Held Hostage in My Own House... Monday, January 31

Though no fault of my own, I was unexpectantly held hostage in my own house for the grand total of $1361, however, it was me the money was due.

Let me explain.

Back when Snickers headed off to Japan I was approached by someone for tutoring. They knocked on my door, walked in my house, and I stood talking to them for over an hour about my tutoring fees, books I use, and so forth. They asked me how much it’d be per hour so I asked them, “It depends, how many students and how many hours a week do you want?” I figured I’d cut them a break.

Between the initial conversation and then today’s conversation, there were many conversations in between about tutoring, one of which tied in another family into my tutoring so I then started to tutor their son.

So I started tutoring their kids and have been doing so for the past month. Today I handed up a perfectly translated receipt for the one student to take home to his parent. No sooner had he walked out the door but he was returning with a question on his mother’s behalf.

“Why so expensive?” was the question his mom sent him to ask me.

I knew my calculations weren’t off. I had triple checked my totals so to avoid any kind of embarrassment, so I got Snickers to call the mother. One phone call to the mother then lead to another phone call but to the other mother, a meeting between Snickers and the mothers, a meeting between Snickers and the one father,… and no real conclusion.

I should note here that despite me not being Korean or fluent in Korean, I can say with confidence that my Korean is impressive. For goodness sake, back when I went to get married and the Cheonan city hall rejected my Canadian Embassy papers because they were in English and no one in the building knew a lick of English, it was me who translated the legal documents there on the spot. I study Korean every single damn day and I’ll be damned if they try to play it off like it was a problem because of my Korean.

They told Snickers that I had told them that tutoring was $40 A MONTH… “A month?!” I yelled out when he told me this. “No job in this country only offers $40 a month pay. For goodness sake, even the old man that picks up used cardboard boxes makes more than in a week!!!”

Snickers went on to tell me that they thought $40 a month was strange but what I thought was even stranger was the fact that they had a month of seeing me every single day to mention this but they didn’t. I should note here that both families send their boys to private academies and that the G.G. Prince goes five days a week to two different private academies. Though academies may be costly it's an obvious fact that it is cheaper than sending your child to a private tutor. Private tutoring is by no means a new thing here in Korea.

It was obvious to me, my Korean wasn’t the problem, their head was the problem.
By now, if you haven’t clued into who it is that I am talking about and who it is that I tutor, let me tell you. It’s my landlord’s boy, the G.G. Prince, and his little cousin, the Little Cookie Monster. The Little Cookie Monster and his family live to my left and the G.G.Prince and his family live directly below me. There are only the three of us families in this building because there are only three apartments.

I refused to join Snickers in their numerous meetings that went on tonight. The whole situation inititally started at noon and still late after 11pm Snickers was going back and forth in the other apartments trying to clean this mess up.

I was fuming and Snickers, well… Snickers, heaven help anyone who ever dare touches a hair on my head, it’s off with their head! He was left helpless though cause of the fact that it involved my landlord and we all live under the same roof.

Unlike Snickers who can forgive and forget, I can’t and I know that’s a weakness of mine. I tend to hold on to things. I may accept your forgiveness speech but I don’t necessarily buy it and I sure as heck won’t forget. Still to this day I can list of key sentences that stabbed me in the past, like the exact words my Ex said to me when he finally came back to the hotel at Jeju Island, the one time my father said he was disappointed in me, and the time Snickers threatened to throw Mi Nam out into the street. Sure most of the words I hang on to were said in the heat of the moment and the person saying them didn’t mean what they said but I seem to hold on to words. I just can’t forget.

They say you are to forgive your enemies but I’ve always struggled with the fact that if I can’t forget their words than how can I really forgive? My way of dealing with this is just to forget about the person, push them aside. And though this may not be the most mature way of dealing with things or the best, it’s the way I’ve leaned on.

Tonight I tried to forget about the four people who had done me wrong. They had cheated me and no amount of sorrys could right the wrong they had did me. I’ve done numerous tutoring jobs and not once have I ever been cheated out of money like this. I thought about getting them to sign a written contract but let it slide, after all, it’s not like they could run off on me. We all live in the same building.

After a very long and dragged out evening, Snickers returned and told me that they want a discount. The $1361, which included 31.5 tutoring hours and textbooks for both students, that was due to me was initially $1991 but I had given them a massive discount, cutting down my hour rate to only $40 an hour. I had saved them $990 already so I refused to give them a discount, especially considering the one mother had sent her son to question me about the fee. She couldn’t even be bothered to walk up the stairs to my apartment.

"I'll let them keep their teeth... in their mouth! There, that's my discount" I yelled out in anger.

Both parents put their money together and offered me a total of $600, not even half of what was owed to me. I wanted none of their money. I was so insulted. It was a lose-lose situation for me and a win-win for them as far as I could tell. They had scored free first class tutoring at my expense and played me as a fool. I told Snickers to return them their money but insisted they give me back all my textbooks and CDs. Snickers laid it on thick with the guilt trip, telling them that I had said no to a couple other potential tutoring students, students who would have paid me in advance and at my normal rate, because I had promised them first and I thought it’d make for a tight knit living situation in our apartment.

Two steps forward, twenty million steps back and now not only am I minus the $1361 due to me but also the 31.5 tutoring hours, hours spent preparing flashcards and CDs, all my effort. Moreover, now I’m left tip-toeing it in and out of my apartment so to avoid the uncomfortable running in of the neighbors.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What would you have done?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.
-- quote from the movie "Forrest Gump"