I’ve gone from a stable, salary position to a part time, pay as I teach free lancer. I’m not completely freelance, as I’ve made my employer draft a bare-bones contract that defines the rules of our employment and a promise to give me a minimum number of hours a month, but I’m a lot more free that at my other jobs.
Now that my hours directly affect my pay, I’ve gotten more motivated to teach longer hours for the cash. I only teach around twenty-four hours a week, which is already more than my last job. While my current schedule is densely packed and easy to manage, my last salary job was much more difficult. I had no time to eat or go home between classes, so I actually ended up spending all day at the school. Now I finish earlier, still can teach longer, and still have time to go to eat and feed my dog. Even though I work more hours, it’s much easier work and the schedule is much better.
Today my director took me aside and asked me if I was interested in adding another class to my schedule. I have the right to refuse according to my contract, so there has to be a meeting where I am consulted from now on. The class was for an hour, two times a week, after my current classes of the day finished. Normally I’d be sitting around the house after my last class of the day, but I’d be earning a little more money instead. It’s temporary for the summer only, so it wasn’t even a serious commitment to make. I accepted and interviewed the student.
No problems with new classes? Something’s different about me.
Next, our director comes into the teachers room to explain that because there is a national holiday during our intensive courses, they can’t commit to their 20 promised days of instruction. They need us to come in on a Saturday just this one time to make up the day they promised in the morning for the intensive students. This I balked at, immediately, because this isn’t actually something I agreed to in my contract. I’m a weekday only person.
Luckily for them, I had nothing planned for the weekend and I could always use a few more bills lining my pocket as well. I accepted. I even volunteered to take the other teacher’s classes when he said he had plans to visit Seoul. I got turned down, but the fact I even asked means there is something profoundly strange going on. Giving up Saturdays to teach? What’s going on?
I think most of it has to do with the fact that this current boom in hours has the possibility of disappearing next month when all the students are off vacation and I don’t get any more morning hours. I’ve limited my contract to afternoon hours only, so I won’t be offered the evening classes and will probably receive a rather large pay cut as a result. Due to our current situation of trying to save as much money as possible to go on trips around the world, I need to save as much as possible when I can. This is my attempt at cashing in my enthusiasm and rejuvenation after a vacation. Once the school starts burning me out, I’ll probably be griping and wishing I had my dependable salary job back once again.
