I saw his blog on Shenzhen Party, which he completely lied and omitted a number of details. I didn't see the Shenzhen Stuff post until now and reading the comments on his post made my night.

I'm sitting at a Starbucks and laughing hysterically.

Here's an interesting update:

I'm sitting in a Starbucks for WiFi because our internet (which was in his wife's name) has been mysteriously disconnected even though it was paid up for 15 months. I'm not pointing fingers, buuuut... Should I call it a sheer coincidence? I guess they didn't want the video of his wife stalking my boyfriend posted online. Basically, this past Thursday his wife was waiting by the exit of the train station near our house and spotted my boyfriend. She called out to him and he told her he had nothing to say to her and that she should email him. She proceeded to follow him onto the platform... then onto the train... And THEN he jumped off the train at another stop. She continued to follow him. He hid behind a pillar and then confronted her as she was looking for him. He asked her why she was following him and she said she had a right to and that she wasn't doing anything illegal. Rightfully so, my boyfriend started getting pissed and he began recording the incident. She said she wanted leverage and wanted to know where he was working. My boyfriend started getting even angrier and demanded she stop following him. She then accused him of threatening her via email (which never happened... SHE threatened to slap ME) and the situation escalated a bit and the train security came to see what was going on. She tried to get my boyfriend to go to the police station with her (he doesn't speak Chinese) to get him arrested. He ended up going home afterward because well, who wouldn't after some creepy Chinese broad followed you, created a scene, and accused you of threatening her.

Man these people are the scum of the Earth.

NOW this Alexander guy is challenging my boyfriend to a fist fight and is trying to get out of paying him.

Man, we are dealing with some real winners here.

Just a warning, this is pretty long. I apologize in advance.

So my boyfriend and I were living and teaching in Vietnam for a year (I recommend it for those who are considering Vietnam) and we were looking for a change of venue. Apart from Vietnam. we'd previously taught in Indonesia which was fantastic as well. Both places are considered "developing" and so we thought it might be nice to go somewhere and do a little modern living, so we chose Shenzhen, China because of what my friend told us about the place. We love the city. It's a tad expensive (as expected), but close to Hong Kong and lots to do. We started our search for a job last May/June (2013) and we were in touch with a guy called Alexander. He basically painted a completely different picture of his school (as a lot of really small language centers do), so upon receiving a couple of offers, we accepted his (because we felt the most comfortable). When we arrived in July 2013, he and his wife helped us secure an apartment and get settled in (get a phone, internet set up, etc.) They were great on a personal level and he's even helped us with a few handyman-type projects around our apartment. We've expressed our gratitude on a number of occasions, but I'm finally learning that it wasn't his way of being welcoming. It's kind of a manipulative maneuver on his part to keep a sort of (guilt) grip on us because now that I've left the company, he still throws it in our faces.

Here is what you should know about his company:

#1 He refuses to use books or workbooks. Apparently "books are for lazy people". The "worksheets" he has made are poorly done and some even contain typos. They look as if a “lazy person” threw them together in under 10 minutes, to be frank. Flashcards are the only resource you have (apart from your own computer and Google). He only wants to use blackboards (because we're all still living in 1972) and he flipped out on my boyfriend on the phone because he was under the impression that he had changed his blackboards out for white boards (which he didn't. Who does that anyway? Who actually goes behind someone's back and changes out white boards. I'd like to meet this person). He threatened to fire him (when he had already given notice) without pay...

Over... a... white board... Yes, a white board. Sounds unreasonable, right? Right. Keep reading.

#2 The school sells courses to parents that he has no curriculum for. I was given the task of teaching a level three Kindergarten class with NO curriculum developed for it. I had nothing. What I was told was "OH, use what you've taught in levels 1 and 2 and just have them make sentences of 7 or more words." That's it. So the few weeks I'd been teaching it, I was forced to do lots of improvising and be really, really creative. He seems to be selling the magic bean equivalent to English courses to parents. Improvisation seems to be his answer to everything. He even had me observe a part time teacher and asked me to pay extra attention to his improvisational skills. Alexander (the owner's name) would rock up 5 minutes before a class is supposed to start and write a lesson plan on the back of an envelope or a scrap piece of paper and then he looks at you as if you have two heads if you question the "syllabus" (we'll get to that mess in a second) or the fact that there is no “curriculum” for certain levels. He lives by the old saying "do as I say, not as I do". His syllabus for older students. Oh my... it took him less than a day to develop a syllabus for THREE different levels (2 semesters in a level) and they might be the most vague, poorly written things I've seen in a long time, but he thinks he's some sort of language center genius? It's almost like working for Kanye West. I'll post them all on a blog later on. There is also no particular order to anything... no structure. You teach whatever is listed and then tick it off. We're in situations where we resort to creating our own materials and worksheets because of the lack of resources. The center I worked at hasn't had a working printer in months, so you're basically chasing people down to get your materials and he doesn't seem to care.

#3 He threw together this winter course back in January that was the worst I've seen. It actually made me laugh... a lot. The kids were basically supposed to fold paper and make "cubes" and "pyramids" and he sold it to parents as a "crafts class with English". My boyfriend and I thought that this was some sort of sad joke, but it wasn't. We actually went to Toys R Us and bought paint and supplies to put a bit of a spin on it because the kids would have been bored to tears otherwise. (the wife did reimburse us for the paint to be fair). When I made other suggestions prior to the start of the course, he shot them down and said the kids wouldn't learn anything. He seemed offended when I nicely told him his winter course outline was pretty lame. I can't imagine those kids would have learned much in a class where they were required to take a blank piece of colored paper and fold it into a cube. Oh, I forgot to mention that this course was thrown together at the last minute because he wasn't certain he'd have enough money to pay us because of Chinese New Year. He also paid us late back in Oct./Nov. last year and his contract stipulated that we should have been compensated, but nothing was ever done.

#4 He has the worst temper I've seen on a person. He got into a shouting match at the extracurricular center where center 1 (my center) is located with the parent of a child from another class. There were a number of children standing around, looking on. He appears to be the Russell Crowe of language center managers. My first night in Shenzhen, he took my boyfriend and I out to dinner and found meat in his food. He took his bowl and flung it at the kitchen staff and began shouting at them. I probably should have known better then. He constantly calls his wife (who is Chinese) and Chinese people stupid... he shouts at his staff, he and his wife openly fight in the office etc. He never shouted at me in fairness, but that was probably because he knew I wouldn't tolerate that mess. It[s safe to say that he doesn't really respect anyone and is a bit... oh... self-righteous? I really hate slapping labels on people, but he's really judgmental, disrespectful, and arrogant. During one of maybe three meetings we've ever had (I will get to that in a second) he made it a point to tell everyone that "Alexander knows best" and that we're all replaceable. When my boyfriend and I didn't have his kindergarten curriculum (we're not curriculum writers, but he delegated the task to us) done in 4 days he made it a point to tell us that he was annoyed and that we could leave if we didn't like it there. In a recent email, he also asked if we were 'retarded' because we didn't conjure up a K curriculum in the time he thought we should have.

#5 There are no weekly or even monthly meetings. I worked there for 8 months and we had maybe three meetings. A meeting is usually only ever called when a red flag is being waved (ex. the company is short on funds for the month). We got no observations, no feedback, and no support. We did manage to get one pay raise, but no observations were done. No one sat down to give us feedback on our teaching, nothing. This might be nice to some and it was nice to get a raise, but it really couldn't be accounted for. Maybe it was the fact that I'd never called in sick and I put up with everything for so long? I don't know. My boyfriend and I were given the task of creating a kindergarten curriculum (this was the first time) with these homemade Disney books that he experimented with once, but we were 3/4's done, his wife came along and said "never mind, we're going to use the old ones" (we'd been working on it for a little over a week). The communication there is atrocious. Before the beginning of Chinese New Year, he decided he wanted my boyfriend and I to work over the holiday because he wasn't sure if he'd have enough money to pay his staff. He designed (a.k.a. threw together) an "intensive Business English course" for adults staying behind in Shenzhen during the holiday. He's been living here for four years and he still hasn't figured out that most people leave during the holiday. Needless to say that no one signed up for it and it didn't happen. No one even bothered telling us until a few days before the start of Chinese New Year that it wasn't going to happen. We happened to hear in passing that it wasn't going to happen and that we'd have to take our "15 days paid holiday" during Chinese New Year. We scrambled to make arrangements because we didn't want to be stuck in Shenzhen. At that point everything was sold out or tickets were really expensive, but we lucked out and found reasonable flights to the Philippines. His wife did book the tickets on her card (because my cards didn't work for some reason), which was nice (in fairness), but of course that was thrown back in my face when I told them I wasn't a good fit for the company and wanted to leave. NOTHING there is done out of the goodness of their hearts. There is an ulterior motive for everything.

#6 He doesn't realize that people aren't mind readers. He can't take constructive criticism at all and lashes out at you if you question his actions or his “system” (if you want to call it that). I have a series of emails from him. I think my favorite was the communication he sent to our friend Neil (who posted his CV on a site called Shenzhen Party). Alexander came across it and attempted to recruit him (this was after my boyfriend gave 30 days notice). Neil was actually kind of considering his offer, but when Alexander received an email from Neil asking a few innocent questions and advising him that he and his girlfriend were thinking about moving to the center of the city, Alexander responds to his email with “I... am... unimpressed” JUST because Neil expressed interest in living in the city center. (I forgot to mention that Alexander had NO idea that we even knew Neil at the time) Apparently he has thing thing about other parts of Shenzhen and looks down on anyone who doesn't want to live in Bao'an. Sounds insane, right? But this is exactly what we're dealing with here.

#7 This bit is kind of funny, so I'll share it with you. I don't know if he's thrifty or just bored, but he makes everything and refuses to spend money on things. I once used some sort of rectangular object with a washcloth wrapped around it and secured with a rubber band. THAT, ladies and gentlemen, was my board eraser. He almost decapitated himself while trying to build stairs at a center that he probably shouldn't have opened because his other two centers were so heavily neglected. He seems to be obsessed with making money. He gave us this whole “quality or quantity” spiel during our initial communications. Needless to say, that isn't really what he believes. This all may sound like some sad joke and I seriously wish it were, but it's not. The entire 8 months I was there, I was expecting Ashton Kutcher to come out of nowhere with a camera crew because I was convinced I was being punked.

#8 After being told, via email, that we wouldn't be traveling out of Bao'an for classes, he was sending my boyfriend to Futian (45 minutes on the train) and Nanshan (35-40 minutes).I was initially told that we would only be traveling between centers, but Andy was forced to travel at least four times a week. The Futian class was actually an old private class that he used to do, but he pawned it off on Andy because he didn't want to travel there himself. Speaking of Nanshan, my boyfriend had to teach some K classes there and again, he was in a situation where there was no curriculum for it.

#9 My boyfriend gave 30 days notice and left. I didn't think it was a good idea for the both of us to hand in our notice at the same time, so I didn't put mine in yet. But before Andy (my boyfriend) left, Alexander decided to pen a letter to parents essentially saying that he sacked Andy for being unprofessional and the other guy that quit broke his leg... and that was why they didn't have teachers at center 2. This was after my boyfriend even considered finishing the semester after the center manager showed up on our doorstep begging and pleading with him. Fast forward to last week and I put in my notice, but I told them the time was negotiable. Like any reasonable person, I secured employment (apparently, I was wrong for looking for another job according to him and his wife) and I nicely told them that I wasn't happy and I wasn't a good fit. I told them that the new company wanted me to start ASAP, but they were a little flexible. I told them that I would work something out with them. They wanted me to give TWO months notice (when every other person at that company gave a month or less). They started quoting a contract that I never signed and the wife became furious when I pointed this out. I also pointed out that they, too, had been in breach of their own contract. I told them that I wasn't willing to work two more months, but I would even help them on my days off if they needed it. That wasn't good enough. Alexander proceeded to confront me and tell me that he was going to fire me anyway. Right. He had no teachers and he was having trouble finding someone to do the job. I'd had it and told Laura (his wife) that they were getting two weeks from me and nothing more. She then proceeded to ONLY offer me a ¼ of my salary for the month of March (but I was expected to finish out the two weeks she had given me) because people work for free, right? I laughed to myself as I told her 'NO' via email. I didn't go back. She then rattled on in an email that her business is suffering because of me... not because of their poorly made syllabus or the fact that they don't even have a curriculum designed for some classes... not because they don't use any textbooks or workbooks... not because there are essentially no resources... not because there is no communication in that place... not because Alexander lacks people skills... not because they both openly fight in the workplace... not because they both have NO CLUE what they're doing... but because I abruptly left their company after they decided to try to blackmail me with money that I'd already earned. They seem to thoroughly enjoy reciting the 60 day clause in their contract, (again, the one that was given to me in December after already working there for five months and never signed or returned), but they're not keen on hearing how they're in breach of their own contract.

Luckily, I was prepared for this sort of thing because I know the type of people they are and what they'll resort to when they are desperate. I also happened to Google his email address and I found out that he was trying to sell his business back in January. Back in September he was trying to solicit other unsuspecting people to partner up with him for a “franchise opportunity” and made it sound like he just worked for the company and didn't actually own a stake in it. So on top of everything else, he's a bit of a con man.

I've been doing this for awhile. I have at least 7 or 8 references from previous schools and volunteer organizations. I've NEVER... EVER walked away from a company like this. I even worked for a notoriously bad school in Haiphong, Vietnam, but even they were fair to me and gave me a good reference to boot... because I actually possess something called a work ethic and I did my job. I've never been faced with a situation like this. I had a high retention rate at this English@ place. The parents loved me. The students loved me and I enjoyed working with them, but the environment is one of the worst I've ever seen. Alexander's answer to this: “there are worse places to work”.

I'm not so sure anymore.

This company is called English@ and it's located in Bao'an (Xixiang) It's run by a French guy (who prefers to say he's British) named Alexander. (Whatever you do, don't call him Al)
His email address is Iwilldoityesterday@gmx.co.uk

His wife is Laura and her email address is 297238652@qq.com

For the love of all that is good, IF you're ever entertaining the idea of coming to Shenzhen to teach and you happen to post your resume on shenzhenparty.com and you get an email from any of the two aforementioned people... RUN... and don't look back.