Job Discussion Forums

[ozoyster]

So I have depression,......don't stigmatise me and don't discriminate!!!!


I have a cautionary tale to tell of a very negative experience I had earlier this year after being offered a job with an ESL organisation called Modern Gulf Institute at their Centre in Seeb/Muscat.

The fact that I have mental health issues should not preclude me from working. If anything, many places and people are supportive and there are many people who are very capable, gifted and hard-working who like me suffer from severe depressive illness. We work hard, are creative and valuable people to have on working teams.

Having depression is not reason to stigmatise us as experienced here. It did not stop me from carrying out my duties as an ESL teacher any less than other colleagues. If you are like me and have mental health issues, please read and consider this story carefully. This is very important in an environment where there is nil support for you and you are more likely to be punished as I was.

I strongly suspect that I was not the only person to have been treated in this way by this organisation but I am not scared to tell my story to you.

Having mental health issues does not give others the right to decide that you are a 'risk' to their business. Possibly this does not count in the Gulf where there are indeed unspoken off mental health issues amongst the native population. But it's a taboo subject out here and expatriot recruiters are prepared to play along with this type of prejudice.

I am not venting or bashing � I am making a point from a traumatic personal experience as this story concerns a serious ethical issue which prevented me from earning a living teaching ESL.

To set the scene on this story, I had been working before-hand for a number of months in Oman at Sur College of Applied Sciences. I had decided to look for other work in Oman because there were a number of serious problems with Sur College.

There was nil support from my employers Hawthorn and Oman Ministry of Higher Education. Management and Administration at the college were completely and utterly incompetent with absolutely no organisational or leadership skills. And most seriously there was Educational fraud going on at the behest of the highest college management levels and with the full knowledge of the MOHE.

I had also had a lot of run-ins with college staff and management and deceided that the situation was untenable and consequently I decided early on in the year that I was not going to continue with the College, M.O.H.E or Hawthorn after the end of the academic year. Quite a number of other staff in the ESL department were also unhappy and actively looking elsewhere for work come August.

Having dedided thus, I began to look for other employment in Oman early in the new year. I was posted an email from an agency telling me that an organisation called Modern Gulf Institute was looking for ESL teachers. I wrote off to them and was quickly contacted by the Expatriot Director of Studies from this place and arranged to go up to Muscat the next weekend for an interview. I to Muscat to visit Modern Gulf and was offered a position both verbally and in written form on that day. I accepted as I wanted to keep myself in steady employment and I also had bills to pay every month. But there were a couple of things that this Director of studies said to me in the course of this interview which made me pause and think a little bit.

She mentioned the people whom she had had recourse to sack for various reasons in the past months and also asked me questions about other people from Sur College who had also applied for jobs with Modern Gulf. This was news to me but not unexpected as I knew that others from Sur college were also planning to leave the college that year. But it just seemed completely odd and also a breach of privacy to ask questions about other teachers that I knew. In any case I politely declined to answer any questions that she had about other teachers. She seemed more interested in what kind of characters they had. And at one point openly disparaged one of my colleagues as being 'weird' I was not prepared to buy in this kind of behind the back spying on others.

She also told me that she knew that one of her present staff was looking for a job else where not because they had told her but because they organisation they were applying to for a job with higher pay than Gulf Institute paid. Again I felt very uncomfortable with the fact that this kind of highly confidential information was being shared with me in this way. I was just not interested and felt that this was just a form of spying. In either the UK or Australia this would be seen as being contrary to laws governing public disclosure and therefore illegal. But obviously in this environment it meant nothing and was a line that this DOS was prepared to cross over.

But I had wanted to find a way of continuing to work in Oman, where I liked the country and where I would also be in Muscat with much more going on socially and where I had the opportunities to look for other work and further training later.

With my written offer of this position I went back to Sur and knowing that I had a new job to go to at the end of the academic year, I went into work the following Saturday and gave my notice. I had about three months to go in Sur and so this would be ample time for me to work my notice and hopefully prepare for the new job. However over the period of three months I had no communication with Modern Gulf regarding my duties at the institute - and as to what teaching material I would be using.

I again travelled up to Muscat to meet with the DOS regarding paperwork for my work permit and visa. and yet again there were no instructions or talk of what was going to happening regarding my induction period with the Institute. And once again she asked me information about yet another Sur College colleague who was applying to Modern Gulf, and again I was not prepared to discuss anything with her and again she made detremental remarks regarding the character of this colleague and said something to the effect that this person would not be being offered a job with Modern Gulf. I began to wonder what kind of information she might be secretly seeking about me and was right to have this alarming thought.

My last meeting with the DOS at Modern Gulf was at the very end of my time with Sur College and MOHE. I finished my last day at Sur and drove up to Muscat where I'd arranged to look at my new accommodation and to park my car as I was going to go back to Europe on holiday for a week before starting my position with Modern Gulf. She had emailed me earlier that week to inform me that ALL my paper work had gone through ministry of labour and that there were no problems with this. I was preparing to fly off for a relaxing week in Europe before returning to Muscat.

I arrived at the institute in Al Khoud at the time I had arrange to meet with her. I sat around there for about an hour and eventually someone took me to look at my accomodation not far from the institute. I noticed that the accommodation showed signs of previous occupation and that someone seemed to have vacated this flat in a hurry. That is an important point to remember.

I was driven back to the institute where the DOS arrive late and claimed that we had arranged to meet earlier. This was just not true, I arrive on time and she was very late. We sat in her office and she began to explain that a previous employee in this flat had suffered from severe depression and had as she called it, 'done something silly' I told her that I myself struggled with depression and it was at that I got real shock when she told me that she already knew this.

I was very taken aback and upset. To explain further about a Hawthorn matter, the organisation that includes Hawthorn also has an interest and input in the private hospital in Sur where I had to go in order to get scripts for my antidepressant medication. They wrote the script for me but kept asking why I was on the medication and who had prescribed it. I wasn't prepared to discuss this with them much. I need to take this every day as withdrawal also has its side effects.

The DOS then began to tell me the following;

'I have had a lot of negative reports about you.'

She didn't elaborate as to what these negative reports contained and the fact that she said a lot was disturbing in itself and also that she had started to do all this after I she had offerd me a job. Also, and very seriously, after I had tendered my resignation and had left a job to come to this job at Modern Gulf. Also, I had only given her one reference source from Sur College the rest were from elsewhere. It became obvious that she had been going behind my back, spying and talking with others. She also admitted to me that she had been talking with the AM Majali from Hawthorn.

I was now given to understand that my job was now in serious doubt. I indicated that I still had bills to pay and that this would cause me serious financial difficulties. Her answer was that this was none of her her concern.

I was understandably upset by this but was physically restrained from closing the door in her office by other staff so that we could not conduct this conversation in private. I was then given notice that I was being unreasonable upseting her and that I should find some way of managing my depression.

I asked her to consider my job situation as I felt that I was in a really unanticipated situation where my whole work situation was being pulled apart right in front of me. She informed me that she

'had a business to run and could not afford to have anything going wrong',

This was despite my not having done anything to harm her business. She just had no trust whatsoever. She then left very quickly claiming an urgent social appointment elsewhere. It felt like our meeting was something that she wanted to deal with as quickly as possible.

I was very upset that night and two days later in Europe I had an email from the DOS at Modern Gulf informing me amazingly that the previously complete and problem free paperwork from the Ministry was now a problem and that I no longer had a job with Modern Gulf Institute and that she wished me,

'all the best in your future endevours'

Because of this person's lack of empathy and her unwillingness to consider me for work I was targeted for completely erroneous reasons that showed no understanding, a bigoted viewpoint of a health issue and very possibly illegal practice regarding my personal and professional privacy. My life was suddenly thrown into complete chaos and instability where there had previously been some. I had worked hard over months to gain that stability only to have it ripped apart in minutes.

I am now without work, facing bankruptcy and struggling with mental health that has been made now very unstable because of this person's uncaring and inconsiderate actions. It has also had a knock on effect in a close relation ship and my marriage. Both have fallen apart due to the immense strain that this traumatic situation put me under.

The story I have recounted is absolutely true. It was a horrific experience for me to go through and I am still coping with the consequences months later. This person is not to be trusted. She and a member of staff from Hawthorn have possibly colluded to make my life a living hell. An awful lot of people seem to suffer at the hands of these 'recruiters' It just happens too often with the helpless ESL teachers with no support or backup when things go terribly wrong. The powerless teachers are the ones who always 'cop the flack' and get the blame and punishement for the ignorance, incompetence and stupidity of recruiters and 'management' and DOS's. Because of this I will never teach again or visit Oman.

I have told this as a real warning to others. Beware. If you have mental health or depressive issues be very, very careful of job offers from these people. They do not care about others and it means nothing to them to make life hell for others who don't 'fit in' with their agendas.

[Sleepwalker]

I suspect that depression is much more common than most of us think and I hope that you are putting things in perspective and getting well.

I'm sorry you had such a negative experience and (in time) remember that most people in Oman are kind and caring.

However, at the moment, just get well.

[ozoyster]

Thank you sleepwalker

That was just very kind and thoughtful and caring of you to say those words. As you say I think there are good people out there in Oman. Just takes time to find them and I had the bad luck to stumble on the not so good ones.

Thank you so much. I am at prestnt making those steps to just get well and rehabilitate. Quite some long steps but I always pick myself up and go on.

Much thanks

OZ

[eha]

Just wanted to add my good wishes to those of Sleepwalker; it takes time --- especially if you have a predisposition to depression-- to recover from a body blow like the situation you describe. Unfortunately, stuff happens, and the administrative environment in the Gulf region in particular, seems to be prone to some kind of culture of gossip, which appears to be alien to such concepts as confidentiality, professionalism and, well, often just basic human decency. Versions of it have happened to lots of us.
But, as another poster said elsewhere on this site, there is also a tremendous amount of sheer random kindness in the world. Take care of yourself. And next time, don't count on ANYTHING until you have the signed contract in your hand-- even then, until you've been actually in the job for at least a year!

[Sleepwalker]

Eha - I love that phrase 'sheer random kindness' - I think that's what makes the world go round and what makes the big difference to whether or not our experiences as expat teachers are great or awful.

[eha]

Any experiences anywhere, Sleepwalker; when one has been on the receiving end of the more unpleasant aspects of human nature, one tends to see evil everywhere. But then, other, civilised things happen, and we manage to stagger on for another while. Personally, I can never understand why people so often go for the brutal or dehumanising option: it's certain to rebound against themselves or those belonging to them, sooner or later. But it usually takes some very harsh lesson to get such people to see that-- they really do seem to see themselves as above it all--- eg; all those 'colleagues' who, when you say that you're having a problem with such-and-such a class or student, go: "Well, I've never had a problem with them/him!" as if their experience is the only one that can be taken seriously. The Thatcher-Regan generation: if it isn't MY problem, it doesn't exist.
Anyway, good luck, ozoyster; hope things are looking up.

[ozoyster]

Just to say a thank you eha and sleepwalker. It's heartening to read your replies and to know that there are people out there - like yourselves - who do care and are real human beings. That means a lot that you give that support and say the things that you do.

: )

[bruceoman]

Ozoyster, I have read with interest your last couple of postings regarding your experiences in Oman, one of which I have already posted a reply. As I have already said, I sympathise with your condition, however some times people must also take some responsiblity with regards to what happens to them. Yes, the college in Sur has problems, and if anything they have worsened this semester under the so-called leadership from the new head of department, but it's no good just blaming others for everything that goes wrong in your life. I have no idea if the woman from Modern Gulf contacted anyone from Hawthirn for information about your condition, but maybe you should know that a teacher from Sur actually contacted her to inform her of your behaviour within the college and outside. Now personally, I think this person was completely out of order to do this, because quite frankly it was none of his business as he wasn't asked to do this but volunteered this information when he found out you had the job there. Incidently it was not the person who you would probably have guessed it to be. However the point is this, your behaviour was so irrational at times that it led someone to do this. There was a group of teachers there who brought embarrassment to other teachers in the college because of their behaviour both inside and outside the college. You want to blame others for everything, even for your failed marriage. I guess that had nothing to do with the Indian dancers?!
Maybe some of what you say is true, but you are trying to garner sympathy from everyone when I am not so sure that it is all totally deserved and when despite your claims of everything being "totally true", there are things which we who worked in Sur know to be not exactly as you claim. I hope things can get better for you in the future, but I really think you also need to try helping yourself a bit more. Most of the people here were sympathetic to your situation, but your behaviour only succeeded in pushing them away and making them very wary of trying to help you.

[oh_lucky_me]

There are always 2 sides to a story. I remember being told a story by that particular DOS, about how she had been physically terrified following a relatively long incident in her workplace with an interviewee throwing things around a reception filled with children and forcing himself into her office for further confrontation. Members of her staff had to physically come to her assistance. Come on......

[ozoyster]

THAT IS ALL THAT I CAN SAY TO THE PREVIOUS RESPONDENTS 'CLEVER' REMARKS WITH THEIR 'VERY CLEVER' OPINIONS.

WHAT I SAID WAS TRU AND WHAT I SAID STANDS


BRUCE - GOOD LUCK TO YOU IN SUR - I HOPE YOU ENJOY - IT SOUNDS GREAT TO B THERE THIS YEAR.

AND 'OH SO LUCKY ME' HOW CAN YOU BE SO SARCASTIC WHEN YOU WERE NOT EVEN THERE??

I AM JUST GLAD THAT I 'ILL NEVER RETURN TO TEACHING EVER AGAIN - IT AS POISONOUS AND HORIFIC PLACE TO WORK. WHY OULD ANYONE WNAT TO ACTUALLY GO THROUGH THAT FOR THE SHOCKINGLY BAD PAY THAT IS THE TEACHER'S LOT HERE?

GOOD LUCK TO YOU AND HAVE A NICE DAY

[veiledsentiments]

Really ozoyster... too bad you didn't read this board before you took this job in Oman. Even a cursory search and reading should have told you that these Ministry jobs are difficult and often unpleasant.

The Gulf is not now and never has been the place for someone with mental issues such as depression. Those of us who have been involved with this part of the world for years have watched too many be pushed over the edge.

Take it as a life's lesson and head on home where you can get proper treatment. Picking fights on this board is certainly not helpful for you.

Dwelling on this situation will not help you get better.

VS

[Sleepwalker]

I agree with VS.

You had two bad experiences - one with an organisation that employed you and the other with an institute that unexpectedly withdrew your offer of employment at a very inopportune moment knowing you suffered from depression.

You're well away from both and although you're still feeling sensitive and hurt, put it behind you - these places don't matter.

Get well and get on with your life.

I wish you all the best.

[ozoyster]

Thank you VS and SW for your welcome if tough counsel. What you say is absolutely right. The last post before you was a real put down and I agree that it was a thorougly unpleasant experience working in a ministry job. I am now going to put it behind me and get on with my new career path. Thank you both of you and I also wish you the best in your futures too!!

Oz

[POD11]

I agree with other posts that the person complaining did not do enough research before coming to the region or when they got here. Mental illness is not fully understood but at the same time safety must be a priority.

I have been living here for over 25 years. I have worked in various places during that time. I left one teaching post after four days and other teachers followed - it was that bad. Like most places, it has good and bad. Yet, the country has still come a long way in only 38 years.

Modern Gulf Institute has been, and still is a great place to work! I worked there for over three years. At the interview, you should ask to have look at the books. Be proactive. Accept it, things do go on word of mouth and introductions. What's said, how it's said and who said it but that would also be checked - call it what you will. A DOS has to lookout for students, staff and visitors - that's her business.

Perhaps, those with such problems should limit themselves to shorter trips abroad, so that they can maintain the continuity of treatment and possibly the environment that they need. Also, look into alternative treatment and allergy testing. Teaching is a demanding job.

Be proactive.....Modern Gulf Institute is a great place to work.

[dorothy1]

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