Ok - I've had enough... I'm resigning tomorrow

Legal Legal - Work
1

It’s finally come to this… I’m going to give my boss 1 months notice tomorrow after classes finish.

Here’s my (long winded, largely pointless) story…

I started work in a small town in Taichung county in February this year. Small things started to go wrong from day one, and over the next 8 months this continued up to the point where I find myself today - ready to throw in the towel.

I just wanted to share my experience here, and see if I may be possibly over-reacting. Have any of you been in a position similar to me?

I’ll outline the key points and try to keep it as brief as possible.
[ul]

  • My recruiter (DeWey) assured me that I would be getting a free air conditioned apartment as part of my job. I was offered two ‘apartments’. One a tiny room on the 7th level of a building about 30 minutes walk from the school, and the 2nd was an ex office space with no furniture. Both had no air conditioner, but I was assured they would install one for me.

  • I accepted the office space, which I was luckily moved from a month later when a smaller studio apartment became available in the same building. Fast forward to summer, and I made a request for my air conditioner to be fitted. Cue: denials all round re: their promise. It wasn’t in my contract etc… They kindly agreed to buy me one, and deduct it from my future salary. So I had to buy my ‘free air conditioner’.

  • I later find out that the apartment is not free, and that I have to pay 1,500 a month for rent. I know this is small amount of money, but they have since added another 1000 NT a month for ‘excess power’ usage.

  • Last month my boss informed me that I also had to start paying for my own health insurance. For the previous 6 months I didn’t pay a cent, which was also offered as a perk before signing the contract (free health insurance).

  • One of my colleagues has OCD. If anyone varies slightly from her preset patterns of working, she has a breakdown. This is bad enough in itself, but have you ever walked into a room and felt totally unwelcome? This is how she made me feel every day at work. I guess this is a trivial complaint, but added to everything else, it really irked me…

  • I tried asking the boss to organise a meeting for us to try and work out our differences - no success. She just passed my colleagues behaviour off by saying ‘oh - that’s just her personality’. I have since found out that the last foreign teacher quit due to her attitude.

  • This same teacher runs her classroom like a prison. The students are terrified to speak out of turn, or show any kind of free will. Then, when they come to my classes, they have pent up energy and craziness just bursting from the seams. Most of my classes feel more like crowd control as opposed to actually teaching…

  • My school also offers chinese tuition, maths, science etc. It’s a big operation. They have just moved to brand new premises so I am sure business is good. All of the new deductions seemed to have started just prior to moving to the new building. Around this time I also overheard the boss lamenting how the new school was over budget… Coincidence?

  • 4 out of 5 of my classes have ‘problem students’. Not just naughty kids, but kids with some serious learning/behaviour problems. 2 of the classes have more than 1 challenging student, and I am left to fend for myself, despite asking repeatedly for help. I am often abused (in Chinese) by these bad kids, often to the amusement of the rest of the class. I have been kicked, spat at, had books thrown at me and ridiculed outside class. One of the kids often shows his genitals to the other students, constantly makes inappropriate comments and is endlessly disruptive. When reported to my boss, she tells me how wealthy his family is. This matters how exactly?

  • I am not allowed to use any kind of discipline except for sending students out of the room. When I do this, they think its fantastic! They stand at the door and pull faces, or just wander off and do what they want. Again, if I try to discipline them, they either laugh or reply in Chinese (which they know I don’t understand).

  • I have lost count of the number of times I have reached meltdown and pleaded with my boss for more support or advice. I have been teaching for eight months and still haven’t had one minute of training, except for sitting in on 3 classes when I first started. Whenever I mention the bad behaviour, the boss listens with mock sincerity and makes empty promises to ‘help me more’.

  • Last month I laid it all on the table. I said I couldn’t work under these conditions any more, and said that I wanted to quit. She countered with the fact that they had been advertising for a teacher aide for me for the last week, but had forgotten to tell me. She also asked me to stay and see how the new school would be, and to give the teacher aide a chance.

  • Fast forward two weeks. We are in the new school. The ‘teacher aide’ is actually working in the front office. He had no idea he was hired to help me, and when I told him he looked surprised. He sat in on one class and spent the whole 90 minutes looking bewildered…

  • I asked for help again. The solution? They have the psycho control freak teacher sitting in my bad class with me. Sure, the kids are angels (they don’t dare to misbehave) but the downside is she constantly interrupts to make corrections to my english(!), and offers me an indepth analysis of my class after I finish. I value positive feedback, but her comments are relating to things I did months before, and which I have already been reprimanded about (stuff like asking students where missing kids are, talking about my personal life (I mentioned that my father had been sick).

  • To top it all off, I have just been given an extra 5 hours of unpaid work a week, writing and designing 5 tests/worksheets for each grade that we teach. Plus 90 mins a week of phone tests and 1 hour ‘english teacher meeting’ which involves the 3 taiwanese teachers speaking chinese to each other, and ignoring me.

  • Yesterday we had a ‘grand opening’ at our new school. I went in on my free time to meet some of the parents and hang out with the kids. A photographer arrives and much fuss is made organising everyone into a group for a photo. Guess who was left out despite standing around awkwardly watching the happy snaps getting taken…? When I pulled out my own camera to take a photo, the psycho teacher snapped at me ‘DON’T do that’ - in front of everyone. Nice to feel part of a team, right?
    [/ul]
    Ok - this may come across as a big whine. I feel bad about breaking my contract, but enough is enough. I have worked in a number of different roles, from security goon to bookshop owner. Never have I felt like I have been on such an emotional rollercoaster as I have over the last 8 months working here.

I have tried to soldier on. I have constantly gone above and beyond what has been asked of me. During summer school I went on the field trips without pay, despite them being 8 hour days. I thought it would be good for building a better relationship with the kids to do stuff apart from teaching.

I have designed worksheets, puzzles, games. I play electronic keyboard and write songs for the classes. I have a number of professional puppets which I use in my lesson plans. I don’t turn up to work hungover, I haven’t taken one day off sick, despite being almost bedridden a number of times with migraines…

So tell me… Do you think I should put up with this crap any longer? Can any of my fellow teachers please tell me this isn’t normal for all the schools here in Taiwan? I don’t want to be a quitter. I came here to enrich my life, and challenge myself and it’s really cutting me up to admit that I can’t finish my 12 month sentence…

I have a job lined up for next year which includes a teacher assistant in every class. Hopefully this will help me do my job better, and not have to worry about wrestling with bad kids or dealing with bad behaviour too much. I know kids are kids, and part of being a kid is being crazy sometimes. I don’t mind naughtiness if it’s good natured, but some of the behaviour I have been subject too is mean spirited, disrespectful and definitely out of line.

Phew… End of rant. If anyone has read this far - cheers :beer:

2

You’re not whining. That’s just insane. Leave. Immediately.

3

pubba,
you are right to leave as soon as possible. The school is fucked. Unfortunately, the shit you have had to deal with is quite common. Consider it an education. ESL in Taiwan is really fucked up.

Cheers brother. You will be free soon. :beer:

4

Good to hear this fellas - thanks… :wink:

Sometimes I fear I’m losing what little sanity I had left when I first landed on this rock :smiley:

Seriously though… I love teaching and think if I can find the right school, this will be my home for a long time. Just need to get out there and have a look around I guess…

My dad has been ill lately so I plan to go home and spend Christmas with him and the extended family. Then I will be back in the new year to try it all over again…

5

Sounds like a solidly good plan. And if home happens to be anywhere near the beach in Oz, and should that beach have a decent body surf, then I’m downright jealous!

HG

6

This should be the straw…Nothing, I MEAN nothing in Taiwan is worth any of this behaviour. Line up a new job, and apartment and then quit. Otherwise you will be working with them for life and they will have never changed. Remember, the advantages lie in their hands not yours.

7

Yes Pubba. You are totally right to leave. As mentioned, that school is totally fucked up. They are taking advantage of you (actually “abusing” you is probably more accurate).

Get the hell out. Now.

Make sure you give them WRITTEN notice that you are leaving, and make sure you have a witness, or some way of proving when you handed that notice in. This school sounds fucked up enough to try pulling a fast one when you want to actually leave in a month from now.

8

Get out of there, and don’t feel bad about it.

One more advise (not just for you): do not rely on promises, get everything in writing, i.e. noted down in your contract. If they refuse don’t sign it.

Though the next time I suggest you agree on a budget for accomodation and find one yourself rather than let the school decide for you by giving you a limited choice. My company tried to pull that stunt before and “recommended” me some places, though I did have a budget. Needless to say those places were shit and way below the budget, so I took matters into my own hand.

9

You should also be putting the screws on Dewey recruiting. Yet another reason to stay far away from recruiting agents. They DO NOT have your interests at heart.

10

Good for you … show it them bastards …

11

It sounds like a poisonous place to work, with a boss who doesn’t have an ounce of honest intention in her whole body.

You’ve stuck it out longer than most would, and you’ve given them every chance to mend their ways, but things have only gone from bad to worse. The sooner you’re out of there, the better … and let them go to blazes!

12

Pubba, that sounds like a really raw deal you’ve had, and I think a citation must be in order for having stuck in that foxhole for so long. I hope the new school works out better.

But I hope you’re not planning to land some sucker newbie with your old job…

[quote]How old are you? Do you like kids? What kind of experience are you looking for?

If you want to live in a rural area and can handle ‘naughty’ kids - send me a pm. I may have a good job for you![/quote]

13

As you said they’re wealthy … so normality and having respect doesn’t apply to them …

14

That is the least surprising story every told in Taiwan.

The doozy would be for you to tell a tale of achievement and overcoming such adversity. Those stories also exist, but are only told by men of steel (or fools or both).

And people in Australia whinge about their work place agreements. They ain’t seen nothing yet.

15

Sounds awful. Yes, get out, but do try to do things by the book, as others have said. Perhaps getting your resignation letter sent by registered mail would be an idea? Or maybe someone else can think of a better way to prove that you resigned when you did.

16

Okay thanks for all the support, everyone. To give my boss credit, she can be very convincing, and has been using the ‘I have been so busy’ excuse since I started.

When I first got there and asked for training, they were ‘too busy’ getting the new school year under way…

When I asked for help with discipline, it was always such a chore to get any response. I’m hoping that this is not the norm at other schools here.

Anyhow, I’m just about to write my letter of resignation now. I’ll give my boss a copy and also send a copy by registered mail.

See you on the flipside!

17

As said before, it would behoove one to get this in writing. Taiwanese companies are notorious for making spoken promises they don’t keep.

Believe me, it matters. Money talks, and the school will pamper little monsters as long as they get the dough. I found from personal experience that many kindy bosses here don’t give a damn about the children’s growth and learning; all they care about is the money.

Is she Taiwanese?

She’s a woman, no? :slight_smile:

What’s a phone test?

Ah yes, meetings. I remember when I was asked to keep the minutes of a meeting, and the participants, knowing what I was supposed to be doing, went ahead and spoke Taiwanese. :loco:

This may be a good thing: such photos often end up being seen by police, who then wonder, “What’s that waiguoren doing teaching at a kindy?”

Theoretically. My (admittedly limited) experience with teacher assistants is that they sit around and do nothing. The one I had slept in class, and when a kid (usually a disruptive kid whose English was far too advanced for the class, but whose parents were…you guessed it…rich) misbehaved, I had to wake her up and point out the problem, to which she’d tell the kid “Teacher says behave yourself!” before sitting down and napping again.

18

Howdy Chris…

Phone tests are bloody awful. You have to call the students at home. They are more often than not half asleep due to being at school and then cram school for the last 8 to 10 hours of their day (often longer)

You then ask them to parrot phrases back to you or ask them mind numbing questions like ‘What is your favourite colour/food/movie…’ etc…

Its inane, largely pointless and just for the benefit of the parents who usually listen in on the extension to hear their money being put to good use.

19

I just hope you get your last pay. This lot sounds like they’ll do the classic “you breached your contract because of (pick some pathetic reason) so we can withhold your pay/bond etc”

I used to be scathing of people who left teaching jobs with zero notice immediately after payday, but stories like this make you wonder.

If I was in your shoes, I’d be watching that all pretty closely.

20

Yeah, where is the recruiter through all this? Is it not their responsibility to act as a liaison in serious cases (which this one is, IMHO) to ensure that all the parties are satisfied with the arrangement? They were paid to set this up, so they should have some responsibility.