Sunday, December 10, 2006

Living under the black wing of Nova is getting to be some pretty sticky business. I got a thorough scolding from the current woman-in-charge of Nova instructors and their comings-and-goings. I thought I had my visa in the bag, but apparently, my calling in sick 5 times this year (and being late twice when I was new and confused) qualifies me as an "unreliable" instructor.
"You know," she said (in a rather sickeningly patronizing voice, I might add) "it just doesn't look good. If you could promise me that you would make an effort to be on time in the future, if we were to renew your contract..." Here I was spurting and choking on words; half of me wanting to say whatever was necessary to make it right, and the larger part of me burning with a white-hot fury that I am unaccustomed to. Hmmm. Kiss her ass, or tell her where to go, and what to do when she got there? She added that everything else looked so good, but there was just the problem of my attendance...
Not wanting to burn any bridges, I went the ass-kissing route. I also had to write a letter, promising that I would be a good and timely little girl in the future. What chafes me is that I have never called in sick when I haven't been sick. Every time I might have liked to extend my vacation, or recover from a hangover, I doggedly went to work and did my job. I'm starting to get really annoyed with working for a company that sees punishment as a more effective means of control than praise. That, and I recently discovered that the Japanese staff members get bonuses twice a year, while foreign personnel get none... what's going on here? At any rate, my kissy-kissy letter might help plead my case for visa renewal. Apparently I'll know for sure on the 15th... my co-workers think it's just scare tactics. I think it's make-me-feel-like-poo tactics.

Dammit, I'm a good teacher. I have never received any complaints from the students. I love and respect the people I teach, and I seem to get the same in response, especially from the kids. But I'm really tired of feeling like a bad guy when everything else says I'm doing a good job. The universe might be pointing me in directions I was previously not ready to go in.

1 comment:

phone_phobic said...

That is a load of crap-a-doo. Having experienced your teaching ability of colour theory, I can honestly say you are the most inspiring, and methodical conveyour of ideas. Chalk it up to the planets still not being aligned...I too am experiencing silly scare tactics at work. Hmmm...then they wonder why such high turn-over in staff. duh. Whilst I guess one could say management styles are different in different companies and cultures, I think general respect for one's employees MUST be universal (oh but wait, I feel a pipe dream coming on..when that happens...perhaps there'll be world peace! oh my gods! did I just solve the problem of the entire human race!! oh and I did it while eating a muffin too.)
Seriously, dear Endrene.. have you investigated other companies to teach through? I've actually heard not so nice things, even here in little Courtenay in regards to NOVA.
Maybe because of your super skills there's a threat..how could one so white be so good at teaching? Oooh or maybe you really are there to start your art career instead.
Like the slogan at Winners "..a gift of endless possibilities."