Job Discussion Forums

[Gawain]

Great thread party peoples! Let's keep it up.
Still in midst of re-entry shock. Over 40 years old, taught for years in Asia. Came back to USA broke because I was getting too old to have no savings, no insurance, "no real job." Met too many 23 year old backpackers doing my job in the bushibans. Now that I'm trying to make money in USA as a temp cubicle slave, I'm surrounded by 23 year old temps doing my job better and faster than me! I taught EFL too long, and now it is TOO LATE.

I REFUSE to be a temp cubicle slave chained to some windowless basement cubicle, reporting to some trailer trash high school dropout who orders me to do mandatory overtime on weekends. I walked off my last several temp jobs and now my agency won't place me. I walked out of my last few job interviews because the cubicle work was below my education. "THIS JOB SUX! I have a Bachelor's Degree! I was a teacher! I want a GOOD JOB like, ahhhhh, a TEACHER!"

Even when I behave myself on job interviews, they can read my mind by the burning hatred in my eyes.... If I go back overseas now over age 40, I can kiss goodbye ANY chance of career in USA-- but that doesn't matter because I have no career.

I am the Ghost of EFL Teacher Future.
"I would prefer not to.... I would prefer not to...."
Can you relate?

[hesterprynne]

I knew it was time to get out of southern California when we were invaded by displaced Bay Area dot-commers who had to take the mind-numbing temp job next in the next cubicle or stay on unemployment. When the girls working next to me at the bar in the resort hotel had teaching certs and couldn't make enough money in their chosen profession to pay the rent. When I read that university teachers in my lovely, beautiful city couldn't make enough to buy a house! Yeah- I need a degree. Don't get me wrong- I love school- I love learning. But my soul couldn't take another day of working at a job that didn't exercise my brain in a way that I found meaningful. Found myself suddenly with no meaningful ties or responsibilities and off I went. I do miss clean air and clean oceans! I miss Mexican food so much that I have dreams about sour cream and guacamole. But I am grateful here every day for the chance to do work that I enjoy and that means something to me! And I do not miss the mindless chatter of plastic people who spend all their money trying to impress the neighbors. I have been the impresser and the impressee in my life- I enjoy not having to be either here!

[carnac]

Reverse culture shock! Big time! From soft-spoken people to abrasive yarls in supermarkets the size of small cities from steatopygic hausfrau in sadly clinging sweats gunning shopping carts at passers-by. From people whose innate upbringing is politeness to people whose credo has become "do unto others before they do unto you."
I was brought up in two cultures and two countries and so felt culturally rooted and rootless in both places at the same time. The two languages became automatic. Now, I go back to where the bulk of my immediate family lives and I feel like a stranger. Dittto with the other place.
So I have decided that the world is my "home". That people are basically the same everywhere, that "cultural differences" are usually a question of taste (I am not speaking here of repugnant things done to women in some places in the name of "culture") I choose to live away from my birth countries from a sheer sense of bloody-mindedness, recognizing that I can never accept the possibility of never having an adventure. When I die, I will say"I have lived!"
As an aside, I am pleased to report that several nieces have begun to follow the same path. I am a terrible influence. But their emails tell me that they have discovered living.
Get out of there!!

[vochinch]

Gawain: Thank you! I have been searching for the perfect word to describe my coworkers here in cubicle hell, and you have provided it: 'Gits'! I also use headphones to screen all of the inane banter that makes it over my cubicle walls.

As for culture shock, I can attest to the fact that it is very real. After about six months in the Peace Corps as an EFL teacher in Armenia, I was overwhelmed by feelings of isolation, loneliness, and frustration so abruptly decided to leave. After my return to the USA and a few hot showers and junk-food binges, reverse culture shock set in even harder. It's now two years later and I still haven't fully recovered. I now realize it was purely culture shock that lead to my downfall in the PC. I had traveled the world extensively prior to going to Armenia and never expected that culture shock would be an issue. Lesson learned.

Now I'm planning to reenter the EFL world and have absolutely no reservations about it. I know what to watch out for and am better prepared. Best of all, I get to leave all the gits and their annoying banter behind!

[T-Bone]

Gawain:

You should check out the movie "Bartleby" starring Crispin Glover in the title role. It's a surreal version of the Melville tale. I think you'll get quite the kick out of it.

I returned from ESL in Japan about 3 years ago, and I have been doing the cubicle/mindless jobs since returning to USA. I am thinking of getting back in the ESL game.

The thing holding me back is being 32 years old: I have some of the same concerns about a "real career", a pension, etc.

But the lack of presige working for stupid customers and uneducated bosses has me dissatisfied, as well. A BA doesn't seem to count for anything except in the ESL world.

I guess I'm also concerned about "missing" what's going on back home (keeping in contact w/ family & friends), but ya gotta live.

My advice to you is to get going back overseas ASAP. The cubicle life is killing you. Get a masters of ESL or TESOL online to make you more marketable, and eventually semi-retire to a beatiful beach somewhere teaching a couple classes a day.

[Gregor]

MAN!
I LOVE this thread. I have thought about going back to the US, and have rejected it completely now.
TEFL is a real career. Why not? I'm happy. FULL STOP. What more could you possibly want?
Oh, ok, let's see - to be treated like a KING, to be the most fascinating character on whose every word people hang, and who is considered a complete expert, maybe even MASTER, of your field...
I live in China, and I'm not going ANYWHERE, least of all, "home".
It's easy to complain about China and TEFL. It's REALLY easy to complain about California and printing, or X-ray tech, or any other job. Cubicle Hell? There is NO WAY. There is just no way. "I would PREFER not to"?? I won't even put myself in the position to SAY that. I REFUSE.

Marry a local. it makes things a lot easier, if she's the woman you love.
That's just bonus, though. Not necessary.

You don't have the woman you love in a foreign culture? Well, give yourself the chance. Find a place you like. Study the language. Meet people. Who are you going to meet among the "gits"?? No one good!
I met my wife in a bar. HA! But she's lovely, and she loves me, I love her beyond anything I had previously imagined, and she makes life a LOT easier.
Insurance? Retirement? We have both of those worked out, independent of either of our jobs. We also own a very nice home in Shenyang, which will be paid for, free and clear, in four more years (total of five years, to PAY OFF A MORTGAGE).
I'm a Director of Studies. The boss. Kind of. Well, not really. And I make the (kinda/sorta) big bucks. We could buy a car, but don't need to, because taxis are CHEAP.
I'll be 40 this year. No degree anywhere. I can get one online if I decide I need to do that. Maybe I will. But I DO have a legitimate TESOL diploma, awarded by Trinity College, London. This is plenty to qualify for good teaching jobs. DoS can become an AOM, or I could get tenure at an international school, and how much money do I HAVE TO make, once my mortgage is paid? You know? Entry level teaching job, with a housing allowance would be FAR more than I need, without my wife even working, if it came to that.
A CAREER?? Back in the US??? Man.You people watch too much TV. June Cleaver is not your mum, and Wally and the Beav DO NOT EXIST. Pay attention, people. TEFL teachers who can truely enjoy their jobs have it MADE. I can't believe any of you (the ones who enjoyed teaching, anyway) would give that up.

[carnac]

Gregor: nice posting.