Life as a Caregiver

Picture courtesy of Ford County Health Department

Life as a caregiver is challenging but rewarding! It's challenging because the pay is very low. If you're a new caregiver, expect to get paid minimum wage. You also don't get paid to drive from one home to the next, but that is California law. Secondly, being a caregiver means you are vulnerable to the problems of your patient and your patient's spouse. The more difficult the patient is having, the more challenges you will have as a caregiver from an emotional standpoint. Not only will the patient be struggling, but you will hear the stresses relayed to you from the patien'ts spouse as well. It's also very unpredictable. Some patients and their spouses have other worries besides the patient's health that you are exposed to because you are at their home on a consistent basis. But that's what also makes the job interesting. If it was the same every day, you would get bored.

As a caregiver, your job is to listen and give your patient comfort as well as their spouse, and that's why I find it rewarding. When you're dependable, friendly, and helpful, you are greatly appreciated. Just make sure you set your boundaries. Don't run a ton of errands unless you get gas money or just say "no" if it's too much for you. You need to remember that you are a professional and you cannot be their friend. There's a fine line, but make sure you keep it professional and DO NOT give out your phone number. Your company will make sure that you don't do that. If you DO give out your phone number, you're going to open yourself up to more drama. 

I recommend this job for people just out of college or people that are retired and want to do something rewarding because they don't want to stay home all of the time. It's a great job as a part time position, but might be extremely overwhelming if you were to do it full time.

Scott Worden

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

January 2021: Got a job and then.....QUIT.

In the second week of the new year, I applied for a behavior technician position on Indeed. The company was called Behavior Frontiers. Since I had experience working with autistic kids, I thought I would try and see what this company had to offer.

The recruiter from the company responded back and we had a short conversation on the phone. Things went pretty smoothly. Then he said he would like to go to the next step and have someone conduct a remote interview with me. I was excited and a week later, the guy contacted me via Google Meet. The app wasn't working very well on my computer, so he called me via video chat on his phone. 

The interview wasn't that difficult and the guy was really energetic and positive. I got hired! It was my first job in America since 2003! I had a good impression of the company and went through the typical pre-hiring process of filling out and signing documents. 

However, the next step was a bit rough. The new hires (including myself) had to watch 5-6 hours of training videos per day in one week. On top of that, the four of us had to meet with our trainer via video call. It seemed fairly useful, but it definitely wasn't as effective as having the training done in person. Nevertheless, the training was helpful and I was ready to get started with field training.

My first day of field training was planned by my scheduling coordinator. I was to go to a home in Simi Valley (24 miles and about 40 minutes from Santa Paula) and a trainer would conduct the first lesson. While she was doing the lesson, I would watch the trainer and take notes. I would also check off to see what was being done and ask questions if I had any. I was supposed to be at the home by 9:00am to begin my field training.

I overestimated the time a bit because I left at 7:30am and arrived at a shopping center near the home at 8:15am. I prayed, tried to get myself to relax, and played a game on my phone. Then when it was about 8:45am, I drove to the home. Then it got a bit confusing. The home was an apartment, but it looked like only tenants could park in the parking lot of the apartment complex. I couldn't find where guests could park, so I parked across the street from the apartment complex. When it was all said and done, it was 8:55am when I was on my way to the front door of the home.

After I rang the doorbell, a woman peeked out and looked very surprised. A Vietnamese woman opened the door and she told me that she had canceled the lesson because her daughter went to the doctor's office. At that point, I didn't know what to do because it was my first day and it was totally unexpected. I told the mother that I would figure it out and that she didn't need to worry. I called my training coordinator while outside the mother's front door, but she didn't answer the phone. I called the main office, and the man from the main office said that I was indeed scheduled to be there by 9:00am. He said he would call me back in a few minutes. A few minutes passed while I was outside the home, and he finally called me back. He said that the mother DID call and cancel the session and he apologized. I realized that I had driven all the way to Simi Valley for nothing.

The shocking thing for me was that the scheduling coordinator didn't call me back even after I arrived back home at 12:00pm. I got the hint that this company wasn't the best fit for me. In fact, it was probably more suitable for younger people that are looking for experience and will do anything to get a paycheck. Think about it: You get paid $20/hour (not horrible) but have to drive to 1-2 homes to teach an autistic child for 2-3 hours. Not only do you have to teach that child, but you have to correct their behaviors, take data (behavior and learning data), and you have to do it with the parent watching you or at least in the home with you. I came to the conclusion that I needed to quit and sent in my resignation letter. And of course, the scheduling coordinator immediately responded back. It was ironic, to say the least.

Scott Worden

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

Be Careful Who You Recommend to Work at Your Company

Although I'm almost 44 years old, you would think that I have experienced a lot in life. Well, I just learned something very valuable as a middle-aged person that everyone needs to know. Some people might think it could be common sense, but it might not be so obvious to others. Hence, this blog post.

Here's my story. I had become an acquaintance with someone on Facebook. She was in various expat groups in Seoul and she seemed like she had a sense of humor, gave good advice to people, and she had various travel experiences. She was friends with two mutual friends on Facebook and she was also a Christian, so I thought she was normal and cool enough to be friends on Facebook. Then my church had a Good Friday service in 2018 and I met her there in person for the first time. Again, she seemed normal, we said hello, and that was all for a while.

In August 2018, she sent me a message on Facebook and said she was coming back to Seoul after spending a year traveling in Europe and asked if my company was hiring. Since I knew she would be back in Seoul, I asked if she could be an administrator for a Facebook group that I was running (Expats Who Love South Korea) and she accepted. I was starting seminary, so I just couldn't hold the fort due to me being so busy with work and school. She seemed happy becoming an admin and she took a major role in it while having a huge vision for it. That made me assume that I chose the right person and I thought she would be a great fit to work at my company. Next, she contacted my company and within a week, she was interviewed for a position in the Bundang (a suburb of Seoul) branch of my company.

I assumed she got the job at my academy. However, I only found out that she got the job from the man that interviewed her (my manager's manager). Then I noticed she didn't post anything on the expat page anymore and I also noticed she didn't update me on how the job was going, whether she liked it or not, no "thanks" for introducing her to the position, etc.

In December, I had thought that she had unfriended me on Facebook, but I saw that she was online via Facebook Messenger, so I was annoyed and told her that it wasn't cool that she would "unfriend" me especially after I had given her a job recommendation. Little did I know that she just deactivated her Facebook account. So not only did she not thank me for helping her get the position at Wall Street, but she just stopped being an administrator after only a couple months without letting me know.

I didn't talk about that, but I did apologize for assuming she had "unfriended" me, but it seemed to tick her off to the point where she added a kicker, "Well since you mentioned it, I wasn't very happy when I got interviewed. "(Insert manager's manager name here) rubbed it in my face that you recommended me." I told her that it wasn't a big deal and that he's a nice guy and that he was probably just joking. That didn't seem to make her feel better. And instead of thanking me that she got a job, she resented me. Very weird.

After that she said, "Well since you attacked me for thinking I unfriended you, I don't really want to talk to you today." Then I realized she was a bit strange and very emotional so I said, "Good luck with your future endeavors, 'Carrie'" and left it at that. We were never really friends and I didn't want to keep in touch with someone that I assumed was a drama queen. She was unappreciative about getting a job, she just dropped her duties as an administrator for a group on Facebook without any explanation, and she seemed temperamental.

Well, I was right about her being a drama queen. There were some things behind the scenes that I hadn't known about. Here's one example: Apparently, not only was she annoyed with her interview, but she also had problems finding housing for herself when she got the job. My academy offered her to help her find an apartment, but she insisted on finding one for herself. And when it was all said and done, she had problems finding the apartment on her own, which caused a huge issue. After that, she finally asked my academy to help her and even screamed at my manager's manager to help her get it done. Well, this changed the game. Now, any future hires will no longer be able to find housing on their own because she ruined it.

To add one more problem, she didn't get along with the manager or her coworkers. She didn't like to be asked to do things and it got to the point where she ignored the manager when she asked her questions. She created a really negative atmosphere and the manager "couldn't stand her" (her words). Last but not least, a week after I had an issue with this acquaintance on Facebook, she did a "midnight run" by texting the manager's manager that she would no longer be working at my academy after she had moved all of her things out. However, the Bundang manager was very happy about that regardless of the Center being shorthanded.

To make a long story short (well shorter), be careful who you recommend. If you barely know the person, don't recommend them. I'm embarrassed that I recommended this person and just two weeks ago, a friend asked if there were positions at my company for her friend. I told her that her friend could apply, but I couldn't recommend her based on this story that I just shared.

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)

Instagram: l.a.seoulguy