Job Discussion Forums

[Glenski]

Fluffy,
You've been around the block here a couple of years or more. I remember many of your posts on the Teacher Forums, and they were quite glib.

[fluffyhamster]

Sheik, thanks for clarifying your intentions. Again, I won't deny that this is my second innings with a dispatcher, but it surely wasn't my imagination that the pickings this past April were pretty slim (in my neck of the woods at least) - and I was looking on Gaijinpot, Jobsinjapan.com, Dave's, TEFL.com, and in Ohayo sensei. In other words, I was forced to take a less-than-stellar job due to there being a limited range of remotely feasible or tempting ones (bear in mind that relocation is generally always at the employees expense), so I bit the bullet rather than being run out of Japan a year earlier. I won't be doing so again from next April, so there, how's that, there's my "statement" coming, albeit a year overdue.

Uh oh, the vultures are circling...

Glenski, I decided to err on the side of caution, what with there being impatient readers around (even more impatient than yourself), and just post a reasonably potted version of events. I don't have time right now to answer every one of your demands for "answers", but suffice it to say that it would be nice if you would grant people the benefit of the doubt sometimes. The way you (and my employer) seem to talk, it's like I asked for millions of yen and went and blew it all in one fell swoop on the horses or something. The fact is, renewing my apartment (and the extortionate fees that landlords charge every few years, on top of initial key money, deposits etc, as has been discussed on other threads) rather cleared me out coming into this job, so I would've had to borrow some money towards the end of the first month...but at least I spared my employer any costs regarding start-up for accommodation (they offer this sort of thing more to those AETs new to Japan, who've presumably thus borrowed far more than me).

Anyway, for what it's worth, I borrowed the extravagant total of 160,000 yen by the end of May (that equates to 80,000 yen on average over the two months), so I was hardly living it up was I*. The total then went down a bit with a repayment of 40,000 yen or so (I had to negotiate that manageable amount), but yes, it slowly increased again to past 200,000 yen because, frankly, I got tired of subsisting on what sometimes amounted to little more than 15,000 yen a week.

Ultimately, with the pay system that is in place, I feel like I'm the one owed money (because at any point in time, I've expended money and energy over two months to just receive a month's pay). You can go on about agreeing to contracts etc, but the situation (not being able to convert labour into a corresponding amount of money promptly) is not psychologically motivating (well, not for me, at least), and it becomes patronizing to be scolded by managers to "save" money, "budget" better etc.

As for the Teacher forums, be fair, not all my posts are glib (though quite a few are light-hearted, there's a difference you know) - it really depends on who or what I'm dealing with there. Anyway, at least I post there quite regularly, unlike you (not that you have to, but still...).

Me: the Labour Laws do seem to indicate that direct employment with pay at least once a month is the ideal, no?
You: No, it's not "the ideal". It's simply the law. Foreigners and Japanese get paid once a month.

Um, I was the one who trying to point out what the law states (to Senbei). Then you come along and say I don't have a leg to stand on. Now you are quoting the law that I quoted back at me. If you'd prefer me to not even try to modify things (re. that 'ideal') in line with what you're saying, then tell me, so I won't need to bother compromising for you at all. Then we can have that nice juicy great big blazing "row" online that you always seem to be angling for (and I'm not the only one who's questioned your style on the forums); remember, the thing that's ultimately under "investigation" is dodgy employment practices, not me personally.

You can of course tell every AET working under such contracts that they AGREED to it, but that doesn't ultimately make a bitter pill any easier to swallow, does it? Of course people would prefer to land the better/cushier/"perkier" jobs, but there are never enough to go round, especially nowadays, hence some of us being "forced" by circumstances to girn and bear things for a year or two until we can find better or decide to move on to pastures new.

I suppose you'll next be telling me that sweatshops and child labour are OK too.

We're all on the same side here, Glenski - we're all English teachers, right?

*I didn't in fact want to or expect that I could borrow at first, so I'd hardly have got a loan and repayment schedule drawn up and in place from week one, but thanks for the advice, although I don't think going into interviews/contract signings with your hand out already is a good idea, unless you need apartments set up or something, which I thankfully didn't. Advances are generally piecemeal and at the employer's discretion, so they gradually build up. In my case, my employer obviously did not have much idea of what was a reasonable repayment schedule - that whole deduction down to 100,000 yen - so yes, I pushed for a more manageable one. Credit me with some nouce, please.

[Big John Stud]

[yamanote senbei]

Fluffy, I'm still am unclear on the salary payment schedule. When are you to be paid for work that you do in December?

[fluffyhamster]

I'll get the pay for work completed in December at the end of January (and the pay that I'll have received in December will have been for November). They're basically a month "late", IMO (I say "late" not because it's "not in the contract", but because most AETs in these sorts of situations really could do with the money owed being paid quicker).

Basically, at then end of any month (or soon thereafter) - over a week after the BOE's payday - I submit a timesheet and a bunch of lesson reports, which are then used as the basis for paying the dispatcher, and then finally me. Not sure why it can't be sped up by submitting sheets prior to a BOE payday "cutoff", or by the BOE making payment earlier in the following month, or the dispatcher bringing forward its own payday (or why all 3 things can't be combined). It's a very inflexible and stupid system that must end up losing them a lot of AETs over time (but perhaps that's the goal? LOL). But not to worry, one of the managers was telling me (well, shouting at me actually, over the phone, in the midst of a "dispute" - who was disputing what, you ask?!) about how they're going to at least solve the 'not paid for August so no pay in October (=Edit!)' problem at least by lowering the monthly salary accordingly throughout the year.

[yamanote senbei]

[shuize]

Fluffy, not to kick you when you're down but whenever this sort of topic comes up I find myself asking: Why in the world would someone want to tough it out for a mere 15,000 per week? Especially someone who's not F.O.B.? From your post above, it sounds like that's after rent but before other living expenses -- chump change, really.

You may as well move to China. At least it'll buy something there.

[fluffyhamster]

[fluffyhamster]

Ah, I see I typed 'November' rather than 'October' a few posts above. Sorry about that. I must've got distracted by the female JTE here licking my ears as I was typing (wonder if mooty has ever had one of his apparently adoring JTEs do that to him). Anyway, I'll go back and edit things now.

[yamanote senbei]

[fluffyhamster]

[yamanote senbei]

Are you a man or a hamster?

[fluffyhamster]

I'm a KILLER hamster, man, especially if anyone goes near me nuts. And if you keep up the encouraging words, Senbei, the transformation, replete with huge quivering incisors, might take place sooner than you think.

[yamanote senbei]

What's old R*x driving these days anyway?

[fluffyhamster]

Actually he's upgraded to an Apache helicopter - it's swifter, and very handy in a tight spot (e.g. when surrounded by MEXT gunships).