Yes Theo and I have limited experience in this department. However I must add that Korean businesspeople (including Korean Americans) who have a wicked personality WILL bring that personality wherever they will go. Some have opened up International Schools here in China and brought that attitude towards foreigners with them. I personally have gotten screwed twice by two ethnically Korean owned schools in my time here in China. The first case was with a Korean Intl. school in ShenZhen, these jokers had already sent me the contract and I thought I would have bread on the table after leaving Ningxia(check out my earlier posts) with assurance from the Australian Principal there that I was hired only to have a Chinese girl call at the eleventh hour right BEFORE I was going to board to the train from Ningxia at the train station and tell me that HEY the CEO or owner of the International School who's Korean decided to hire another Korean teacher instead of me. Rememeber this school has at least 5 or 6 teachers from western countries like England, Scotland, Australia, the United States, etc. so maybe the owner saw me as at the bottom of the pecking order. Obviously I had to cancel my train ticket to ShenZhen.

The second case happened to me in early June. I was only at this school for around a week before I bolted (although I did give notice and was paid). The school's name is Barry Education and the owner is a Korean American by the name of...you guessed it: Barry!
This is a young man close to thirty who was born and raised in Los Angeles. However he has retained his Korean culture and can speak both English and Korean with a little Chinese thrown in. Aside from looking like a 20 year old version of Kim Jong Il (with a personality to match unless this individual is seriously suffering from a mental disorder)with matching glasses (okay maybe I'm a little jealous because they're gucci haha). This guy fits the definition of what you would call a CLOWN. He brags about how rich his family is and how he's so capable of making money. This guy likes to BLOW MONEY (similiar to that guy from Modern English Studios in Korea) and buy the most expensive computers. Teaching involves and I quote, "Just go on the internet and print s(expletive) out." This guy currently only has Korean students but he's trying to expand into the Chinese student market. He charges the Korean students at least 5 to 6 thousand Renminbi per month. The students come at least several times a week and stay for the entire afternoon with the 3 or 4 foreign teachers there (including Barry) giving them one hour lessons each. Here's where it gets weird: The students since they pay a lot of money some of them when they dont' want to learn just go to the "Game Room". This guy has a WHOLE ROOM dedicated to the xbox360(that's one of the latest generations of video game consoles for those of you who don't play video games and costs as much as $400 U.S. dollars) with a gigantic HD TV。 So sometimes the VERY IDEA of class is to play video games with your students to keep them "content" since they are the "customers".

Barry also likes to drop F Bombs at will. You sometimes get the feeling that if you did meet a person who is trying to get over tourette's syndrome, would that person be like him? When I asked him about my apartment on my 2nd day there he cursed me out in front of the other foreign teachers and then tried to act the role of condescending know-it-all by saying things similiar in the context of, "...that little head of yours...". To top it off he forced me to drink. NOW I DON'T DRINK but because of my Asian face that has caused some problems for me here in China as people like to perpetuate stereotypes here. I went to the bathroom and did a bulimic thing and threw up all of the alcohol. You get the sense that if you didn't drink with him he wouldn't like you, which would increase your chances of job insecurity. That's a feeling that I DON'T WANT TO HAVE ANYWHERE. I kindly told the guy that I wasn't used to the 5 pm to 11 pm schedule and so I had to leave. He then started to act like a monkey and pleaded with me to "keep in touch" and "send emails" and attempted to tickle me.

As a bonus, I must add that I have now had the priviledge of meeting jerks from both the east coast and the west coast (of America). Does something really really BAD need to happen in order for ANYTHING to be done?