I Quit!

So I’ve had a problem with the supervisor in my area (Damyang) since she arrived about a year ago. She really dislikes foreigners and makes it her personal goal to make our lives as difficult as possible. I’ve always done whatever she asked, I even went to an elementary school in the middle of nowhere for half a day, and basically just sat there because they had no clue why I was there.

Anyway, I worked this camp for her last winter and she promised us 650,000won. Then it went down to 30,000 overtime only (about 240,000) then the day before it was over she said it was 20,000 over time. I was like FFFFFUUUUUUU. She got away with it and I didn’t even say anything. None of the foreigners said anything.

So this summer, another camp is planned of course. This one is located in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. We’re talking like rice paddies to the base of a mountain, then a 2km hike straight uphill to the site. I’ve never been there before, so last week I e-mailed my fellow English teachers and asked about their plans for getting there. No response. So I asked my co-teacher. She said she had no idea how to get there on the bus, but I could ride out to Damyang and then go there with my students if I wanted. This was really my only option, so I took it. I arrived at my school at 7:45am (where and when she told me to be) to see no one. Not a soul. I’m like WTF. I call my coteacher. Nothing. Finally she calls me and tells me they are in a random parking lot across town. Of course. My students come find me. We load up the busses and we are on our way.

Upon arrival I was busy looking at the schedule (that had completely changed since I saw it last) and getting situated so I didn’t have a chance to say something to the other native speakers, like “hey, how did you get here?” I diligently taught my 5 classes to an unenthusiastic audience of first grade middle schoolers. At the end of the day I asked my co-teacher (who I don’t know at all, she works at a different middle school), “How do I get to the bus home? What time does it come?” She said she didn’t know. I looked around for the other native speakers. They had already left according to the supervisor. Now, I don’t dillydally around after school. I end my classes right on time and I GTF out of there. Apparently they knew something I didn’t. Like what time the bus comes (it runs every 50 minutes), where it comes, and how long it takes to get to the bus stop. The Koreans all stood around looking confused, the supervisor said it wasn’t her job to figure it out and I literally started crying.

Sidenote: On my way to school to meet my students and go to this camp, I saw a high schooler get hit by an SUV. He directly ran into traffic and it was his fault, but he had a head wound and it was bad. I stood over him, protecting him from the oncoming traffic while the driver called the ambulance. No one slowed down, none of the Koreans staring stopped to help. So that was the beginning to my day. Meaning I was a little sensitive.

Anyway, I proceed to walk down the mountain, crying a little, then resolved myself to simply do what I would have done back home. Call a friend, bitch a little, then hitch hike. I got to a bus stop after walking 40 minutes, but it didn’t go to Gwangju. I got 15 mosquito bites because of the rice paddies. So I stuck out my thumb and immediately got picked up by a well- off Korean couple. They took me to the closest town where I got a cab home.

I am just sick and tired of being treated like an indentured servant. Yes, I do get paid. But I did not sign up to be treated like a serf who will just do whatever I am told no matter how I am treated. Honestly, all I really want is to be informed about matters that are pertinent to me. In Korea, that means how and when to be somewhere. All my supervisor cares about is if I am in the classes, occupying the students. She cannot grasp the concept that this camp is COMPLETELY different that my regular job. Different place, no resources (including printers), different students of all levels, different schedule, more classes. I got up at 6am to be at this camp. But no one can tell me when and where to catch the bus? FUCK YOU. I quit.

I will be going to my regular school to desk warm tomorrow. I want to make it clear that I am willing to work. I love teaching and I would have such a good time teaching a camp that is supposed to be about fun and learning, not image and money.

Illegal immigrants can't receive welfare benefits

I take no position in the immigration debate. I understand how people are drawn to the United States risking life and limb to be exploited for a couple cents more than they would make in their own country. It’s all a part of the American lie that has brought cheap labor to our shores to be taken advantage of for the entirety of our history. I also understand how the problem drives wages down for everyone and engenders a large indigent population in affected areas. Too many illegal Mexicans willing to work for peanuts in Arizona (and there aren’t, Arizona is just overreacting) will turn Arizona into Mexico economically as well as culturally. Too many illegal immigrants will simply create what they are attempting to escape, a labor market flooded with unskilled laborers competing for a dwindling number of jobs, driving down wages. Hopefully, this will simply find its equilibrium and the wages, becoming poorer; will cease to draw as many people. This labor market being illegal and thus separate from the legal labor market shouldn’t affect wages for legal workers who have a much greater variety of employment opportunities afforded them.

But this isn’t my point. The thing that bothered me about that unbelievably stupid facebook post isn’t the implicit racism and the amazingly stupid comparison of the American border to North Korea and Afghanistan (is that what you want, really? Really?). What bothered me and continues to bother me is that people have no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to welfare benefits. They use the welfare argument as an excuse to classify people who they might have a pre-existing prejudice against as leeching off the benefits our government provides. Having worked at the welfare office for a year, distributing benefits through federal programs governed by federal code, I feel I’m in a good position to explain how one qualifies for and receives any government benefit. And I can assure you all of three things:

Illegal immigrants can’t get welfare benefits.

Illegal immigrants can’t get welfare benefits.

Illegal immigrants can’t get welfare benefits.

Ok, before you go to the comments section and tell me about how your brother worked with people who he assumed to be illegal and told you about how they received welfare benefits, remember: illegal immigrants can’t get welfare benefits. Before you tell me about how I’m full of shit because I’m contradicting your preconceived notions of how the welfare system works, remember I spent 40 hours a week for a calendar year less than a year ago using welfare policy to administer benefits to those who qualified; I am a reliable source of information on this topic.

In order to receive welfare benefits (SSI, Food Stamps, TANF cash welfare, or Medicaid), an applicant must provide the office which administers these federal programs (the office which handles these programs varies state to state, sometimes multiple offices handle them, sometimes they’re consolidated) with identity, residency and enumeration verification. If your ID looks nothing like you then you’re not getting benefits. There are provisions to allow for third party contact as verification of a person’s identity, but that is only used in extreme cases and under the direction of a supervisor. Ok, so the illegal immigrant gets a fake ID, not the most insurmountable task in the world (I had one in college). He’s free and clear, and the benefits are his? Not by a long shot. An applicant for any of these programs is required to provide a SSN. That social security number is sent to the SSA for verification (verification against the name and DOB also inputted into the welfare office’s system). If the social security number is invalid, or does not match the DOB or name of the applicant an alert will pop up on the caseworker’s screen and the case will be closed summarily (that kind of alert is called a critical alert and is usually dealt with quite quickly). Ok, so the illegal immigrant finds out my SSN, steals my ID, happens to look just like me, now he can get benefits. No. He’d also have to steal my mail. An applicant for any of these programs is also required to establish residency, most commonly with a piece of mail addressed to them at the address given on the application. There wouldn’t be any mail addressed to me at the illegal immigrants address so he’d have to think up something really clever, like setting up cable service at his house in my name, or he’d have to steal my mail consistently, supply the welfare office with my address and steal my mail to receive any caseworker communication/ renewal forms/ semi-annual reporting forms. If he ignores those his case will be closed due to non-response or to returned mail. It would take severe identity theft for an illegal immigrant to receive welfare benefits.

And that’s just for the programs that allow a signature on the application’s affidavit of citizenship to count as verification of citizenship. TANF (the only federal welfare program that actually provides people with cash) or state GA, (cash for people who are verified unable to work for a period of time due to disability) for those states that have it, require a birth certificate as proof of citizenship or, in the case of a qualified non-citizen, immigration papers.

So the next time you’re working your minimum wage job and looking at your suspicious co-workers with mistrust and envy (really?) at the welfare benefits you think they’re receiving. Remember. You don’t know their immigration status. You don’t know what benefits they receive and for whom. Hell you probably can’t talk to them. And above all, remember:

Illegal immigrants can’t get welfare benefits.

Illegal immigrants can’t get welfare benefits.

Illegal immigrants can’t get welfare benefits.