 |
I got TOTALLY Screwed OVER !! read this .....Posted on Saturday, March 24, 2007 at 5:57 - Post CommentHi !!
You might find this unbelievable ,,,BUT the VERY SAD thing is that this kind of thing happens alllllll the time to us foreigners !! How on earth can I try to stop it !! Please read ......
Like i have wrote b4 in my last blogs , my hubby and I were living up in the far north freezing our butts off and working hard for little money !! Let me tell you first of my working/teaching experiences here in China !! I first got here in 2004 and was hired ( before i left) by a company also in jilin province called Tian Shuo ......little did i know that they are known as the "Chinese mofia" for hiring innocent foreign teachers !! They told me that i had no choice in where i would teach as they have the contracts with schools all over Jilin province .....so that is how i ended up in nasty Dunhua city ....i was to teach in a highschool called Shi yan ......turns out i loved it ...that is why a signed a second year contract !! The students were great ( who i now miss VERY much) ...the pay was excellent for that area and the best part was that i didnt have to deal with the compnay everyday ....as i was 7 hours by train from them ! As long as i did my 20 classes a week and received my salary at the end of each month i didn't care ! The school also privided me with a sweet apartement ( all paid for ) with computer , net and all westernized appliances ! I was considered VERY lucky compared to the nasty horror stories i had heard about the other foreign teachers working with our company ! I then married and we decided to travel .......we were away from Dunhua for 3 months and i did have jobs, we both didn't like the other cities so we decided ....screw working for other people ...let's open our own English School !! So we did " Sarahs English School " opened last year on my Birthday November 12th !! We had a GREAT grand opening ceremony and we all were excited to make some real money !! Many people had asked me b4 ...why don't u open up ur own school ? you will make alot of money here as u are the only foreign teacher here in this city !! So WE DID !! Time went on ....and we were hoping to make some fast cash .....the first 3 months were great ....i was busy with 5 different age groups EVERYDAY !! The students i had were awesome and they loved coming to my classes !! My school was VERY clean and derorated in a very classy way , all new desks and chairs , glass brand new black board and tons of chalk lololo!!! I thought we would be a hit ! After some time ....business died down ....people loved to just use me for coming in and watching my classes ! I had to finally put a stop to that ...and tell them .."HEY ....you either trust me as a foreign teacher with perfect pronunciation ...or NOT " You pay us the money and THEN i will teach ur child ....none of this garbage of me teaching ur kid 4 to 5 free classes first .....then u leave ( they just use me ) ...i just won't have it that way ! Well of course in a small city ...word gets around fast .....so if i piss off one woman , then EVERYONE will know!! I'm still not sure if that is why business died down ...but i did have students cry when i told them that i will be closing my school !! My hubby couldn't find a good job in Dunhua ....so that's when we decided to head to BIG overpopulated dirty Beiijng !! I started my job hunting via computer ( tons of ESL job sites) .....i turned down many as i feel now with my education and GREAT experience i deserve a decent paying job !! This is where it all begins ........... I had a school called " Beanstalk International Bilingual School" write me and offer me a teaching position , we communicated back and forth for 2 weeks by email and even my hubby did all the talking to a woman named Charlotte on the phone! She then asked me if i could teach music , something i have never done before , BUT i did do ten years of piano , six years of trumpet and i love to sing ( i've had to do that in all my classes over the years) , SO SURE ...i can teach music !! We explained to her that our cash flow was low ....she then said no problem - we will take care of your apartement for you !! UNFORTUNATELY in China , we must paid 6 months or a year worth of rent UP FRONT !! Not like home where we pay first and last only ! Plus if you deal with a renting company , we also have to give them a chunk of cash !! She said she has 3 different places for us to look at when we arrive and then said " PLEASE GET HERE ASAP ...WE NEED YOU " .......now all of this is based on TRUST .....as many of you know about the chinese HUGE spring festival holiday, so buying tickets is mere IMPOSSIBLE ! I told her we are trying our best , but i and my hubby have no control over this matter ! We finally got our BUS tickets to Beijing and I told her i will arrive at the school first thing Thursday morning ( March 1 st)!! It took us 3 hours by car to a city called Yanji .....then 17 hours from there alllllll the way to Beijing ! We arrived and like i said ...went straight to the school , keep in mind , we have a small dog , tons of luggage ( hence were moving) , haven't had any good sleep , or shower or even time to take a shit - i get there and she says ok now go to your classroom , u must stay here all day and work ! I'm thinking ok ...can i atleast see the apts. first .....she then says ..."Oh Sarah , you are the head teacher of the Yellow class , since their teacher Matthew (american) needed to go home for something urgent for 3 weeks , so u will cover for him " .....UMMMMM OK ...what the heck ...she didn't tell me that on the phone , i then asked what about my music teaching job , "Oh" she says " You have a one month probation here , we will decide if we want you after matthew gets back " ...... I was in shock ...DECIDE ...you have lied and dragged my families asses here all the way from up north and i still am not guaranteed a position after you use me not to mention all my stuff is sitting in their office and we are now homeless !!!! ????????? WHAT THE FUCK !!!! Thank God for my husband ...he is the one that went to look at all the apartements while i'm trying to BABYSIT 17 nose picking children !! By lunch time , i called him and he said 2 were terrible and the 1 was good ! So that afternoon , i had no choice but to ask them if i could go look at my hopefully future apartement .....the office lady Cynthia says ok but if u leave you will not get paid for today !! Ummmm ....whatever , by this point i was just ready to say fuck you all of you and leave ! I went over to the renting office , went to look at the place , it was perfect , we wanted it really bad ! Oh no ..one problem , the phone bill has as outstanding balance which needs to be paid before we can have our internet hooked up ! Oh and guess what the internet can only be in the landlords name ...oh and guess what else....he is NOT EVEN IN CHINA NOW!!! Well screw this idea ...my hubby said i will go and look MYSELF and deal with the landlords one on one ! That night we had to fork out cash for a hotel and the next day off he went ...home hunting !! He found 5 by noon BUT one in particular he said was great for us as the rent was cheaper and we could pay up until August or the next 3 months .......after i finished work friday afternoon , I then called charlotte and told her we have a place , could she please give us the money to pay the rent ... " NO, we don't have it " she says .....WELL I LOST IT !!! I ripped her verbally up and down explaining everything she had told ME and MY HUBBY on the phone followed by when i am finished with you , you won't have a job anymore you lying bitch !!! I then got straight on the phone to BIG BOSS Cathy .....we VERY NICELY and calmly explained the situation , within 10 minutes we had 7,500 yuan in our hands for the rent !! In the school contract states that they will pay 2000 yuan per month rent , pay me 8000 yuan for my salary. So in actual fact 6000 ( 3 months rent) is from the school , and i had to borrow only 1,500 ....which of course will be taken off my pay ! No prob ,,,,,,at this point i didn't care ....i just need a bloody good shower take a shit and a place we can call home !! Got the cash in hand , flew to the landlord , signed the contract , moved our stuff and voila ...we have our own apartement ! I continued my job as the head teacher of the yellow class , i really hate getting up early in the mornings and really started to bond with them and their lovely parents !! This is where the unfair part starts .... (sorry this is so long , my fingers fly on this keyboard lolo) !!!! Friday morning Matthew came back , wow was i ever happy to finally meet him as all i have heard the past 3 weeks ...is matthew this and matthew that !! I had prepared a little skit/song/dancing surprise for him , so we preformed it perfectly and he cried !! Noone from the office has even talked to me or brought me my music teaching contract for me to look at or sign ...so i decided i would like to go over to their other school and have a little meeting with the principal Mike ! He had NO idea about my job position and he gets told nothing when it comes to hiring and the teaching job postings on the computer ! He then said " Sarah to be honest with you , we don't even need a music teacher here , we already have 2 " !! Well .....i felt my stomach go up in my throat and I explained to him my situation ......he did feel sympathy for me( he's Canadian)!! He suggested that i talk to the big boss Cathy to find out what is going on !! She was not in her office , so i ended speaking with her assistant Susie who then said Sarah we will call you with our decision this afternoon !! I knew the answer ....they didn't need or want me !!! They dragged my ass allllll the way down here , lied to me and cheated me JUST to cover for Matthew ....now the work is done and Matthew is back ....i'm not needed !! It was just one big FAT LIE !!! I went home to read an email saying " You are a great teacher and blah blah blah .......we have no position for you right now " ........BUT THIS IS THE WORST PART ......the money , since i borrowed 7,500 and my pay is 8,000 .......at the end of the day i should be getting a whopping 500 yuan , but instead the email say ...please come and pick up your 227 yuan pay !! WHATTTTTT???????
I will be in there office FIRST THING MONDAY MORNING .....they better WATCH OUT !!!!
Share and enjoy |
|
