Korean Business World Never Changes

I always joke with people not to believe the terms of their contract until they see it in Korea, because it seems that often if someone can get away with less they most certainly will try. The aim is for you to be as assertive and steadfast in the agreed upon terms as you can (and get your recruiter to back you up) if there are any problems. Now this is likely true of many business situations, but I have run into it a lot in Korea.

When I first negotiated my contract I asked to arrive at least a week prior to beginning teaching. Two weeks after agreeing I'm told that I'll teaching 2 days after I land - not what we agreed upon! Email to recruiter about trust and integrity and "word" and things were back the way we agreed upon originally.

Now I have an email in my inbox from my principal telling me that he is not going to pick me up at the airport because 1.) it's rush hour 2.) school is still in session and he should still be there. Once again, not the agreement. He wants me now to take the bus to the city I'll be living in, catch a taxi to the school (with all of my luggage, dog, laptop, etc.) and he'll meet me there. What!?!?!  Grrrr... not that I'm not capable of doing that, but what a pain in the ass. I've emailed the recruiter (who assured me 2 weeks ago that if the school did not pick me up he would meet me at the airport) but because it's lunar new year this weekend nobody is at work until Tuesday, so I'm still waiting for him to get back to me. After all of his rant about how important it was to their company to have the teacher welcomed and met at the airport etc., I'm sure hoping it's good news when he finally gets in touch.... ugh!!!