Im Jeff Li, Director of International Cooperation at Qinhuangdao Foreign Languages Professional College. I was stunned to saw Mr. Rob Mitchells message. After thinking over Mr. Mitchells personality, however, I understood it was not strange at all for him to do that. Rob worked as a lawyer for a long time. He knows pretty well how to manipulate the fact to make the other side look bad. He knows how to hide some aspects of the fact and overstate the other aspects and cleverly add in some expression of his own opinion to gain advantage for himself. I wonder if he would still say this if he vows to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth like people do in court.
I write this response just to tell people the other aspects of the fact so that they can make their own judgments after getting to know the whole truth. Im not arguing with Mr. Mitchell or trying to make him look bad. I know its pretty natural for a person to be liked by some people while to be disliked by some others at the same time. We have a lot of foreign teachers working for the college. As a public institution, we treat everybody equally and nicely. But still, some people are happy and satisfied, some people are not. People will not take the trouble to write a message on a website to compliment you when they are happy. When they are not happy, some of them will say something or even start to slander. Fortunately, most foreign teachers are reasonable. They do not do what Mr. Mitchell did after his unreasonable demand not being satisfied.
I will answer Mr. Mitchells attack item by item.
1. Make certain that you read your contract very carefully before you leave your home country. And make certain that you read it even more carefully when you arrive at the college before you sign it. There may have been alterations - like a return airfare changed to a one-way airfare.
There really is a change of airfare. But it is from a one-way airfare to a return airfare. We used to offer one-way tickets to foreign teachers after they fulfill their one year contract. Then we change our policy to offer return tickets after the contracts are fulfilled.
2. He will make many promises. Like the promises made to two other teachers that they would have single accomodation, and that one of them would be teaching sports full-time.
First, about teaching sports full-time. That American teacher signed a new contract with the college after the first one is completed. He will be working for the college for another year (2006-2007). You can ask him what he thinks of the college if you like. You can ask me for his email address. I will not just put it here without his permission.
Second, about single accommodation. I did not promise the foreign teacher single accommodation before he came to China because foreign teachers used to share apartments in our college (they will not share any more because we just constructed a new apartment building for foreign teachers). When he raised the question after getting to China, we gave him a single apartment.
3. If he emails a picture of the college, make certain that it is a photo of the actual school and not the artist's rendition of what the school might look like in the future.
If you are interested, you can log on to our website to see the photos of the actual school and the schools development plan. The website is www.qflpc.com.cn/gjhzc/index.
4. If he tells you that there are shops near by, ask him as to how many there are, and what they sell, and how far you have to walk to get to them.
There are two shops on campus, several shops off campus. Dont ask me how many shops there are exactly and what they sell, I didnt count. There are two pretty big super markets within walk. I dare not to say how far away it is because I didnt measure it with a ruler. If I tell you it takes me 10 minutes to walk there, Mr. Mitchell will still say that Im lying because it might take him 12 minutes this time and 9 minutes that time. Hes a very precise person. The funny thing is, Mr. Mitchell spent 1 or 2 hours walking 10 kilometers a day to have fun or keep fit. But he hated to walk 10 minutes to shop.
5 Ask him how long it takes and how many buses are required to travel to the nearest city where you can shop.
This information is also provided on our website. Go there to take a look. Qinhuangao is a city that spreads out. Our school is located at one of the three districts. Its about 25 kilometers away from downtown. Public transportation is pretty good. I do not know how many buses Mr. Mitchell wants. I also do not know what Mr. Mitchell want to shop. Perhaps a TV set or a piece of furniture every day?
6. Ask him how far it is from the front gate of the college to the beach. If he says 600 metres, ask him to measure it again.
I will say its 600 meters. Its roughly speaking. I will not take the trouble to measure it again. I never measure it with a ruler. Perhaps Mr. Mitchell did. Please ask him if you are really interested. He might tell you that it is 610 meters or 590 meters. I fairly dont know.
7. And ask him how far your apartment is from the front gate.
Please ask Mr. Mitchell first how far away he expects the apartment is from the front gate, right at the front gate? The old campus was not very big. It was 9 acres. The new campus is 35 acres. The apartment is several hundred meters away from the front gate. Its not a problem for anybody except Mr. Mitchell.
8. Ask him how far your apartment is from the farmer's piggery. I'll give you a hint, it's less than 100 metres.
Thats probably true. Mr. Mitchell might have secretly measured it with a ruler. The funny thing is that it didnt seem to bother him when he was here. The only thing bothered him was the farmers dog. And I accompanied him to talk with the farmer. Mr. Mitchell didnt complain again. When he is several thousands miles away now, it becomes a problem.
9. If he tells you that the college will provide teaching materials, expect to receive a box of chalk.
I think in Mr. Mitchells opinion, computers, free access to internet, library, tape recorders do not count as teaching material.
10. Ask him if there is a fire-escape from your fourth or fifth-floor apartment.
Different countries have different situations. The apartments we provide to foreign teachers have all undergone severe security investigation by the police before foreign teachers can live there. Nothing bad happened in our college. Mr. Mitchell left safely, too. Otherwise he will not able to write this message.
11. Ask him whether the classrooms are neat and tidy.
China is still a developing country. According to western standards, our classrooms are not as good. Thats true. But conditions are getting better because three new teaching building will be put in use from the next semester.
12. Jeff Li refused to pay the last half-month of our salary.
That is true, too. I wonder why Mr. Mitchell raised this problem because this is agreed upon by both parties. The last half-month was from 1st to 15th of January, 2006. Mr. Mitchells contract should end on the 15th of January. On a staff meeting in November, however, Mr. Mitchell asked if he could leave before Christmas because he would have a family reunion. I said it was ok but I would stop paying him after he left because he was no longer working for the college. He agreed. I think the reason he raised this problem is either that he has a really bad memory or he intentionally hid part of the truth to make me look bad. Either way, it is not good.
13. He refused to pay our local travel allowance until we had vacated the apartment, and even then we didn't receive the full amount.
That is also part of the truth. Mr. Mitchell refused to sign after getting the last months salary. He also refused to return the foreign expert certificate which should be returned to the Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs. He said he would mail the certificates to me after he got back to Australia. After seeing all he did, how could I trust him? I said I would send him the rest amount of the travel allowance (which is 100 yuan RMB) after I got the certificate. But I have not got the certificate until now. It has been 7 months.
14. Why they have Jeff Li, a person envious of foreigners, in charge of the Foreign Affairs Department at Qinhuangdao Foreign Language Professional College is something that I will never understand.
Why Mr. Mitchell said that Im envious of foreigners is something that I will never understand. How ridiculous it is! Why would I envy foreigners? How could Mr. Mitchell know that? Is he a mind-reader? Even if he is, he is totally wrong.
15. Why did Mr. Mitchell do this?
Mr. Mitchell worked at our college for 10 months. He was pretty happy in the first 9 months. I say this because he asked to resign a new contract with the college. If he was not happy, he would just leave upon the completion of the old contract. Things would not have gone so ugly. But Mr. Mitchell was very clever and very good at bargaining. He used a lot of tricks. In October, I asked his wife whether they would stay after the contract ended. His wife said they would think about it. Some time later she said no. But after some time they passed me through another foreign teacher the information that they were still thinking and awaiting the college to make an offer. So I offered them the job again. Mr. Mitchell asked for the highest salary. I refused because he and his wife were not qualified for that in accordance with our schools policy. Mr. Mitchell became very upset because he didnt get what he demanded. In his opinion, no matter hes qualified or not, only if he asks, he should get it. If he couldnt get it, he felt losing face. This is not my guess. He said that out loud in front of me and our staff. I thought this was unreasonable and just refused. Then things began to get ugly. He demanded for the money he shouldnt get, refused to sign after he got the last month salary, and refused to return the foreign expert certificate. He wrote a letter to our president to defame me. Seeing no expected outcome from the president, he wrote this message.