Job Discussion Forums

[axfoley]

This week was Final Exam Week - so the hockey coach and his underlings decided that the students would benefit from a fire drill and a meeting with the Dean. These two event chewed up 3 hours of class time - time that could've been better spent studying for tests worth 40% of their final grade.

Teachers also had to attend stupid events. Our year end awards ceremony was highlighted by the award for "The Best Dressed Teacher."

The award for "Writing Error Free Tests" was not given out for the second consecutive year. They couldn't find any suitable nominees.

Also, year-end celebrations are in full swing at the compound. Our fearless leader rsvp'd for two events - and promptly scurried off to Bahrain for the weekend.

Finally, contracts signed by teachers have not been signed and returned by management.

[Sheik Yerbuti]

Gives you time to line up a better gig. I can't think of anything
more regressive than to return there a second year with all
the better work in country.

[scot47]

NOC ?

[cyclistlongdistancerunner]

Axfoley ..... who are you?? You obviously know who I am ...Moonboots ... so return the favour and give me a hint .... who are you??

You obviously have a massive chip on your shoulder about the Canadian/American brothers - judging by the length and vehimence of your "rebuttal post" vis a vis my (rather mild mannered) defence of Shabaka, the Canadian boss and the Sadoon brothers.

I cannot think of anyone at Shabaka when I was there, displaying the utter hostility that you seem to possess.

Help me out and give me a clue who you are.

[axfoley]

[cyclistlongdistancerunner]

Dear Axfoley:

My apologies!!! ha ha ha. Well my first eccentricity is that I mixed you up with "Abecross"!!! He was the one I meant about the rather long winded rant about my various posts.

Well yes I am rather eccentric. I do grant that. But running to work every morning on Kangoo jumpboots I have always rather thought - is a very positive eccentricity - but perhaps others may differ!!

Anyway I apologize again for aiming my Lee Enfield at the wrong target!!

Also I ended up spending 5 months in Canada because of my mom. Not a bad thing either. I have not spent much time in Canada for the last 15 years. It was wonderful to be home in the fall.

Best
Moonboots

[cyclistlongdistancerunner]

Ok, first I have to reaim my blunderbuss / Lee Enfield ......

ABECROSS!! ..... who are you?? You obviously know who I am ...Moonboots ... so return the favour and give me a hint .... who are you??

You obviously have a massive chip on your shoulder about the Canadian/American brothers - judging by the length and vehimence of your "rebuttal post" vis a vis my (rather mild mannered) defence of Shabaka, the Canadian boss and the Sadoon brothers.

I cannot think of anyone at Shabaka when I was there, displaying the utter hostility that you seem to possess.

Help me out and give me a clue who you are.

[scarlie]

[ExpatinTown]

It is interesting to confirm the comments put above by another person. We did have a fire drill at the worst time ever. The students are not in the mood to study and then the school has a fire drill during the week of final exams. Keep in mind, it took them all year to have their first fire drill.

This week, there was an awards ceremony where most teachers found the director's comments offensive. He referred to a former employee who none of us know and called him a poofter, making fun of him because the former teacher is gay. He thought he was being funny but no one else thought so.

For some reason, the women came to the awards ceremony and were then told they received their awards already. They then found out the female team leaders were giving out awards on Saturday because the director did not get the certificates and glass plaques for them. He obviously cares nothing for the women and he forgets that the male teachers do care because we are Western. Some of us have wives / girlfriends working on that side and it is sad when the director dismisses them like this.

The general mood was that the meeting was BS. No one was in the mood to celebrate anything because of the polices of this program. It is true that they inflate the students grades and when students complain that a teacher is not giving them better grades, the administration will tell the teacher to ease up on their grading. They do not care about educating the students. They only want to make the deans and the university think that they are doing their job so they can keep the contract. They are at risk of losing the contract because every year, the university can review the contract again and decide to look elsewhere.

We all felt bad that they gave certificates to teachers that were not returning. We also felt bad that those that got the better awards were teachers who don't make an effort to contribute. The only one who deserved the award was the male teacher who the director claimed looked like a 12 year old. The guy seemed to laugh but most of us just thought the director was making fun of yet another employee.

There are no signed contracts given to those supposedly returning next year. However, this may have something to do with the program being in trouble. Last year, the university waited to sign the new contract until the last minute which is why teachers arrived so late. I wonder if there will even be a program. If so, why are they taking so long to sign the contracts. Some teachers will be going home for the summer and most likely not return because they want stability. Most places sign the contracts in Feb or March if they want the teacher to return.

[axfoley]

I didn't forget about the "poofster" thing during our meeting last week. It was rude and insensitive and exposed another layer of the hockey coach's true character. I didn't mention it because people would think I'm exaggerating about the management here and their methods and madness. But, others are now confirming everything I've commented on - I suspect many others will soon contribute once they are back home and never to return.

I expect the turnover rate this year to exceed 50% - many have said that they're coming back, but have no intention of doing so. It's not wrong to tell management you're returning when you're not. Management has encouraged a culture of dishonesty by their words and deeds.

[Grendal]

Maybe the Ringling brothers know the ship is sinking and don't care anymore. They've probably made their money for their house in the east coast and are not planning on returning either. If they do, I will keep an ear and eye out for them here and will inform HR about their fascist behavior. I certainly don't want to see their faces here. It's bad enough putting up with Saudis and worse with Saudi ass suckers.

Grendal

ps. and my evil post number 666 lands on the brothers

[f!refly]

Let's not forget the racism expressed at the so-called awards ceremony: Best Attitude Award for always being happy and smiley like those Filipinos!

[mls4dc]

I have to agree that the management team seems to possess a complete lack of professionalism.

The notorious "Hockey Brother" asked a young female teacher to have a meeting in an abandoned apartment to discuss contract renewal. However, rather than discuss the matter, he proceeded to yell at her, using derogatory and profane language. She was distraught and started crying but instead of changing his demeanor it only made him more relentless. Every time she tried to discuss things in a reasonable and rational way, like a professional, he would respond by being condescending and yelling over her using quotes such as "No more bullshit from you!" and "Do you expect me to roll out a red carpet for you?!"

This teacher has had overwhelmingly positive feedback from the community, from her students and from past team leaders. The owner received personal calls from families thanking him for what a wonderful job she has done.

When she asked why she was not being offered a contract for the coming year, management responded that she "barely met the deadlines."

Since when is meeting deadlines not doing your job?

Targeting a young woman in a secluded, and inappropriate location, with bullying tactics is simply despicable.

[The Good Abaya Girl]

Things you hear female team leaders say . . .

We�re not here to catch them cheating. It�s okay for them to copy from the internet. (Said to all the female teachers on the bus after a teacher talked about an entire writing assignment being copied from the internet)

No, you don�t need lesson plans! You are just making more work for yourself and making it difficult if someone has to sub. (Said by a team leader who is not one of the better teachers.)

You are coddling your students by wanting to give the struggling ones extra time. (Said by same bad teacher.)

You aren�t available to sub classes because you are too busy with your OWN students. (Said to a teacher who comes in at 6:30 a.m. EVERY day because her office hours don�t match the students� off time.) You have 600 students, not just your own class. (Said by the team leader who refuses to sub even though all of them only teach 2 hours a day.)

We don't want you back because you work too hard.

You are too hard on your students. No, wait, you are too soft on your students. You took longer than 3 days for them to like you. (Said by the team leaders who are now, apparently, in charge of creating the team for next year.)

That�s why I hate rubrics. They lower the scores so much. (Said by the team leader who later arbitrarily decided to deduct 10 points out of 30 on the writing test if they went off topic.)

You don�t have the right to go over our heads. (Said by the team leader who went over her own boss�s head constantly.)

G! Are you at this meeting or off in your own world? (Said in front of the entire staff to a teacher who was sick that day.)

So, after you go to the hospital, can you come into work? (Said to someone who looked like death warmed over and had been away for 2 days already.)

That man works SO hard for all of you. (Said by a team leader about the man in charge of creating tests . . . that always have a ton of mistakes. In fact, the FINAL exams were so messed up that they had to stop in the middle, get new stuff printed, and move on from there.)

Well, good thing there is a library with a printer. (Said when a student needed her homework assignment printed because her own printer broke the night before.) It opens at 8:00 a.m. (The homework was due at 7:30) Too bad for her. I guess she�ll lose points for being late. (All from the same team leader who, only days before, had given a teacher a lecture about providing customer service to the students.)

In the words of a colleague . . . these women are irrelevant!

[axfoley]

I'm someone who hates to see amateurs and posers pretend to be professionals.

Let's start about 3 weeks ago . . .

Our program director(the hockey coach) decided that during a Wednesday test would be the best time to promote his "Canada Camp" - a sham that illustrates his greed over professionalism. Arabic speaking people were sent in to the test rooms - once the test had begun - to interrupt with his important message about attending a summer camp for the purpose of lining his already greasy pockets.

Yesterday, the purple exams had to be re-printed and distributed minutes before the test started AND the green exams were stopped midway. They had to be re-started later. Why? Because the "Academic Director" is stunningly incompetent and incapable of writing decent tests AND because he was more concerned about bringing a "massage therapist" onto the compound instead of doing his job.

Finally, yesterday was Final Exam day. What should have been an easy day - entering final grades into the University system - turned into a 10 hour marathon, again demonstrating the malignant incompetence that permeates upper management at Shabaka. Of course, they will blame it on the Saudis and their infrastructure instead of admitting that they screwed up again.

Adults take responsibility for their actions and suffer the consequences. Children blame it on the dog or their imaginary friend.

Who is Ax Foley? He's someone who watched in amusement as people were asking that question. Someone who will continue to provide the unvarnished details. Someone who may still decide to come back to witness and revel in the implosion of this program.