Hi Wendy-
Maybe the Chinses staff and prospective students feel they need to put up with it (I would imagine many of those students just go somewhere else!) but the foreign staff don't. Tolerance of that kind of crap just leads to more, and it eventually just spirals out of control. Talk it over with the other teachers and find out what they think, if they've noticed the same things. Telling him you saw what he did and you think it was inappropriate is usually the best course of action right from the beginning. It isn't easy and takes a lot of courage, but it needs to be done.

You and the other teachers there--albeit you are not there any longer--can like your students, schedules, classes, etc, but with a manager and owner like that there's not much to take pride in. Rest assured the word is out on the street from the women he's pawed over to other women that he's a little too friendly, giving him a reputation. Unfortunately, everybody else there gets the same rep after a while.

Also, this is probably not something new for him. He probably got away with it for a while in the States, moving from place to place, just a head of the law (or a husbands baseball bat?) and finally figured out that laws and social mores are often less stringent in other countries, so he took his show on the road.

Unfortunately, the problems with booze are much more common than anybody cares to consider. How many times have we seen a teacher show up in yesterday's clothes, smelling a bit ripe, and be there only marginally in body, but not in mind or spirit? And attempt to give a class. It's an embarrassment.

I don't think anybody could fault you for blowing the whistle. Maybe approaching the American Consulate or Embassy about this might do him some good. They might be able to investigate the guy's background, or if nothing else have a little chat with him to settle him down before it gets out of control. At very best his name can be put into the grid, posssibly protecting students in the future.

Good luck to you, Wendy.

So I am no longer working for this company and I am no longer living in the city where this school was located. So I will speak out about the foreign manager that is working there. He is in his fifties and I really cannot believe that he has been kept on with this company. I guess that is the reason that he has moved around China while working for them. They are like the Catholic Church here in America that keeps moving their dirty linen from one church to the next Church.

The manager is question was always running his hands over the backs of the Chinese staff and Chinese women that came in to the school to be interviewed for placement in a class. He would do anything for a thrill and it did bother some of the staff but they were too frightened to speak out in fear of losing their jobs.

The owner of the company knew about the actions of our manager as they would go out drinking whenever the owner was in our city. Oh did I tell you that the owner was an American! The manager in question always was out drinking and coming to school the next day looking like he was just returning from the bar. You would always hear him talking about his actions of the night before to other people in the school.

We wonder way the Chinese people often has bad opinions of foreigners, esp male foreigners. It is no wonder when their first encounter is with creeps like this manager. We need to carry ourselves with a higher sense of pride to dispel these negative stereo types that many people are making us to look like. I am one who is in favor of stricter international laws and co-operation in dealing with these creeps! I also feel we; as ESL teachers should start some sort of a black list but I know we are then needing to prove ourselves when we point out these Prevs!

I cannot speak for Thailand but I can speak out about the prev's here in China. The country is crawling with foreign teachers who are here for the same reason as that fellow in Thailand. It also seems not to make any difference if the school is a Chinese run school or a foreign run one. I will have more to say when my contract ends here at the end of the month.