Have to ask: why do people come to Taiwan to be teachers?

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
21

[quote=“sandman”][quote=“Isha”][quote=“tomthorne”]
Why do you find it (v.) odd? If you can tell me that then I can answer your question more easily. [/quote]
In my experience earning professional degrees is a great deal of hard work and one do it because they have an aim or something they want to achieve or at least get a good position in related field. That’s where my question comes in.[/quote]
So exactly WHAT is your area of expertise? And why are you here in Taiwan making monkey wages (less than NT$200k per month is monkey wages in my book, and TRUST me, if you put Taiwan on your resume, no matter WHICH job you’re in, you’re getting a “buggered off to the sun when he could have been contributing to society” note) when you could be in wherever else making MUCH better coin? Me, I came for a laugh. Here I am, 25 years on, STILL having a laugh and making NICE dosh, house, summer house, Holidays in the sun, cars, bikes, the lot. SaWEEEET!
Sure, my mates ask me back home what the hell I’m doing out there in the third world. I just buy them a pint (they can’t afford more than two, generally) and say: “Livin’ large, my friend. Livin’ LARGE!”)[/quote]
Sandman you have 30 years of experience okay?? I am assuming the missus earns a bit too for like what 20 years AT Least??? Why are you snickering at the OP? It’s not like you Buxibanned your way into two houses. I am assuming you never sat down in a classoom and did M-A-T Mat! Truth be told, it is a valid question, teachers don’t earn much in TW and working in a cram school doesn’t really give you back much (monetarily). It gives you enough to earn and laze out, but that’s that. You have to have a wifey with a solid income, or atleast she has to be the kind who slogs her arse off at work AND takes care of the kids and the home for most people to make ends meet and provide stability coz buxibanning is not a very reliable source of livelihood. Nothing wrong with that set up either, but the OP is right, there are some people you see, who have the bestest of degrees, are bloody talented, absolutely nice people, miserable in a big Buxiban, depressed by the weather and still stay on. What is the lure??

What is the lure for a 30 sth. teacher, to come and teach in TW, stay in crappy rented places (coz most places that are rented are crappy), eat food that they hate, teach children they find spoilt and bored, What?? Why??

So they don’t have schools in their own countries to teach at? :unamused: I am sure for a geography graduate, doing another year of teacher’s training is easier than migrating to TW.

22

Yeah. Bit more than 30. But at the end of the day I’m still just having a laugh, basically. Its why I’m still here.

23

Yeah. Bit more than 30. But at the end of the day I’m still just having a laugh, basically. Its why I’m still here.[/quote]
But you are not in a bUxiban :laughing:

24

People come to Taiwan to be teachers in buxibans because you can live in an exotic place and make a good living (including a salary double what the non-foreigners at your buxiban make) without jack $hit for qualifications other than having the right passport and any university degree at all. Yes, some people try to make buxiban teaching more than it is, and some even succeed in doing a bit better for the students. :thumbsup: But the lowest common denominator is the sticky-ball show and the replaceable foreign face.

This is obviously excluding those who have some other obvious reason for going to Taiwan in the first place (Chinese study, family ties, whatever).

25

[quote=“divea”]Nothing wrong with that set up either, but the OP is right, there are some people you see, who have the bestest of degrees, are bloody talented, absolutely nice people, miserable in a big Buxiban, depressed by the weather and still stay on. What is the lure??
[/quote]

Perhaps it’s even worse back home. Honestly, do you believe Europe is out of the woods yet with its debt crisis (and not to mention unemployment to the hilt). America ain’t all that rosy either. And Canada…oh man…don’t get me started on that socialist place.

There are furnished apts that are nice for under $10k NT/mo. You just have to look hard.

And I suppose British food are that much better?

Can’t disagree with that.

The same answer on why guys go clubbing (yeah…to learn a new dance move :loco: ).

26

Nice furnished apt in Taipei for 10k, are you kidding me?

But outside Taipei, you can find an okay place for 10k+, but again, not nice.

The reasons why somebody moves to a place and the reason they stay are often different. It’s pretty obvious than many people are in relationships here and made some type of life for themselves, so going ‘home’ is hardly clear cut.

27

[quote=“headhonchoII”]Nice furnished apt in Taipei for 10k, are you kidding me?

But outside Taipei, you can find an okay place for 10k+, but again, not nice.

The reasons why somebody moves to a place and the reason they stay are often different. It’s pretty obvious than many people are in relationships here and made some type of life for themselves, so going ‘home’ is hardly clear cut.[/quote]

Ok, maybe I should have used the word ‘studio’ instead of ‘apt’. I didn’t exactly spell out the square footage (ping) either.

Happy?

28

[quote=“Isha”]Hi,

I am curious, why do, after having professional education from excellent Universities, people come to Taiwan for being teachers? What it is that attracts so much about this place that these young grads leave their whole expertise/education behind to teach here?

I would like to clear that I am not trying to offend the teachers or telling that the profession is bad. I am just curious about the career choice they make, which I find (v.) odd.

Thanks.[/quote]

I think you also have to ask if we are American and if we can use chopsticks. Sorry couldn’t resist. No offense intended just feeling snarky.

29

I doubt if many well qualified people come here for the purpose of teaching above all other purposes. I would think they mostly come here for the adventure of living somewhere different, to learn Chinese, beckoned by the siren lure of the ladies, and other such reasons. The teaching is readily available, so that’s what they do. They find that it provides them with a comfortable living while leaving them with plenty of free time to pursue their other purposes or simply to enjoy a balanced, relaxing and carefree life, so they stay. Some even find the teaching a source of great pleasure in itself, and a far better way to make a living than pursuing a career in the backbiting stress-filled rat-race environment they’d probably have to work in if they stayed in their home country.

That’s pretty much how it was in my case. I’d got started on a good career in the law in England. I was itching for a bit of travel and adventure, something different from what I’d grown up with, could see all around me, and would be my all-but-inevitable lot for the rest of my days if I stayed put. I was spending a lot of my spare time learning Chinese, which I absolutely loved. And I had a yen for those lithe and luscious ladies from the Orient. So it made sense for me to take some time off and head for Taiwan, primarily and ostensibly to master a precious language skill, but actually for a whole lot more.

I got into the teaching because it was there, and found myself really enjoying the adult classes (though dealing with the kiddies wasn’t for me). Living here was full of interesting and fun things to see and do. There was an endless supply of attractive and congenial young women eager to make friends with me, and life was pretty good in most respects. I didn’t like the urban environment, but once I’d found a good place to live up in the hills, and was able to spend several hours each day out hiking and swimming in the beautiful and peaceful wilderness, I was almost completely content with my lot here. How could life as a lawyer in London have been any better, for all of its financial and other rewards?

Finally, as happens to most long-termers here, an opportunity came along to do something more lucrative than teaching while still keeping a very nice balance between work and other pursuits. That absolutely sealed it, the last essential element needed to anchor me here for good.

So there it is: From a promising career path at home, to a pleasant and stimulating life in which I earned my bacon by teaching English, to having all the key parts of my life – including the bread and butter provision – in as fine a shape and form as I could ever reasonably ask for. A very typical story for us long-stayers, I’d say.

30

I know I complain endlessly about the education system here, but this is what I will say in its favour. Essentially, the average teacher here is a lot less stressed than in the West. I have a decent amount of time on my hands, both at school and outside of school, and I can save more than I could in Australia.

If I were working in an Australian school, I’d have one free period per day, but I’d spend all of that time (plus before and after school, and also at recess and lunch, and if I were even remotely conscientious, also outside of school) doing any and all of the following: preparing for classes, marking student work, writing reports, communicating with parents, jumping through stupid administrative hoops, doing yard duty or bus duty, chasing kids for misbehaviour, holding detentions, and a whole lot more.

In all but the very best schools, I’d have mostly extremely slack students (I have them here too, of course), and they’d be quite feral into the bargain (even my most feral students here are nothing like those in Australia). The parents would also be feral. Several of my colleagues, and probably at least one of the assistant principals, would also be feral. Everyone would be making excuses for why little Jayden or Kaylee was a feral little fuck.

Here in Taiwan, there’s chabuduo. In Australia, it’s political correctness or professional development workshops on “diversity” or “sensitivity training”, basically, a whole lot of touchy-feely crap, but it’s actually used as a political tool for office politics and so on. Chabuduo is annoying, but it’s nowhere near as insidious as the political correctness and cultural wars taking place in Australian education.

I’d get all of that for the great bargain of an average income in Australia. Then, the Australian government would tax the shit out of me, and I’d also have to contend with an extremely high cost of living. So, I’d be lucky if I could save much at all.

No thanks.

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And if I were a professional teacher, I’d gladly swap what Guy’s got here for what he’d have as a teacher back home or in most other Western countries.

Guy’s post should be put up and highlighted on all international teacher recruitment boards. Maybe the Ministry of Education could even swallow national pride and use it to help recruit teachers from the West.

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Omni: At some point in the future (whether I am still teaching here or have stopped doing that), I may very well try to get into recruitment of foreign teachers. However, I just think that what I would suggest would be too radical for these guys here. I do think a lot of that is because they just couldn’t swallow their pride. I could be saying, “Country X is doing this, and Country Y has been doing this for four years, and they’ve both radically increased their recruitment and retention rates” and I don’t think it would make much difference.

I think there are some major problems with recruiting foreign teachers here. I am in a different set of circumstances because I have essentially turned my back on the West (for both positive and negative reasons). However, the average foreign teacher simply won’t ever do that. Coming over here to teach is really unattractive for a lot of people simply because it’s not in their long term plans to live in Taiwan. As such, to some extent, they get people from the following three groups of teachers: people who have basically retired in the West (so they might be getting a pension already) and can extend their working life a little longer here (because it’s an easier job and they can live well here between that income and their pension or investments), people with family connections here, and people looking for a break or adventure for a couple of years maximum.

The trouble with that model is two-fold though. Firstly, it doesn’t necessarily attract the best teachers, secondly, it doesn’t really do anything with them/for them professionally. The average person coming over here and getting placed out in Jiayi County is going to spend the first year or two just getting his head around this place, doubly so if he has absolutely no background in teaching EFL and/or teaching elementary school students. The government must be getting really poor returns from those guys. However, there’s nothing really done to really nurture those teachers who have overcome their culture shock and can fend for themselves. Surely, it’s better to retain (and continue to improve) one teacher than to have to find a new one and bring him up to speed. Isn’t this basic good sense in a business? The best customer or employee you can get is the one you already have.

Other countries take a long-term view of this. The contracts have good benefits, but more than that, they are two years long, and they undertake serious measures to make it a career. They realise that getting someone to leave where they’re from (and their family, all the things they’re used to, etc.) for one or two years is easy. To get them to do it for six, eight or ten years is another thing entirely (especially if they’re not married, and won’t ever marry, a local). There’s ongoing professional development and a real career path (you can become a trainer or reach some position of authority). None of that happens here. In Taidong County this year, as far as I know, there’s only been one professional development day, and that was the one I had to organise. Professionally, it’s a dead end. As such, anyone with any ambition leaves after one or two years precisely because they know that not only will they not advance here, but it will start to hurt any possible advancement back home. For those who stay, it does become an easy ride, but it becomes too easy a ride in my opinion. I’ve tried to advance myself here, but there are real disincentives for doing so. I’m largely faced with frustrating myself or phoning it in, yet I could probably get away with phoning it in very easily. Surely, relying upon people to be conscientious (especially over the long-term when constantly faced with frustrations) is very dicey. People respond to incentives. Where are the incentives? Now I am putting my ambitions into other things, and I have a fairly feasible medium-term plan to just get out of the profession entirely.

I mean, to be honest, I don’t recall the MOE ever even asking me what I like or dislike in my job, how I could improve my effectiveness as a teacher, how my life could be improved here, how they could keep me here, etc. They’re just hoping that I (and everyone else) will stay.

33

[quote=“Omniloquacious”]
So there it is: From a promising career path at home, to a pleasant and stimulating life in which I earned my bacon by teaching English, to having all the key parts of my life – including the bread and butter provision – in as fine a shape and form as I could ever reasonably ask for. A very typical story for us long-stayers, I’d say.[/quote]

Now you’ll just have to figure out a way to get the hell outta 林口. :laughing: :smiley:

34

[quote=“bigduke6”]There are a million different answers to your question.

I had a well paying, senior position back home, in a large company, with all the perks. However, it played havoc with my family life and personal life.

I was overseas for 2 weeks every month, going to multiple countries, staying in great hotels. All my mates used to tell me what a great job I had, especially during the economic downturn. I am highly specialized and experienced in my field. Even with the huge layoffs companies were going through, I was bulletproof.
People thought I was insane to resign and come to Taiwan with my wife and teach English (I still dabble a bit in my industry).

For me it was a lifestyle choice. I was constantly tired and stressed out. I used to suck down pills to make me sleep, and then suck down a few more to wake me up.
I had no personal life, or time to do the things I enjoy as I was basically working seven days a week. On the weekends and evenings the Blackberry did not stop beeping, and I was expected to answer due to my position. It was f*%ked.

Now, I work 2 hours in the AM, come home have lunch, walk the dogs, do another 2 hours in the afternoon, come home and chill for a few hours, and then go do a few hours work in the evening.
I have weekends free, can spend time with my wife, do my outdoor hobbies on the weekend, chill at home in front of the TV at night, read books. Stress level is down to zero now.

Sure, I make a fraction of what I did at home, but to me it is worth it.

Well, thats my reason. I am sure others have plenty different ones.[/quote]

bigduke, your story reads like mine… I thought I was alone feeling that way.

I am leaving a senior position in Canada as well, I am putting in my notice next week for the exact same reasons as you.

Everyone says the same thing, that I should be glad I have a job in this economy and I am crazy to consider leaving it. But I also realize now that the job completely messed up my health, and no amount of money in the world is worth that.

35

[quote=“dan2006”][quote=“bigduke6”]There are a million different answers to your question.

I had a well paying, senior position back home, in a large company, with all the perks. However, it played havoc with my family life and personal life.

I was overseas for 2 weeks every month, going to multiple countries, staying in great hotels. All my mates used to tell me what a great job I had, especially during the economic downturn. I am highly specialized and experienced in my field. Even with the huge layoffs companies were going through, I was bulletproof.
People thought I was insane to resign and come to Taiwan with my wife and teach English (I still dabble a bit in my industry).

For me it was a lifestyle choice. I was constantly tired and stressed out. I used to suck down pills to make me sleep, and then suck down a few more to wake me up.
I had no personal life, or time to do the things I enjoy as I was basically working seven days a week. On the weekends and evenings the Blackberry did not stop beeping, and I was expected to answer due to my position. It was f*%ked.

Now, I work 2 hours in the AM, come home have lunch, walk the dogs, do another 2 hours in the afternoon, come home and chill for a few hours, and then go do a few hours work in the evening.
I have weekends free, can spend time with my wife, do my outdoor hobbies on the weekend, chill at home in front of the TV at night, read books. Stress level is down to zero now.

Sure, I make a fraction of what I did at home, but to me it is worth it.

Well, thats my reason. I am sure others have plenty different ones.[/quote]

bigduke, your story reads like mine… I thought I was alone feeling that way.

I am leaving a senior position in Canada as well, I am putting in my notice next week for the exact same reasons as you.

Everyone says the same thing, that I should be glad I have a job in this economy and I am crazy to consider leaving it. But I also realize now that the job completely messed up my health, and no amount of money in the world is worth that.[/quote]

There are more people than you think with the exact same story. Once you get over caring what other people think, it’s gravy.

I am still in touch with my old company.

The guy that took over from me burnt out totally in less than 2 years, and they have asked me on a few occasions to come back, with a really attractive package. Not a chance.

I value what little sanity I have above all else.

I see my mates back home sweating to make their payments every month for cars, houses etc. And these are guys that are earning decent money.

When I went back home for a visit after 2 years, these guys looked like they had aged 10 years. No joke, I did not recognize a few. No thanks.

36

Excellent analysis, Guy. If only someone in a high position at the MoE could read it and take it in. If the government truly wanted to do the best it could for its schoolchildren through the recruitment, placement, retention and development of high-quality foreign English teachers, it could hardly do better than employing you as an advisor on designing a complete and effective set of mechanisms for doing so, incorporating much of what you’ve described here.

[quote=“PigBloodCake”][quote=“Omniloquacious”]
So there it is: From a promising career path at home, to a pleasant and stimulating life in which I earned my bacon by teaching English, to having all the key parts of my life – including the bread and butter provision – in as fine a shape and form as I could ever reasonably ask for. A very typical story for us long-stayers, I’d say.[/quote]

Now you’ll just have to figure out a way to get the hell outta 林口. :laughing: :smiley:[/quote]

Oh yes, coming to live in Linkou is by far the worst thing that’s happened to me since I arrived in Taiwan. It has severely diminished the sum of positives that I get out of living in Taiwan. If only I can move away from here soon and get my life back to more or less how it was before, all will be right and well again.

37

It depends on your setup. Obviously it’s an ideal situation to come here with money in the bank as costs and taxes are much lower in general, but it’s not so easy to get a big income unless you have your own business or take another nose to the grindstone job.
I am in a similar situation now but if I gave up my job it will take me 2-3 times the amount of time to save the cash than a more easygoing option. My health does suffer from the stress and travel. International travel is hard on the body, I almost always come home with a cold or indigestion or something!
The main problem is the stress on my brain due to the various and complex activities I must plan and coordinate and report on. I read a report about brain aging a few months ago and I can really believe it. I believe english teaching is a lot less stressing on the brain and this is it’s inherent attraction. It can be tiring but not so much mentally tiring. It is not very complex and you mainly get in, do your thing and get out.

Being away from family can be okay for short trips but more than a week and I start to really feel it. This is also something English teachers don’t have to do.

A lot of people with well paying jobs make the mistake by overloading on debt and buying the best house that they can afford and sending their kids to the best schools and basically nail themselves down for the rest of their lives. They will have to suck up the crap from their boorish managers and the corporate reporting treadmill. To be honest it suits the wives and the kids in some manner but if the father is being run into the ground it’s not going to end well.

Taiwan is a good place to try out some alternative businesses I think, although it can take almost all your time running a biz it should be more fulfilling. I am gong to drop out of the corporate race aswell to try my own thing once I’ve saved a bit more.

38

[quote=“bigduke6”][quote=“dan2006”][quote=“bigduke6”]There are a million different answers to your question.

I had a well paying, senior position back home, in a large company, with all the perks. However, it played havoc with my family life and personal life.

I was overseas for 2 weeks every month, going to multiple countries, staying in great hotels. All my mates used to tell me what a great job I had, especially during the economic downturn. I am highly specialized and experienced in my field. Even with the huge layoffs companies were going through, I was bulletproof.
People thought I was insane to resign and come to Taiwan with my wife and teach English (I still dabble a bit in my industry).

For me it was a lifestyle choice. I was constantly tired and stressed out. I used to suck down pills to make me sleep, and then suck down a few more to wake me up.
I had no personal life, or time to do the things I enjoy as I was basically working seven days a week. On the weekends and evenings the Blackberry did not stop beeping, and I was expected to answer due to my position. It was f*%ked.

Now, I work 2 hours in the AM, come home have lunch, walk the dogs, do another 2 hours in the afternoon, come home and chill for a few hours, and then go do a few hours work in the evening.
I have weekends free, can spend time with my wife, do my outdoor hobbies on the weekend, chill at home in front of the TV at night, read books. Stress level is down to zero now.

Sure, I make a fraction of what I did at home, but to me it is worth it.

Well, thats my reason. I am sure others have plenty different ones.[/quote]

bigduke, your story reads like mine… I thought I was alone feeling that way.

I am leaving a senior position in Canada as well, I am putting in my notice next week for the exact same reasons as you.

Everyone says the same thing, that I should be glad I have a job in this economy and I am crazy to consider leaving it. But I also realize now that the job completely messed up my health, and no amount of money in the world is worth that.[/quote]

There are more people than you think with the exact same story. Once you get over caring what other people think, it’s gravy.

I am still in touch with my old company.

The guy that took over from me burnt out totally in less than 2 years, and they have asked me on a few occasions to come back, with a really attractive package. Not a chance.

I value what little sanity I have above all else.

I see my mates back home sweating to make their payments every month for cars, houses etc. And these are guys that are earning decent money.

When I went back home for a visit after 2 years, these guys looked like they had aged 10 years. No joke, I did not recognize a few. No thanks.[/quote]

I think what happened with me is I questioned if I could do the same job, day in and day out, with all the stress it entails forever and the answer was no.

Also, about your comment on payments, we just got our bonus at my company recently, and mostly everyone said they were using it to pay off visa and mortgage bills so it seems that a lot of people are in over their heads. Whereas in Kaohsiung, I didn’t need some expensive cottage up north, I could simply go to the mountains and go climbing for a day, or to Taidong to swim etc, which was all free. What’s not to love eh?

39

Omni: You don’t have any friends or contacts in the MOE do you? :smiley:

What’s stopping you from leaving Linkou, other than selling your place there (probably a big one, I admit, though you could potentially rent that place out and rent elsewhere)? Do you need to be in/near Taipei for work, or could you live elsewhere and work from there? What about your wife?

HH: People live the lifestyle, and that’s what interests me. Someone earlier in this thread, I think bigduke (so this is also addressed to him), said he was earning more in Canada, but also spending more. What exactly is it that makes big earners spend more? I’ve noticed this a lot too. I have two theories. One is keeping up with the Joneses and the other is stress relief. Yet from the little I know about this topic, the benefits in terms of happiness of spending money on stuff are very short-lived (it’s called the hedonic treadmill). I wonder to what degree, if at all, it’s possible to earn a lot of money in a very stressful job, but not feel compelled to spend a lot of it. Because it would seem that if someone could do that, then they could probably have a plan to get out of whatever they were doing and into something else within five to ten years.

When I was in Turkey in 2003, I met a British couple who would have been perhaps mid to late thirties and had two kids about eight and five years old, respectively. The husband had previously been in finance and had made a lot of money. I don’t know about the wife. He quit his job and they moved to Turkey. They were running a business doing tours on their yacht around the Mediterranean and Aegean. They seemed pretty satisfied with the switch. Obviously, they would have needed a fair bit of seed capital for that business, but I’m guessing they were probably pretty frugal for five or ten years beforehand. They were over that hump though. It’s all about getting over that hump, and then things really take off.

40

[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]Omni: You don’t have any friends or contacts in the MOE do you? :smiley:

What’s stopping you from leaving Linkou, other than selling your place there (probably a big one, I admit, though you could potentially rent that place out and rent elsewhere)? Do you need to be in/near Taipei for work, or could you live elsewhere and work from there? What about your wife?

HH: People live the lifestyle, and that’s what interests me. Someone earlier in this thread, I think bigduke (so this is also addressed to him), said he was earning more in Canada, but also spending more. What exactly is it that makes big earners spend more? I’ve noticed this a lot too. I have two theories. One is keeping up with the Joneses and the other is stress relief. Yet from the little I know about this topic, the benefits in terms of happiness of spending money on stuff are very short-lived (it’s called the hedonic treadmill). I wonder to what degree, if at all, it’s possible to earn a lot of money in a very stressful job, but not feel compelled to spend a lot of it. Because it would seem that if someone could do that, then they could probably have a plan to get out of whatever they were doing and into something else within five to ten years.

When I was in Turkey in 2003, I met a British couple who would have been perhaps mid to late thirties and had two kids about eight and five years old, respectively. The husband had previously been in finance and had made a lot of money. I don’t know about the wife. He quit his job and they moved to Turkey. They were running a business doing tours on their yacht around the Mediterranean and Aegean. They seemed pretty satisfied with the switch. Obviously, they would have needed a fair bit of seed capital for that business, but I’m guessing they were probably pretty frugal for five or ten years beforehand. They were over that hump though. It’s all about getting over that hump, and then things really take off.[/quote]

With hindsight is is easy to earn a decent amount and save a lot.
However, you are right when you say stress relief, but I would not really say keeping up with the J’s.

I will admit it did feel good to basically buy what you want without really worrying about the price (within reason). I am not talking about mansions or yachts. Maybe a nice watch, nice clothes etc. Retail therapy is a lot cheaper than seeing a shrink where I come from.

Regarding the Joneses, it is more about peoples expectations of you. Especially on the work front. If you are in a senior position, you cannot really rock up to work in a car cheaper than your subordinates. This might sound a bit snobbish/shallow, but things like this are “important” in many business environments.

If you got a space in the front parking lot next to the entrance you need a nice car to fill it. What would customers think when they see, Merc, BMW, Lexus, Jag,Toyota Corolla? This might sound ridiculous, bit it is indeed the truth. Image is often as important as knowledge.

Nothing a mother likes more than telling her friends her son just got himself an expensive car and got her an Omega for mothers day. Yes, I know. Shallow and stupid, yet the way of the world.
Going to expensive restaurants with the wife a few times a week and suchlike, also eats away at the $$$$.

Yes, I probably sound like a right tosser in this post. But, hey! I call it like I see it.