Well, like I said, we are back from Thailand. We got in around 11ish Sunday night. As I mentioned previously our manager at the company, Jo, and our Director, Jane, tried to make us stay in Korea because LG placed Thailand on their list of locations employees cannot travel to because of SARS fears. When we were originally planning our trip we researched the whole SARS thing quite carefully. LG has a list of countries which, if an employee travels to, they must stay away from the company for 12 days. This is a SARS prevention measure, which makes some sense, despite the astronomically low chance that someone is going to contract SARS. The list includes countries like China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. We checked before booking our trip and Thailand was not on the list - for obvious reasons. We did some detailed research and determined that there are no cases or suspected cases of SARS in Thailand. None. Neither the WHO nor the CDC have travel warnings for Thailand. The day before we departed Korea Thailand was apparently added to the list (we still haven't seen a copy of the list). I do not know why it was added to the list - the only theory I have is that one of my students (who is on the "SARS Task Force") panicked when he found out I was going to Thailand (because every other Asian country except for Korea must have SARS, right?) and had it added to the list. Some of my other students were worried that I was going to Thailand until I pointed out to them that yes, in fact, Thailand and Taiwan are two different countries. So anyway, after much arguing with our Director we ended up telling her we'd just stay in Seoul and Ulsan for the weekend.

On Monday we called Luz, our coworker, to tell her we were back (so that she'd know we were still alive, and yes, SARS-free). She told us that Jane had assumed we went to Thailand anyway, because we weren't answering our phone. Well, we didn't really think we would get away with convincing them we didn't go, but we wouldn't have talked to Jane on our vacation even if we did stay in Korea. Luz also said that Jane didn't want us to go to work on Tuesday and that she had been calling recruiters to find new teachers. Barb called Jane to let her know we were back (but did not give away that we went to Thailand). Jane said she called the airline and they told her that we boarded the plane to Thailand. Now while I would believe that Immigration in this corrupt country would have given her that information, I hold Thai Airlines to a higher standard. Plus, how would she even know which airline we took? Something seemed awfully fishy. We though maybe Jane was just bluffing to get us to admit we went, and that she made up the story to bait us. We were partially right. Barb called Luz back and figured out the upsetting truth. Luz had in fact told Jane that we went to Thailand. Luz, who we trusted, and who was the person who actually suggested that we lie, ratted us out. I could not believe it. We trusted Luz, we have defended her and stuck up to Jane for her in the past. Then she turns around and stabs us in the back. I can tell you how much that upset us. We thought we could put our faith in her and she ratted us out to suck up to the Director.

So, being turned in, we called Jane and told her yes, we had in fact gone to Thailand. She yelled and asked why we had lied to her (a legitimate question). We told her the truth - that she wouldn't listen to us, was harassing us, and could not accept that we were going to Thailand. Barb was the one on the phone but what I overheard was enough:

Barb: Jane, you wouldn't listen!

Jane: Ungh, what do you mean I didn't listen? I listened, I offered to call my travel agent...

Yes, listening indeed. Then as Barb tried to explain our situation Jane just kept talking and yelling and exhibiting more of her sensational listening skills. Barb asked Jane if we were fired (as Luz told us we weren't to go to work on Tuesday) and informed her that if we were, we required 30 days written notice. Jane then yelled some more:

Jane: Hire, Fire? Why you say that? I am your director and you treat me like this?

Barb: Well yes Jane, you're our Director, so why are you using Luz to tell us we aren't supposed to go to work on Tuesday?

Jane: I don't say hire, fire!

Jane told us to call Jo and ask her what we were to do. Now we really shouldn't deal with Jo at all. We have a contract with Jane. Jane has a contract with Jo. Jane should deal with Jo and we should deal with Jane. Nevertheless we called Jo. She told us she was upset at us and didn't want to talk to us... Umm, you're a professional, you don't get to make that choice. Maybe if this were Junior high and we were on the cheerleading team with you. But you have a job and that requires you to talk to people, even if you don't want to.

So this is our status so far: We have been told not to go to work. We have been told we are not fired. What does that mean? Who knows. But we did not go to work today. We called Jane and Jo and they would not give us more information. We called our executives and emailed our students to tell them why we were not there. What happens next? Who knows...