I had originally thought that I could leave my tiny studio by August 31, which is also my birthday, because that's when my contract was running out. (CORRECTION: per King Baeksu's reminder in the comment thread, I did know that our contract stipulates we must quit our residence one week before the end of the contract period. That would be August 24, not my birthday.)
But no.
I was told by the office that I had to vacate my studio by August 14 (August 15 is a national holiday, so moving on that day just wouldn't do). That's where things stood for several weeks. I was a bit pissed off by this news because it meant that I would be shoved out during my vacation (i.e., I'd have less vacation to enjoy) about 10 (corrected from 17—see above parenthetical) days earlier than I'd originally expected.
But no.
Our otherwise kind landlord, who obviously isn't coordinating with our campus office, put up the following notice for those of us who are departing:
Yes... it warms the heart to know I now must leave my residence by August 10. Catholic University is doing its best to kick us out early since we're not renewing. Well... given the bad blood that this notice generates, that makes leaving easier, emotionally speaking.
_
The CUD contract states that the employee should vacate their university-subsidized housing one week prior to the expiration of the contract, i.e., August 24th. In other words, you are losing two weeks of housing as clearly stipulated in the contract, or roughly W200,000. Mighty Christian of them, eh?
ReplyDeleteAt the very least, I would try to make sure they only deduct 50% of what you are supposed to contribute yourself for August. You could at least save W50,000 of the W100,000 or so you having been contributing to the W400,000 rent every month. Enough to pay for a KTX ticket to Seoul and a cool beer to take you far away from here.
My Korean reading skills are more than a little lacking, but if I'm reading that correctly it says something like "and don't let the door hit you on the way out". Right?
ReplyDeleteBaeksu,
ReplyDeletere: leaving one week before end of contract
Yeah, I'd read the contract and should have noted that stipulation in the blog post. In any case, I've emailed our office assistants in both buildings (Aquinas and B4), and Seonghae responded quickly. She's getting someone to contact the landlord because she's convinced the 8/10 date might be a mistake on his part, or he might be thinking that people who've already been hired at a new uni can leave our building much earlier. (I find that second alternative implausible; I think the landlord simply pulled the move-out date out of his ass, without coordinating with the office.)
Seonghae also advised me to talk with the landlord directly—which I can do, since I text the landlord rather frequently about this or that issue, but what I really wanted was for the landlord and our offices to coordinate together and get their damn story straight such that the landlord would revise the date he'd written on the white board. But it seems I've still gotta do this shit myself. Love all the buck-passing.