Job Discussion Forums

[struelle]

Roger's probably the man in the know for this, but all are welcome to respond

Before last summer, at the end of June, I negotiated a contract for the high school I'm currently teaching in. This was done with a very trustworthy person, we'll call her Ms. X. I knew her from before, a friend of a former student. Yes, I got a job through guanxi.

The contract was negotiated to our mutual satisfaction, effective the new school year, Sept 2003. Then, we parted our seperate ways. Ms X went to the USA to see her family, I went to Canada to see my family and later Thailand to get my teaching certificate. This whole time, we kept in email contact, and Ms X's colleagues at the school were notified of our contract.

But, to make a long story short, her colleagues completely messed up the contract. I know Ms X communicated what was going on, but the message didn't get through properly. All kinds of mistakes happened when I arrived. At first I tolerated them, and was too excited about the new job to crack down on the mistakes. Now, those mistakes are hitting me full-force.

Ms X has returned from her trip to the USA and is shocked at how her colleagues botched the responsibilities she delegated them. Together we are slowly working our way through the mess. But she doesn't want to lose face to call her colleagues to account for their incompotence.

We'll call my principle employer Ms. Y, the first colleague of Ms X. Ms. Y is a great person. She is like my mother, she worries 'bout our health and safety, gives us gifts, treats us to dinner, and takes great care of us. Also, she respects my work in class, and we have a great relationship when it comes to teaching. But seeing how she handles business and admin matters is like a living nightmare. With horror, I've seen how she: (1) didn't know how to apply for a Z-visa, (2) calculated my salary based on hours and not the contract, and (3) gave me a class schedule with few hours but terribly spread out, thus making it difficult to do extra work and private lessons.

Ms X and I had an agreement in our contract, that I would get 3 days off during the week. I was fully allowed and encouraged to do extra work, especially to help teach kids on Friday at a 2nd school she managers.

Ms. Y knew nothing about this, and put me down for classes on Friday at the high school. The result - I couldn't teach the kids on Friday, the oral English program was suspended until Feb, and now the parents are complaining that they don't have a foreign teacher. Ms. X is really upset at this, and promises to smooth the matter by next semester.

But what really bothers me is the salary issue. I need to save money for various reasons. I expected to make full contract at School A plus the extra work on Friday. I'm now making 1500 LESS at School A and NO on Friday's, due to reasons (2) and (3) above. My visa was finally processed, but not until Ms. X came back 5 days before my tourist visa was due to expire. I told Ms. Y exactly how to process a Z visa, but it would be a loss of face for her to admit that a foreigner knew more about visa regulations than she did. So she did nothing, even making up some BS saying that I had to have a BEd degree to get a red card.

Even with my spread-out schedule, I devised a way to do part-time work and private lessons on the weekend to make the money I budgeted I'd make. I am willing to tough this out until 2nd semester, when things will be the way I expected them to be.

But what worries me is this - will the situation really be smoothed out by 2nd semester, or will more setbacks occur? With Ms. X back, I hope it will. She promised to smooth things out, in return, I will head-hunt other foreign teachers to help us out.

I get along well with Ms. X because both of us have a natural bent for admin matters. Competent admin work is just as important as teaching. I'm fortunate I can do both, and it's heart-breaking to see excellent teachers and people (like Ms Y) royally screw up the admin. Ms Y was delegated for the job because of face, not because of her admin skills. A great person Ms Y is, but she can't handle the nuts and bolts of salary payments, visa applications, and class schedules. It drives me nuts. I just want things to work out as Ms X and I negotiated in our contract.

The problem is compounded by a colleage of mine from the US who is a full-time teacher in LA and on sabbatical. Ａ　ｇｒｅａｔ　ｐｅｒｓｏｎ，ｂｕｔ　colleague doesn't need the money and treats the job like a volunteer experience.

I'm willing to stick around, as I'm counting on things smoothly after Feb. Only if the situation deteriorates will I leave the school. But I'd appreciate some tips on how to get the ear medicine out. That is, the staff need to know that I'm upset because of schedule and salary issues. How do I let them know and keep the relationships positive?

[Roger]

struelle,
sorry, not much of consolation from me... First thing: make the school EXTEND your current visa BEFORE IT EXPIRES! If they have the right to house you, that is. If not, you must relocate for a night to a hotel, and thus get registered by the PSB who then can extend your tourist visa! That's the rule! If the school has a guesthouse of its own, then it's fine.
You know that if you overstay your visa it will set someone back 500 RMB per day! Hopefully not you!


Next: Income?
I would say Ms X. is of a charitable disposition! DOn't take such a privilege for granted - working in two schools is frowned upon, and in fact illegal.
Of course, I wish you could do it. But with a messed-up timetable... don't expect things to be smoother in term 2.
My experience is: if a school screws up things once, they screw them up a second time, a third time, and many more times!
I just walked out of a very cosy job situation precisely because of such screw-ups that promised to go on week after week after week for the next ten months! CUt my losses!

[struelle]

[Roger]

I lost the prorated portion of my airfare.
No, I did not serve them notice although I darkly hinted at such a possibility long before. I lost income during those two months due to their clumsy planning and rescheduling of lessons day by day. I lost, most importantly, my dignity and my patience, and then I called it a day, and now they are smarting!

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Struelle, I would offer you advice but I fall asleep before I can finish reading your post. Maybe the real problem you face is boredom.

[struelle]