The biggest douche in the universe

I am nominating my former boss for the biggest douche in the universe award.

On Tuesday, my new boss at Elite was supposed to go to immigration in order to begin the new visa process. He got ahold of me later in the day to tell me that my previous employer had not released me, and called them to ask why.

So, after talking to Mr. Lee from Elite on what to do, he advised me that I go to my old school and request the my plane ticket be paid for and then my contract cancelled.

Now, I will confirm there that I've been completely honest with Mr. Lee; telling him everything from why I thought I was fired, why the other guy said that I was fired, the allegations made towards me, etc. He doesn't like my old boss, because he took my side and told me that not all Koreans were so dishonest and horrible their employees. He even said this after talking to my old school and hearing their side of things. So there you go.

Anyway, I went to the old school and told the boss' wife what I wanted, pointing out that they fired me improperly. I told them that I needed my plane ticket money, and why I needed it. She said that she had to talk to her husband, so come back at 4 o'clock. So, back to Mr. Lee I went. I told him that everyone would be working at 4, so he'd send a couple of English speakers with me to translate. When I went back, the bosslady was really pissed off and offended that I had people with me. She yelled at them for a while, and then told me to come back at 8. So, I came back at 8 and sat down with the bossman, the bosslady and Susan the manager. I showed them my contract and where they had violated it. It was pretty obvious that they had, so the bosslady seemed contend to "negotiate" about paying what was owed to me. Then I said that I wanted proof that I was paying taxes, in the form of pay stubs. This was refused and I was yelled at for a good 10 minutes straight for implying that they weren't paying taxes. Then the bossman was pissed off that I wanted to work at a school so close to his, so he insisted that I do not work in the Ok-dong area (anywhere close to ILS). He even told me that I should not work in Ulsan. He then went back to the tax thing, and started ranting about tax even more. Then he told me that he would not release me from my work visa until I provided proof (in the form of a signed contract from a school out of the area and talked to someone from there) that I would work somewhere else. Only then would he release me. I gave me a piece of paper and basically forced me to write and sign that I would not work in the area of Ok-dong in Ulsan and would not bring up tax again under the threat of random police action. Yes, I signed it. I just didn't take it seriously (I wrote that I should try to find work in another area. Heck, I've already "tried").

This is wayyyy beyond being legal here. Geez, would this be some jail time for this power-tripping asshole in Canada?

He did say that he'd give me my plane ticket money back after I proved that I would work outside of the area were ILS in Ulsan is. I took that with a grain of salt.

This guy is a piece of shit as far as I'm concerned. I know, I'm not being very good at Christian forgiveness here.

So, I went back to Mr. Lee at Elite (oh, about 100 paces away) and explained the whole situation to him. This guy is great. He was fully understanding and told me not to listen to that poor man. He told me that I had two options.

1. Go to immigration and tell them that I am no longer working, so they will cancel my visa (letter of release is not required in this case it seems). Then go to Japan and wait for him to e-mail me with a visa number for a new work visa (2 days or so). At that point I would have to go to the consulate with the number and get my work visa. Then I come back to Korea. I would never have to deal with ILS again if I didn't want to, although the option to file lawsuits would still be there. This actually seems fairly simple.

2. Go to the labor board and file lawsuits. Mr. Lee said that he is completely sure that I would get everything that is owed to me, and that the school would probably be shut down. The downside is that this would take weeks at the very least. He would have to look for a new teacher, since I would be tied up in the legal system for too long for me to start working for him.

Obviously I'm going with the first opion.

So, it looks like I'll still be starting at Elite English Academy on the 4th. I'll just lick my wounds and move on. I'm totally happy to be working for Mr. Lee at Elite. It seems like a great situation there, and this guy has really earned my trust be seeing me though all of this.

Or, I just stay in Japan. Actually, I really would consider doing that if Mr. Lee wasn't being such a good guy.