Job Discussion Forums

[Vairocana]

[quote= The Americans there seem to be especially clueless.

My last job in Poland involved being the personal tutor to a very wealthy man; 7,500zl a month net, a free 2 bedroom flat in Warsaw next to Zamek and all my bills and taxis paid for, but by god, I worked for it. 7 days a week starting at 6am...not fun at all.

Once kids come along life gets really expensive.[/quote]

Hi biffinbridge,

Well as an American who doesn't have nor want to have kids. I must point out it was rather "clueless", on your behalf, to think that you would live the same type of lifestyle once you began to have children.

And you so like to point out how others allowed themselves to be exploited. Well by your own admission worked 7 day a week starting at 6 am, seems like you traded you autonomy for a paycheck!

[biffinbridge]

Working hard for an ok salary is not exploitation. It just wasn't fun getting up at the crack of dawn on a cold Polish morning. I taught 7 days a week, but never more than 4 hours in a day. All my afternoon were free. Really, I traded my own autonomy the day my son was born. nuff said really.

As for comparing the life of a singly with that of a father....then...I'll just repeat what I said earlier; 1,500Zl a month is a f****** disgrace, even in Poland. I couldn't live on that 10 years ago in Poland. In fact, I don't know anyone who earns as little as half of that in Polska.

Now, about the American dig; it's been my experience that whenever I meet a novice American teacher, trying to work in Poland, they generally have no qualifications to teach English. They end up working for the likes of JDJ and even Profi. They flood the local British Council with ads for conversation classes and generally add to the oversupply of people willing to exchange training for money. Because employers know they can always get another monkey from the tree, wages are kept low. The employers also collude or at least match each other. American religious volunteers get on my goat the most...you know the ones in white shirts with name badges.

Back to the o.p. I rented a flat in Poznan in 2006 as I commuted weekly between Warsaw and Poz. The kawalerka cost 1,000 Zl/ month and the bills were about 300 Zl. Running a mobile cost me about 400Zl a month and I spent about 100 Zl a month renting d.v.d.s. Shopping cost about 200/ week. Taxis cost me about 60 a week. That's 2,840 so far....and as I'm divorced...that was just on me. You will notice, I haven't even mentioned the cinema, cigarettes, drinking, going for a coffee, buying clothes, using the internet, dating or going to a restaurant etc etc. You can add another 3,000 for that.

So, if you live on bread rolls, don't eat meat, hardly drink, go Dutch when you're dating, text instead of call, use the internet at work, consider a milk bar eating out, wear scruffy clothes, get on the slow trains and generally ponce everything from your students like lifts and so on....then don't worry because 1,500 is enough.

I don't like living like a student.

[Vairocana]

Now with your clearer explanation I see you had a sweet deal indeed; which just goes to show they are people who are willing to pay for quality instruction and not simply trying to get anybody simply because s/he speaks English.

That's why I'm always amused when debates of "lower-end" or "cheaper" teachers arises. If a person or company is looking to pay as little as possible, then of course those teachers who charge the least will benefit. At that point you have two options, you either lower your prices or hold out for a person/company that's willing to compensate at a higher rate.

[simon_porter00]

[Chris1984]

Why are people still trying to tell me that I can't possibly have a good lifestyle on my wage (which at IH Bydgoszcz is now slightly more than 1,500, but moving on) when I have been living here quite happily?

I go out every Friday and Saturday night, I spend Sundays in the pub watching football with my mates, I usually go out drinking twice during the week and I play football once a week. I've always got beer and food in my fridge, I'm busy and I like my job. I even bought new shoes just the other day!

So why are you telling me that I should be miserable? I'm more than happy with my life here.

Very arrogant of you.

[simon_porter00]

No one is telling you to be miserable, just saying how much better you could have it, if you wish.

If you're happy doing the same job (more or less) as everyone else and getting paid a whole lot less. Fine, good for you. I wouldn't be, nor would most of the people on this board. I guess it's horses for courses.

[Kymro]

[moonsongs2007]

[biffinbridge]

I'd spent 10 weeks in the Sahara...I arrived in Poland sober. On the bus to Centralna I helped out an Irishman, who couldn't speak Polish and was totally lost. It turned out that he was also going to Poznan, so we got our tickets and sat down in the bar on the train. He pulled out a 1.5L bottle of Jamieson, which we drank....a long with whatever else we ordered. Arriving in Poznan, the taxi driver asked me if I wanted to find some girls...and so it went on...and on.....24 hours later after a monumental sesh involving several very exclusive 'nightclubs' , numerous ladies and enough drink to make the sequel to 'Leaving Las Vegas'...I finally got to my hotel.....then did it all over again. Spent 5,000 pounds in a month in Poland. Funny as *beep*. Did it again 10 weeks later too.)))

[Big_Cannon]

[biffinbridge]

What a load of *ollocks Big Cannon.

I have worked for several oil companies in the Gulf and currently work for one in Libya. I too earn a great deal more than 7,500 Zl and that's not including the free housing, free meals, free gym, pool, international calls, 6 flights a year, 18 weeks paid holiday and so on.

In Poland 7,500Zl net, plus expenses, plus a free 2 bedroom flat in Warsaw's poshest area is one hell of a salary for a teacher. I doubt you would make that if you taught there. Then again, I doubt your work has been published more than 60 times.

At Qatar Petroleum we had one American. At Esso, we had one American, at AGIP there were no Americans in the training centre. My point? It really depends on the firm as to which nationalities they hire. Aramco or Saudiaramco clearly hires Americans as it was in the initial charter that that was to be the case. American business interests dictate that U.S. firms generally hire Americans...just look at Halliburton in Iraq and look at Marathon in EG. In contrast, most of the universities in the Gulf have very mixed staffs. As for the diwan...I simply take it that what you say is fact....maybe they prefer the septics.

This is a digression;my original point was that the op should really aim for a better deal because his standard of living could be so much better. My secondary point was that most of the Americans I met in Poland were very underqualified and very inexperienced. The Poles, who pay a significant proportion of their disposable income on education, deserve better. Personally, I think that unqualified people shouldn't teach feepaying learners.

As someone who knows Poland well I can say that Poles don't prefer American teachers and that is why the vast majority do Cambridge Exams and IELTS, which are British exams, usually taught by British teachers. What they do prefer however, is American culture. They like obvious, slapstick humour, fast food, rap music, American cars and the 'greed is good ethos'. Like Americans, they are also very bad at buying rounds and talking about anything that happens outside of the motherland.

[phantombedwetter]

[Big_Cannon]

[Kymro]

[Big_Cannon]