I'd agree, being asked to do such things at the last minute would be very frustrating to the majority of teachers and you would have a genuine grievance as a teacher if you were asked to live and work under such circumstances.

I have experience of such situations both first and second hand but i have also experienced the positive aspects of living and working in China and that has provided me with some perspective on the situation. You bought in several examples of times when a teacher might be asked to go beyond the job they were hired to do. They are reasonable examples but i can't believe that they happen to every teacher, every week at every school. In regards "winning the argument", I'm happy to be proved wrong if you can provide me with some reasonable facts to back up your rather overzealous approach to the subject.

Doing the job that you are hired to do is not an act of "grovelling" or "appeasement".

Exactly, DOING THE JOB THAT YOU ARE HIRED TO DO. Not extra work like taking on more classes because the boss of the "school" all of a sudden has a "good" idea. It's not doing unannounced "english corners" or "demo lessons" for prospective customers/fools who believe that the company is giving a real education when there is nothing "real" about it. It's certainly NOT making the pockets of greedy Chinese bosses rich, Chinese bosses who will not see or treat you like an equal fellow human being. You might not have heard about outrageous things like having to live with one or two other foreign teachers or even having to share the apartment with your employer's family or relatives but I certainly know this to be a fact. It doesn't really sound like you've ever really had a negative experience before, in fact you just want us to calm our attitude down without giving any real basis as to why we should do it in the first place. When you argue to just win the argument instead of arguing on principle, you will be given labels and misnomers that you won't enjoy, which wounds your ego and makes you keep on coming back here.

If I ever have to do a weekend class again I will just use the DVD and CD player also. I am not a GW like yourself.

Well said sboy. That taffy GW troll would try and appease his boss. Pathetic!