Editor’s note: Ilda is publishing the stories that women in their twenties have written about their work experiences. The series receives funding from the Korea Foundation for Women’s Funding for Gender-Equal Society.

 

Between Gap and Eul1, and between Eul and Eul

 

※ Gap and eul are terms used in contracts to refer to the contracting parties; gap is used to refer to the superior, dominant, primary, powerful party, while eul usually refers to the inferior, subordinate, secondary, less powerful party.

 

▲ Will I Be Able to Receive Overtime Wages? (Image credit: pixabay)

A year working as a part-timer at a smaller enterprise

 

I step onto the escalator that will take me down into the subway station, later than usual. I don’t know whether it is because I have been feeling down or what, but the image of the smoothly moving grey steps is particularly vivid today. I’ve been working extended hours for 2 days in a row. I try to think hard about what exactly is causing me to feel so depressed.

 

I’m working as an intern at one of the smaller businesses. It’s more like a part-time job after which I can receive a certificate of work experience, rather than an official intern position. I receive hourly wages and work 3 days a week, from 10am to 7pm.

 

It’s been over a year since I started work here. There are never any incidents of sexual harassment or any pressures on employees to drink alcohol during office get-togethers, perhaps because the president of the company and the employees are young, and the higher ratio of female employees. Actually, the atmosphere of the company is so good that the relationship between office members is what comforts us when we’re exhausted by the repetitive work. We are democratic and warm, and even though we call each other by titles such as ‘timjang nim [respectful form of the title of the position of a team or project leader]’ and ‘daeri nim [respectful form of the title of the position of an assistant manager],’ there is a humane closeness between us that goes beyond such words. But lately, I’m constantly depressed.

 

It always starts from something trivial. One morning, no different from others, another person was sitting at my desk. “Why are you sitting here?” “Oh, your place has been moved. There’s something I am to work on together with this team…” Oh. I went to my relocated seat, not really caring about the whole affair. There have been incidents like this before. When a new employee comes in, I hand over my chair and sit in a plastic one; my place has occasionally been moved around according to the needs of the regular employees; and because I am the youngest [magnae] I often have to brew coffee in the morning and set the spoons, chopsticks, and the cups on the table when we go out to eat.

 

Actually, our company culture is not that overbearing. If they had needed more chairs, they would have taken another (young) employee’s chair, and it is democratic in its own way—for example, the new employees take turns preparing the coffee. And this is what ‘public life’ is. It is not particularly wrong or worth complaining about. I know and vaguely understand this, but whenever I encounter these trivial situations that make me realize that I’m in the most vulnerable position, I feel a little bitter. But still, I didn’t think anything of this until today.

 

As soon I sit at my desk, the department head starts talking to me. “Ms. ** [name of author], did you see the email I sent you? A project we have to finish by the end of the week has just come up.  Please check your email.” When I read the email, the work – being simple labor – looks tiresome, but not difficult. The amount of work is huge, though. I heard that because it is so much, the work will be divided and shared with other teams. I think that I should finish up the normal work I’ve always been doing first, but after a while the department head, concerned, says, “If you don’t start on it now, you won’t be able to finish it within this week.” But I also had other stuff that I had to finish today. Although, of course, I wasn’t the only one who had other things to do.

 

I asked the department head whether I would be able to do this when I only come to work 3 days a week. The answer of the department head went like this: “But we’ll have a lot of work during next week as well. So the president of the company mentioned that you should work overtime at night or come to work 4 days a week. S/he will probably speak to you in person. S/he says s/he will speak with you tomorrow.” I felt a little insulted. Why did they take it for granted that I would be able to work overtime or come to work even on my days off? And if there was so much to do, shouldn’t they tell me earlier so that I could plan out how I would finish the work and by when? Why were they going to make me wait until tomorrow?

 

Of course I don’t speak these thoughts out loud. Since s/he was going to talk to me at any rate, I decide to hold my tongue and wait. And after asking for the department head’s understanding about a prior engagement tonight that I couldn’t cancel, (actually this is strange too—I’m merely leaving work at the regular time) I leave the office at 7pm.

 

‘You’re getting paid by the hour anyway…’

 

The next day, I’m working when the president of the company summons me and the department head. The president smiles while saying, “You’re getting paid by the hour anyway… how about you (stay behind at the office for a little while and) finish things up, and come to work 4 days a week if there’s too much work?’ The president is a warm person who describes him/herself as a gentle leader. But I still couldn’t say “no” to him/her. One of the thoughts that flash by in my head at that moment: I’m not someone who’s always on standby to come to work. But I’m not able to say this out loud. I don’t dare to voice an objection to a friendly, smiling face. Maybe I could if it were only the president and me alone, but I can’t say anything with the department head in the room.

 

For the time being, I agree to work overtime at night this week. I decide to get the work done no matter what it takes. I start immediately.  I work for a while; then it all starts to seem unfair. For one, I haven’t yet checked whether or not I will be able to receive overtime wages during the extended hours. Above all, I’m depressed by the way they ordered me to work.

 

▲ An announcement on a job site seeking interns/part-timers.The majority of workplaces of young people aretemporary and non-regular positions.

I remember when I used to work at a café. When another part-time worker couldn’t come to work, we would take turns filling in. The manager had asked us whether we could come to work then. I always filled in for others if I didn’t have any other plans, and I didn’t particularly hate it or feel it to be unfair. At least the manager asked for my understanding, and I was given a choice. But this was different. The president had already assumed that I would work overtime at night, and had merely issued an order.

 

I am a part-time worker. I wasn’t given an employment contract to sign (actually, this is also problematic), but I promised that I would work 3 days a week, from 10am to 7pm. But it seems that when the company needs something done in a hurry, I become the labor force on standby. It’s like they think, “Since all the people of the company share the work and the regular employees are going to work overtime at night, you should too.”

 

It’s not that I can’t work overtime at night. I’m just confused about my position. “You’re getting paid by the hour anyway…” In other words, I’m getting paid hourly wages anyway, and I’ll receive payment for working extended hours, so there’s no reason why I wouldn’t be able to work longer. (Overtime wages weren’t even discussed.) I was on the border between being an intern and a part-time worker. I was both the supplemental workforce and the ‘honorary youngest employee’ that prepared coffee.

 

But from every angle, our company is heaven compared to the other businesses that you hear about in the media. Although there are no employees that come forward and suggest a raise in my hourly wages, there are employees that make sure that I ‘receive what I should receive.’ There are employees that set out the cups when I place the spoons and chopsticks on the table. There are employees that encourage me with words such as, “Hard work, isn’t it (for a part-timer)?” when they see me working overtime at night. But despite all this, I’m still depressed. Am I too sensitive? Is office life right for me? Would another part-time job that wasn’t hierarchal, even if it weren’t an easy office job or didn’t pay that well, be better? I recall the other working experience I have had until now.

 

The experience of working part-time at the study room among ‘oppa’

 

When I think about it, ‘labor without hierarchy’ is impossible. In a capitalist society, the “employer–employee” relationship is unavoidable. But can’t there at least be no hierarchy between employees? Although all employees in an office are organized according to a vertical structure, all the part-timers at the café, study room, and ice-cream shop where I worked before seemed to be equal part-timers. But I suddenly realize—Ah! They had not all been equal part-timers.

 

Two years ago, near the beginning of the year, I started my part-time work as a clerk at a study room[A business that provides quiet cubicles in which students can study]. The wages weren’t that high but there wasn’t much work either, and most of all, I was given a good spot in the study room for free. The manager was a good-natured person who accepted even fussy demands for refunds, preferring the peace of mind over a little financial loss, and helped the part-timers to work independently. Since there weren’t many occasions to see the manager’s face, it really was a ‘part-timer’s world.’ But within that world I was still secondary [eul].

 

After I took over the work and had gotten somewhat familiar with the job, the ‘oppa’[Word used by girls or women to addresses their older brothers or older male acquaintances] who worked at night came into the office. He said he would teach me some of the work.

 

At that time I worked during the mornings, and two oppa worked during the day and at night. Both were two to three years older than me, and because a lot of the people who were preparing for the civil service exam also worked at the study room, I was very young compared to them. The oppa explained to me about the work I was to do.

 

“The manager had actually wanted to employ male clerks for all three shifts (morning-day-night). But since having at least one woman will make the atmosphere of the study room much nicer, the morning clerk job is given to women. So you (as a woman) have certain tasks to take care of. We will go around the study room doing ‘men’s work’ such as changing the light-bulbs and checking the chairs, so you are to tidy up the office and be nice to the customers.”

 

To make a long story short, in the end, the two oppa who believed that changing light-bulbs and checking the utilities were a man’s job all became too lazy (or too busy?), and I ended up changing the light-bulbs as well. True, even I don’t know which is more menial, changing light-bulbs or tidying up the office. What made me feel bad was the division of roles depending on gender. Why go to the trouble of telling me not to do certain work which I am also capable of doing, by bringing up the point that I was female? They probably thought that they were being considerate. But the gender stereotypes continued into personal relationships as well.

 

For example, when I sat down to eat or talk with the oppa one of them would start telling obscene jokes. If I seemed to get flustered, not knowing how to react, they would enjoy my reaction immensely. Because I was a young woman before I was the morning shift part-timer working with them, I became either a person easy to make fun of or the subject of protection.

 

I’m filled with mixed feelings as my thoughts reach this point. I don’t think I’m secondary [eul] only in the relationship between employers and employees. It seems that I’m in a lower group, even among secondary parties. If this is the case, I prefer a company where the newer employees take turns brewing coffee, and where we do not have to call male employees “oppa,” even if it is taken for granted that we can be ordered to work overtime at night.

 

Still, I don’t want to receive normal wages for working overtime at night. Waiting for the subway, I look up the legal standards regarding overtime wages. I’m entitled to receive 1.5 times my normal hourly wages! I’m happy for a moment. But then I’m worried. How do I raise the topic of my hourly wages with the president? 

 

Published: February 24, 2014

Translated by Rose

*Original article: http://ildaro.com/6600

 

◆ To see more English-language articles from Ilda, visit our English blog(https://ildaro.blogspot.com).

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