Job Discussion Forums

[Dan The Chainsawman]

Hello, I work in the only chain school in Xining. Tonight we had a dinner, hosted by the headmaster, to welcome myself and the other new teacher. Also in attendance was the foreign teacher who has been their six months, the headmaster, one of the front desk girls, and the Headmaster's right hand man who is named, "Seth".

The event started on a note that can only be described as a bit bewildering. "Seth" ushered us into the back room of a largish restaurant near the school and we found the headmaster, the janitor, and few other fellows in a state of drunken oblivion. Given that it was 4.30 in the afternoon it seemed a bit odd, but we refrained from commenting upon it.

The headmaster and one of his friends took us into the adjoining private room. The friend, an employee of the Tax Office, began speaking to me in Chinese. He was apparently told a few times that I didn't speak any Chinese. This didn't stop him from yammering away at me. I entertained him for a few minutes of it, but as time went on it began to get extremely uncomfortable.

This fellow began screaming, banging the table, and was apparently saying a variety of rather unflattering things towards me that the Foreign Liaison, "Seth" wouldn't even translate. He just looked very embarrassed and kept saying he didn't understand what the man was trying to say.

As events draw to a head the friend of the headmaster is getting more belligerent and I'm beginning to feel even more uncomfortable. Actually, at that point I'm getting ready to hit the guy if he touched me. It was apparently pretty obvious that I was getting a bit irritated as even one of the other teachers mentioned that that he was very uncomfortable and wanted to leave.

Events proceeded and the lovely chap spilled beer on me, forced me to do a toast with him, and then tried to force me to drink my entire beer in one shot. I normally would have no problem draining a beer, but I wasn't having any of it with this jerk. By now, from my on recollection, I was visibly balling up my firsts, red in the face, and shaking in anger. This had been going on for nearly 30 to 45 minutes and I was about ready to belt the guy.

He decides that as I won't drink my entire beer in one shot that it would be appropriate to try to force the beer into my hand. He shoves the beer into my hands, I set it back down, and he tries it again and this time starts a back and forth tug of war with the beer.

I let him have the beer, stood up, announced that I was leaving and departed. The foreign teacher liaison followed me out and apologized profusely for the incident along with the office girl. Both of them were appeared to be very embarrassed and the glimpse I caught of the headmaster when I walked out seemed to indicate he wasn't pleased with the turn of events either.

My question is..

Would it be out of the realm of imagination for my school to create a larger issue over the event?

[Sugar Magnolia]

Sounds interesting. I wish I was there. Lighten up and have some fun.

Yunqi

[Hansen]

Have had similar experiences but not to that extreme. Usually all is forgotten the next day. Or so it appears. You can't win with some of these fools, no matter what you do. Although I rarely suggest it, in these cases be true to yourself.

[suanlatudousi]

The school can, of course, make anything out of that they wish - as often does in China.

However, I'm on your side of it.

I don't drink anyway, and rarely go to the drunk-fests masquerading as school dinners and when I refuse the alcohol and beer they try to force it upon me. I still refuse and ask for Coca Cola and when they again demand, I simply leave.

You waited too long.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

I don't mind drinking at all. I just wasn't in the mood to entertain this drunken retard who had been screaming at me, spilling beer on me, and trying to force me to drink more or less all at the same time.

Turns out as soon as I left he started hammering on the table more and screaming. Apparently he tried forcing the other foreigners at the table to eat and was knocking drinking glasses all over the place. They left five minutes after I did.

[jakescustaard]

ha ha ha! you should have seen him after you left!

[Sugar Magnolia]

Remember this - most Chinese love to pound drinks and they stop after a few bottles. Us real men keep on going!

"Oh my Lord, you actually drink "6" bottles of beer by yourself in 1 sitting?"

The best bet when faced with a situation as that described above is to try and finish the glass, give them the FACE they so desperately need and then order another bottle for yourself on the boss!

[Lister]

I wouldn't worry too much about it.

It's a big loss of face for your hosts - especially as it was supposed to be a welcoming dinner - so they'd probably prefer to forget about the whole thing and pretend it never happened.
I'd do the same. Forget it. Think of it as a nice gesture by your headmaster and the staff that was unfortunately spoiled by an idiot, and it shouldn't reflect on anyone else. Carry on as if it never happened and don't let it influence the way you deal with anyone who was there.

[Teatime of Soul]

[suanlatudousi]

[curvilinear]

Wait until you see what happens when they bring out the bai jiu, ha ha.
That post brought back some memories...I would have countered him by forcing him to play the finger guessing game, and then just always guess the middle.

[donb2222]

I agree with the others that state that you should just pretend that it never happened.
Drunk jerks are everywhere in this world. I do not think it would accomplish anything to complain or point out how offended you were.

[Eyrick3]

[Totemic]

[Dan The Chainsawman]