Job Discussion Forums

Sonnibarger · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 320 Location: Wuhan

I took a job I was told was just part-time teaching for 100 RMB an hour... not a camp. They told me the school would send a car to pick me up in the morning because its in the middle of nowhere. all fine.. A day later they say they cant give me rides but not to worry because its only 20 yuan taxi. I get to school after a 50 yuan ride and its in a hotel with all the other teachers and students living there... I am getting paid half what i should for a camp and spending 100 yuan a day to get there when im only making 300 a day. I get them to agree to put me up in the hotel... then they take me to a dorm with 3 chinese guys sleeping on bunkbeds with no toilet or shower. I want to just say screw it, but its with the company i work fultime for, and they say they will charge me 300 yuan for every class i miss.... anyone got some horror stories that will make me feel a little better about mine?

tom selleck · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:29 am Post subject:

Really sounds awful. Do you have money? Are you prepared to bolt? Can you make it to Hong Kong for a visa run? I wouldn't stay one day longer if I were you.

Make sure you post the name of the Mickey Mouse organization, lest other rip offees suffer the same fate.

Lobster · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:46 am Post subject:

Well, when they told you the private car was cancelled and you'd have to take a cab, I'd think that would be the time to insist they pay the fare. Why would the company you work full time for shaft you so mercilessly? Save those cab receipts and tell them right now that they're going to pay.

RED

jeffinflorida · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:39 am Post subject:

I was supposed to do a Wintercamp but it got snowed out....

By the way the agency that asked me to work there said they will pay me even though it was canceled.

Have not got any money yet but will let you know if they give me any...

vikuk · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842

Workplace culture differences between China and the west are massive. Working here for a company, at the start - one is often treated well. They want this period to go smoothly since this is the time when companies often lose a worker who suddenly realises this aint the job for them - and if its the start of a new term then its a time of new customers/students (everything needs to look good for them)
But as time goes on - in many cases - the FT doesn't gain respect as a reliable worker who has decided to give the job a real go - but as a commodity, a piece of EFL meat, a monkey - in short the company assumes that you aint going to bolt and they can exploit you to the full.

Sonnibarger - even old hands in China can sometimes be surprised by the trash they're offered. If nothing else - and you cant get out of this horror - then at least you've bought yourself a valuable lesson (and good story to tell some naive newbie).

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

I'm sorry.

You are obviously new in teaching English in China.

You are getting screwed in every way imaginable!

What they are doing is illegal. For a start.

They are basically prostituting you to another gig for a lump sum of cash while your regular gig is closed for holidays.

You should be having a holiday like 90% of the foreigners teaching English in this country.

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

of course we don't know many details, but it is extremely unlikely that standing up for yourself (and all loawais in country) will effect your full time job. this is totally outside your contract. give a message to your fao that you will be at the door waiting for the promised car. if it's not there then it's not your problem.

this is the only way to make your/our teaching respected

in what other kind of job would you accept this.

they keep their side, you keep theirs

they don't keep their side, forget going

propertee · Joined: 07 Jan 2008 Posts: 88

DistantRelative · Joined: 19 Oct 2004 Posts: 367 Location: Shaanxi/Xian

propertee wrote:

propertee · Joined: 07 Jan 2008 Posts: 88

Is it OCD that you have or are you ...

Kootvela · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 513 Location: Lithuania

I was paid little because, as they put it, the school pays for the accommodation and food. Now my lawyer says they were supposed to take out these costs and pay me normal money because that was a business trip, according to the law. Bah!

ontheroadagain · Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 66 Location: PRC since 07/04

with all due respect and to be polite you sound like a softy Sonnibarger...
first question first, is there any other foreigner working in this company? is he/she some kind of manager? contact him/her ASAP and explain your nightmare...
contact ASAP the big chinese "laboan"... explain how miserable you are and that this is New Year, ... blablabla ...

For the year of the Rat... you have been well Xed...

Sonnibarger · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 320 Location: Wuhan

I got the job through link China... I hear they are a good company to work for but i have yet to see it. When i first took my fultime job i was promised a nice western style apt. I was then moved in with a Chinese family, grandma, mom, uni student and a little *beep* kid around 8 years old... I got tired of having the grandma watch me take showers and give dirty looks to the girls i would bring home... So i demanded they pay for a apt for me... they agreed to pay 1000 yuan a month, my place is 1400 + util. I was told i would get a Z visa, but they gave me an F. I am not getting paid for the holiday, and now they stick me with this crap camp. I got the school to agree to pay for my taxi yesterday, took me all of 5 min. while the agency had been "trying" for a week. The agency is owned by a guy from Australia but i think he has been in country long enough to embrace the chinese business model. Oh well only a few days left then I will go on a binge the likes of which Wuhan has never seen. On the plus the students are great and the chinese teachers are cool enough.

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

So do us a favour and tell us about this "good" company, and who it was that actually sold you on using them (though you may want to wait until after u find a new job)

If you are on a F visa, that strictly speaking you are not working here. You can quit whenever you want. Find a real school to work for, and leave this outfit, and then tell us who it is?

I have found that there are plenty of laowai turned recruiter that seem to willingly embrace the most negative of Chinese business practices, once they find out that they can use their "laowainess" to make a fast buck in getting a laowai to sign with them

vikuk · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842