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(Gregory : early 30’s German):
"Prior to starting on my new job,( "yeah!!)", I want to apologize for my ranting in the last column. I really felt lost being in Japan and it seemed that all that could have gone wrong went wrong. Nothing seemed to have gone my way as to what I had expected.
I went on numerous interviews but was fortunately able to secure two part time jobs teaching English with one at a big Eikaiwa school and the other at a smaller school. It wasn’t in line with my previous experience or skills set but it was better than nothing. I had to face the realization that finding a job with my limited Japanese skill was next to impossible.
At least I felt I was making money to afford life’s smaller pleasures such as an apartment, going out for a nice dinner on occasion, and most importantly attaining the sense of stability that I could actually support myself and make it here.
I was suprised first to find out that unlike what I had expected, the pay was better at the smaller school than the larger Eikaiwa school I worked at. I was told that because it was bigger (many branches all around Japan), they didn’t need to negotiate salaries as they could get anyone to take the positions. The smaller schools didn’t have enough of these "resources" so they had to attract teachers with higher wages.
Additionally, I learned I could have more autonomy in teaching styles with my students with smaller schools than bigger schools. The larger schools dictate how I should teach and what I needed to follow. I felt it strange as I believed in my heart I know more about each individual student’s needs and how to teach them to improve more than a corporate curriculum that was so general to be effective, but I understood that is how things worked in Japan.
I quickly understood that I should not think, but rather just follow instructions handed down by top management if I wanted to "fit in". That in itself is unique to me as it seemed nobody could voice their opinions.
My first experience of finding out that once I "belonged" to a company, I was not allowed to hold another job. Apparently, having two jobs was not allowed if I was a "full time" employee. Faced with the ultimatum that I had to keep only one job, I regretfully had to inform my employer at the smaller school I could not work any longer.
The next issue that arose was that though my work contract spelled out that I could take a certain number of days off per year, it was quite hard to do so. For example, when I told my boss that I wanted to take off from December 15th to December 28 (within my allowed days off) to go back to my country for the Christmas break, my manager said it would be difficult.
I stated that I was allowed up to 2 weeks off according to my contract but he still said it was not possible since they were understaffed during that period. I told him I could change my travel plans slightly and wanted to take off only from Dec 19th to 28th.
My manager seemed very angry and said to me that I didn’t understand "Japanese" culture and corporate responsibility. I was confused since I gave him almost 2 months advance notice of my request.
It was upon my return to work after the Christmas/New Years break that I noticed a change in attitudes towards me such as coworkers ignoring me to other instances where I felt some animosity sent my way from colleagues who were so nice to me before.
With a little more than 3 months left on my one year contract, the school relocated me to another branch that was almost an hour and a half away. The commute was unbearable as I spent almost 3 hours on the train added on to the 9 hours I had to work.
Finally when it came time to "renew" my contract, the school said they would not extend my contract but instead offer me a "part time" contract. I felt frustrated as to why I was being punished for what I still believe to this very day is a "right" to exercise a benefit of my contract of paid days off.
I have always thought a contract should be honored by both parties in good faith and that employees have a right to exercise said benefits without fear of retaliation. Little did I know that there are "unwritten" rules people should follow not spelled out on a contract. I wished I had been notified about this rather than being expected to know it from the bat.
Needless to say, I didn’t want to continue working for a "big corporation" and decided to pursue other opportunities where I could have the freedom and autonomy to be in conrol of my own life and career.
to be continued…
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