Good luck Housecat!
I think you should take Ironlady up on her offer for help. Having someone fluent in English and Chinese at your side is extremely valuable at this stage.
Good vibes goin’ your way.
I agree. You need a champion, and one who can kick ass. Ironlady’s as good as they come.
Chatting with the Lady of IRON now.
Damn I only just heard about this. Hope you and the Ironlady kick some arse.
Hope it works out. All the best.
[quote=“ironlady”]Housecat:
I am in Kaohsiung. Let’s go have a little chat with the guy at the labor office, and HIS boss, and HIS boss, and so on. I have nothing I need to do until Monday morning, and they have now pissed me off.
We can also talk sense to the school if you like.[/quote]
I’m looking forward to hearing how this pans out.
Hi ho
Hi ho
It’s up the food chain we go.
housecat… i’m sorry to hear about this situation… i hope that clear heads will prevail and you and Iron Lady can sort out this incompetent labor board rep and get a decent resolution from your school… good luck with everything!!
Please… I’d love to watch how this turns out. Housecat, sorry to hear what happened. As madman mentioned, the job market is terrible and I think we both know just how bad it is in kaohsiung. I hope things work out for you.
Okay, here’s what happened on Day 1.
housecat and I fronted up to the CLA office, conveniently located near the KRT stop. Went directly to the fourth floor and asked for “Tony”. Felt rather like we were asking for admission to an illegal speakeasy.
“Tony” turned out to be known to the cubicle residents in the first office we barged into. Someone took us to him. He came out, looking somewhat harried, and escorted us to a weird little sitting area at the end of the hall.
We wanted to ask the theoretical questions about insurance coverage and the like before getting into the meat of our visit: why precisely “Tony” thought it was a good idea to call the school and inform them that housecat was “going to quit” when she had never told him that and had no idea he was going to call in the first place.
When matters got around to the first round of questions, “Tony” called in reinforcements. Ms. Yang, however, seemed more amused at Tony’s antics than willing to take his side against the foreigner menace. Tony made the mistake of trying to shout me down. Twice. He didn’t try for three. Then he played the Taiwanese card. Gave that up pretty quickly too.
After “Tony” left the meeting (having been strongly “suggested” that since another office was now taking on this matter, we didn’t want to waste his valuable time) it was suggested rather plainly to the remaining rep that the CLA would need to take at least partial responsibility for this firing as without Tony’s phone call as proximal cause, the teacher would never have been discharged. Documents that housecat has supports this claim as well. Ms Yang seems both competent and helpful.
In the end, we now have assurances that a) a formal complaint has been filed, and the school will have to show up and do some 'splainin; b) there are several points in the original contract and the school’s actions since then that are questionable based on ROC law and regulations; c) “Tony” will not be involved in any of this, particularly as an interpreter; and d) there is a way for housecat to continue her insurance coverage as long as she is in the ROC.
So, stay tuned for part 2. Probably not for a week or two, though. 
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I nominate Ironlady for sainthood.
Now, we just need some more miracles.
Perhaps one of you has witnessed our lady of iron performing a card trick or some sleight of hand?
Well done Ironlady! Well done. 
“Tony” may poop diamonds for a week. Ironlady was amazing–and she was obviously enjoying herself! I can’t express my gratitude strongly enough!!
I’m just disappointed we can’t go to the school and have a little chat with the principal as well. But that wouldn’t be politic to achieve the ultimate goal.
housecat is handling the whole thing very intelligently and strategically. And, I may add, without doing nearly as much shouting and cursing as I would be doing in the same situation.
[quote=“ironlady”]I’m just disappointed we can’t go to the school and have a little chat with the principal as well. But that wouldn’t be politic to achieve the ultimate goal.
housecat is handling the whole thing very intelligently and strategically. And, I may add, without doing nearly as much shouting and cursing as I would be doing in the same situation. [/quote]
Who needs a lawyer when you’ve got Ironlady in your corner, kicking ass and taking names in a way that can’t be resisted? :bravo:
I’m so glad I got to meet you the other night at the GG HH, because otherwise I might think some of the sillier people around here were making you up.
Awesome, ironlady. My new hero.
In the interim, does housecat have qualifications for a uni job? If so, she might want to sit tight, maybe get a throw away buxiban job until the hiring season and try that route. Dec/January is what I’ve been told.
You rock, ironlady! It was a pleasure to meet you and chat with you at the Happy Hour last week.
I hope the situation gets resolved well for the housecat and kitten.
Note to self
Do not try to dick around with contracts you have signed with Ironlady.
Excellent stuff Ironlady! I really hope this pans out for you housecat. I know the last 2 years has been a bit of a rollercoaster for you and the kitten.
Yeah, you know know I realize that it’s been a bunch a tough crap for a while now. I understand–I do–where you have to start to wonder sometimes. Even I stop to wonder what the hell it is about me that seems to be a shit magnet. But I don’t think it’s really anything more than a bad run coupled with just having nothing much of a support system in place to deal with a lot of the shit. It just means constantly working thrice as hard at stuff. It runs you down.
But people like Ironlady, supportive posters on Forumosa, and the building staff where I live, have really bucked me up these last couple of weeks. I AM really greatful to all of them/you for your kindnesses, large and small. I have a feeling I’m about to get called every bad name in the book through this process. Maybe that won’t happen, but even if it does, I feel fine. I know I did a damn good job. I’m highly self critical. I have to be because I can’t really afford too much f-ing up. I know I wasn’t perfect, but I still feel very confident of the job I did, so I don’t feel down about this.
Thanks, y’all, for being friends when I need friends.
Great so far. I’m glad things went well today.