Job Discussion Forums

pondwalden66 · Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 8

Perhaps, it`s too harsh. But so often, the truth tastes bitter. This was a "sayonara" to ECC.

Sorry!! We Don`t Have The Money To Increase Your Salary.

Put a pile of one yen coins and a trash can nearby as you read this. Then imagine being required to toss one yen into the garbage at the end of every sentence (that`s 2 yen lost so far). Because it`s an apt metaphor for the ECC policy that`s existed for at least the past 3 years.

It`s wasteful, illogical, and absolutely ridiculous. It makes no business or environmental sense.　Nonetheless, the official ECC policy seems to be that electricity is free and limitless.

Each and every day of my 650+ working days at ECC, I`ve noticed that money is being thrown away. Lights are on, but no one is in the room. Air conditioners are cooling and heaters are warming classrooms inhabited by only spirits or ghosts. Why? Does it make any sense that the lights will be on a full 4 hours before a classroom will be used at the school I work at tomorrow?

Net income. Net income. Net income. That`s ultimately the goal of any for-profit business. To increase NI either sales revenue must go up or expenses (e.g. electricity fees) must go down. A school director once demanded that I stop turning off the lights in 3 classrooms that went unused during my entire Monday shift. Why? Because when the parents came to pick up or drop off their children, he wanted a "bright" environment. The hallway lights were already on and the classroom lights had no effect whatsoever out in the hallway, but that didn`t matter. His decision was "final". The lights stay on.

Now what`s the chance that burning electricity in such a silly manner will increase revenue and therefore net income? Would you bet any part of your next monthly salary that parents walking by unused classrooms will spend more money at ECC because the lights are on? Or would you rather make a bet that saving electricity reduces expenses and thereby increases net income?

A potential student may be across the street, look up, and notice the lights are off at ECC. She will make a U-turn and head to the nearest competitor because the school is �closed�. Really? What`s the chance of that happening on a sunny day at 3:00 p.m. or even a dark, rainy evening at 8:00 p.m.? This week I`ll be at a school where the staff insists that the lights in the kids` classroom facing the street remain on after I`ve finished in the room. They ignore that the lights in the next occupied room will remain on until 10:00 p.m. to signal that indeed ECC is �open�. What`s the chance that using that electricity for an extra 90 minutes will improve ECC`s economic position? It`s more likely that you`ll be struck dead by lightning. It`s a 100% certainty though money sent to Chubu Electric will increase.

How about the Kyoto Protocol which aims to reduce CO emissions of countries around the world? Doesn`t ECC as a company share a small civic responsibility to reduce Japan`s contribution to global pollution and warming? Or should the company and its employees continue to waste energy thoughtlessly and selfishly without regard to the connected world we all live in?

There aren`t any rooftop solar panels or miniature windmills at each ECC branch generating �clean� power. The energy has to mostly be created by burning coal, natural gas, or using nuclear methods. Has anyone every considered the environmental consequences of such braindead actions like lighting and heating/cooling unused rooms?

A typical reaction to my analysis and complaints will be �Shikata Ga Nai� (�It can`t be helped.�). But no, that`s mistaken. Instead, my response is �Shikata Ga Aru� to create a new Japanese phrase. The electricity being foolishly wasted everyday is not essential. It has no effect on students` comfort like raising the air conditioner`s temperature in the summer could. There won`t be a mass exodus out of ECC schools because electricity is used more judiciously.

Sincerely,

A tree hugger, accounting degree holder, and ex-ECC employee

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

You quit a job because they weren't careful enough about the environment and classroom lights...?

opalgrav · Joined: 24 Jun 2006 Posts: 13

And apparently decided to try to spread the cause through this forum to boot!

Seriously, as an environmentalist, I've always been embarrassed by this kind of self-righteousness and misguided sense of what's environmentally at stake by "tree-huggers" and "bambi lovers" alike...

...Unless this is a joke thread, in which case I fail to see the humor...

furiousmilksheikali · Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:48 pm Post subject:

OP: This is Japan, I hope you noticed that, at least when they stamped your passport. What company in Japan do you think you'll be able to go to where there isn't masses of waste?

Try GEOS, NOVA, AEON and almost any business here and you'll find the same thing. You could always write to someone in office but I guess that would make the trees of Sumatra scream!

southofreality · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 579 Location: Tokyo

Yawarakaijin · Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 504 Location: Middle of Nagano

I kind of think it would be cool to hang around this guy and just watch him freak out every moment of the day.

Hi Bob, Do you like cookies? Watch the blood vessels in his head engorge with rage as he unwraps first the box and then each individual cookie.

Hey Bob, let's grab a bite to eat. "Damn! I can never pull these chopsticks apart right!" Proceed to go through about 12 sets before I'm satisfied with a clean split and begin eating

Hey Bob, "did you know Japanese only drive their cars for one year before they throw them in the scrap yard?" "Did you also know that japanese law forbids the recycling of any automoble parts?"

P.S The last one would be just to mess with him a bit.

seanmcginty · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 203

Leaving lights on even in unused rooms is pretty standard business practice. Leaving the lights on the school sign is even more normal, even in daylight an illuminated sign is more noticable and therefore more effective at getting people's attention (which is the whole point of advertising in the first place).

Anyway, the amount of money ECC is "throwing" away in this manner is probably pretty marginal. Maybe a few thousand yen a month? Which would work out to probably about the price of a single private lesson.

I can sympathize with the environmental points and if I ever ran a school I'd keep the lights off in unused rooms. This is pretty much the most pathetic excuse for leaving a company I've ever heard though.

natsume · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 409 Location: Chongqing, China

The OP would be apoplectic if he/she saw the surfers I did on Shikoku who leave their cars running with the A/C on while they are out!

callmesim · Joined: 27 Oct 2005 Posts: 279 Location: London, UK

canuck · Joined: 11 May 2003 Posts: 1921 Location: Japan

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Although not quite as extreme as the OP, I am another person who has her blood pressure raised by pointless waste, and I am totally perplexed by the people who leave their cars running.

There is a park near where I live where salesmen and other people stop their cars, then leave them running while having an hour long nap. While I can understand doing this to keep the a/c going in the middle of winter or summer, on one of the 24 degree days last week I saw them doing this as well. The outside temp was very pleasant, and yet they had all the windows closed, a/c running presumably. Why??!!

At the taxi stand outside the station near where I live the taxis all sit there with their engines running, even the few that are there at 6 in the morning, when a passenger may not come along for an hour or more. I don't understand the aversion to turning the car off here.

Then there is the total opposite- the "idling stop" buses where the drivers turn off the ignition at every traffic light, which from what I know causes engine wear and is unlikely to save much petrol. This country drives me nuts with its contradictions sometimes.

sidjameson · Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 629 Location: osaka

Have to say that some of the above posts make me wonder that the belief that TEFL teachers aren't the sharpest tools in the box has some validity.

The OP said he left because ECC didn't give him a pay rise.AND claimed that it was because they didn't have the money to do so. I've worked at ECC and many left for the same good reason. His post was to highlight what he saw as the hypocrisy of this in light of their wastefulness in other areas.

Now he may have made a mistake in believing that keeping the lights on was a bad business practise, but nowhere did he say that this was the reason for his leaving.

Workers in Europe/USA complain all the time when management say that they can't afford a pay rise this year then go on to award the CEO a $5million share option. The workers who leave do not do so in protest of the CEO's pay!

furiousmilksheikali · Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 2:07 pm Post subject:

Sid: Maybe he should then quit the disingenuous appeals to ecology as they are a distraction from his main point and make him sound ever-so self-righteous.

All this talk of the Kyoto protocol and solar panels is simply a pose to make the OP think that not only is he quitting because he didn't get the cash he thought he deserved but he has a simultaneous claim to righteous indignation.

Wise up Sid "Sharpest TOOL" Jameson.

osakajojo · Joined: 15 Sep 2004 Posts: 229

seanmcginty · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 203