OK the won is depreciating, and one's Korean paypacket aint worth much in U.S. dollars anymore. The Holleys have to be hurting too, so I'm sure they will look for ways to cut corners either legally or illegally so that they don't lose their investments in the U.S.
The pension should be watched. Some shonkey hogwons make their 4.5%(or whatever it is) deductions from your paycheck for the pension, and pocket it. As an employee of the Holley's who of course aren't that honest I would check to see that they are on the level, and not pocketing the deductions. The pension office in Gwangju is very accomodating, but it might be good to take someone who can speak Korean to help. Don't ask the Holleys, because they will tell you anything. Of course only citizens from Canada, the United states and the few other countries whom have reciprocal agreements with Korea can claim back there deductions and the matching payments of their employer. It wouldn't be that wrong of course if the Holleys didn't take pension deductions from those teachers whom aren't elligible to recieve the pension pay out. By law all employee have to be on the national pension plan, but then this would be breaking the law to help an employee.
The payout from the pension scheme is at least the equivalent of the severance, so the benefitting teachers finish their contract with a decent bonus in their hands
Now one is supposed to leave the country to get their pension back. I think one has to nominate a bank in that persons country , and it gets forwarded. There are ways to have it wired into a bank in Korea. Check DAVES ESL CAFE under the "KOREAN JOB FORUM" section and one can find the advice one needs
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Mrs Holley the Pathalogical Lier
Someone wrote this on the discussion page of a webb site, and I found the reasons given for such a conclusion very interesting. It seems that Korea and Japan are classified as shame based cultures in the sense that the shame from being seen breaking a law far outweighs any guilt that someone from say a western individualised culture might feel from a similar law breaking infraction. Mrs Holley, as the administrator of the Gwangju Foreign School, at times seems to be quite beyond this as she is quite capable of verbalising the most obvious of barefaced lies, but then of course maybe she is so thick in the head as to actually believe that the rest of the teachers and staff cannot see through her asinine B.S.
A lot of administrators have to resort to cunning and lieing to get things done, but most of them have a conscience of sorts and something inside of them wears and tears because of it. It's said that hypochrisy is the "tribute that vice pays to virtue", and a bit of it certainly greases the wheels of social exchange. It also corrodes the well being of those people who are continually forced to make use of it. In the case of Mrs Holley and her husband I'd say there is nothing inside to corrode.
Many Korean institute owners use tactics like "I will turn you into immigration if you don't do this" or " I will put you on a blacklist, because of your decision" or "we can fire you whenever we want" as intimidation tactics to keep their new and very green staff in line. Mrs Holley is quite capable of these and more. At times she has been known to describe so many differing and conflicting scenarios of why she was able to bring to pass certain events that it's beyond a joke. Her husband of course is a Western trained Lawyer, but the union didn't take her out of the weirdness of her culture. It either sucked him in or he was by inclination a part of it anyway. If he was drawn into it, it could be because of the maxim: "you can take a person out of her cultural background, but you cant take the cultural background out of the person". If he wasn't drawn in then maybe destiny played apart in their meeting.
Now I don't for one minute think that all Korean buisness people conduct their affairs by stretching the law i.e. by using subterfuge, lying, and cunning. There are some good honest law abiding people here otherwise the country would have gone to the dogs long ago. Unfortunately I don't thing any of them work in the vicinity of the Gwangju Foreign school in Yangsan Dong.
It's interesting that when Greenspan was in Korea to hand to the Koreans their baleout package of millions of dollars for the IMF fiasco in 1997 (or therabouts) he literally threw it at them in disgust. He had been duly informed by the many U.S. companies whom had been shortchanged in their buisness arrangements with Korean companies. Korea did pay off the IMF loan they borrowed, but I am wondering where they dipped their hands to get the needed funds.
The tactic of "we can fire you whenever we want" can be thrown in the garbage dump completely. Korean law says that a person cannot be kicked out of his position until the end of his or her contract. Should a company try to do this then the Labor Board will step in and guarantee the rights of that person. The performance of the individual concerned is irrelevant. I worked for the public school system with a co-worker who was so bad that the school told him to stay home, and still recieve his pay.
A lot of administrators have to resort to cunning and lieing to get things done, but most of them have a conscience of sorts and something inside of them wears and tears because of it. It's said that hypochrisy is the "tribute that vice pays to virtue", and a bit of it certainly greases the wheels of social exchange. It also corrodes the well being of those people who are continually forced to make use of it. In the case of Mrs Holley and her husband I'd say there is nothing inside to corrode.
Many Korean institute owners use tactics like "I will turn you into immigration if you don't do this" or " I will put you on a blacklist, because of your decision" or "we can fire you whenever we want" as intimidation tactics to keep their new and very green staff in line. Mrs Holley is quite capable of these and more. At times she has been known to describe so many differing and conflicting scenarios of why she was able to bring to pass certain events that it's beyond a joke. Her husband of course is a Western trained Lawyer, but the union didn't take her out of the weirdness of her culture. It either sucked him in or he was by inclination a part of it anyway. If he was drawn into it, it could be because of the maxim: "you can take a person out of her cultural background, but you cant take the cultural background out of the person". If he wasn't drawn in then maybe destiny played apart in their meeting.
Now I don't for one minute think that all Korean buisness people conduct their affairs by stretching the law i.e. by using subterfuge, lying, and cunning. There are some good honest law abiding people here otherwise the country would have gone to the dogs long ago. Unfortunately I don't thing any of them work in the vicinity of the Gwangju Foreign school in Yangsan Dong.
It's interesting that when Greenspan was in Korea to hand to the Koreans their baleout package of millions of dollars for the IMF fiasco in 1997 (or therabouts) he literally threw it at them in disgust. He had been duly informed by the many U.S. companies whom had been shortchanged in their buisness arrangements with Korean companies. Korea did pay off the IMF loan they borrowed, but I am wondering where they dipped their hands to get the needed funds.
The tactic of "we can fire you whenever we want" can be thrown in the garbage dump completely. Korean law says that a person cannot be kicked out of his position until the end of his or her contract. Should a company try to do this then the Labor Board will step in and guarantee the rights of that person. The performance of the individual concerned is irrelevant. I worked for the public school system with a co-worker who was so bad that the school told him to stay home, and still recieve his pay.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Robert Holley and Politics
I was looking at his resume on the blog "Kalbijin" owned by another expat who speaks fluent Korean. "Mith" is the blog owners nickname, and he seems to be well disposed to-wards Holley. Anyway Robert Holley has created a political Party. Right now his party is just a name, and not active. If he ever tried to get it moving he would be dearly savaged by the Korean media, and if it did against all the odds get off the ground, it would probably go down as the most corrupt party ever, in the History of Korean politics. A humourous and approximate interpretation of politics is many (poly) blood sucking animals (tics) and I'd say it would adequately describe the machinery of any party of Robert Holley.
Korean politics are personality politics. Candidates don't campaign on the basis of a platform of reforms. They shake as many of their constituents hands as possible and promise them the earth . Holley would probably offer many private schools with high tuition to his constituents , but secretly pocket most of the proceeds. He might also promise to import foreign cars for everyone, but overcharge for them when they arrived. I wouldn't be surprised if he were also to offer many buisness opportunities with very minimal wages to people to build mansions for him and his family.
Roh Tae Woo with his brains in his bum gave his daughter millions of dollars in a huge duffle bag to deposit in Bank accounts in the U.S. There were photographs of one of his aids giving her the bag after the Korean presidential party cleared VIP customs on one of it's official tours. The law caught up with her though, because you just can't open multitudinous accounts in the U.S. and deposit more than $10,000 a shot. Mrs Holley wouldn't know that of course, and would merely do the same thing, and get her name plastered all over the world. The expats in Korea would roll their eyes in their heads again saying. "Oh gee we got another another Korean dingbat".
Good to see that Holley finally paid his dues to the West Virginia bar. Probably shed bitter tears at the expense.
Can't find his name in the American Bar Association. Either he updates his membership or if he isn't a member then he better get it the hell off his resume.
Korean politics are personality politics. Candidates don't campaign on the basis of a platform of reforms. They shake as many of their constituents hands as possible and promise them the earth . Holley would probably offer many private schools with high tuition to his constituents , but secretly pocket most of the proceeds. He might also promise to import foreign cars for everyone, but overcharge for them when they arrived. I wouldn't be surprised if he were also to offer many buisness opportunities with very minimal wages to people to build mansions for him and his family.
Roh Tae Woo with his brains in his bum gave his daughter millions of dollars in a huge duffle bag to deposit in Bank accounts in the U.S. There were photographs of one of his aids giving her the bag after the Korean presidential party cleared VIP customs on one of it's official tours. The law caught up with her though, because you just can't open multitudinous accounts in the U.S. and deposit more than $10,000 a shot. Mrs Holley wouldn't know that of course, and would merely do the same thing, and get her name plastered all over the world. The expats in Korea would roll their eyes in their heads again saying. "Oh gee we got another another Korean dingbat".
Good to see that Holley finally paid his dues to the West Virginia bar. Probably shed bitter tears at the expense.
Can't find his name in the American Bar Association. Either he updates his membership or if he isn't a member then he better get it the hell off his resume.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The Holley Bludgers
The Holleys put very little of their own money back into the school. They try to get the parents of the students to buy things for the school rather than pay for them themselves. What the school does have in the way of computers, wide screen TVs, gymnasium apparatus and other things came from very generous parents. Now the Holleys drive around in imported U.S. cars, keep accomodation in Utah for when their kids go to college, and move constantly to different maybe more expensive appartments. That sucks to high hell. They are living well on the backs of high paying students, and refuse to provide equipment even though they have more than enough money to do so.
I was checking the school homepage, and was surprised that everybody's email was tied into a school e mail. No private email adresses were permitted. Something like that is goining to raise red flags amongst potential teachers investigating the school, and among the parents of students as well. Parents want their children taught in a normal environment and not one controlled by cretin, retard morons suffering from paranoia.
I was checking the school homepage, and was surprised that everybody's email was tied into a school e mail. No private email adresses were permitted. Something like that is goining to raise red flags amongst potential teachers investigating the school, and among the parents of students as well. Parents want their children taught in a normal environment and not one controlled by cretin, retard morons suffering from paranoia.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Robert Holley should be disbarred, if he hasn't been already
I was talking to a good lawyer friend, and he said that the ethics that lawyers are bound by after graduating from a U.S. university and passing the bar exam are to insure that their legal profession and their buisness dealings are honest and above board. The said lawyers are still bound by the ethics thing no matter what country they happen to be living in, and their behaviour still has to be impeccable regardless of wether the countries laws are a sham or not. The way the Gwangju Foreign school has skirted the legal requirements is a joke, and an embarrasment to the foreign expat community in general, and an example should be made of it's owner to show that we aren't all tarred with the same brush.
His membership of the West Virginia bar has been suspended.
Korea might give Robert Holley more credence as a a new Korean if he allowed his sons to do mandatory time in the either the ROK Army, Navy or Airforce. Not at a desk job either, but as a grunt in the infantry or Naval or Airforce equivalent. The Korean populace who generally see him as someone who swapped citizenship to latch on to the WON rather than for the supposed love of Korea as he claims, might finally be more accepting of him if he ignored the regulations about mixed blood individuals and and let his sons do their military time like everyone else's sons.
His membership of the West Virginia bar has been suspended.
Korea might give Robert Holley more credence as a a new Korean if he allowed his sons to do mandatory time in the either the ROK Army, Navy or Airforce. Not at a desk job either, but as a grunt in the infantry or Naval or Airforce equivalent. The Korean populace who generally see him as someone who swapped citizenship to latch on to the WON rather than for the supposed love of Korea as he claims, might finally be more accepting of him if he ignored the regulations about mixed blood individuals and and let his sons do their military time like everyone else's sons.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Gwangju foreign School and the Pension
Gwangju foreign school and pension
From another blog
This post is about the Gwangju Foreign school and their handling of the pension from another site.
The school only recently adopted the Korean National Pension, so in a sense the owners of the school have been flouting the law for a good 8 years. Thats not surprising considering their track record. Mrs Holley in a meeting with the staff in September of 2007 tried to explain it away by saying the school was given permission to not have it. Mr Holley who supposedly has a legal background should have been there to support her but wasn't. Now no body gives an institute, or buisness permission to not offer the pension to it's staff, so what she said was rubbuish . The only way a Korean buisness or academy gets exempted is if an alternative plan is used. Of course there wasn't any such alternative plan at Gwangju Foreign school, so Mrs Holley swung a fast one over on unsuspecting teachers who were more concerned about hanging on to their jobs than challenging the issue.
At the meeting Mrs Holley did offer back payments to those who requested it, but no documentation or forms were provided for the teachers to show what the options available really were. In reality the teachers should have taken the owners up on the offer and requested that they paye the 4.5%of all of their previous earnings. Unfortunately for the teachers this was glossed over by Mrs Holley in such a way as to make it appear to be too complicated to consider. Teachers didn't get proper representation to ensure that they got a fair deal, nor were they aware of just what was happening. This was probably what was intended, and is just another exploitation job by unscrupulous owners. Seems to be the grain at a lot of places. A little dissappointing to see this side of the Holleys especially since they profess to be upright church going citizens and pillars of the community.
I also find it incredible that the the other owner Mr Holley who professes to have passed the bar exam for the state of West Virginia should allow his wife to get set up so that she would commit a form of purgery. She blatently lied like she always does, and although no oath was taken she still knowingly, made a very false statement. It's all the more serious because her and her husbands Christian background places a premium on honesty. It's also no credit to Mr Holley as a lawyer that he should run a buisness this way, and if there is a term "shonkey lawyer" then it's certainly appropriate in this situation.
From another blog
This post is about the Gwangju Foreign school and their handling of the pension from another site.
The school only recently adopted the Korean National Pension, so in a sense the owners of the school have been flouting the law for a good 8 years. Thats not surprising considering their track record. Mrs Holley in a meeting with the staff in September of 2007 tried to explain it away by saying the school was given permission to not have it. Mr Holley who supposedly has a legal background should have been there to support her but wasn't. Now no body gives an institute, or buisness permission to not offer the pension to it's staff, so what she said was rubbuish . The only way a Korean buisness or academy gets exempted is if an alternative plan is used. Of course there wasn't any such alternative plan at Gwangju Foreign school, so Mrs Holley swung a fast one over on unsuspecting teachers who were more concerned about hanging on to their jobs than challenging the issue.
At the meeting Mrs Holley did offer back payments to those who requested it, but no documentation or forms were provided for the teachers to show what the options available really were. In reality the teachers should have taken the owners up on the offer and requested that they paye the 4.5%of all of their previous earnings. Unfortunately for the teachers this was glossed over by Mrs Holley in such a way as to make it appear to be too complicated to consider. Teachers didn't get proper representation to ensure that they got a fair deal, nor were they aware of just what was happening. This was probably what was intended, and is just another exploitation job by unscrupulous owners. Seems to be the grain at a lot of places. A little dissappointing to see this side of the Holleys especially since they profess to be upright church going citizens and pillars of the community.
I also find it incredible that the the other owner Mr Holley who professes to have passed the bar exam for the state of West Virginia should allow his wife to get set up so that she would commit a form of purgery. She blatently lied like she always does, and although no oath was taken she still knowingly, made a very false statement. It's all the more serious because her and her husbands Christian background places a premium on honesty. It's also no credit to Mr Holley as a lawyer that he should run a buisness this way, and if there is a term "shonkey lawyer" then it's certainly appropriate in this situation.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Gwangju Foreign School is in the Black
Recent posts under the Google :"Gwangju Foreign School"http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2579016 show that the school is actually in the "black" or if my terminology is correct no longer in the "red", and that it has been that way since 2005. Well that's good to hear, especially since the Holleys promote their summer camp on the basis that it's needed to paye the salaries of the teachers and staff. An honest institution payes their staff salary based on normal teaching requirements. Any work done over and beyond that like a camp or extra teaching hours is extra paye. The Holleys are always going on and on about how their school is running at a loss, so man they gotta be the biggest liers under the sun.
The same recent posts show that their other school in Cholla Bukdo is running in the red. I'm wondering if the camp they run in Gwangju is to make money off the backs of the teachers to prop up this other school. If so then that stinks, but by the same token if they would be willing to paye their teachers for working at their camp then they would be showing a little decency. (That would be asking a lot from these cut throat exploiters, but you never know)
By the time one adds in the cost for the meals, the cost for the buses, and other expenses the total cost per student is no different from any other International school.
I mentioned in one of my earlier reports how a female teacher on quitting her two year contract after a year recieved an e mail from the Holleys saying she would be blacklisted from teaching anywhere in Korea. The article in the Joongang daily says that the Holleys were afraid they might lose teachers, and were hoping they wouldn't jump contract. How hilarious. No Institute in their right mind will tolerate a teacher just up and leaving. To imply that Gwangju Foreign school would have bowed to the wishes of teachers wanting to leave for a better school is cracked in the head. The holleys are vicious, dirty, and completely underhand when it comes to their teachers wanting to leave before their contract has expired.
The same recent posts show that their other school in Cholla Bukdo is running in the red. I'm wondering if the camp they run in Gwangju is to make money off the backs of the teachers to prop up this other school. If so then that stinks, but by the same token if they would be willing to paye their teachers for working at their camp then they would be showing a little decency. (That would be asking a lot from these cut throat exploiters, but you never know)
By the time one adds in the cost for the meals, the cost for the buses, and other expenses the total cost per student is no different from any other International school.
I mentioned in one of my earlier reports how a female teacher on quitting her two year contract after a year recieved an e mail from the Holleys saying she would be blacklisted from teaching anywhere in Korea. The article in the Joongang daily says that the Holleys were afraid they might lose teachers, and were hoping they wouldn't jump contract. How hilarious. No Institute in their right mind will tolerate a teacher just up and leaving. To imply that Gwangju Foreign school would have bowed to the wishes of teachers wanting to leave for a better school is cracked in the head. The holleys are vicious, dirty, and completely underhand when it comes to their teachers wanting to leave before their contract has expired.
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