Job Discussion Forums

[Sophisticate]

[Lobster]

We await the details. Good luck.

RED

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I wouldn't paint a whole country based on one lousy school.

Would you want China to paint your entire country based on one lousy teacher?

I would say in general that t seems China is getting a lot less favourable than it was before; a lot more fengqi people; a lot more arrogance and nationalism/racism and it's only getting worse.

We await the story, however....

[Salvatore]

Check out my Review of the "Huashang Degree Dispensary".

At least 2 "wonderful" places to waste a year in China.

[igorG]

Is our OP really the only example of a sad experience? OK. Are there so few such sad examples in the country? Who are we kidding? It's a jungle there. And, most of employers here have the Chinese characteristics. Even if you enter a foreign company sadly enough they impose on you.

So, what are we talking about? You ask for support "too many times" or provide some constructive criticism, and there it all may begin. They'll pick on you. When you reason, they won't follow up on the issue they've brought up. Instead, they'll come up with all sorts of distractions and even lies. They'll manipulate the company/s/school's staff's opions of you and then they'll misevaluate your one, two, or three years effort. That all no matter how much your students like you, and how much they progrees or benefit from you classes. Amazing that they don't want to lose faces but they want you to lose it big time. They'd disregard any ethics, professionalism or even laws just to put you down and step on your head. On the end, when you want to get paid according to your employment agreement, they'll make you feel sorry you have actually asked for support or dared to offer a view in whcih you provided a constructive criticism of some issues, shortcomings of the employer's or manager's inabilities.

Conclusively, this is a highly autocratic nation, where subordinates must listen only. Above all is the loyalty and if one cannot demonstrate that, s/he is out. Too bad, they've begun practicing this on foreign staff members as well. I suppose that's 'cause the internet may offer all sorts of employee substitutes and we have helped them understand the foreign language well enough to recruit Or, we even help them recruit to such working environment.

Sincerely yours,
Internet Mercenary Igor

[GOTL]

After reading some replies to my questions I can tell you all basically have scared the desire out of me to teach in China

[champ]

[Miles Smiles]

My eyes have been opened up more than once during the past six years. At one time, I blamed the FTs for the problems that I heard about. Many of them DO cause their own problems, but there ARE some real scumbags in charge of schools, university departments, maintenance, and other areas who delight in screwing the FTs at every turn or are incredibly negligent and/or spiteful.

This is small potatoes, I know, but here's an example of the kind of negligence I'm talking about. My a/c died on me two weeks ago. I texted the FAO. (I have given up on emails to school employees. Nobody reads them). Four days passed with no response, so I marched up to the FAO's office, hoping to catch her in her office. (She's never there).

Great hallo! Her highness is on her throne.

-- My a/c has been broken for four days. Why haven't you responded to my text messages?

"Really? Broken?" [Nonsensical answer followed].

--When will my a/c be fixed? I can't open my windows because I'll let in flocks of mosquitoes the size bats. It's 42 C degrees outside and 40 C inside.

"We contract repair services, and we can't get repairmen in at this time."

-- I can get someone here in twenty minutes. Can he send you the bill?

"No, don't do that. Our contractor is in the Himalayas at the moment. He will be back in three weeks. Besides it's only your a/c that's broken. Everyone else's works fine." ['Splain that one to me, Lucy. Only mine isn't working, so it's not a problem?].

That night, I went to the utility box that contained fuses and various switches. I found some switches that looked like it controlled the a/c and heat. I turned all of them off.

By 3:00 the next day, everybody is p*ssed off because his apartment is hot as hell and her highness isn't taking calls, responding to email or text messages. Worse, nobody's in the FAO's office. At 4:00, she texts all of the FTs (all 8 of us) to come get paid. She has ignored all attempts to reach her, so she was in for a face full of surprise.

I was at the back of the crowd of angry FTs.

She tried to ameliorate the severity of the problem by telling everyone that I have been suffering like a saint.

"I'm so sorry. Mr. Jonathan's a/c has been broken for five days. We wait for repair person come to town. Are you alright, Mr. Jonathan? You need see doctor? You do not look well."

-- Huh? What? My a/c works just fine. I don't know what you're talking about.

The school maintenance guy was in the apartment building before everyone returned from the FAO's office. The a/c problem was fixed in fifteen minutes by a guy carrying a screw driver and a bucket.

[siberiantiger]

[Fable105]

[igorG]

Well, you can stay with a terrible employer or choose to move on with a horrible one. Which one would you choose? I guess it comes down to how/where you prefer to be whipped.