F'ard

[joe]

Terminated without notice for dereliction of duty. As of today.

And I was derelict in my duty. On Sunday June 4, a little over four weeks before the end of a 12 month contract, I willfully and in plain view of several staff members Chinese and foreign refused to attend class as the trainer. The four students concerned were severely inconvenienced. At least one of them had had this particular class cancelled once prior. But it had nothing to do with the students. It was about food.

I hate Sundays. Sunday's classes start at 10am. At 12 on Sunday June 4 after two classes and with three classes pending in the afternoon I went to the lunch room to find the last of the company-supplied boxed meals. Most people complain about the quality of the food. This day I was disgusted at the state of it, broken polystyrene, all remaining boxes opened, the choice meals having been selected by people who don't teach, ie. everyone else. At 1 after hanging around for an hour complaining and being tired of my own voice, I left the centre. I abandoned my scheduled 1 pm class ostensibly to go and find something to eat. Everyone always says, the food is supplied as a courtesy, not as a contract item, and "if you don't like it, you can go out."

At 2 when I got back I was surprised to find that the students had been asked to wait. I told the head tutor that no, she wasn't so lucky, I hadn't merely forgotten the class, I had walked out and wasn't going to do the class now either.

Apparently those students were very angry.

I didn't leave in protest, really. It was more just being tired. Being a trainer in a CALL program rather than a teacher anywhere else imposes easily recognisable limitations on what one can do with a class, and in this case did so 5 sixty-minute periods a day, five days a week, for the last eleven months. Later in the afternoon I resumed work on my regular schedule.

People have suggested I can learn a lesson from this. But the irony is, part of my frustration lay in having worked somewhere near the best of my ability nearly constantly for almost a year and I was barely aware of any sense of having acheived anything. Such feedback as I have received has been a joke. Nonetheless, my action was unprofessional, and the company was within its rights.

According to their word, being fired will not affect my end of term bonus. Nor will my residence permit be cancelled. It has a month to run. And they'll provide me with a reference letter should I wish to seek out other employment. I'm not entirely certain what lesson I am to learn.

[Mr Nobody]

umm by the terms of the normal agreement you have to be told,NOT correct your behaviour, then be in dereliction.

you have to actually be told then not stop doing whatever it is you were told to do.

so, legally, no.

[Lotus Eater]

Mr. N - you are talking Oz rules of employment. Here many many people (Chinese) are fired from all kinds of jobs - the lucky ones with pay as per the labour laws, the unlucky ones without - as per construction workers.

Joe is one of the lucky ones - probably because of his big-nose. This is the 2nd laowei I have heard of being fired recently - and I am waiting for another one I know to at least not have his contract renewed. Given his on-going behaviour I wouldn't have him in a classroom of mine.

This seems to be fairly unusual - I hadn't heard of it happening before this year. Are we starting to be a glut on the market and the institutions can begin to pick and choose?

[Mr Nobody]

Lotus, what I wrote is actually in my contract. I thought it was standard.

[Lotus Eater]

In contract isn't always what happens. Ask the migrant workers. But I don't think either of the contacts I have signed has those types of clauses. Maybe I should check.

[woza17]

Joe you sound tired. My work is winding down for the school year and from next week a very light schedule and it is time for a rest before the Summer camp. There have been times not many that I just could not make it to class. I have my routine and if it is disrupted and I can't get food before the next round of classes I crack it.
DS glad that you are getting better. How is the new contract going? Is it a goer?

[joe]

I suspect that in the humble opinion of "the centre" I had been warned twice.

About four months ago I and another trainer traded classes but things got mixed up. What was technically my class had a student waiting in one room, the replacement trainer in another looking at the wrong schedule and me nowhere to be found. There was a fuss but things got sorted -- the kid had the class an hour later when everyone finally turned up at the same place. Because we hadn't told the centre of our trade, the fault was laid at my door as the trainer who was supposed to be on deck. At the meeting with the centre director to discuss this the question of another absence without leave was raised. Back in the mists of time, about two months after I started work I missed two classes on two different days within a week, one because I was being a bit of a prick about Sunday mornings and I turned up late, and the other because I had set my alarm for 11 but remembered it as 10 and I didn't look at an actual clock all day before going to work at what I thought was 1. The education supervisor met with me and suggested I would have two classes added to my future schedule to make up and my pay would remain the same. And I've had a few sick days, about six in total as I remember.

Things have changed at that centre. When I first started, there were four trainers and the place had been open for a year. The working environment was straightforward and the classes were great. I attributed a lot of the good atmosphere to the decent working relationship the head teacher had with the centre director and most of the other staff. That was then. It's not so different now, just twice the staff and a little more of an effort made to put control back in the hands of the leadership and out of the hands of the staff.

There could be a lot of reasons for me having been fired. One of them is legitimate -- I failed in my agreed upon duty. The others? A little of killing the rooster to scare the monkeys. They knew I wasn't going to renew the contract, and they had a legitimate beef. Or it could have been that the students who were disadvantaged by me on that Sunday were important people. Most of the students there are professional people who work in or for foreign companies. The local affiliate of at least one big multinational has a significant training contract with my ex-centre. Perhaps their staff were in that class. I don't know. Even if they weren't important people, word of mouth is important for a centre like that one in a city like this.

Anyway I'm embarassed at having been fired, not least of all because it puts me in the same wide and deep category as a lot of teachers who didn't deserve to keep their jobs. I'm now in the same rank as the guy who used to fall asleep in class. And what lost me my position was partly the result of a not quite mature action of my own.

So be it.

[Stil]

I'm sorry you got let go Joe but you can feel good about taking responsibility for your actions and learn from the experience.

Will you find another job in China or will you head home?

[Mr Nobody]

Joe, I feel for you. I agree it seems like it is mostly your fault, but if they are doing all the right things by you (wait until they pay you) then it isn't so bad. GLad you have the balls to face your situation, when many do not. They simply say things like "the school is ripping me off".

Yeah, I think you sound tired. Maybe the summer break will make you feel better.

Hope your next situation is better.

[acjade]

Joe you have addressed this situation with an admirable sense of responsibility.

Have a good holiday and then get back into it. Perhaps you would be better off in a situation which allows for some flexibility in schedules or something not as rigid as a training centre.

Best wishes.

[Mr Nobody]

Jade said it much better than me. LIsten to her instead.

[woza17]

Joe I totally agree with Mr N and Le and anyone else who agrees with them and me. It is refreshing to hear someone step up to the plate (watching to much Apprentice) and take responsibility for their own actions and not go around blaming everyone else or the schedule that they had agreed to.
You are one sane and decent man

[cheekygal]

Joe, as much as I feel for you about being fired, I think it is the best that could happen. I have noticed the mood in your posts has been changing to worse recently. It is a sign that you are not really happy with something. So now that this job is over, look at the bright side: you can, as said above, take a good break, find a better position, they still keep your benefits. Go, Joe! And, I'll secont woza on whole decency and stepping up - not everyone can do that

[woza17]

hey Joe
I just had a thought to cheer you up. I have been fired from jobs. Last time was from the Salvation Army, well they didn't fire me exactly because I was contracted out to them. My crime, stealing food. How it came about was that twice a week I would drive out to the food bank to pick up donated food most of it had passed the use by date but still good. Well you could take as much as you wanted and some really good stuff. Well I would fill up the van. Use what I needed and give the rest away including the Salvo officers and the homeless once they had a home, stock up the shelves and so on. Take some home myself as well, not the stuff I bought with my budget.
How did I get ratted out, not the Salvos but this nasty little poofta casual cook who took exception to me telling him to lift his game and ratted me out. In my defense I could see nothing I did was wrong but I did not stick to protocol. I was escorted off the premises. The food would eventually be dumped. The Salvos weren't happy either they couldn't see a problem.. How did I feel embarrassed but not ashamed .
Anyone else got some good, " I got fired stories "

[Mr Nobody]

I have only ever been fired once. It was a summer job, but after the summer was over, the boss didn't want to keep me on, so he sacked me. I had to go back to school. At the age of fifteen, I was a failure from a job stacking stuff on the supermarket shelf. Oh, well, I thought, may as well get an education.

However, the chain of stores was duly punished for that, and the whole lot went belly up and bought out by Coles or one of the big chains. So, what comes around goes around. THe universe looks after nobody.

[woza17]

Mr N that is not actually being fired. I wanted to hear some humiliation stories to make Joe feel better. Not that he does need to feel better but I thought this could be an interesting thread, give an insight into people . Maybe people don't get fired on this forum apart from me and Joe.
Took the dog for a walk, now a job interview.

[Mr Nobody]

Sorry.

[joe]

Thanks for the support guys. Some much needed laughs.

I am looking forward to a holiday. This weekend has been intense for other reasons but it's sinking in. I catch myself sometimes remembering that I'm not on the clock anymore and I smile like a giddy school girl. I was tired of working there. Now I have to be careful not to do it again. I have a confirmed job offer a million miles away from here, and an interview down the street later this week, and a solid promise of a resume read when another nearby place has an opening. All of them offer less hours for comparable but lower salaries. But I have to remember to be disciplined about uncertainty and take the damn holiday!

[Stil]

High School job, punched a coworker for stealing money out of my locker. We were both let go.

[woza17]

Gee Stil
You bastard.

[con's fly is open]

I've been fired more times than I can remember.

Joe, the real reason you lost this job is that you burned out, came to hate the place, and found a way out. Your sin is in not leaving sooner.

Now you've gotta figure out your next move. Don't waste your time on looking back- I'm sure you were a good teacher until you started praying for release. Go out and get something to your taste, and don't forget to swagger a little at the job interview. Your resume entitles you to a good gig.

[Raoul Duke]

I hope "down the street" doesn't mean the Shane school. You ain't that desperate, Joe. It would be a major step down in EVERY way.

Don't even give those weasels an interview.

[Norbert Radd]

what doesn't kill you makes you stronger: nietzsche

[dunno is shane helps]

[joe]

That which doesn't kill us leaves us broken and confused. Nietzsche was one strange dude.

I don't understand this burnt out thing. I think I am but I find it weird to say so. Is malign feeling really a sickness? Anyway, all I know is I was relieved last week when I realised the prospect of job interviews was making me ill. I turned around and told everyone thanks but I was taking a two week holiday starting immediately. All of them would have been pretty good bread and butter jobs too, nothing under 8000, nothing over 16 hours, nothing at Shane. I was surprised, really. I'd grown used to the idea that there wasn't a living to be made in China.

[Norbert Radd]

another famous nietzschism: Look into the void and it looks into you. Goo dluck with new job. There's loads of advice online about avoiding burn-out. The best is if you can develop a good personal [offline] networrk