Oh Yeah, 2020? Hold My Beer!

Well, I made it outta 2020 reasonably intact, but I certainly wouldn't sign up for THAT again! 2021 has started off on the world politics and employment fronts by saying, "Oh yeah, 2020? Hold my beer!" 

I think you know what's coming on the political side, so let's begin with work. As I blogged before, I have lost my job. In true 2020 mind-blowing fashion, I lost my teaching job without ever teaching a class. Well, not in person anyway. I spent a total of about 15 minutes in a classroom at Gongju University where I no longer work, and that was my demo lesson during my interview. I have never had to go through more bureaucratic, logistic and immigration SHIT, not to mention expense, to get a job, including coming perilously close to being stranded in Guam, if you recall, only to acquire a year of work. The reason I lost the job I busted my arse and underwent so much stress to acquire has exactly nothing to do with job performance and I have a letter of recommendation to that effect. 

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this year of work has been the long sought after long vacation periods that come with the uni gig, being wasted by Covid. During the break between the first and second semesters, I had July and August off and I was not allowed to travel outside Korea. Even inside Korea, travel was limited and required annoying restrictions like mask wearing. So I used it as a money saving opportunity, since I had spent so much money acquiring this job. It was tough not to at least skip over to Thailand for a little golf outing, but I was pretty sure Covid would be done by the winter break. Covid said, "Oh yeah? Hold my beer!"

Now it's the winter break. Kinda. I've been "off" work for weeks now, but I've been kept busy finalizing grades, attendance and such with the unnecessarily added difficulties of insanely tedious rules, outdated and impossibly complicated school portal and LMS, and management that can be most positively described as a hindrance. Let me give one example: I was told there had been an email sent to the other teachers describing some of the login processes and rules and such, that we would need to know about to ease the end of semester paperwork. I had inexplicably not received such an email. So I emailed the supervisor. She said, "Oh, sorry. I'll send it to you," then proceeded NOT to. This is an apt illustration of her contribution to the holidays. 

The holidays, despite all of the above, were great, but let's continue to mine this current vein. My biggest problem with the whole process has been the school portal and the fact that my computer is too good to use it. I'll repeat that: the portal is so outdated that only an old and shitty computer, like we have in the office at the school, can be used to access it. I'm exaggerating a bit. I suppose I could download programs that enable me to access my work computer from home, so long as it is on. One of the other teachers does that and is always asking us to turn on his computer. But I just don't see that as productive use of my computer. I actually downloaded the program and it was quite invasive and a bit of a RAM hog. For crying out loud, the site requires us to Internet Explorer! We can't use modern browsers. So the three other teachers and I met with the Continuous Quality Improvement rep and begged for better computers and improvement in the online platforms. About a week later I went in to the office. Only one "improvement" had been implemented: our office printer had been removed. 

At any rate, I calculated my grades, which takes hours, then went in to the office to input them, which shouldn't, but with the dependable computer problems, I knew would take hours too. I couldn't do it on the work computer, tried it at home and couldn't do it there either. I was ready to go to my friends' place in another town to start the holidays without doing it. Honestly. It's that frustrating! But I went back to work and by taking pics with my phone and sending them to the manager via Kakao, and having her read the Korean messages and tell me what steps to take, I managed to get onto the portal and input my grades and attendance. Now this came only after the requisite accusations of doing it all wrong that I get EVERY time I have computer problems, but the problem was not something I was doing wrong, just a problem with the system. The shitty system. It doesn't make it any easier when the problems occur entirely in Korean. I guess we can't have English Windows on the computers at work. Probably wouldn't work on the crappy portal or website or LMS. I'm not expecting the school to change to English, but for the English department, it is a common courtesy. And, of course, it was also made more difficult (since we need to print out, sign, then submit copies of our grades to management and the portal grades, due to security overprotection, can't be copied onto a zip drive and printed, only printed on the office printer) by not having the office printer any more. Another common courtesy denied.

So I get to Pyeongtaek for Christmas. It isn't long before I'm contacted about my attendance. I left dashes ( - ) instead of oh's (O) for every hour that was attended by every student. It's the symbol that is given. Now there IS a way to change more than one dash to an oh at a time, it is just kept secret around here. Maybe it was some of the information included in the email I didn't get... twice. Who can say? So I left the dashes. So the manager tells me I have to change that. I ask her if I have to travel back to Cheonan just to change dashes to ohs during the pandemic, during the holidays, because the fucking system is too shitty to allow me to do it from my computer, which I have in Pyeongtaek with me, and she says yes. No mention of a way to change them more than one at a time. I have 200 students and 2 hour classes. That's almost 400 dashes to change. And it isn't just a click or two. You click on the hour twice, click on the dash, scroll down to the oh, click on that, scroll to the top of the page and click on the yes answer to something like, "Are you sure?" Almost 400 times. 

So I said, "Does it matter? It's only the absents that make a difference. The presents are assumed otherwise. Only absents can cause a failure. Presents cannot affect the grade." All of this is true, but I was countered with, "We could get into trouble with the government." So I replied, "If the government causes you any grief, well I don't work there any more, do I?" This got me a phone call during which I was asked if I have any responsibility at all, sworn at and hung up on.

One of the other teachers uploaded a video of how to change multiple attendance symbols at a time and even offered to do it for me. None of this is his job, but that's how things are around here. However, the manager apologized to me and offered to change my attendance for me. I guess she felt bad about the phone call. So I thought I was done. Nope.

I was contacted about several students who were whining about their grades. That's to be expected. I just told them I couldn't change their grades and gave them the break-down of how I arrived at their grades. 4 assignments, 2 exams, attendance and participation. Most gave up quickly. But there was one guy who was absent 28 hours. He had gotten a job. Well evidently, this excuses those absences. So I was told to change his grade to a pass even though the computer automatically gave him an F. I even went back to Cheonan to get on the crappy office computer. But I was not allowed to change the grade. I altered a couple other grades, but couldn't change his. Well, I got ANOTHER message saying that I MUST change his grade immediately. I needed to fake the attendance. I was ready for another big fight, but the manager offered to do this for me. So since I was already back in Pyeongtaek, I said, "Sure." 

Next was conflicting grades and attendance. 6 students had more than 8 hours absent and had been given grades. Well I guess more than 8 hours absent is an automatic fail. Unfortunately, unlike the above student, for whom the automatic failure had been given, the computer had not automatically failed these 6 students. So I was expected to do it manually. Again, this would involve another trip home because my computer is too modern to do it from Pyeongtaek. I told the manager what I wanted to do with each student, but said that since "attendance" is really not an accurate word when you're teaching online classes, I'd be inclined to overrule the automatic fail for all of them. I don't know why the computer didn't do it automatically, the way it is supposed to. I guess maybe THAT was something I had missed in the email I hadn't been sent too. Twice. I was told by the manager that there WAS a way to check attendance on Zoom, but I just did nothing because I know students can get around the Zoom attendance. Anyway, I was told by the manager that the portal was closed, so I thought I was done once and for all. Not yet.

Unbelievably, all four of the teachers here, three of whom had been told we will not be re-hired because we don't have master's degrees, were asked if we'd be available to observe the interviews and/or sample lessons, ostensibly of our replacements! In person, during a pandemic, for a school that had fired us, during our vacations, we've been asked to evaluate the demo lessons of prospective teachers for next semester. 

I didn't even answer that email indicating that I would NOT be available. But got a new one just yesterday (Saturday) saying, "Sorry about the late notice, but could you do this Tuesday?" That's two days from now. 4 hours of watching and evaluating sample lessons IN PERSON from people who want the job I am far better qualified for. I COULD mention that this very manager had previously told me not to contact HER on weekends, but I'm not quite that petty. I COULD mention that she really doesn't want anyone as "irresponsible" as I am doing these observations, but I'm not the feckin' deck you need to be if you're a manager of an English program at a Korean university I guess. I could mention that Covid cases in Korea are at the highest ever right now. We're in what they call lockdown level 2.5. It's been determined that there is a new, more highly contagious strain of Covid here and that any strain is more contagious than previously thought. I had to cut my visit short with my friends because the USDOD has implemented a strict "no gatherings of more than 4" policy. I COULD also mention that long before things got this serious in Korea, this very manager who wants me to expose myself to Covid 19 and help them fill the job I have been forced to vacate for no good reason, ORDERED me to get tested for Covid because she was so panicked over it. I can't even go to a restaurant or coffee shop normally, but I'm gonna go into a classroom with a bunch of strangers to help a university that has unceremoniously turfed me? Please refer to the facial expression above.

No, I'll probably just wait till Monday, so as not to contact her on the weekend, ( hee hee) and just say, "This will be online, no?" I know it's not. 

And in further news on the employment front, I still have to do the CQI that I mentioned above. Not sure why they'd want any advice on continuous quality improvement from me, or any of the teachers they are removing to replace them with teachers who don't know the school, complicated rules, messed up websites or the curriculum here. They're lowering the quality of the program by getting rid of us, so why would we say anything in our CQI forms other than WTF? Again, refer to the facial expression above. 

I actually think those were supposed to have been done by now, but I was told that the portal was closed by the manager I've been talking about (it's ALL been the same manager) and the CQI forms are on the portal, so I'm not sure how I was supposed to have done one. Other teachers have told me that the portal IS open for CQI, but I've also heard that only one of them received instructions on them... in Korean. He ran the instructions through Google translate and found that there are some changes. I haven't received anything about the CQI's. Maybe it was included in that email I didn't get... twice, or maybe not. 

So, you can see why I say I'm on holidays... kinda. I won't be travelling anywhere again, so the best part of this job has been screwed up by Covid, the vacation time. I will be spending my "vacation" not golfing or exploring the beautiful and fun parts of Asia, but updating my resume, doing online interviews, staying home and probably battling management a little more before I have closure on my latest job loss. 

I think I'll use a fresh, new post for the auspicious political start to 2021.

Post script: The day after the request to observe demo classes, I received an email saying, "You are going to do..." and what followed was the time on Tuesday I was "going to" be working. Not the place. I was told that I would be informed of the location on the Monday. The school I work has three locations. Why do you suppose they'd wait to tell me the location? Because it probably wasn't going to be the campus I live ON, but one of the other campii I'd have to travel to. By Covid bus, train or taxi. 

It's important to understand that I'm on vacation. If not for Covid and the messed up school portal, I'd be in another country by now. I don't HAVE TO do anything else for this school. But the manager (still the same one) thought she'd power trip a little. 

My response was that "going to do" sounded like this is mandatory work and no longer voluntary. Since I had volunteered for nothing, I can't imagine how I'd be expected to think otherwise. I also said that "I will give you the location later," sounded like this wasn't going to be online work. During the worst Covid spike in Korea. I gently reminded the manager of a time when Covid numbers were MUCH lower and she had ordered me to be tested for it immediately. As I recall, she played the old, "I'm just the messenger" card back then too. "I'm not forcing you to be tested, the school directors are. Do you really want me to inform them of your refusal?" I told her to go ahead and inform them. Which pissed her off. This was at like 9:30 at night when I couldn't have been tested anywhere in the city I'm in anyway. Also, when I checked the next day, they told me they wouldn't test me because I had no symptoms. The point I was making was that they really seemed concerned back then, not to say panicked, about the pandemic, but now they're just planning interviews, gatherings of more than four people, as it were, all willy-nilly. I made my position clear saying that it's online or nothing for me. Then said sorry. I added that I don't believe any employer has the right to require me to endanger my health/life. 

Her absolutely poetic rebuttal I will post verbatim: 

Hello, 

 

I am sorry if you felt like that.

And please don't be sarcastic.

This is a face-to-face demo class examination.

I did not plan for this. I am just a messenger.

If you can not do it, you can just say you can not do it.

Thank you.

 

Best,

And then her name. 

I told you there'd be further battles with management.