Job Discussion Forums

[312]

Ha I slighlty got that impression too (slave-driver). But it's easy money for 60 hours - 10,000 RMB - in a town with virtually no cost of living. He really has a nice personality, but is a genuine shapeshifter. I had him include a clause in the contract that says he must pay me every week. So, if he can't pay after one week, he can expect a classroom full of disappointed students staring at the clock, and a certain foreign teacher leaving on a train, back to his back-up apartment, with a certain finger in the air But I hope it doesn't come to that.

[Nauczyciel]

[jwbhomer]

[Nemesis]

OP, just draw a line in the sand. Tell him you're going home, and will prep in your own way.

And then walk out when classes end. Make a big show of packing up your stuff slowly. By the time you walk out the door, buddy will either flinch or snap.

Just like pulling off a bandage -- get it rectified quick.

[Nemesis]

If things get dicey, show anger and point aggressively -- right up in his face.



Dude will either crack or snap...

[Nemesis]

Stick it to the man!

[vikuk]

Aussie wrote-

[malu]

When I came here I tried buying into that urban myth that getting irate in China would get you nowhere and you would just lose face, that gentle and polite negotiation would result in a harmonious solution.

Since being here I have discovered that we gweilo have no face to lose in the first place and the only way I have ever succeeded in unblocking administrative log-jams or dealing with shape-shifters (love that term!) is by getting bloody belligerent and unreasonable. It is the only strategy that works. I hate doing it, and there must be a sizeable chunk of our administration that think I'm a horrid old ogre, but it's only their fear of my wrath that makes them think twice before screwing me over.

[vikuk]

[TreKidation]

It's more appropriate to direct the venting of your wrath at the object/person in question. You can't change the system or the issue crying to others - face the issue head-on with whom you have issue. You may look like a complainer or burn some bridges, but at least you'll have some self-respect that you can face issues like an adult with some self-worth.

[vikuk]

[Brian Caulfield]

I've had a lot of these 40 hour a week jobs here and in Korea. They usually just want you in the office to show you off to the clientelle. I didn't have to do much work. It was easy for me. You spend your time studying Chinese or whatever else you would be doing at home. Working in universities means less hours but sometimes their is stess there also. I had a student who went to the students in my other classes to find complaints about me this year. He was constantly stopping me and making suggestions on how I should teach my classes.

[Mydnight]

They don't want you to do office hours for any specific reason. In Metro the FT's office is right in the front with HUGE glass windows so everyone can look at the laowai pretending to be busy. They basically want you to do office hours so you can be seen by students and help them with English if anything goes wrong.

Planning Oral English classes really don't take that much time especially after you've got experience. Them wanting you to just sit there and do nothing is just their fun way to show and pretend that they have control. This is the true cultural difference that everyone talks about. They like to think they have control over you and can ask you to do anything and then expect you to do it without question.

[TreKidation]

Ask for advertising, modeling, display payments ...

[Shan-Shan]