Wednesday, November 29, 2017

asked to tutor

My coworker and I were barely out the door of our building for the first of our two daily walks when we were accosted by a distinguished-looking Korean woman in a fur-lined coat who asked in Korean whether I was indeed Kevin. I said yes, and she launched into an explanation of how her department wanted to start up an English class for its staffers, and how she hoped that I could be the teacher. I told her that I was very busy these days, and that I didn't do private tutoring anymore (which is true: my only other side job is KMA in Yeouido). She immediately said, "Oh, no, no! This would be during work hours!" I found that to be presumptuous: she was basically asking whether she could just scoop me out of my department to do work for hers. At the same time, she was being clever: having me teach during work hours meant this would be work-related business, so there'd be no need to pay me anything extra; my salary would do. I told her I'd have to ask my boss, but that I personally didn't think this was going to happen. Because the lady's face wasn't ringing any bells, I asked her for her business card; she gave me one.

And that's how we parted ways. After I was done with the walk, I approached the boss and told him about the encounter, handing the lady's business card over to him. The boss recognized the department the lady worked for and reminded me that I had done proofreading work for her a couple months ago, even if I hadn't met her personally. He also made a face at the idea of working for this lady's department, and he told me to just leave the matter at that. As a result, I haven't called the lady back; I guess the idea is just to let the matter fade.



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