Job Discussion Forums

[evaforsure]

isnt this the point when someone ask .. did you have the proper paperwork..did u come on a z visa...

these kinds of tricks are reserved for those who have the proper paperwork and try to abide by the rules...I would throw out a guess and say you didnt accept an offer for another year or were not offered one...although angry is not the focus of the intent to retain you pay I would use..instead I work work on the docs .... ask for an accounting... seek help from the local elec. company for an estimate as to how much your rooms would use ...ask for the meter readings...anything you can think of to make them justify...spend long moments quiet once they deliver some bad news or an ammount .. and then wait ... calmly ask them how they can prove it....tell them you receive a tax credit for the amount but need the elec. company to verify..anything...if coming back next year .. you can show up ..without angry outburst...and just sit waiting on your money...and once and a while state the same question over and over as if you didnt hear the answer...good luck...

Dont accept school housing...

[dakelei]

You need to calm down, true, but you also need to hang in there. If the school knows you will not be coming back it might very well be trying to wait you out and hopes you will move on before this situation is resolved. My last school (a public university, mind you) owed me thousands of yuan and I eventually got at least some of it but it took a lot of effort on my part. My experience in China has been that schools do not do this sort of thing to FT's they "like" but often do it to teachers they don't like. I don't know much about you, your school or your situation but, ultimately the specifics really don't matter. You have annoyed, vexed, peeved, riled etc. SOMEBODY at that school and they are determined to make you pay for whatever sin it is perceived that you committed. At this point it is also possible someone in some office feels they have somehow "lost face" because of something you have said or done. This makes them even more difficult to deal with. I know how you feel when folks tell you to tone down the anger and shouting, trust me. I once called an FAO lady an "incompetent bitch" while positioned so close to her face that I swear I sprayed spittle on her. It didn't help me at all though I have no doubt what I said is true. Getting angry simply will not work and will undoubtedly make things worse. Don't even bother pointing to clauses in "the contract." Contracts here mean very close to nothing. Try appealing to their sense of decency, if they have one. Try using good old fashioned guilt. "I'm disappointed such a prestigious school would do something like this." The most important lessons I learned were 1) don't yell and 2) don't give up. Keep showing up in their office until they finally give in just so they don't have to see you anymore and can go back to sipping tea or whatever the hell else it is they do all day.

[Fred Smith]

The school has zero documentation for any bills at all.

When I asked for them to provide me the records of any calls i made - time, date, number, and cost, I was simply showed a figure written on a piece of paper.

Sorry but that isn't enough for me.

It's obvious by some of the replies that some of the posters home countries are happy to have them off the welfare rolls in their home country and working in China.

I will pay what I owe, but they need to provide official documentation.

Right now it appears to me that the school is trying to hold a fund raiser at the teacher's expense.

[suanlatudousi]

Sounds to me like the topic should be changed to show that YOU are the one trying to pull a fast one over on the school.

There are no automatic meters sending data back to the home-office computers of the electric provider

A pad and pencil are the logging methods used in most of the country

You seem to want special attention by getting logs and historical records of your apartment that no other person in the country gets

Who's pulling the fast one ? YOU. You've already scammed the school by having them increase the allowance you receive.

It's obvious you're trying to scam your way out of it. Pay based on the records that Chinese folks get. That's how it works in these parts.

If you had bothered to check monthly what you owed you could have set aside much of the grief that it seems YOU are causing - not the school

I paid upwards of 9000 RMB for this past calendar year of electricity and I'm rather conscious of what I use in the extreme weather months. There is no surprise to me that you owe what you do.

"official documentation" isn't something that exists like it does back home

Get over it and stop trying to defraud the school !

[evaforsure]

[suanlatudousi]

140 square meters

2 desktops, 2 printers both on 24 hours a day

2 AC units operating 24 hours a day whether I'm there or not

TV, laptop, fans, refrigerator, kitchen fan that I run 24 hours a day. 3 electric blankets in the deep of winter.

I've got no concern about being scammed on my usage

A copy of the receipt/log book is enough. If this person is going to accuse the school/company of deception then he needs some evidence of such. Blatant accusations are a joke. Few if any people in this country will get a nice computer generated logging of usage, rates, and the like. It is clear he is getting all pissy and trying to scam the school out of money. A/C units are energy hogs in China.

A copy of monthly usage and rate is enough to satisfy nearly anyone. However, it's clear that this user didn't give electricity a second though for an entire contract year and is now huffing and puffing about owing money now that it's time to take off. A bulk year long payment could have been avoided by taking responsibility of monthly monies owed.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[evaforsure]

still 9000 is quite high.. I have almost the same setup and pay less than half that amount...perhaps I just ahve a defective meter that gives me an advantage...

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Did you sign anything in your contract about electricity?

[Hansen]

I can only tell you about my school, but they keep records for everything. No receipt, no reimbursement. They insist that they must have receipts and documentation for every expenditure in order to receive reimbursement themselves. Perhaps a lie, but they do seem to require documents and I have seen various colleagues get receipts for cab fares, etc., in order to be reimbursed.

Here, a steam/hot water heater in a flat or office costs about 1000RMB for the entire winter. I left an electric oil heater on 24h/day one winter and had a bill of around 3500RMB for 3 months or so. This heated one medium sized bedroom in a large flat.

Gas costs 19RMB for two months. The lady has a handheld device which can print out a receipt. No paper and pencil for gas.

Anyone who believes that a school will not resort to any trickery, lie, subterfuge to cheat an FT is mistaken. I never expect to receive any promised bonuses, etc. I assume that I will be cheated. I get my monthly pay on time at the agreed rate, but little costs are contnually being added. Mandatory insurance, for instance. Cost ~100 RMB/yearly. Not worth fighting over. After a month without a telephone, I went on strike, informing the school I would not teach anymore until the phone was repaired. Fixed the next day.

The FAO lectured me, telling me that no matter how good a teacher I was, if the school felt it was losing "control" I would have to leave. "No problem," said I. "I don't want to stay here without a phone."

Pick your battles carefully. I was really prepared to leave if the phone was not fixed because I have business interests that require a phone. Internet also required. Gotta have it. No internet, no work. I pay for my own because the school LAN is rubbish.~800/year. Worth it.

Unless your a missionary, a linguist, legitimate teacher, or have some special reason for being here such as martial arts, I can't understand why anyone would want to live in this place long term, although fresh baozi in the morning is almost reason enough.

[eddy-cool]

[Hansen]

Mr. Cool, I understand the jealousy but I also know it is misguided. CTs receive numerous benefits FTs will never receive. Significant housing discounts when buying, for instance. CTs will also receive a pension, a significant one, which FTs will never receive. That alone offsets any actual discrepancy in monthly salary.

Of course, then there is the significantly higher costs FTs must pay for many goods, products services.

Wu Dang Shan, for example. A CT can learn wushu there during the summer for several hundred RMB/monthly. The same or very similar service for an FT is close to 10,000. This is true for other wushu places as well. The cost is close to a multiple of 10 more. I recently heard of a foreigner paying 10,000RMB monthly for room, board, and taiji lessons at a local "master's" school. Significantly greater than a local would pay. Of course, he may be staying in a nice hotel, but you can be sure that he is being charged significantly more than the school is paying.

The increased cost is much greater than the FT/CT discrepancy.

There are numerous scams and grey markt dealings which CTs are privy to, most of which an FT could never touch. Actually, the goal of the no work clause in most contracts is to keep FTs from profitting significantly while in China.

I try to explain this to CTs. They often don't believe or deny that FTs are subject to racist discrimination.

[kev7161]

I agree with one of the posts above. Schools and businesses are notorious for having receipts for EVERYTHING! If the school paid the electric company and are now asking you to pay them, then there would be a receipt from the electric company somewhere. That receipt would probably (but not necessarily) have the beginning and ending readings from the meter on it.

[eddy-cool]