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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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 Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 11:59 pm Post subject: |
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seklarwia,
Do you get a reduced salary during those major breaks? Most dispatch agencies cut their ALTs' salaries to 60% or less of standard at that time. Some get nothing at all!
If you got full pay, you're very lucky, and I wouldn't tout that as the norm. |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:25 am Post subject: |
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I'm not in a major city or expensive area, so the cost of living out here is pretty low (My Leopalace accomodation is less than 55,000 and bills including my mobile total about 10,000). Because I don't live on the out skirts of the city, everything is within walking distance of my apartment, so no transport costs.
I'm still in my first year, so NHS was dirt cheap and I paid for the year as soon as I got the bill just so that I didn't have to try getting to a bank/PO each month before 4pm. Unemployment insurance (yes, they did enroll us and send us our certificates) is some tiny sum of money.
And because I despise shopping, I only visit a shop when I need something there. I don't browse, so rarely make impulse buys. I don't really drink. And smoking only costs me about 2000/month. I like video games and electronics, but since there are only so many new things I "have to have" at any one time, these things are not being bought every month and don't set me back more than couple of man in a month anyway. I do eat out (not everyday of course), but being a huge fan of the ramen shops and 1 coin sushi restaurants around here, again, not a huge expenditure.
Basically, even though I'm not trying to save, I don't like spending money if I don't have something to show for it. So for me 100,000 is not that difficult. I can fully appreciate that if you live in a proper city, or have somebody to support, saving can be much harder. But many of us don't have either of these things to worry about, so saving a decent amount (not necessarily a full 10 man, especially if you are not on first year NHS anymore) even on the standard 250,000 dispatch salary shouldn't be impossible. And I would advise anyone who is living in a location like mine, but living pay cheque to pay cheque, to sit down and carefully list all their spendings, because something is not quite right.
And yep, I'm looking forward to the snow too. I want to learn to snowboard and have already picked up an amazing board and boots for a bargain 7000 (got to love recycle shops). Plus one of my JTEs used to be an instructor and has offered to teach me and a couple of the other teachers at my school... bonus!
At Glenski:
Full pay on holidays  It is still a dispatch position. I got 75% for August, and will get 85% in December. July was full pay as will be January. I'd heard of dispatchers who give reduce pay during holidays (I thought that they all did except Alitia), but I didn't know there was some that paid nothing at all. You should name and shame. |
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ripslyme
Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:58 am Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
Full pay on holidays It is still a dispatch position. I got 75% for August, and will get 85% in December. July was full pay as will be January. I'd heard of dispatchers who give reduce pay during holidays (I thought that they all did except Alitia), but I didn't know there was some that paid nothing at all. You should name and shame. |
75% for August and 85% in December is reduced pay on holidays, isn't it? |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 1:16 am Post subject: |
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| ripslyme wrote: |
| seklarwia wrote: |
Full pay on holidays It is still a dispatch position. I got 75% for August, and will get 85% in December. July was full pay as will be January. I'd heard of dispatchers who give reduce pay during holidays (I thought that they all did except Alitia), but I didn't know there was some that paid nothing at all. You should name and shame. |
75% for August and 85% in December is reduced pay on holidays, isn't it? |
It is. I think you missed my laughing at the idea that dispatchers paid in full during the major breaks. Either that or you misread where I said he should name and shame companies that paid nothing during the holidays.
Other than that... not sure what was so unclear. |
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ripslyme
Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 7:29 am Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
| ripslyme wrote: |
| seklarwia wrote: |
Full pay on holidays It is still a dispatch position. I got 75% for August, and will get 85% in December. July was full pay as will be January. I'd heard of dispatchers who give reduce pay during holidays (I thought that they all did except Alitia), but I didn't know there was some that paid nothing at all. You should name and shame. |
75% for August and 85% in December is reduced pay on holidays, isn't it? |
It is. I think you missed my laughing at the idea that dispatchers paid in full during the major breaks. |
That was it. I misread the laughing. It seemed like you were laughing in a good way over your holiday pay. |
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Inflames
Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 486
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 7:34 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| If you got full pay, you're very lucky, and I wouldn't tout that as the norm. |
With the Interac contract I had, I was supposed to get nothing for vacation periods (national holidays outside of vacation periods were paid).
I was told that people in rural areas (or hard to fill positions) got some pay for vacations, but urban positions that were easy to fill got no pay. Counting all the vacations and the unpaid month between contracts, I can see ALTs making 80% of an eikaiwa worker.
IMO it's all in the office staff and your coworkers. Some people will apologize and make things right if they make a mistake, but others will lecture you for an hour about how you made them look bad (by their twisted logic of them making a mistake, so you therefore made them look bad). |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:18 am Post subject: |
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| Inflames wrote: |
With the Interac contract I had, I was supposed to get nothing for vacation periods (national holidays outside of vacation periods were paid).
I was told that people in rural areas (or hard to fill positions) got some pay for vacations, but urban positions that were easy to fill got no pay. Counting all the vacations and the unpaid month between contracts, I can see ALTs making 80% of an eikaiwa worker.
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Wow, that sucks! Especially since cost of living is higher in urban locations... it would have been those ALTs who needed the pay the most simply to make it through the break.
When did you work for them? From when I started at least there was no contracts that I saw (and many of us compared contracts during training) where people were going to receive nothing during the breaks, regardless of whether they were urban or rural. So maybe that's something that has changed since your time with them. I imagine that immigration and/or union pressure over not receiving an income for such an extended period of time probably forced them to change that way of doing things.
I believe the lowest holiday pay now is 60% for the summer and 75% for the winter. It's not great, but it's better than nothing at all... it should at least cover the cost of having a roof overhead and food on the table during the breaks for those living from pay day to pay day. |
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ShioriEigoKyoushi
Joined: 21 Aug 2009
Posts: 364
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 11:40 am Post subject: |
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Text deleted
Last edited by ShioriEigoKyoushi on Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:56 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Inflames wrote: |
| I was told that people in rural areas (or hard to fill positions) got some pay for vacations, but urban positions that were easy to fill got no pay. |
So, are you saying that for identical positions, if they work in a different location, the vacation pay differs? I suspect that that may break article 1 of the labor laws about equal treatment. |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 4:43 pm Post subject: |
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I am a third year JET Programme ALT in Shizuoka prefecture and am very happy with my set-up. Putting the time and effort into the application and interview process has proven to be extremely worthwhile for me.
To anyone interested: you still have a few more days to put together a pristine application and send it off (US applicants: deadline is 11/24)--around the end of November is the deadline.
Check here for more details: http://www.jetprogramme.org/
Click on the "Aspiring JETs" link and check out the PDF of the JET Programme brochure for 2009-2010. Then check out these Application Related FAQs: http://www.jetprogramme.org/e/aspiring/faq.html#4.2
It could prove to be worth your while.
Regards,
fat_chris |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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| ShioriEigoKyoushi wrote: |
| The way you guys are talking about ALT jobs makes them sound idyllic. If I read anyone whinging about them next time someone comes on here talking about their rough ALT deal, I might have to link them back to this thread.... |
I am finding my ALT job to be pretty sweet. I really can't complain about it at all.
Regards,
fat_chris |
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Amarok
Joined: 02 Jun 2009
Posts: 47
Location: pineapple under the sea
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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| fat_chris wrote: |
| ShioriEigoKyoushi wrote: |
| The way you guys are talking about ALT jobs makes them sound idyllic. If I read anyone whinging about them next time someone comes on here talking about their rough ALT deal, I might have to link them back to this thread.... |
I am finding my ALT job to be pretty sweet. I really can't complain about it at all.
Regards,
fat_chris |
Of course it's pretty sweet for you, you're lucky enough to be a JET. They were talking about dispatch companies and the people less fortunate to be stuck there. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:21 am Post subject: |
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| ShioriEigoKyoushi wrote: |
| Glenski wrote: |
| ShioriEigoKyoushi wrote: |
| From what I've heard ALT is a really mixed bag. You can get a great gig, or you can get a totally abysmal gig - it all depends on the people, the placement etc. And the money is often very bad - less than 80% eikaiwa salary. |
Where did you hear that fallacy? |
It's not true that an ALT position (and I don't mean just BOE direct or just dispatch - I mean any of them) can be either good or bad, dependent on factors outside the applicants control? They're ALL good, or ALL bad? Tell us more... |
Like what? The statement stands for itself. Some people, whether JET ALT or dispatch ALT, seem to have an ok time with their contract and experience. They may be blind to certain factors behind the scenes or not. Other people may have a rough time.
| Quote: |
| Glenski wrote: |
| What do you mean "increased"? Eikaiwa salaries have not gone up in decades, and many have gone down! |
I mean bigger than the ALT salaries I've read about. |
Eikaiwa and ALT salaries are about the same AFAIK.
| seklarwia wrote: |
| The way you guys are talking about ALT jobs makes them sound idyllic. |
Who ever said that? With a few exceptions (the blind or the willing to accept, for the most part), you're going to see a heckuva lot more complaints than good stories. Seen the union homepage yet? |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 2:30 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| seklarwia wrote: |
| The way you guys are talking about ALT jobs makes them sound idyllic. |
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I didn't say that  Shiori did. |
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cornishmuppet
Joined: 27 Mar 2004
Posts: 642
Location: Nagano, Japan
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| Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 6:39 am Post subject: |
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| glenski wrote: |
| seklarwia wrote: |
| The way you guys are talking about ALT jobs makes them sound idyllic. |
Who ever said that? With a few exceptions (the blind or the willing to accept, for the most part), you're going to see a heckuva lot more complaints than good stories. Seen the union homepage yet? |
Thats because the thousands and thousands of ALTs enjoying their jobs aren't on here bit'ching. Most people on forums are looking to receive (or give) help. (for me its to kill a bit of down time). I'd be VERY surprised if a complete survey of all ALTs working for dispatch companies came out negetive heavy.
What people don't seem to get is that public schools are ALL THE SAME. I concede that an inter-city Tokyo school in a rough area might be tougher than a rural one, but in general my comment stands. Regardless of whether you are a direct hire, JET, or despatch ALT you still work in a public school under very similar conditions. My friend working for 24man loves his job as much as my friend working for 36man. Its the backroom (the office management, the salary, etc - none of which is actually AT your school) that is different, not the actual job. Therefore, my friend working for 24man hates his salary and that he doesn't get paid for national holidays, his commute, etc, but he still loves his job. Comments that suggest that working in a Junior High is great if you'r e a JET but crap if you're a despatch ALT, for example, just don't work, because the actual day to day work is the same. |
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