Years ago I had a friend who started every conversation with: 'Isn't God good!' and then she would proceed to tell me the latest good news in her life.
Well I guess I could follow her lead and say: 'Isn't God good!' Here in Baotou we have finished our grueling summer classes that saw me working 5 days a week 10 hours a day (most days), even though my contract is only for 30 hours.
I did not get paid for that time and nor did I expect to because the situation had been carefully explained to me that as we were just starting up and there was currently only this one foreigner (me) at the time, that it was expected of me that I would be generous with my time and assistance. I naturally agreed to do so.
Now of course we have commenced the new semester and students are no longer able to come to our private school morning classes because they are in their public school classes. It was with great joy therefore that I received the new time schedule which showed that I had Monday and Friday off, as well as Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. In all, according to that schedule I would work 18 hours from Tuesday to Thursday as well as 18 hours on Saturday and Sunday.
You can imagine my reaction therefore when I was informed last Sunday that there had been a change of plan and that I was required in the office from 9am to 12:10pm and again from 2:30 to 8:30 pm. I initially reacted with: 'My God, my God, what are you doing to me?'
But then I remembered what the Franchiser Mr. David Gao (Shanghai) had said last week about how all our salaries have been rather meager and that as we progress in this new venture that they will rise.
Compared to the hours required to work (30 hours per week), my salary is quite low. In fact it is only marginally more than what a foreign teacher would earn for a 16 hour week, but it had been explained when I signed on that this was just a starting salary and that as we progressed my rate of pay would be increased, commensurate with my duties.
So after the initial shock of discovering that I would be required to do a 45 hour week had worn off, I realised that in fact, this was a wonderful bonus. The rates of pay for overtime are significant (more than 100 rmb per hour), and so I realised that these extra 15 hours were in fact going to net me more than my current salary.
On the face of it, it would appear that on average, I shall be earning around about 12,000 rmb per month which is a really good rate of pay when you consider that for 15 hours all I have to do is sit in the office and look pretty; giving visitors a good close up look at a real live foreigner.
'Yes Siree! Life is looking up in Baotou! All those hours, days and weeks of dedication to the company without financial compensation is really paying dividends! Thank you EET!'
But while I am over the moon about this, it seems that my 'less than trusting' Chinese friends (currently scattered far and wide throughout China), are not so excited. They tell me that not only are private schools well known for their abuse of and cheating both foreign and National teachers, but one should not trust a Chinese boss to keep his word.
While in fact no one has actually informed me that I will be paid overtime, the provision is in my contract and I don't see how it can be 'forgotten'. I doubt that the Baotou EET franchisee Sabrina Chui (Cui Lirong) could ever have become such an illustrious business woman (She has businesses in China and in Canada) had she not been an ethical manager.
But irrespective of that, the Taiwanese Franchiser in Shanghai, Mr. David Gao, is a very straightforward, open and honest businessman in whom I have reason to have a lot of faith. I do not doubt for one moment the integrity and honesty of EET Management. Without such integrity they could not have flourished all over China while working with foreigners.
So you see, life for me in Baotou is both easy and profitable, even if it does mean sitting in the office for long periods of time doing nothing.
I think as far as foreign teachers are concerned, the slogan for EET should be: "EET! Now that's for me!'
I hope you have enjoyed this insight into my current life.
I hope your work life is as blessed as is mine!
R.P.BenDedek
Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com
On September 27th 2009 I quit EET Baotou. At the time that this article was written is was quite plain to me that this company was not to be trusted. I therefore wrote this article as pre-emptive testimony of the nature of this company.
You can read the latest 2010 articleS on the matter:
Legal Outcome Feb 2011
of EET Management bashing of Former Staff Member
See also: A copy of my letter of complaint to David Gao EET Shanghai.
R.P.BenDedek is the pseudonym of the Author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' (http://www.kingscalendar.com/), and is a guest columnist at Magic City Morning Star News. An Australian, he is currently teaching Conversational English in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China.
Stories from China at Magic City
"The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the (Essene) Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls.
