand if i had some kind of work to do, or even a computer that worked properly, but i literally spent half the afternoon with my head on my desk trying to nap. what's the point? i might as well be a "bad" student who is being punished for screwing around in class.

if it was a reason to leave canada, it sure as heck is a reason to leave korea... so really this is just another bullet point on my list of reasons to leave...

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