There is really no need to take any of this seriously

Being the eager beaver foreigner I am, I sent my boss a list of radical proposals that may get more students to sign up (we have 120 slots and 73 are vacant). Prime suggestions included airconditioning in the classroom, and a tape player for the casettes that come with English Time. (It is quite difficult to play tapes without a tape player.) He is touched. Thrilled. Overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of my initiative. He invites me to break bread at his office. Agrees with my stupendous proposals. Thanks me accordingly. And while at it proposes to cut my pay by 10 percent. That's thanks for a job well done, I guess.

Now, this is the sweetest job in the world- about 25 hours a week, or 100 a month, and next term (starting in July), that will go down to about 22.5 hours a week, as we are combining two nearly empty classes into a half full one. But the point is, I signed a contract for 2 million won a month and now he wants to make that 1.8 million. Says he'll help me get a permit for a second job (I would be working from noon until about 4:45 pm so an evening job teaching adults from, say 6 to 9 pm would be fine by me and add another million won a month to my salary.)

I guess it's time (again) to go into Operation I Don't Care. You want to run around class, ok. You want to poke each other in the ass, fine. You don't bring your book- no biggie. It's Do Nothing time.