Job Discussion Forums

[raven15]

Yesterday I returned from my spring festival holiday to find that the people from the university had been in my apartment and completely rearranged all my stuff, mostly putting it in a suitcase I had left behind and the kitchen cabinet in a disorganized jumble. They had used several of my personal things and made one greasy from cooking grease, and someone had taken a mostly-flushed dump and peed substantially on my toilet seat. I was very angry and took it up with them immediately, but the dean gave me a line about how messy my room had been and the Foreign Experts Bureau had demanded to inspect it, so they had no choice but to clean it up. I know this is not true because I had organized all my stuff before I left, and because a foreign teacher who stayed during the break said his own apartment was never inspected by anyone. Also, the dean became very angry when I said that I wanted it to never happen again, and said "you Americans are like my children" and "I have the right to go into your apartment anytime I want because I'm the dean of Foreign Affairs." I was happy to note the expensive MP3 player I had hidden before I left had not been disturbed.

Anyhow, I made them get a maid to clean up the mess, and rankled over it for a while. At the beginning-of-term meeting a few hours later the dean brought it up and treated it as a joke, and one of the experienced foreign teachers said to me something to the effect "if I was you I may try to get a new job." At first I didn't care because I hadn't really suffered lasting harm, but now I have been thinking about it and I feel more and more pissed off. I am pretty certain they had it cleared out because one of the dean's friends stayed in my room when I was gone. Just before I typed this, my suspicion was confirmed because I hear a marital dispute in Chinese coming from the room of another foreign teacher who is still on holiday, and I know he doesn't speak Chinese. Now that guy has a doctorate in TEFL and eight years experience in universities in this province, and I think, if they do that to him too, what can I do? I don't think there's any contractual or hard evidence that I can use in any way.

So I have these four options that I can think of
1. Pretend nothing happened, since I lost nothing except time and respect for the university, which had been waning anyhow.
2. Clear the dean's desk to remind her mine was also neat and organized before it's contents were stuffed in my suitcase
3. Mysteriously disappear and find a new job in a different province, which may or may not be difficult because this university will be angry
4. Try something else, like finding a new university formally, or other formal action. Also probably difficult.

Thank you for your time.
Any suggestions? I have no idea what to do.

[Sinobear]

Can you get affordable off-campus housing? Realistically, if you live on-campus or in school-funded housing, you are at their mercy.

Good luck.

[creztor]

I can understand how you feel. However, the best thing to do would not overreact and vanish in the middle of the night or mess up the dean's desk. While I can understand why you would want to do this, it won't help matters and will only make things worse for you and it won't affect the university at all (or they won't care). Stay and just suck it up or leave. If you want to leave, see if you can get out of your contract early without a penalty or just ride it out until the contract ends. If rock the boat you will find out quickly how dispensable/disposable you are and this might put you in a tight financial situation (if you aren't already prepared for it). Good luck.

[raven15]

OK, thanks. Financially I am sound, with enough money saved up to travel across the country or fly out, several times though I don't know why I would. Hence I am not entirely bothered by being disposable. I think I have decided against the desk sweeping option, but the others are still open. I am basically just looking for opinions, since I have no experience with situations like these.

However, I may dump the contents of my desk on hers, since she thinks it is her responsibility to "clean" them up and they were all from the last term anyhow.

[creztor]

Raven, the only thing to do is nothing or leave. There really is no point in doing anything else. Will it make you feel better? Probably, but it won't change anything and will only make things worse for you because you'll either get fired on the spot or told you need to clear out etc. I know it would be nice to get some of your own back but it is utterly pointless.

[raven15]

What really irritates me is that the university locks the downstairs doors at night, so I have to ask someone to let me into or out of my own apartment between 11 pm and 7 am, while they can go all the way into my bedroom anytime they want for no reason. Pretty unprofessional and disrespectful if you ask me.

[raven15]

OK, thanks. That sounds like good advice that has been repeated a couple times.

I think I could find jobs in other provinces pretty easy, but would the university be able to obstruct that, or... moving would be a pain though. Of course, a mild pain compared to the traveling I did over the holiday. But the new place could end up being worse. Guess I'll figure something out eventually.

[daCabbie]

You are gonna have to let it go. You probably only have one semester on your contract. You can do it.

I would give it a few days and then write a brief letter to your FAO expressing how disappointed you were by her actions. Explain to her how you expected a certain amount of privacy. Don't tell her she was wrong or a liar or any other name you (and I) are thinking. Just say you were disappointed in her.

Dealing with your FAO is like dealing with a volatile child. You have to be patient and explain things in the simplest format. Often repeatedly.

Give it some time. Write a letter. Stop doing anything extras for your FAO. Say no to the dinners you are invited to and sit at a different table when you are in the cafeteria together. Let the Chinese-English teachers know that you think your FAO is doing an insufficient job.

Pulling a runner might be 'from the pan and into the fire'. I always end up in a crappy situation when I have to make decisions under pressure. Its always good to start shopping now for a new job. September comes quickly.

[tomstone]

The dean here is "similar", I won't go into detail, but I wrote a letter to the vice-president about some of the problems with this individual and a lot of things have improved. I've still got a few things that need to be fixed, so I've already begun another draft of a letter to the VP about the idiot. In my case, I'm fortunate that the VP is a very reasonable, able administrator, so I don't know if that applies to your situation. Ever since I decided to make my stand against this person, my attitude has been that "if things aren't right, I will leave. Immediately."

[Jayray]

Start looking for a new school and be ready to bail as soon as you receive your last pay check.

It might also be a good idea to keep your plans and your feelings to yourself rather than to say anything to the other FTs or the Chinese faculty. People talk, and word will get back to the FAO. The FAO can cause you a lot of trouble, especially if she is vindictive and/or feels that she does not have to answer to anyone.

[raven15]

Yeah, I guess I should stick it out. I thought about it a lot, and I chose the university for good reasons (location and high salary, albeit with more hours). Those haven't changed, and the pay is regular and reliable. Though I think there is a decent chance I will wish I had moved on soon, they provided me with less than my contract hours this semester I know they will try and reduce my salary because of it. In which case I will surely be moving on if they don't budge.

There is no chance of things changing around here. I know foreign teachers have been trying to improve things for years, with no real changes that I have heard of.

But for sure I am not going out of my way to do anyone any favors now.

[happigur1]

[tomstone]

If a situation is intolerable, pulling a runner IS a good idea. Nobody should have to endure harassment. Of course, reasonable effort should be made to remedy the situation, but many times these situations are instigated by people who are "power mad"; an unfortunate facet of human nature is that people in authority tend to abuse the authority.

Re the "blacklist", if it is the real deal, just go to Hong Kong, apply for jobs on the mainland and don't tell them you worked in China before!

[ttorriel]

I know nobody will agree with me, but you need to threaten the boss with the concept of the police.

[tomstone]

Elucidate, please.