Job Discussion Forums

[seditiouscloud]

How do I have a frank conversation with my boss?
(He doesn`t speak English so it is through the translation of the person who hired me. Unfortunately, this really nice person knows almost nothing about the way the company works. I tried to get someone else to translate, but the boss insists on this person.)

My boss is aware that I am not too happy with how my job is in reality quite different from how he advertised the position. I requested some changes to be made and he keeps refusing them. He suggested that we have a meeting and I want to remind him of the yet unfulfilled promises he made during the interview. But I am not too sure that he won`t just deny having made those, or else just continue making empty promises.
How do I make him realise that these things are really important to me, without making him feel bad? I think that if he starts to feel bad, then any chance of my job improving will be lost.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[PAULH]

[Glenski]

Take him drinking. Make sure he has had a few before you start any ranting.

But start looking for a new job first.

[JimDunlop2]

Yeah, that used to be the standard method.... Take your boss out, both of you get completely plastered, then tell him off to your heart's content and all is forgotten (and not talked about) the next day at work...

Dunno if it still works that way though... Something tells me, probably not.

[PAULH]

[canuck]

[shikushiku-boy]

Seditiouscloud, your question is one I have asked.

Coming, as I do, from a country where 'straight talking' and 'standing up for yourself'
are seen as admirable qualities, working in Japan can be tricky exercise.

From my experience, in Japan, confrontation/conflict (in general) is viewed
very negatively. Others will be glad to read that I'm not going to attempt some
half-baked socio-cultural analysis of why confrontation/conflict is viewed so
negatively...let's just accept that it is.

Personally having failed so miserably to achieve non-confrontational confrontation,
and, as a result, having given it considerable thought:

1. Try to approach it obliquely. Tell your problems to as many people as possible.
Don't bad-mouth your boss directly, but emphasize that promises were made,
that the situation is very 'difficult' , that you would hate to have to leave such a nice
school and its wonderful students, etc., etc. Word will filter through to your boss.
That way your boss will know about your concerns without you having to tell him
directly. Treat it as a 'nemawashi' project but with the boss excluded.

2. Grovel. There isn't a boss alive who isn't a sucker for a good bit of grovelling.
Make sure you throw in plenty of hand-wringing, desperate looks, resigned sighing,
nervous laughter, and embarrassed smiling.

3. Pretend that everything is fine, and start looking for a new job.

4. Throw caution to the wind, confront your boss, and see what happens.

I wish you the very best of luck. I'd be very interested to hear how things turn out
(PM me, if you like).

[seditiouscloud]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I like the idea of going drinking, he has a fondness for saki and I can out-drink him. What this will do to improve my job, I don`t know. But he is a competative sort and old fashioned enough that he likely wont let me pay. Mmmm, saki.

The problem is scheduling and preparation time. I don`t really feel like being confrontational or digging into him. I just figure since I am stuck with job that they seriously misrepresented at the interview, I at least want to be able to do it well. But instead of listening to what I say he just compares me to the previous teacher and denies the claims he made in the interview re teaching hours. My contract only states a maximum but he assured me that they didn`t have half that many classes yet and wouldn`t till they hired an additional teacher. Yeah right, they immediately had me teaching just under the maximum.

I actually wouldn`t mind getting the boot as it means I won`t have to pay the contract penalty. But I don`t think they will let me go for a while yet as (not surprisingly) they have a hard time finding teachers they think suitable.

Anyone familiar with that old Bukowski bit? He writes that he never worries about getting fired, in any job you will either get fired dor quit. Its just a matter of what comes first. What a crazy old world that doesn`t respect a person`s work.

[Gordon]

You can't exactly complain about teaching "just under the maximum". When an employer says you will be teaching between 20-30 hours/week, you should know that it will be 30 or very close to it. He drew you in by saying a low minimum, but you should have known.

You learn from your mistakes, it has happened to all of us. Once I had a job interview with a language school in Vancouver and I was given a verbal promise by the manager that I would be getting a $4/hr raise after 3 months. After 3 months was up, I asked him about it and he flatly denied ever saying it (the busy summer season was over by now too). I went to the owner about it and he said that he had to side with the manager, it was his word against mine. It was a real punch to the stomach because I had turned down other job offers that paid more. But I now know not to go by any verbal contracts or agreements. Everything must be written down and then still there are no guarantees. I stuck the job out for another year or so and made sure everyone knew what a lying sack of #$@% the manager was.

[shuize]

I agree with Gordon. It'd be one thing if you were getting stuck with more than the contracted maximum. But "just under" is still under.

As Gordon mentions, I have also been burned by relying on verbal promises made during an interview that were never reduced to writing. In my case it involved an owner asking me the minimum I'd be willing to work for per hour on a "part-time" basis (I was in between jobs and have a Japanese spouse so there were no visa problems to worry about). I told him it would depend on how many hours per week he could promise me. After he promised a high number of classes I did the math in my head and quoted a lower hourly rate than usual -- patting myself on the back for being so smart. Of course, I only ever got about half that number of classes. When I mentioned the problem to the owner he originally denied ever promising so many classes then later just came right out and told me he couldn't pay me any more. Hearing this, I lined up another job and quit two weeks later. If you feel strongly enough about it, my advice is to walk.