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Q: EDIT: Warning, do not stay at a school when there are problems from the beginning

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10 years 13 weeks ago in  Visa & Legalities - Qingdao

 
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Sorry that happened to you i guess but i doubt your being completly truthful about it all, if this is all true and they have plannd to get you out of here then why were you talking about them asking to promote you just 2 weeks ago? We are not goldfish.

http://answers.echinacities.com/question/if-you-dont-want-be-promoted-do...

Englteachted:

Different school. Different time.

10 years 13 weeks ago
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mike695ca:

well you posted that question from a " previous school and previous time" on december 11th.. yet you had to live in squaler in your SECOND APARTMENT for a month? plus had to survive another 8 days of borrowing money from your students? Ill be the first to call bullshit

10 years 13 weeks ago
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Englteachted:

The students I borrowed money from would beg to differ. But according to you, schools in China don't do this sort of thing.

10 years 13 weeks ago
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mike695ca:

dude i hope you plan to repay them. and im not saying this stuff doesnt happen, and its crap it happened to you, i was just reading your other post and it doesnt add up. Anyways, no ill will, you have enough crap to deal with. Sorry it happened to you.

10 years 13 weeks ago
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PSB will always direct you to your Embassy for any complaint you have. 

 

You should go to SAFEA (Foreign Expert Bureau), and tell them your complains. I don't think, it is too late for interview at SAFEA. If you live in the smaller city, take Chinese translator with you. Schools as you describe (don't respect the Contract) are good in some way. You can quit your job, and relocate to the new position with all required documents. SAFEA will make sure, your new RP sponsor get all required documents from your old School. That's my own experience in two different Provinces.

 

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10 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Dear Ted,

 

I heard about your case from a friend who works at the same university, indeed, if it is you.

 

According to my friend, you were hired as a subject teacher and not as a generalist.

 

Indeed, Mike, what he relates has been corroborated elsewhere, of course, there are always two sides to every story but his side is a bit closer to the truth than their side.

 

Ted, someone should have told you that this university has chronically always f*cked up the pay around the National Day holidays.  Chronically.  This is not the first time and it will not be the last time.  It would have still been incorrect but then you would have at least been forewarned.

 

I am stunned, however, that you found the Qingdao Foreign Experts' Bureau unhelpful.  I can honestly tell you that my colleague at your school involved them almost immediately when my colleague encountered some "turbulence" and they were on the telephone almost immediately and actually threatened to come to the uni and check things out.  Your FAO was furious at both them and my colleague but the FAO knew that the FAO had been checkmated.

 

Never involve the PSB in this kind of stuff -- they simply enter into your record and it makes the next job all the more difficult.  This was a FEB affair.  The Consulate would not have helped you and the Embassy in Beijing even less so.  They are useless in these matters, 100% useless.

 

Now, believe it or not, the apartment mess was not deliberate, although the laziness and ineptitude probably were.  You worked with a colleague who was supposed to leave and who occupied a really nice apartment and at the last minute, the colleague did not leave and stayed on.  You know all too well whom this colleague is.  So you were shunted into a sh*t apartment.  That is something that you should have never accepted.

 

I hear, very honestly, from their point of view, you were cantankerous and that indeed you did cancel classes, from their perspective, sometimes in anger.  True or not, dear Ted, and I am not judging at all, that is not a sound thing to do in China, nor to even have been perceived to have done, since perception is 99% of the Chinese truth, wherever that is.

 

Finally, it is apparently true that you have been blacklisted on the Qingdao registry, and there again, I feel bad for you, really so, because Qingdao is a place that blacklists very easily.   It happened to a prior colleague of mine who behaved in about the same manner as you did.  She had to spend a year-or-two in Korea and even then her next Chinese visa came with a great deal of difficulty.

 

Somehow, somehow, you need to finesse your departure, even a little so that they provide with the Unified Letter of Release and Letter of Recommendation with at least an acceptable rating on it.  Under the current system here in China, all of the computers talk to all of the computers and when your next prospective employer tries to obtain a FEC for you, your name will pop up as blacklisted with an entire battery of comments.  In your shoes, I would put my anger aside at this point and do my best to leave as graciously as possible, even given these rotten circumstances, and I do not doubt at all that they were and are.

 

Your situation, even with the negative comments and the blacklisted, can be righted by a future employer in China, but it will cost the future employer a great deal of time and a great deal of money and personal relations.  The old days are gone.

 

Finally, I also heard that you are posting all of your truths all over the web about this university, with your real name and your real email address.  I wouldn't consider that prudent because if there is one thing that the Chinese can be, it is vengeful.  And believe me, as I was told, Qingdao is indeed aware of these comments.

 

Prudence is the mother of discretion, Ted.

 

 

 

 

icnif77:

He wasn't at FEB (SAFEA). He complained at the Police (PSB).

10 years 13 weeks ago
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mike695ca:

OH man, regardless if its fully true or not, i dont want anything bad to happen to you, if you will rant, rant in hiding, You need to protect yourself man, go do some deleting quick! Also, dont despair too much, where there is a will theres a way, if you need to change provinces so be it. But try to get out safe and get in a better situation, Good luck!

10 years 13 weeks ago
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Englteachted:

I agree with you. I should have left at the very beginning. The shutting off the internet was a trap and I stupidly fell for it. I wish I would have went to the SAFEA first.

10 years 13 weeks ago
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Robk:

I agree with Belle, 

 

If you used your real name and email address that is a big NO-NO. 

 

Chinese are extremely vengeful and now you are going to have to bribe someone or put in some serious fighting time to get your name off that blacklist. 

10 years 13 weeks ago
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10 years 13 weeks ago
 
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I am so sorry to hear all this. I know what it means to be in such situation, but prudence must be the best adviser. What is your next planned step? I wish you learn from all this misery, become stronger and be able to move ahead. It can't be this black all of it and I hope to hear you've done well unlike all the odds. 

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10 years 13 weeks ago
 
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I have had three apartments here in China.  One was worse than your pictures, one was a bit nicer and the one I am in now looked about the same when I arrived.  In all three cases, I went out, bought some cleaning supplies and brought them up to my standards.  Well, at least as close as they could be.  If I stayed at the first place any longer I would have installed screens on the windows to make sure rats don't come in.  Although I was on the fourth floor, there was a ledge just outside the window that went all the way around the building and was full of garbage that people above apparently just threw out their windows.  I'd seen rats there but hadn't actually seen them in my apartment. 

 

I have repaired the plumbing, gas, lights and changed the toilet seat in all three places.  I scrubbed all three apartments from top to bottom.  Including worse looking fridges than the one in your pictures.

 

i had to arrange the internet myself in all three places.

 

i have learned that it is not uncommon to be paid late.  Maybe that is because Chinese people are not generally in debt.  I don't know.  Of course it is not what I am used to but  they do some things differently here.

 

While reading about your plight, I wondered if the real problem is that you let these things fester inside you.  Creating a bigger problem.

 

Even after doing major cleaning and repairs in my apartments, clean up and repair are constant.  That's just life. 

 

Next time if you just decide to take the responsibility yourself, let them know your concerns and if they help, you would probably appreciate it more.

 

Other people may have had better experiences, but what I read in your post did not seem unusual.  Back home wouldn't you have to find and pay for the apartment, connect and pay for the internet and take care of any repairs yourself?

 

MissA:

Dbowman, it's great that you've made crappy places into decent homes. 

 

I'd just like to make a comment on your last point, that you'd have to arrange, find and pay for your own apartment at home. Yes, you're absolutely right, but this is incorporated into our pay structures and in into the contract, so I don't think it means that FTs should just put up with any old sh!thole you're put in.

 

In my case (see below) the company signed a contract saying they'd pay a housing allowance then decided not to and put us in an awful place to save themselves money. Should we have been happy with that outcome because we didn't have the hassle of looking for a liveable place? I don't think so. And if the OP signed a contract saying he'd get a liveable apartment, why should he not expect a liveable apartment?

 

10 years 13 weeks ago
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DBowman:

Hi Miss A.  Do you know any factory workers here who have a dorm supplied by their company?  In my area, I think that is how most people live.  Compared to their dorms you are living in luxury.  Maybe not livable compared to western standards but you are in China.

 

Anyway, it's not the apartment that matters, it's the people inside.  Just focus on being happy and try to fix your place up to be what you want it to be.  Either that or just close your eyes and use your imagination and you are in the Taj Mahal.

10 years 13 weeks ago
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MissA:

Actually, I am not in China. Ignoring the early warning signs came back to bite us on the ass and my partner and I left China a while back - that's why I only post here occasionally, now. If Sydney's weather were more appealing today, I'd be at the beach :)

 

I did see some dorms (they all had mattresses and working windows, incidentally, while our apartment did not). I also saw my colleagues' apartments, all of which were nicer than our first one by a long way. I just don't follow the same logic. Even at home in Australia, there are some shitty living conditions, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to let the landlord know when something breaks in our apartment. 

10 years 13 weeks ago
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MissA:

... which reminds me, I must call the landlord.

10 years 13 weeks ago
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I feel your pain, man.

 

We had two apartments in China - the first one looked very much like apartment 302 - we often had no hot water and we had to stand over the freaking toilet to use the shower in a bathroom about two foot by four foot. The apartment's kitchen was an absolute match for yours. We had no mattress when they tried to move us in. Spiderwebs. Dirt. No electricity when they tried to move us in. A broken window in the kitchen that let in the elements (in Urumqi, mind!). Oh how I hated that place. 

 

Where we differed was that the person designated to help us was lovely; amazing and helpful. It wasn't her fault that she was given a budget a quarter of what we were meant to be given as a housing allowace to find a place to live, and our colleagues helped us clean the manky apartment as best as possible. 

 

The second apartment was good (it was the one they used to show head office that yes of course they were looking after their FTs, why do foreigners complain so much???)

 

Incidentally, slander and breaking the contract is NOT something any embassy will give half a shit about. 

 

"... if it isn't right from the very beginning, leave..."

 

I couldn't agree more. Don't ignore warning signs. China is not the only country in the world that employs teachers - you have options! Don't make excuses for anybody. If you're the type of person who lets yourself be walked over, for the love of God stay at home. 

 

DBowman:

Hi MissA.  You must be a damn good teacher if they moved you into that nicer apartment.  

10 years 13 weeks ago
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MissA:

Thanks, and I hope I am, but in this situation it was a case of squeaky wheel getting oiled - the teacher occupying it moved out, so we got it. 

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Your apartment reminds the two I was given while in Hefei. Internet never worked, it was quite dirty, and in one case the bathtub never worked (took my showers just next to the bathtube, directly on the floor). Request for fixes somehow got lost. Aside from that, I was paid on time, and relationship was not problematic like yours. I hope you will recover and rebound. To anybody going to teach on universities, be firm but never ever loose your cool, repeat your requests everyday if it you need it.

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I would like to say I hope you will be ok Englteachted. I agree with belle_watson.  My first apt was in Yibin. The Yibin Technical and Vocational College treated me like gold. I was the first FT they had ever.  Since then things have went down hill as far as apts go. Over the years the Chinese have come to resent us foreigners because of the actions of previous foreigners.  We cost money, lots of money.  With the increasing amount of corruption in this country it is not surprising that FT's will get burned too. I do not know about your financial situation but I want to make a suggestion; get your own apartment next time.  Ask for a living allowance.  Every school has some kind of problem.  Try to minimize or mitigate the possibility of of a situation becoming a problem.  Money is the name of the game here.  More FTs mean more students. More students mean more money. This also means we get undesirables from North America. I am sure most of the people on this sight have encountered some kind of issue. Don't let this one get worse. This is China and it is a big world.

mike695ca:

whoa whoa whoa, so all undesirables come from north america? I think you have been here to long my friend, because that is some chinese " laowai" style generalizations. Undesirables come from every corner of the earth

10 years 13 weeks ago
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Paulberger:

agree with mike... wtf...

10 years 13 weeks ago
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MissA:

I'm not even American and I don't agree with the 'undesirables' comment.

10 years 13 weeks ago
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donnie3857:

Clarifier: I apologize; I should have used better wording.

10 years 13 weeks ago
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I think this topic really shows that people need to be more prudent. People need to read sites like this much closer before making any decisions.
My first contract they offered an apartment, and i asked for pictures, of the exact apartment id be given, when i didnt like it, i asked for a housing allowance. Me and my gf at the time were each given a thousand... for wuhan.... in 2007. I have always had a place here that was comparable to apartments back home.
If you dont trsut someone in negotitations, move on. Insist to talk on the phone, Be prepared, read the websites about the schools, qlthough every school will have black marks due to angry teachers you can usually find out whats wrong. Save money so your not stuck.
I have been in China for 7 years in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Chongqing, and have never been scewed over, always felt in control. I know many will say i am just lucky but I think after a certain number of years that luck ceased to be a part of it.

EX. First time coming to guangzhou, a school gave me an offer of 18000, i was estatic. Moved toma new province, stayed in a little hotel, went to the first meeting and found out we were screwed, no chance anyine would get that. Like 9 teachers from all over china moved there and we all got screwed at a big round table together. Out of principle i was so pissed, i stood up, called them horse puckers ripped the contracts and threw it in the air all dramatically and walked out..... no one followed me, including a guy from harbin i immediatly became friends with. They all stayed. Man I was pissed. 4 days later I had a job from a reputable school, not making 18 but closer than youd think for 2008 and i stayed there for years. A few weeks after that that crappy school went under and all 8 teachers that stayed got majorly shafted. Point of the story....... You always see it coming when your getting screwed, its up to you if you bend over.

Lastly, I have worked for places with bad reps, and seen many people get screwed by the same bosses that were good to me. The fact is no matter how evil they are, if your good at your job they are far far far less likely to screw you and far more likely to work to make you happy, its a fact. So cancelling classes out of protest is just stupid unless you are VERY VERY well situated there.

Paulberger:

totally agree.  first, stand up for yourself and don't give in as mike says.  you give an inch, china takes a mile.  at the first sign of them trying to f*ck you, move on.  there are thousands of schools here, fight for what you deserve.  mike, i would love to have seen your dramatic exit at the "round table" meeting.

10 years 13 weeks ago
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Englteached, did you not do any research into the ELS profession or China before coming to China? Seriously, the reports of teachers being misled or taken advantage of outnumber the reports of everything going perfectly by about 10:1 on a good day. The last thing anyone wants to do is come here without 2 or 3 months wages + enough money for a flight home. Being desperate in China is nothing anyone wants to be, it’s a little like swimming in shark infested waters with a bleeding leg wound.

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Actually the apartment didn't look so bad, but maybe it's because I've seen factory dorms, too.

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10 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Read below

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Wait wait wait TED , Now I have studied Chinese for years and I have taught Chinese for years and during those years you learn about Chinese English Grammar mistakes, you're NOT fooling anyone with the so called text SMS messages that you said were from the school(Messages in grey) , that isn't common Chinese English Grammar mistakes.

 

Example (you said from the school): Issued by the finance office,and later soon paid.

 

Sorry that isn't how Chinese use English grammar, that kind of format is impossible. "Later soon paid.", Give me a freaking break!!!

 

There are too many messages like this, I think you made these messages up on your own and texted them back to yourself to get revenge upon those guys..

 

To everyone, read all those messages, if youve been teaching here for for awhile you'll see through these messages, Chinese don't write or type English wrongly like this.. It doesn't work like that when translating it in their Chinese grammar head..

 

Ted I don't believe you at all. But i feel you are young, all of the problems you had could have been solved by a mature adult.

Mateusz:

I've seen quite a few texts by Chinese. It's not like there's one standard way to mess up English. 

 

I wouldn't call this solid "gotcha evidence". 

10 years 13 weeks ago
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dyanisis:

dick dick dick dick

9 years 51 weeks ago
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Hey Teddy Boy ~ just happened to read this. The comments are interesting, so u rant & rave also,& like an idiot pen your real name & email. Idiot. then have the audacity to crticise! hahaa...there is something seriously wrong with you

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