Job Discussion Forums

[biffinbridge]

The wonderful world of TEFL is a fusion of the restless,the adventurous,the useless, the psychotic,the dedicated, the creative and the so on and so forth...needless to say characters abound. In Qatar we had a guy we nicknamed 'Ronin the Barbarian',which was a twist on his real name.His problem was that he was a pathological liar. He was a personal friend of the King of Thailand,shot 13 paras dead on 'bloody Sunday',whilst also being a leading ETA figure and a Sydney umbrella tycoon.I don't think so....nevertheless, a character.There were another 2 I remember ,who got very chummy and took to wearing full Indian gear and mincing around the Doha Sheraton disco/bar,(full of oil rig workers),every Saturday night.There are others who I remember for all the wrong reasons.The Gulf and in particular things like car pools bring out the selfish ,snidey side of people.At one institution over there grown men grass each other up to the bosses for drink driving,having fights outside work etc etc it's pathetic. If u r late for work your colleague won't tell the boss that he's seen you,he'll tell the boss that the last time he saw u was the night before pissed out of your swede....nice.I've travelled widely...but I never meet people like those I met out in sunny 'ole Qatar. Has anyone got any anecdotes about some of the nice,mean,memorable people they have met in EFL?

[Roger]

We shared a dorm at the Kunhu Hotel in Kunming.
At 5 a.m., the staff forced their way into our dorm. It was noisy enough to wake the whole hotel. They were after a guy who hadn't paid up yet. We all claimed to have paid, and for some mysterious reason, we were left off the hook.
But at 8 a.m., there was a repeat, and this time one guy became rather agitated. He barred the door, and the staff made an uproar on the other side. We couldn't get out because that guy said he would never let those buggers in...
They withdrew, and one by one we exited. I showed my receipt. Two girls also had receipts. We had no idea who that guy was, nor where he had gone to.
I later saw him in the Beijing Lu post office, arguing with a clerk. He showed his FE certificate and claimed "I am serving your country!" Well, a new regulation had come into effect (note it was long before the new century began!), which required any foreign nationals to pay higher postal rates, no matter whether they were working in the country or not. I knew one of the girl clerks, and I sent that guy's parcel to Dali under a fictitious name of a CHinese person, so he could benefit from the CHinese postal rate.
That was the moment when the guy told me that he had not paid last night's hotel rate.
Reason?
"Because I hate those foreigner rates. We have to pay double even at Kunhu Hotel."
That was true, but I would not have had the guts to lock the hotel staff out and to abscond the way he had done!
He was a teacher in Shanghai!

[johnslat]

Dear biffinbridge,
" Has anyone got any anecdotes about some of the nice,mean,memorable people they have met in EFL? "
I don't remember much about the bozos I've encountered, and there have been a few. But as for " nice " and " memorable ", there have been close to a dozen colleagues I've met over the years who totally impressed me with their dedication and competence. Why, a few of them were almost as good as I am. I've kept in touch over the years with five or six, and I consider them to be not just " colleagues " or " acquaintances ", but most valued friends. And I'd say there are a number of posters here on Dave's, whom I've never had the pleasure of meeting, but whom, I'm nigh certain, I'd readily add to that number, as well. I'm very, very grateful for having had the chance to get to know such people, and my life has been made a lot richer by the experience.
Regards,
John
P.S. Yeah, I know - no " anecdotes " and disgustingly upbeat, to boot. Sorry - I'll try to mute this immoderate and unseemly exuberance in the future