I can certainly relate to your woes with FAO's.

Neither of us had wanted to stay on, as the college FAO was a buffoon who hadn't a clue how to treat
foreigners properly

At a place in the wilds of Hunan, that poses as a college, but is actually just a front for selling students into servitude, including the female students, there is a slimy,slippery reptile who passes as a supposed FAO. To say he is incompetent staggers belief. If pushed, yes, a review of this place needs to be posted here, but for now I'll contain my spitting vitriol to this racist toad of an excuse for a man:

1) One american teacher who to all accounts had worked perfectly well all year, was threatened with his airfare/bonus money being withheld by this odious individual because he found out he had been late for class on one occasion by 10-15 mins. Granted that is quite a length of time...but to punish him by trying to withhold end of contract bonus for one error...inexcusable and unprofessional.

2) I had to go to Hong Kong to get my work visa and asked him to help me get the train ticket in advance, so I could go directly to the train station to Shenzhen with no worries. Well, of course he left it until last minute, in fact the last afternoon before the morning I was due to go...result, I had a screaming match at him on the phone that he should get a flight ticket, which he did, but still made me out to be the villain, but in the end he promised me I wouldn't have to pay for that part of the journey. Quelle surprise, on my return he said the ticket cost had to be docked out of my salary, I politely stated I had warned him over a week before to make plans....his and the other chinese teachers "plans" were to get me a standing ticket on the train from Changsha to Shenzhen!! Again, a case of incompetence and not listening to his FT's.

3) He was gay, and seemed to have some bias to straight male FT's to whom he took a dislike. It was a case of if your face fits, you belong. He got on well with one american teacher (with a gf), but not with others. My guess is he didn't like the idea of western FT's with chinese girls, why, god only knows. If your gay, why does it even matter?!

4) He displayed open xenophobia to me by claiming baijiu to be better than whiskey, and stating "Chinese people don't like whiskey" I laughed at him, before walking out and muttering various expletive adjectives about him under my breath. He said this outside at a restaurant, so we were not on work time, not that it would be excusable.

5) In the end he had me fired on a trumped up charge, by colluding with the students whom he taught, and forcing them to make false testimonies against me, so he could pocket my airfare and bonus and gain HIM some much needed face with the Dean of this so called "college". He did pay me my final month's salary which was fair considering I did bugger all in the last month, but didn't seem to care when I politely explained he was leaving me homeless in China and without funds for a ticket to go home, but I had managed to get a better job so didnt care. He had the audacity to want to shake hands, but I pushed his hand away, and he put a hurt look on his face to gain crocodile tears from the office staff...but when he was sat with two of the other teachers informing me of the termination of my contract, he had a smug grin on his face as though he was happy I was being fired...snake in the grass.

Be wary, very wary. FAO's can be just as bad as training centre staff.

Cheers.