Job Discussion Forums

[writpetition]

I quote (copy/paste) an offer that had me salivating from every orifice -

"Thank u.For the part time job,21st,Feb--3rd,mar. 9-5 everyday.150RMB per
day.we will pay u when your job is over. No accomadation.
Randy"

And, boy, if you read their contract you might actually envy the poor slaves some hundred years ago!

People, I'm desperate for a job, but even one like me must draw the line somewhere.

[Roger]

Your info is too brief to allow me to side with a cynic. Alcanta happens to have a solid reputation. They owned up to me once for teething problems encountered by other FTs; I also used to travel by bus from our estate, sitting next to one of their managers. My impression was they were pretty down-to-earth. Part-time jobs are part-time jobs, man; you won't get spnsorships for those, nor housing. 150 per hour? That's normal.

[writpetition]

Part-time jobs sure are part-time jobs but when a part-time job demands of you to stay from 9 to 5 and pays you 150 RMB for the DAY would you call that normal, too?
And, btw, I do not want nor need you to side with a 'cynic'.
Hey man, please read the post where I copy/pasted the contents and it clearly says 150 RMB a DAY and not an hour. If it were an hour I wouldn't have needed to come and post about it here.
Would you jump at such offers?
I have seen it said somewhere before about you being the schools' 'advocate' and I see what those posters might have meant.
Get your act together for gawd's sake before you pounce on those who're already having a tough time out there. If you can't help please don't pontificate and if you need to pontificate please apply to the Vatican. They're likely to have a vacancy sometime soon there.
Are the schools paying you something to keep an eye on the posts around here and to try and negate anything that's critical of the schools?

[Roger]

Ah, my goodness, I slipped up indeed! I didn't read THAT carefully enough, perhaps because you typed it in and I overlooked the little word "day". Sorry for that, my peer; am I now your bogeyman too? Oh yes, I do "side" with the bloody yellow slave-drivers that hound and hunt you down, and I get commissions for every post in their favour.
That's how I can afford a bottle of shiraz once in a month!

I suggest to get in touch with Alcanta and ask for clarification. I suppose they misprinted their ad! (Earned another 10 kuai)...

[writpetition]

I wasn't talking about an ad. Please read THAT again too! I said 'offer' and that means something more personal. If it was an ad I would have said, 'their ad listing said...' And I didn't type that in...I said I was copy/pasting...
Thanks for condescending to think of me as a 'peer'. Obviously, that must be a great concession from one like you...
And don't worry about me being hunted down for I am endowed with the ability to hunt any possible hunter who might want to prey on me, including anonymous faces who post unthinking comments on message boards.
It's no wonder you suggest 20 kuai an hour as 'acceptable' when you're satisfied with '10'.
Thanks for your suggestion. Please keep it and use it....you just might get a raise to '20' an hour.
Gawd, some people are amazing!

[writpetition]

I wasn't talking about an ad. Please read THAT again too! I said 'offer' and that means something more personal. If it was an ad I would have said, 'their ad listing said...' And I didn't type that in...I said I was copy/pasting...
Thanks for condescending to think of me as a 'peer'. Obviously, that must be a great concession from one like you...
And don't worry about me being hunted down for I am endowed with the ability to hunt any possible hunter who might want to prey on me, including anonymous faces who post unthinking comments on message boards. And the 'blody yellow slave drivers' in actual fact were never yellow. If anything, they were 'white'.
It's no wonder you suggest 20 kuai an hour as 'acceptable' when you're satisfied with '10'.
Thanks for your suggestion. Please keep it and use it....you just might get a raise to '20' an hour.
Gawd, some people are amazing!

[ChinaMovieMagic]

WP,

In the spirit of "Mang ren Mo xiang"
(Blind people Touch elephant)
I just want to pass along...
...like Roger, when I read your POST, when I saw the 150RMB I had it mentally INPUT as "per hour." When I read Roger's response "150 RMB/hour is normal" I agreed. Then when I read your response "NO!Per Day!' I went back and re-read your Post, and noticed the "per day."
I still think they had a mis-print. Let us know their response to your re-inquiry.

Mis-communication happens, especially on INTERNET when we can't hear the tone of voice.

Ad hominem attacks can help vent, but they do pollute, don't they?

Best wishes...

[writpetition]

CMM,

And who started it in the first place? Or am I denied the right to ask that question, too?
Did I start with calling anyone a cynic?

BTW, the clarification from the said school (copy/pasted again from their mail), and their last mail to me dt. 19 Feb,
"It is a part-time job,actually very few things for you to do.for regular
classes, we pay 130-150 per class which last 45 minutes
Randy"

Previous correspondence, which means my 'aghast' and indignant mails to them when I saw the offer leaves no doubt about what the offer is really all about. The above quoted mail was in response to these mails that I now quote from (both sent on 18th Feb),

"Dear Randy,
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the offer. Did I see that right
- 150 RMB for 8 hours a day? If that's the case you've played a very
cruel joke on me.
Jack"

to which there was no response and I followed up this mail with,

"Dear Randy,
BTW, Are you looking for teachers or slaves? My father pays more to
some of the labourers in his Tea Estates. Would you like to take a job
there? For eight hours, all you need to do is pluck about 50 Kgs of
Green Leaf a day. And, he'll give you accomodation as well, along with
firewood, aprons and rations. And, he'll pay you your Princely Wages
every week....how do you like that?
It's no wonder, esl teachers rate your school as 'highly' as they do
(please check comments about the school on eslcafe).
At least you had the honesty and 'gall' to give me these details
before I caught a flight out of my country. For that alone, I think
you are not quite as loathsome as you might otherwise be.
Best wishes,
Jack

And then the last that I heard form them as stated toward the beginning of this post, in reply to which I wrote (on the 19th Feb after receipt of Alcanta's mail on the same day and quoted above),

"Dear Randy,
Thanks for the clarification but staying from 9 to 5 at work doing
almost nothing is not the reason I want to teach in China. I want to
do so because I write and I find inspiration in my students, work and
life in China. Moreover, the contract offered is unlike any I have
seen in my three years' experience and one reading sent a chill up the
spine. While I understand the school's need to guard its interests a
foreign teacher too needs to guard against any unsavoury possibilities
I must confess that I feel I have judged you too harshly and reacted
rather strongly. But, that was how I felt when I read the terms
offered.
Perhaps, your offer to me was coloured on account of my passport and
skin-colour considerations and if that's the case, it's rather
unfortunate
I really don't know what to say - you have me stumped!
Thanks and best wishes,
Jack

This mail elicited no response whatsoever.

Please judge for yourselves!

[ChinaMovieMagic]

[Roger]

And I think, my dear writpetition, their responses so far show an unusual restraint if not magnanimity.
I would expect anyone to answer me if I had emailed them messages like yours.

Take it in your stsride, young man, and don't work yourself up all the time. I hope your skin colour will never be the real problem. If that is your biggest worry, I could perhaps point you to a school that does NOT discriminate against you!

[writpetition]

No problem if I'm not getting a response from Alcanta. At 150 RMB a full working day, I wouldn't even want a response.

I've quoted from the mails only to leave no doubt about the 'per hour/day' question. Incidentally, they did not post this on the internet. This was an offer that came to me, in my mail box. We (the school and I) had been corresponding for some time and that was for a full time position when they sprang the part-time offer. Appaarently, they were desperate to get teachers across in time for the new session. Only on my persistent querying did they actually state the offer and rest, as they say, is history.

No, CMM, I haven't checked the two schools you've mentioned, at least not lately. I would certainly love to but I'll need their contact details. I guess I can find something about TPR but I'm not too sure about Gateway. I'd really appreciate any input on the score.

Thanks for the compassion!

[writpetition]

Yes, Roger, I admit and admire their restraint and that was the reason for my last mail to them, saying, " (I) must confess that I feel I have judged you too harshly and reacted rather strongly. But, that was how I felt when I read the terms offered."

But, then again Roger, what would you say if you were in my position?
And, no I don't 'work myself up all the time.' It's just that I can't always take sh*t and certainly not when it is doled out because I'm thought of as less than human just because I'm not blah blah blah.

Yes, skin colour and passport are my biggest worry because that's the only reason I'm kept from doing what I want to - teach in China/Japan/Vietnam/South Korea etc.

If, after all this acrimony, you have the magnanimity to point out a school that will willingly hire me and pay me what others with my qualification get at the same school I will be grateful to you. Thank you!

[ChinaMovieMagic]

WP

Check out www.glvchina.com

As a white-guy, I'm aware that it's quite difficult for me to imagine the level of strange looks-and-worse thast can befall a person-of-color.
The 1st time I had a teeny-weeny sense of it was in the subways of Hong Kong--1987. Riding with my wife-to-be (now my wife-that-was), I/she quickly noticed a pariah/piranha cultural dynamic. Chinese men would stare like hell at us. When I attempted to shoot them down w/my LaserEyes, they didn't break-the-look. No...it wasn't on us...it was on HER!!

As I looked around 180 degrees, I saw MANY MEN doing the SAME. I soon realized that doing a SHWDOWN CONFRONTATION w/one-after-another would NOT be the way. I kept on asking myself:
*imagine you're great-soul Sidney Poitier in "Guess Who's Comng to Dinner"
*consider this an opportunity to burn off some collective Karma for the racism of whites over the centuries

Racist schools, including that one training Olympic Police Officers in BJ, can/should be diplomatically informed by our Community that such (blatant) racism is no longer acceptable on the international marketplace.

[writpetition]

Thanks, CMM, for the info. I have seen their websites and applied.


"Racist schools, including that one training Olympic Police Officers in BJ, can/should be diplomatically informed by our Community that such (blatant) racism is no longer acceptable on the international marketplace."

Yes, CMM, you're right. I'd love to do what I can and about the best I have done is post at Dave's and on the odd occasion at eslteachersboard and the response in most cases has been lukewarm, at best. A fight against a system is a very lonely fight, especially at the initial stages. And, I really don't think I have the energy or the will left to do more than the odd post, sometimes in utter defeat and other times fired by an indignation that will not go despite a hungry belly - well, almost - or because of it, perhaps. However, once I have greater resources of energy I will join the battle in earnest.

[Roger]

Writpetition,
I have to say that you have got to learn to live with racism all your life, perhaps even in your home country, and especially in a foreign one such as China. I empathise, but that's all I can do; I have to put up with racism a lot too. It may occasionally take on a different, less malignant from compared with your experience, but racism it is nevertheless. There are those Chinese chicks spongeing off a white, or any man for that matter, but especially from whites. Then, to be hired merely because you have a "white face" is crude racism as well. Is there any benefit in knowing that they only crave your physiognomy? And make such a fuss over your creds and quals?
But in my way, dealing with individuals, I hope I can move those proverbial mountains in the conscience of individuals that accept my service. Success is never guaranteed - you have to constantly work at it. And, of course, it wears you down over time. If it wears you down too much you must question the wisdom of your decision to stick it out here rather than moving on.

As for your request for a school's name: I would refer you to elite-esl-teaching-in-china.com, the new URL of Buckland schools.