Deixis

Ozmeldo, obviously I can't give any more information about the school because I risk blowing my cover. Yes, it is a tough decision staying or leaving, I have asked myself all these questions, I tried to see it as an exercise in patience, a Buddhist style meditation challenge, thought that, as a poster mentioned earlier, it will make me a better person blah blah. I ve been going through all these dilemmas in my head for months. I am not sure that my new school will be much better either. I still have doubts about everything but I need to make a decision. I'm by nature a person who doesn' t like confrontation (although it is inevitable sometimes). I want to walk in, do my job to the best of my ability, go home, forget about it. I was very lucky in my life because I' ve only worked at two schools prior to coming to Thailand. I stayed at my first job in another east Asian country for 10 years. I loved it. Then I moved to another country and worked for three years at an equally good job. And then I cam to Thailand. I love the country but hey, I've never experienced such toxic working environment before. Schools with Asian administration don' t operate on the principle of common sense. I have compared notes with friends who work at different schools and they all say the same thing. Well... I know there's no solution in the air at least for the foreseeable future and I know that it 's a take it or leave it deal but it never fails to amaze me how schools continue to impose policies with proven track record of complete and utter failure when they could take simple steps to improve the situation for students and teachers alike.

Anyways this is another cautionary tale and if there s a lesson to be learned here, I ll keep you posted.

Thank you for your helpful feedback and your time everybody. I won't be teaching anybody until the end of August, it s just office hours and preparation so I' m not too worried about the students. My new school is willing to assist and give me a letter of employment to apply for another business visa. I won' t use a land border. I 'll fly out for a while apply for a new business visa and come back. And I decided not to do a runner. It s just not me. I will  announce that I m quitting and ask to have my work permit cancelled. Unfortunately, they don't fire people at my school. Other teachers tried to pull this trick but it just doesn' t work..

Maybe I got the technicalities wrong. I have a nob B visa valid until November but have to report to immigration  every ninety days, so I am not sure if this is called an extension.  I am on a waiver visa because I don t have a PGCE or a degree in Education. I have a degree in Linguistics and the full DELTA. I used to teach exclusively EAP and Cambridge exams before moving to Thailand.

Hey Steve, I appreciate your opinion but I am sorry to say that you don t have all the facts. It' s been a year and in this year at this job and every week there's something new. You have every right to judge of course, I do it too with other  people especially online and anonymously, just always keep an open mind. Good job with your detective skills by the way

Hey thanks for the reply tonray. I m on a 90 day non B . I was thinking of leaving the country and re entering on a tourist visa. I am not worried too much about the visa, I am mostly worried about my work permit. Will it be automatically canceled when my visa is canceled? Do I need to "manually" cancel it? Can I do it by myself? Do I need a letter from my current employer? A good lawyer would solve all these issues but I don' t really know how to go about finding one and I d rather keep things simple and drastic.

Hello people of the forum.

So here s the thing. I have managed to complete one full year at a VERY BAD school. I know, nothing surprising here and I won't even get into the  details of why it is a bad school. Use your experience and imagination, think of all the reasons that would make a school bad, multiply them to fifty and presto! That should be my school. Anyways, I' ve been looking for another job for  a while and I was recently contacted by another International school which looks and feels much better.

 I've signed a two year contract with the bad school and they require three months notice in case anyone dares to break their contracts, or else.... Obviously I am not going to give  three months notice, I probably won' t give any notice, in other words, in all likelihood I'll  do a runner. Yes. Question is what can my school do to sabotage me, if anything at all, and  knowing that they are evil, unprofessional and have zero work ethic? I know, doing a runner doesn' t exactly demonstrate professionalism and work ethic from my side but hey, everybody hates working there, they have ridiculously high turn over, no respect for their teachers, over 100 lawsuits to deal with and the list goes on and I just want out of it. Going to work everyday makes me sick, as in physically sick, so sorry no remorse. I was thinking of leaving the country, so my visa will be automatically cancelled, re enter and start the process from scratch. Any experiences, feedback advice welcome.

Thank you all for your feedback and insights. They've been very helpful. The school is willing to revise and modify the funny bits in my contract. So far so good. As it seems I am going to Thailand after all. I know that the experience is going to be at least interesting. Hopefully, I won't come back to this forum whining about my school. If I do feel free to troll me.

I hear you Loaded and I know that sorting out paperwork for teachers can be a long drawn,complicated and expensive business for the school too. But, hey, contracts are made to protect both parties. Using scare tactics and blackmail to keep their staff doesn't look good on paper and it definitely doesn't attract good teachers. it may attract desperate, naive or teachers who do not bother reading through their contracts before they sign them.

And yes Scott, the fact that there is no caveat for health and personal emergencies is another disconcerting point which I will ask them to revise.

Thank you MCfish and Stubuzz for your input.

What confuses me a bit is the fact that up to now, the school has been very courteous and flexible with me. They agreed to pay me as much as I think that I should be making without much hesitation and they also agreed to let me start a couple of weeks later. I am also wondering if it's worth asking them to modify the weird bits in the contract. If they do, it will be a gesture of good will and common sense but the question is, would I want to work for a school that tried to blackmail me even if they failed?

I'm just thinking aloud guys, I know that I am the one who has to make the decision but until a couple of days ago I was excited and preparing for the move, told my boss and friends that I am leaving, they are preparing a good buy party for me, I even almost booked an apartment in Bangkok.It' s a huge bummer, that's why I'm reaching out.

Thank you for your forewarning Ancient Member. it didn't sound good to either. Being a firm believer in the saying better safe than sorry, I have multiple certified copies of all my documents. The original degree, the one with the seal, nobody sees, nobody touches. I've always used certified copies and I know for a fact that I can use them anywhere in the world for official purposes. The practical implications of this part do not really worry me, I can always walk away anytime, it is the principle and mentality behind it that I find very wrong.

Would you mind taking some time to explain why you think I should RUN ?

Hello!

I was at a loss, considering what to do, until I discovered this forum. Your input appreciated guys.

So, I was offered a job as an ESL teacher at an international school in Bangkok. Not a first tier one but I did my research and they are legitimate and decent. The pay is good. Very good. Light years better than any government /language school and they will pay for my visas, work permits, TOEIC (I am a non NES). They don t offer anything else in terms of housing/relocation/tickets allowance but it' s a very good "cash in hand" situation and given the fact that I am an ESL and not a content teacher, I am very happy with this part of deal.

And just to prevent any comments about my non NES status, I have a degree in Linguistics from a British uni, of course a CELTA and Modules 1 and 3 of the DELTA. So, I am qualified and the school assured me (I believe them) that they are a registered school and that as long as I provide them with all the documents, there will be no problem at all issuing teacher's license, work permit and all. So far, so good. However..... they sent me the contract a couple of days ago and I noticed some very unusual conditions.

For one, they want three months notice in case I want to terminate my contract and failure to do so will result in the school withholding 2 salaries. This is kinda harsh but what raised red flags is the fact that this includes the probationary period! In other words if after a month I decide that I do not want to work for the school for one reason or the other, I have to pay them the equivalent of one salary from my pocket! They also say that if I pull a runner they will seek legal action etc. I can understand this part but the three months and 2 salaries including probation ting is weird now, isn't it?

Another thing that I found unnerving is that they want to keep all my original documents for the whole duration of my contract, which is two years. I understand that they'll need them for the work permit and all that, but keeping them for the whole time? They are stating that failure to submit my original certificates within a week after the beginning of the term will void the contract!

I get the feeling that they are trying to trap me and make it impossible for me to leave. Are such conditions the norm for contracts in Thailand? I was hired from another country (not through an agent), so I have nothing really to compare my contract with. I have a great teaching job where I am now, which makes me think. Should I accept their terms and sign the contract if they refuse to change the weird parts, or should I run for the hills?

Thank you guys for reading this. It would be very helpful to hear your ideas.