What Dragonized said is true: “You have wasted a lot of peoples' time.” Now I have to spend time writing this post.

In Part 2, I mention that the conditions at EF Dalian could have affected YoungEnglishman’s work attitude and performance. I have read YoungEnglishman’s post and your posts about him. You said: “I did evaluate him through class observation (2 weeks after my arrival as a senior teacher from a different EF) and made several training recommendations to him straight away; all of which he either ignored or became defensive about. He was given a written warning and a training plan to try and help him improve, but rather than put any effort in, he continued as before which is why the decision was made to terminate his contract.”

In his post, YoungEnglishman showed he was unhappy with the conditions of your company (and the training center as well) because the company did not meet his needs and expectations. This could have affected his morale, a very important factor you had overlooked when he was at EF. His post and your comments indicate he was suffering from low morale. The work environment, the pay conditions, your attitude toward him as his immediate superior and other factors could have contributed to his low morale.

You had not explained why “he either ignored or became defensive about” your “several recommendations to him.” You could have given them in a manner that offended him. You accused him of lying in his post. I have to say this again: when you point one finger at him, three fingers point back at you. You could be blamed too for causing him to behave like that. To quote a source: “Workers feel comfortable when they work under a sympathetic caring leader in place of one who is authoritarian, dictatorial and dominating.” Most likely, he found you “authoritarian, dictatorial and dominating.” He did not mention you in the post but you did mention him and accused him of so many things. Your own posts have shown you have a hard spirit that is not conducive to dealing with such a person like YoungEnglishman. You see you even lambasted those who disagreed with you.

You said you had evaluated him through class observation. If you did it alone, your evaluation could not be considered impartial and fair. If you did it with another evaluator, you could override the views of the other evaluator, or that evaluator could be influenced by you as you have a very strong personality, and you are very strong-minded, as seen in your posts.

YoungEnglishman complained: “The salary is also low. My salary started at 8100 for the first 3 months, and then increased to 8600, however the cost of an apartment in Dalian is very expensive.” Concerning pay conditions, one source has this to say: “Employees can become disgruntled when they feel that their pay and benefits are not in line with current industry rates or are not in keeping with rising prices.” His low pay could have affected his morale. He could think in this way: “I work so hard for so little pay. Why help to fatten the pockets of the boss? They charge the students and parents very high fees but pay me so poorly.” You would be unhappy too if you were paid 100 or 200 more than YoungEnglishman for being a senior teacher.

The pay at EF is really low compared with other schools (I mean real schools – EF training centers are NOT schools) that I know of. I can honestly tell you the teachers’ pay is about two to three times higher than that of EF centers. I had worked in such schools. You are a senior teacher, and I don’t think your pay is that high. The teachers, including you, working for EF have been short-changed. I have more to say about this in a later post about “perks.” You retorted you received no perks.

You are complaining that your company is profit-oriented and said you have clashed with the management over this. I don’t believe you. The management would have dismissed you long ago for opposing their policy and clashing with them over this. If you really felt so strongly against the company’s profit-making policy, I don’t understand why you did not resign long ago. If you were really a woman of principle, you would have quit long ago. You have given the lame excuses that for the students’ sake you want to complete the courses. The centre can always find another teacher to take your classes, who - who knows – is better than you, has better rapport with the students and will not oppose the company. You are not a woman of principle, that’s all.

Working long and irregular hours had affected YoungEnglishman’s morale. He said: “The hours suck. There are two 'intensive' periods during the year (combined total 3 months) where you are required to work 6 days a week.”

EF centers are training centers, and, as such, open seven days a week all year round. Teachers usually have to teach either morning and afternoon, or afternoon and night. There are centers where some teachers have to teach seven days a week because they keep on accepting new students and there are not enough teachers to go round. In real schools, teachers work only five days a week, Mondays to Fridays, and there are no night classes. Accredited schools have only trained, certified teachers. You are not a real schoolteacher. You point one finger at Silverboy and said “you are not a ‘teacher’.” You put the word teacher in inverted commas. This is insulting and one poster has to remind you that Silverboy is a highly qualified educator – he teaches at a university and you at a training center. So you are worse than Silverboy. You are not a real schoolteacher at all in spite of your credentials that only exist, as one poster says, ON PAPER.

YoungEnglishman remarked that “the school seriously resented it when I took time off (Like when I took three days off to get married!).” You have not refuted him on this point. Training centres are not happy if a teacher takes leave because they will have a hard time finding a replacement or a relief teacher. The centre should have rejoiced with him and given him leave for such a happy occasion, and it was only for three days (he had to travel far to Outer Mongolia to meet his parents-in-law). This shows EF Dalian does not really care about the welfare of the teachers. They are inconsiderate and only interested in making profits. The teachers have been hoodwinked.

He was mercilessly kicked out of his apartment. You said it was dreadful and: “They gave him a very short time frame to leave, which was wrong considering his wife's condition.” Before that happened, did you try to help him and speak to the management not to be so hasty in evicting him as his wife was seven months pregnant? So you had no pity for him either, and your company no compassion. But you praise EF Dalian and encourage people to join your company. Who knows they may end up suffering like YounEnglishman. You cannot guarantee it will not happen.

He complained about the kids – I have more to say on this when I touch on demo classes in a later posting. You have said they sueezed students into classes, etc. I don't know whether this action and others by the management had happened to YoungEnglishman but definitely these practices would lower his morale.

I have a lot more to say but I have to stop here. I have already written a lengthy post. The bottom line is this: conditions at EF Dalian had definitely affected YoungEnglishman badly and you chose to ignore this valid point raised by Dragonized.