Job Discussion Forums

[Long ai gu]

Since browsing this forum in the past few months, which I don't do anymore because of the anger and attacking that goes on here, I have found many of you don't want to be in China but seem to feel that you can't leave because you signed a contract that will keep you here longer than you want. It's very simple to leave despite the contract and here's how. Just tell the school that your mother, father, sister or brother etc. has died and you have to return to your country. This worked for me 2 years ago, my father really did die and I had to return to Canada to take care of my elderly Mother. The school asked what they could do to help and I took a week off before I could get a ticket out of China. They don't ask for proof. I was only 1 month into my year contract and I was in Canada when the contract expired. Now I am back teaching in China with no problem. It's easy if you want to leave, don't torture yourself or the people around you with your misery, just go.

[7969]

you obviously havent been browsing this forum long enough. people use this place to air problems or grievances, and sometimes just to vent due to frustration. read my latest post on not being notified of a holiday until i actually showed up at my class to find the door locked and the classroom empty. ridiculous problems like this aren't what people expect or deserve when they come to china to teach. but they continue to happen. maybe when the chinese employers (not all of them, but a good number) show a bit more respect for foreigners working in their schools, the incidences of bitching, moaning and complaining will go down. until then.... continue to enjoy reading the grumpy posts :>)

remember, foreigners do actually enjoy many things here in china, these things just don't make t to the discussion boards.

[7969]

i just did a search for your posts, and it seems that you do a fair bit of complaining/whining/insulting of people of your own. to boot, you give tax advice that isn't incredibly helpful.

best to just read the posts, and if you can't help solve the problem, don't comment at all.

[Roger]

...and I think that if laowai teachers start off an avalanche of special circumstances for being allowed to go home to attend to the funerals of their mothers, fathers, uncles, sisters and other members of their family the Chinese will eventually grow a little suspicious as to whny so many young backpackers still keep trickling into overpopulated China.
They might reason that your nation is dying out so the Chinese should solve its problems the Chinese way!

[tofuman]

Long,

I'm sorry that you lost a loved one, but suggesting that others, well, become like our employers and resort to subterfuge, lies, and trickery to achieve our goal, is hardly helpful.

Got any better ideas?

[Madmaxola]

No, he's right, this place is full of evil dirty cynics!

[Norman Bethune]

If someone really wants to leave, they can. Don't make up any stories. Just try to leave.

See what happens. Going to hong Kong is not that difficult. Once there, your free.

[struelle]

[7969]

indeed steve, i agree with you. my mom became ill last january before i started work in guangxi. i went home during spring festival to see her. when she died in april, i'm sure the school would have let me go for the funeral, however, i didn't go. not because i couldnt, but because i didn't want to.... for reasons that i now regret.

crying wolf isnt the way to go. if someone's not happy with their job, there are probably easier and more honest ways out of it.

[monju]

入乡随俗！
ru xiang sui su

[Long ai gu]

Don't get angry, I'm only trying to be helpful. Why are you even commenting to begin with. If you don't need this advice don't take it--it's nothing to comment on. Some people really want out, this is a way for them to do that--it's not a big deal.

[Long ai gu]

7969-you did a search of my posts? Get a life, get away from the computer...is that an insult? I get sucked in so easy.

[Talkdoc]

Maybe I am missing something here but if a school's management is so terribly corrupt and dishonest, why not just leave? Why offer any excuse? The owners and management of the last school I worked for were so draconian in their greed and subsequent treatment of their foreign teachers, that they simply would not have cared one iota if my entire family had been wiped out in a catastrophic accident. It seems to me that if a school is concerned and caring enough to work with a teacher regarding a death in a family, the employment relationship is probably salvageable. And if someone simply wants to break the contract solely because they hate China, they should give proper notice before leaving, especially if the owners and management are decent people and treat their foreign teachers fairly and properly. Maybe this is very superstitious on my part but, in addition to the issue of ethics, it would make me very uncomfortable to pronounce dead a living member of my family for any reason.

Regarding letters of release and recommendation, they are unnecessary in many (if not most) instances. If a school wants you badly enough, they will find a way to hire you even though they are fully aware you are breaking your current contract. If the reasons are sufficiently valid, if you can demonstrate breach of contract and horrid conditions on the part of your current employer, the next school will understand (and most won't care what the reasons were). At least that was true in my case.

Doc

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[7969]