Very nice post, but I have to question the wisdom of it 2 months before you leave. 
I think we all do appreciate the heads up. 
[quote=“uwobacon”]
There are a ton of annoying things about the school, but probably the most annoying is how we are treated. They monitor you like a child and force you to teach a specific way. If a student doesn’t perform well somehow it’s all your fault. If you have a problem with the school and tell them about it they will just ignore you. If you really have a problem and want something to get done, be prepared to make a huge deal about it. [/quote]
this part sounds like any buxiban in Taipei 
[quote=“horo36”][quote=“uwobacon”]
There are a ton of annoying things about the school, but probably the most annoying is how we are treated. They monitor you like a child and force you to teach a specific way. If a student doesn’t perform well somehow it’s all your fault. If you have a problem with the school and tell them about it they will just ignore you. If you really have a problem and want something to get done, be prepared to make a huge deal about it. [/quote]
this part sounds like any buxiban in Taipei [/quote]
That might be true, but if we got paid the same amount as most buxibans in Taipei I would be willing to put up with a lot more. The lower pay and misleading information about bonuses make what they do that much more intolerable.
[quote=“uwobacon”]I am a 26 year old adult who happens to be a former U.S. Marine and I know what real hard work is.[/quote]Great post. Very informative and insightful.
Semper Fi.
I have to agree. You have made yourself very identifiable to anyone at the school. Can’t change it now because someone quoted you, but it is always nice to finish your contract, get your final pay and tax slip, and THEN post information that might identify yourself. Hopefully I am wrong, but if things really are a sleazy as others stated…
I work for a school that people say bad things about. I have also found myself defending it and giving an alternative view. I think it is important to hear both views and commend the 6 or so posters for speaking up both for and against the school.
Hey all… I thought I’d share what happened on my last day so that you might be more prepared than I was. I might catch some flak for posting all this information out in the open, but this information needs to be shared.
So I get my final salary statement for my last month’s work in the meeting. $2,100 NT. That’s right, for a full months work I get $2,100 NT.
Looking closer, I noticed they had taken off 4 days unpaid leave during chinese new year. I asked why, and they said that because I didn’t work a full 6 months, I wasn’t entitled to that vacation and therefore they were unpaid leave days (even though school wasn’t open then anyways, and it’s a government holiday). I ran the numbers and I, of course, been there 6 months an a few days. My contract started Sept. 1, and they tried to get me to sign something saying my last day was Feb. 27th, thus putting me one day short.
I told them about the days I worked before Sept. 1 and all this, and they went to discuss it. I took the paper saying my last day was on the 27th, ready to rip it up if they said no. They finally agreed and made me a new salary sheet where I now got ~$12,300 NT.
As if that wasn’t bad enough: I take it home and after a little thinking, I realize they probably did some weird hijinks on the taxes. So I took a calculator to it and they did in fact screw me over. They took out my half-month’s salary AFTER TAXES. [they took out the half-month pay for breaking contract, which I’m aware is illegal, but I foolishly agreed to it in my contract severely limiting my legal options] So I paid taxes on the half-month salary I didn’t get. The difference is $5,300 NT (~$150 US). Which as we know the school mostly pockets anyway because they are actively committing tax fraud by underreporting our income to the government… so more profit for them.
I went back to the school and talked to someone about it. She didn’t understand because it involved basic math. When she finally got most of it (after about 20 minutes explaining) and explained it to someone else there, they said the half-month was taken out after taxes because “it’s money for the school, so it’s different”
…which i said was wrong, because this is my income statement and it has nothing to do with the school. I don’t pay taxes on money that I don’t get. It’s as simple as that.
so I kept arguing and arguing and eventually she told me to send an email to the head foreign teacher. I said he doesn’t know crap about Taiwanese taxation laws. She looked me in the eye and told me “he will know.” I called her a liar, in those words, because no. He will not know.
I asked if the school owner was there, and she said no. So I was on my way out, very pissed, then I just decided to go to his office anyways and his wife, who is equally involved in the business was there. I explained it to her, and she got it right away… made a few phone calls, then went through the calculations just as I did, came up with the same numbers, and told them to pay me the money.
I went back to the office to get the money, and they were there, I told them I should get the money. They just say “oh”. After all this crap. They don’t say “sorry” or anything.
My hands were shaking and my head was pounding, I wanted to punch the one lady in the face. I just start going off on them while I’m waiting for the other lady to make the new balance sheet. I told them all these things, verbatim:
“you cheated me out of money twice? that’s completely despicable!” (I laugh discouragingly, and they laugh along like idiots)
“How can you look yourselves in the mirror. Seriously? What you’re doing is dishonest and you lie constantly. You’re always trying to steal money from us. I don’t know how you live with yourselves.”
They said “sometimes we make mistakes and teachers have to catch them”
and I said “oh so you lie and lie and then sometimes you get caught and sometimes you don’t. More money for Uncle Sam, right?”
I was shaking my head back and fourth the whole time, looking them right in the eyes.
Then I got my money, waved it infront of them and said “bye! have fun ripping off other foreigners!” as I walked out the door.
I would like to note that this is far from the first time they’ve tried things like this. And usually, I don’t get the money. There was also the issue of the incentive, which I did not get. No month-salary bonus for chinese new year like most schools get. Deductions for sick days, even though we’re paid on salary and not per hour. These are a few of the things I have let slide. There’s so much more crap. I have discovered entirely new levels of anger within myself that I never even thought existed.
Uncle Sam American School. If I believed in hell, they would certainly be headed there. I hope someday a few of them wake up out of their clouded mental retardation and realize what exactly they’re doing and then have the moral fortitude to step away from it and do something that isn’t reprehensible.
If you have any sense in your head, avoid working at this school. It’s the absolute worst place to work and they WILL screw you over and back-stab you at every opportunity they get. Be prepared for hours of tense arguments just to get what you were promised originally… if you can even manage that. The school is organized to extract money and put it in the owner’s pocket (the owner of the chain of Uncle Sam American School). It doesn’t exist to make teachers happy, or to most importantly teach students. It only wishes to placate the parents in to sinking more money in to the school so the owner can buy a leather interior in his $100k US BMW. No one in the administration cares about anything except themselves and the money they can make.
And I’m not a lone case here. The foreign teachers nearly unanimously agree on the conditions. If you’re considering this school, please don’t. Unless you want to learn some very hard lessons about just how scummy the business world of Taiwan can really be.
There’s another thread on this school, with not much good to say. You seem to be corroborating a lot of what they say.
Good luck in the future.
Exhale. It’s over. You walked out. In less than six monts. You are safe, healthy, have some money and don’t waste another minute of your life on the bad experience.
What’s the Chinese name of this school? Do they have a website?
No WAY! NO WAY! I don’t believe this! :roflmao:
No WAY! NO WAY! I don’t believe this! :roflmao:[/quote]
Missed that. Was that your first EFL teaching job?
I know a few of those pitfalls are par for the course, and that’s fine. I just wanted to illustrate they were running the full gamut. I know the guy should be trying to make a profit because it’s a business afteall, but he shouldn’t be stepping on hundreds of people to squeeze out every last dollar possible. It was my first ESL teaching job and I was naive going in to it, sure. I still think that if the students want to be taught effectively, the teachers need to be happy. Happy teachers make for happy students, and happy students learn and behave much better.
[quote=“Northcoast Surfer”][quote=“uwobacon”]I am a 26 year old adult who happens to be a former U.S. Marine and I know what real hard work is.[/quote]Great post. Very informative and insightful.
Semper Fi.
[/quote]
Oohrah Northcoast Surfer
In hindsight, it probably would have been better not to say anything until I left or wait for the people who leave to say something. But honestly I was being nice with the things I said and I could say/do a lot worse.
Don’t hold your breath.
You wrote that this was your first EFL job and that you were naive going in. I say this with all the best intentions: get used to it. It’s the norm here. You will be hard pressed to find an establishment that isn’t trying to squeeze out every last dollar or who gives a crap about whether or not teachers are happy. That has been my experience at every cram school I’ve interacted with, and sadly, even at the private jr/sr high where I spent 4 years. While I admire anyone who wants to change things for the better, in this environment, barring starting your own business, you will lose. They’ve been playing this game far longer than any of us. Know the tricks, know the pitfalls, watch your back, maintain your integrity but you’ll burn out trying to change the system.
Not the impression I get at all. My take is that they’re generally not terribly interested as it would be a great deal of work, and such people simply know how to work the system to their advantage. From reading these threads, I’ve come to realize that the kinds of complaints, ripoffs, etc., are almost exclusively among relative newbie teachers.
The ones who’ve been here a while and know the ropes don’t seem to have nearly so many problems.
[quote=“HooknSinker”] Gonna be teaching English for a while longer I’ll bet …[/quote] What do you mean?
Wow this thread has exploded since I last visited it.
I guess, for my case, it all comes down to a difference in perspective. For literally five years (2003-2008), I read countless websites, forums, blogs, etc. before I ever set foot living abroad.
I also have friends who have been teaching ESL for many years, and I took a TESL course prior to arriving in Taiwan. My TESL instructor worked in both Taiwan and Japan for several years, for several different schools and relayed to us his experiences.
So when I got a job working in Taiwan, I think I had a fairly realistic idea of what to expect. There are things that seem to surprise other teachers there that don’t surprise me because I’ve read or heard about them before. Of course, that’s not to say that there isn’t room for improvement. But some of the other teachers assume that most other schools are much better, whereas my own reading suggests that most other schools are the same or worse (sometimes much worse).
Recently a friend of one of the existing teachers has come to work for Uncle Sam.
UWOBacon-> Sorry for the offensive post, I meant no disrespect.
We’ve all worked for bad schools, and could share stories… move on, get trained up, experience under ur belt, then get a job with a decent school.
Not to minimize the obvious cheating this school did on your pay, these couple things you mention here are not very common at any cram school I’ve had any connection with in the past 5 years. Most cram schools I know of pay per class hour… period. No pay for sick days, vacation days or national holidays.