Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Appearance

Whenever I have friends stay over at my house, they get a bit freaked out when they see me get ready for work in the morning. Like they can't quite believe that this person they had never seen not wearing jeans and a t-shirt or hoodie is putting on real dress pants, shoes and a nice shirt or sweater to go to work. While some of my coworkers wear jeans and running shoes to work, this is bad form, in my opinion. Look around at the Koreans. You'd never see any of them in something other than a variation on a business suit. Even the Korean part-time lecturers (which is what the foreign language teachers basically are) are dressed to impress. It's just expected here and goes along with part of the job. And I think it helps me with the students. Like if I'm all grubby, and not so professional, then the students might think they can treat me less than professionally. However, looking the part goes a long way in maintaining control, having authority and garnering respect. What do you think?

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