Mancunian
- 2013-01-30
It was just a double standard here that left me speechless. I was not wounded or anything, just from that moment on I never over do it (drink) with anybody.
In China, I see my Chinese colleagues get plastered all the time from drinking during lunch. If I were to do that, it would be seen so favorable. That is all I am saying.
Hello there
I see what you mean, but I can't say it worries me if there's one law for the Chinese and one for us. You obviously have a good set of values. Sorry If was a bit sarcastic in my previous reply to you.
foxy
- 2013-01-30
"In China, I see my Chinese colleagues get plastered all the time from drinking during lunch. If I were to do that,it would be seen so favorable. That is all I am saying."
I presume you mean the Chinese think it's acceptable for them to get plastered @ lunchtime, while they would make trouble for foreigners who chose to follow their bad example.
Just like - don't do as I do, do as I say.
I used to drink between 2 and 4 bottles of cheap (and weak) Chinese beer with my spicy lunches before teaching in the afternoons, usually just 2 bottles. Hardly sufficient alcohol for me to get plastered. I also had chewing gum before teaching. My TA never twigged I'd been drinking. But the Chinese drink that strong vile rotgut sickly-sweet paint stripper stuff they call baiju.
BTW, I eat spicy mutton hot pot every day, usually @ dinnertime!
juanisaac
- 2013-01-30
It was just a double standard here that left me speechless. I was not wounded or anything, just from that moment on I never over do it (drink) with anybody.
In China, I see my Chinese colleagues get plastered all the time from drinking during lunch. If I were to do that, it would be seen so favorable. That is all I am saying.
Mancunian
- 2013-01-29
Here in China there are two different set of criteria for both parties: Chinese and foreigners. Once my FAO at a school took me out drinking. We were both drunk when we arrive home. A few days later, he went up to me and told me "I heard you came home." The door man told him. When I reminded him that he was the one that invited me out and that we both got drunk together, he just smiled and started laughing. I now work at a new school, and I don't go out for a drink with any teacher now. I do more things on my own now without the company of fellow teachers- no point.
Hello
I'm bound to say that you have left me bewildered. Let's read your post again...'you went out with your FAO' Right?...'you both had a gay old time and got plastered' Right?.......a few days later he came up to you and said 'I heard you got home[late] the doorman told me so(well Chinese doorman are nosy-you ignore it) Right?... his response was 'a smile and he laughed'...Right? Now, because you were so brutally wounded on account of your boss being so nice and friendly, with a sense of humour, it has turned you against ever associating with the Chinese again..Right?....think... think...I'm thinking.... I don't know what to say to you, I really don't.
juanisaac
- 2013-01-29
Here in China there are two different set of criteria for both parties: Chinese and foreigners. Once my FAO at a school took me out drinking. We were both drunk when we arrive home. A few days later, he went up to me and told me "I heard you came home." The door man told him. When I reminded him that he was the one that invited me out and that we both got drunk together, he just smiled and started laughing. I now work at a new school, and I don't go out for a drink with any teacher now. I do more things on my own now without the company of fellow teachers- no point.
Dragonized
- 2013-01-27
Doing a runner means breaking the contract. That alone justifies the runner being blacklisted.
Of course, if the school overworks you and underpays you, puts you in an accomodation that is below the quality stated in the contract, and makes you do extra activities without paying that makes it A OKAY right?! No matter HOW MANY RULES THE school/company breaks it doesn't matter, right?! Are you really a foreign teacher??
Boozer Fts in China deserve being blacklisted too, despite there being too many of them here.
Sure, as long as they're not your DOS or Director, lest you risk getting your contract terminated and blacklisted yourself!
You sound a bit naive to say the least. But I wonder if you're one of those chinese owners who benefits from this ESL scam in the first place...
foxy
- 2013-01-27
I agree with you, Sally.
Doing a runner if you're legally employed is risky as well as deceitful. By doing that, you could end up on the SAFEA blacklist. Far better to try to negotiate with your employer in an attempt to resolve disputes. If he's unreasonable, you can suggest terminating the contract early by mutual agreement. It's only when all your negotiations with him have failed, do you have the right to refer the matter to SAFEA, not that that is likely to have a good outcome, and doing so will possibly entail an undesirable delay. But the threat of involving SAFEA might just be enough to persuade your employer to set you free. He might well take the view 'good riddance to bad rubbish'.
San Migs
- 2013-01-27
Doing a runner means breaking the contract. That alone justifies the runner being blacklisted.
Obviously, but what if you are forced into a corner when they do not honour it?
Mancunian
- 2013-01-27
Doing a runner means breaking the contract. That alone justifies the runner being blacklisted.
Boozer Fts in China deserve being blacklisted too, despite there being too many of them here
I agree with you about the lack of staying power, leading FT's to run away- I have heard of one bloke arriving in China and running away from two jobs in as many weeks. It's always the same old story "all down to unreasonable Chinese behaviour" well, gotta blame somebody.
AS for the booze; I think some of us need a few drinks to get through the lessons, and as long as you don't throw up over your students and your speech is not too slurred..no harm done. Now, am I right or am I right?
Sally
- 2013-01-27
Doing a runner means breaking the contract. That alone justifies the runner being blacklisted.
Boozer Fts in China deserve being blacklisted too, despite there being too many of them here.
foxy
- 2013-01-26
A scam that should be highlighted is one to do with the term 'teaching hours' in the appendix to the main contract. Beware that if they specify 'teaching hours' that does not necessarily mean teaching periods/week in their eyes. They may try to interpret it as clock hours, in which case you'll have been scammed.
For example, if you sign up for 18 teaching hours/week, they may expect you to put in 1080 minutes of teaching/week, which, if the class time is 45 minutes/ teaching period, will work out at 24 classes/week. That's a significant difference!
Make sure to ask them what they mean by 'teaching hours' if that's in your appendix. Best to get it clarified at first. Even ask them to change the wording to avoid a subsequent dispute. Appreciate that oral promises may count for nothing in China.
But if they put 'hours of teaching' or 'hours' in the appendix, there's no doubt that it means clock/60-minute hours! So, no problem from your viewpoint!
Dragonized
- 2013-01-26
The reasons for the blacklisting are pretty vague at best. Experienced ft's know you'll meet boozers everywhere you go in china. As for borrowing the school's money I know of teachers who got an advance from the school they were working for and did a runner, but the money they asked for was not more than what they would have received had they been paid for the period of the month they had worked.
Jack
- 2013-01-26
I just dug up a thread about blacklists for China foreign teachers:
See this link:
One teacher ran off while owing his school money. Another was an alcoholic.
Sean
- 2013-01-25
I'm an old Australian trying to get into China as a foreign teacher. Hopefully the number of prime applicants for Chinese teaching posts will continue to drop as a result of the bad publicity that has been generated by posters like you. I hate being idle in my home city, Sydney. I'd like to have a bash teaching ESL English in China. I will accept a relatively low salary there as I'm recieving a superan pension. I'm sure it can bolster an average teachers' pay in China. I've been in contact with a couple of Chinese agents, but no luck so far. I'm going to contact more. I don't give up easy. Your posts have envigorated me in my job-hunting exercise. Thanks a lot for opening my eyes. I will succeed!
foxy
- 2013-01-25
Some lazy foreigners, or as we call them back home “losers”, will be quite content with low wages in China, which not surprisingly, match their career ambitions, giving credence to the old adage “We always get what we pay for.
Hi netman,
Thanks a bundle for sharing. I'll drink to that with cheap Chinese beer, which I am able to afford. Cheers, good sir!
I pasted the quote above from one of the links you have kindly provided. Why did I do so? Because I think it applies to me. Unlike the Chinese, I have no face, so I couldn't lose face. Let those back home call me a loser - that's fine with me.
Aside from some lazy foreigners who have digested your links, there will be other foreigners who are equally grateful to have been given the opportunity to read your links, but for different reasons, of course.
Dragonized
- 2013-01-25
Great read! Thanks for the info! It's very uplifting to see that the whole international teacher's community is getting fed up with how they are being treated.
Not a better example can be given on getting an almost permanent sour taste in your mouth than going somewhere advertised as exotic and friendly, therefore making you feel like you'll be treated as a guest. But then actually going there and realizing you just wasted your time dealing with a group of hostile people who are really good at disguising themselves and will do nothing but waste your time and give you a year long runaround, ignoring your pleas of help and hospitality so you can feel less lost and more at home with a basic sense of comfort.
China does not care about treating people fairly, whether or not that will have future ramifications remains to be seen. But by the looks of things it will not get any better.