I really don't know what to do
Without going through the usual chronic complaining, I'm not sure what to do right now. My boss hasn't paid me in two weeks, and he keeps saying he's going to pay me in a few days, those few days pass, and there's no pay. It's like living with a roommate on drugs who keeps promising to produce his share of the rent, but you suspect he's never going to do it.
So I don't know what to do. I'm still working every normal day, but I'm just not getting paid for it. I'm being promised pay, but I'm not being paid. And here's the rub. I can't stop working because if I do, I'm in breach of contract, and I can then be fired and am required to pay back the airfare to come here. Immigration doesn't side with the foreigner here, ever, even though the contract indicates that I'm supposed to be paid. If I'm in breach of contract, all sorts of things can happen immediately, which includes being kicked out of my apartment and ordered to leave Korea immediately, which means there'd be zero chance of ever getting any of the back pay owed to me.
So, like I said, I don't know what to do. The other teachers (all Korean) are all about to quit. They're getting really frustrated, and I won't be all that surprised if I go into work tomorrow and I'm the only one there teaching.
I can't just get another job. I'm on an E-2 visa, which means the place that brought me over here pretty much owns me for the duration of my time here. If I'm to find another job, I'll have to find it in another country, and that means having to do all of the paperwork which could take months, which I don't really have.
My only other option is to go back to the states, and even though a friend has offered to help me get back, I don't have any options when I get back home. I don't have a job. I don't have a place to stay. I don't like to freeload on people, and I don't really have a family I can turn to either.
And what a time to be without options. The economy is collapsing, and now I have to start trying to figure out how to get back to the states and make positive moves? Hell, I don't even have my degree yet because UOP is so fucking dysfunctional that who knows when that is ever going to happen.
I'm starting to think I may just have to end things here in Korea. Was thinking about it back in the states some months back. Perhaps this is the sign I was waiting for. It's not like I really have all that much to look forward to anyway.
Stumble It!
So I don't know what to do. I'm still working every normal day, but I'm just not getting paid for it. I'm being promised pay, but I'm not being paid. And here's the rub. I can't stop working because if I do, I'm in breach of contract, and I can then be fired and am required to pay back the airfare to come here. Immigration doesn't side with the foreigner here, ever, even though the contract indicates that I'm supposed to be paid. If I'm in breach of contract, all sorts of things can happen immediately, which includes being kicked out of my apartment and ordered to leave Korea immediately, which means there'd be zero chance of ever getting any of the back pay owed to me.
So, like I said, I don't know what to do. The other teachers (all Korean) are all about to quit. They're getting really frustrated, and I won't be all that surprised if I go into work tomorrow and I'm the only one there teaching.
I can't just get another job. I'm on an E-2 visa, which means the place that brought me over here pretty much owns me for the duration of my time here. If I'm to find another job, I'll have to find it in another country, and that means having to do all of the paperwork which could take months, which I don't really have.
My only other option is to go back to the states, and even though a friend has offered to help me get back, I don't have any options when I get back home. I don't have a job. I don't have a place to stay. I don't like to freeload on people, and I don't really have a family I can turn to either.
And what a time to be without options. The economy is collapsing, and now I have to start trying to figure out how to get back to the states and make positive moves? Hell, I don't even have my degree yet because UOP is so fucking dysfunctional that who knows when that is ever going to happen.
I'm starting to think I may just have to end things here in Korea. Was thinking about it back in the states some months back. Perhaps this is the sign I was waiting for. It's not like I really have all that much to look forward to anyway.
Stumble It!
posted by Duane @ 6:50 AM
1 Comments:
At 3:43 PM,
Arthur Sevestre said…
Oh Duane, let me start by saying you have a tremendous lot to look forward to. I don't mean that in the way that most would probably mean when they'd say something like this. I don't mean pretty sunsets, cuddly kittens and more of that blabla.
But before explaining what I do mean, I want to say that at least I know a little bit how depressing financial worries and great uncertainties for the future are. Please bear with me. I have chosen years ago not to go for a regular well-paid job because I have absolutely no interest in such a thing. Instead I started a freelance photojournalism project with the express goal of raising awareness of the world around us and of our place in the community of all life. There isn't an awful lot of money in that business and I'm feeling that all the time. In fact, at the moment I exist mostly because my mum pays some of my debts when I can't pay them myself. Of course I hope to repay them very soon, but it's going to take a normal job to pull that off, which I hate. Not because I'm lazy, but because it will be work that doesn't help me reach my goal. Ultimately, that goal of course is nothing more and nothing less than saving the world.. A job in a supermarket (did that last october) or as a taxi driver (one of the many things I'm contemplating now if I don't want to make mum go bankrupt) would not contribute too much to that..
If I am any judge of people's natures, I think you want to change the world too (especially after reading that post of yours to which I replied earlier with the Daniel Quinn quote). And you know what... I think this is THE time for people who want to change or even save the world!
THAT is what I mean with you having something to look forward to! Duane, there is no question that the world is going to change. It IS changing. This is THE time to be alive for people who want to save the world! Stepping out of it all (sorry to be blunt, but I have to assume that's what you mean) would make you miss all that! It would also rob you of any chance whatsoever to add your weight to the matter. And every bit of weight is of the greatest importance! We are talking levers here. The leverage for a positive change is growing, even though it may be very hard to notice that. Our culture has us in such a vice that it is very very hard to break free, but people are getting ready for something. Maybe not everybody and certainly very few people know what they are getting ready for, but... that is where people who have an idea for positive change come in! You! Me! Many many thousands of others! All those who see that there is much wrong in our system, who see WHAT is wrong and how these things only drive us towards disaster, pain and possibly even extinction fairly soon, and who have actual ideas of how things could change to improve chances of a future!
Duane, you have ideas. You may not be heard often, or if you are heard, you might not be credited for coming up with them (in which case one might argue that at least they finally saw the value in your ideas and that at least the work is being done which you wanted to have done), but you have ideas and adding them to the leverage already there is invaluable. You know the thing with a lever is that for the longest time it seems as if the weight on the other side is not going to move at all. It just seems too heavy, but then... if the critical mass is finally reached on the active side, that huge weight that seemed truly immovable moments ago, will suddenly topple and come crashing down!
That is where our culture is now if you ask me. If we can make it move before it collapses on itself, as it will if we allow our culture to rule us as we have done the past 10.000 years or so, there is hope! So we need each and every person pushing down on this lever with all his/her might! You are unmissable and... dare I say you dare not miss seeing if we can pull it off?
And so what if you might have to take a temporary job in a supermarket in the US to be able to add your weight?
Feel absolutely free to contact me if you would want to talk about this or about anything else. I'm all ear (and eye).
I'm still working on the reply I promised on that other post of yours.. it's nearly done, but I need maybe one more day. I honestly think that it might help you see things more positive, unbelievable as that may sound to you now.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home