The straw that.....
Alright, we're coming clean.....we absolutely hate Nova!! We knew we would before we came, but now....we know we hate it...
We knew, and y'all knew...we told you, that Nova is a bad place to work. Any company that hires anyone who can 1) breathe, and 2) speak their native language at least poorly, is a bad company.... (of course, there is that one guy that we met that didn't get a job--he's a JET--which may explain a little--he probably told them he was using them for a visa) There was blog upon blog that I read that outlined reasons to hate Nova. We'd decided that we wanted to come to Japan (ok, to see other Asia countries), and this was an easy way to come. In my defense, I thought for a couple of weeks about applying for JET, but...the simple essay....paperwork.... Anyhow, we just came and decided to deal with it once we were here.
We didn't know much about visas, nor contracts, nor the psuedo health insurance Nova provides....
Since we began, things have happened (like, we had to go to orientation, unpaid, in Osaka--a 960 yen ticket, eg), and we just let them slide, one or both of us just had an optimistic thought, or we just felt something great about that day overall...
The other thing that gets you is that there are so many people working there...
The thing I didn't really think about until I started forming a third hump (ha... ha... ha) was that these people that remain are a) married to Japanese people, b) wanting to renew for a three-year visa (if you want a 3-yr renewal, it's best not to switch jobs...), or c) you just have nothing going for you elsewhere. If you subtract these people...there is a huge shortage of workers, and a bunch of really new people working at scattered schools, so that you may just be able to imagine that there are so many schools, they must have as many employees as mine, it's just my branch that doesn't run well, nobody else is feeling this way, quit your whining!! Hope you caught the point in that run-on...
The Straw: Paul and I moved into our new place April 1st. We're really happy with it...really happy with our roommates. It's really small and we pay a ton more than we would ever pay in Albuquerque, though somehow neither of us ever complain about this... I honestly believe that subconsiously, we knew from the start that Nova was screwing us and that we had to get out, though our intial justification for wanting to move was that it was loud where we lived and we'd heard that we can pay less elsewhere. Anyhow, we had to give a 30 day notice to our Nova accomadation....though the assholes did tell us that "if we are able to move someone into your place after you move out and before 30 days, you won't have to pay", but of course, they didn't try--why would they. You see, they have to keep the illusion for us naive-folk that they actually care. We got a notice saying that someone would be moving in the day after 30 days! Well, so we have to pay double rent for awhile. It's well worth it. We didn't want to lose this new place, as it is a month to month with no deposit....there's no guarentee for either party.
Things in Japan were going.....well, going. Nova annoyances kept happening, they circulate sob stories about cash in the company being low, about the staff (Japanese staff who make numerous mistakes costing the teachers lots of stress) getting paid so poorly, and about how they're so short on workers--for the 1st time. They ask you to do overtime 1 lesson here, 3 here, and then 8 another time(now, I say ask, because the intial words are in fact, "will you...?", but I do mean this in the lightest sense of the word, you see, you must, if you are asked, do overtime...especially if you are on probation as Paul and I are, otherwise, you will stay on probation--a pay less than minimum wage in Japan--otherwise known as "illegal"), the managers sooo incredibly creepishly walk in on your class or VOICE and just stand there....making sure you slip up, so they can write it on your probation file, the managers write down word-for-word how you responded to their petty complaint about your appearance, punctuality, or whatever...
Yesterday, however, took the cake: Yesterday was payday!! Our first--yes, a month and a half into our employment. We have direct deposit, so once you set up your account, you must fax the pages of your "passbook" to foreign personnel. Well, we did this well over a month ago. Yesterday, I received a paystub--yes, as in a receipt of getting paid--but no cash was deposited in my account. I don't know what happened, but somehow, my staff or foreign personnel messed up... I called to be told, "ok, well, just fax it again, and we'll pay you in 2 weeks". Did I mention that we're paying two rents? You may also have assumed, correctly, that rent is due before two weeks from now... They offered that I could request a pay advance, so I asked that they give me a pay advance of exactly my pay check, and that they just don't pay me once they are able to deposit that money into my account for my past paycheck---but....somehow, they can't do that...??
Bottom line is, our landlord is great, she understands completly and will allow us to pay late; Paul did get paid, so we have some money for everything else; we're learning how bad Nova is everyday--how the government hates them, how they con us into one thing or another.... you can't trust anyone, either. It's a horrible position to be in...the managers or others who have been around for awhile may repeat what you say or report you to someone, so you sit there making small talk all day. I've heard today, that occassionly, the Japanese have anti-foreigner protests.... Yeah, so....we are seeing what already know about ourselves...we don't want to live in an overprivileged country hepling the rich housewives learn English for fun..... We do, however, want to see the underprivileged countries around here--it's what we came to do---we wish we could be helping. Nova is huge, allowing us to work overtime when we want extra cash, get two consecutive days off together, and allowing us to be able to swap shifts with others for more vacation days..... We have some thinking to do.... Sooo...until the next saga....
We knew, and y'all knew...we told you, that Nova is a bad place to work. Any company that hires anyone who can 1) breathe, and 2) speak their native language at least poorly, is a bad company.... (of course, there is that one guy that we met that didn't get a job--he's a JET--which may explain a little--he probably told them he was using them for a visa) There was blog upon blog that I read that outlined reasons to hate Nova. We'd decided that we wanted to come to Japan (ok, to see other Asia countries), and this was an easy way to come. In my defense, I thought for a couple of weeks about applying for JET, but...the simple essay....paperwork.... Anyhow, we just came and decided to deal with it once we were here.
We didn't know much about visas, nor contracts, nor the psuedo health insurance Nova provides....
Since we began, things have happened (like, we had to go to orientation, unpaid, in Osaka--a 960 yen ticket, eg), and we just let them slide, one or both of us just had an optimistic thought, or we just felt something great about that day overall...
The other thing that gets you is that there are so many people working there...
The thing I didn't really think about until I started forming a third hump (ha... ha... ha) was that these people that remain are a) married to Japanese people, b) wanting to renew for a three-year visa (if you want a 3-yr renewal, it's best not to switch jobs...), or c) you just have nothing going for you elsewhere. If you subtract these people...there is a huge shortage of workers, and a bunch of really new people working at scattered schools, so that you may just be able to imagine that there are so many schools, they must have as many employees as mine, it's just my branch that doesn't run well, nobody else is feeling this way, quit your whining!! Hope you caught the point in that run-on...
The Straw: Paul and I moved into our new place April 1st. We're really happy with it...really happy with our roommates. It's really small and we pay a ton more than we would ever pay in Albuquerque, though somehow neither of us ever complain about this... I honestly believe that subconsiously, we knew from the start that Nova was screwing us and that we had to get out, though our intial justification for wanting to move was that it was loud where we lived and we'd heard that we can pay less elsewhere. Anyhow, we had to give a 30 day notice to our Nova accomadation....though the assholes did tell us that "if we are able to move someone into your place after you move out and before 30 days, you won't have to pay", but of course, they didn't try--why would they. You see, they have to keep the illusion for us naive-folk that they actually care. We got a notice saying that someone would be moving in the day after 30 days! Well, so we have to pay double rent for awhile. It's well worth it. We didn't want to lose this new place, as it is a month to month with no deposit....there's no guarentee for either party.
Things in Japan were going.....well, going. Nova annoyances kept happening, they circulate sob stories about cash in the company being low, about the staff (Japanese staff who make numerous mistakes costing the teachers lots of stress) getting paid so poorly, and about how they're so short on workers--for the 1st time. They ask you to do overtime 1 lesson here, 3 here, and then 8 another time(now, I say ask, because the intial words are in fact, "will you...?", but I do mean this in the lightest sense of the word, you see, you must, if you are asked, do overtime...especially if you are on probation as Paul and I are, otherwise, you will stay on probation--a pay less than minimum wage in Japan--otherwise known as "illegal"), the managers sooo incredibly creepishly walk in on your class or VOICE and just stand there....making sure you slip up, so they can write it on your probation file, the managers write down word-for-word how you responded to their petty complaint about your appearance, punctuality, or whatever...
Yesterday, however, took the cake: Yesterday was payday!! Our first--yes, a month and a half into our employment. We have direct deposit, so once you set up your account, you must fax the pages of your "passbook" to foreign personnel. Well, we did this well over a month ago. Yesterday, I received a paystub--yes, as in a receipt of getting paid--but no cash was deposited in my account. I don't know what happened, but somehow, my staff or foreign personnel messed up... I called to be told, "ok, well, just fax it again, and we'll pay you in 2 weeks". Did I mention that we're paying two rents? You may also have assumed, correctly, that rent is due before two weeks from now... They offered that I could request a pay advance, so I asked that they give me a pay advance of exactly my pay check, and that they just don't pay me once they are able to deposit that money into my account for my past paycheck---but....somehow, they can't do that...??
Bottom line is, our landlord is great, she understands completly and will allow us to pay late; Paul did get paid, so we have some money for everything else; we're learning how bad Nova is everyday--how the government hates them, how they con us into one thing or another.... you can't trust anyone, either. It's a horrible position to be in...the managers or others who have been around for awhile may repeat what you say or report you to someone, so you sit there making small talk all day. I've heard today, that occassionly, the Japanese have anti-foreigner protests.... Yeah, so....we are seeing what already know about ourselves...we don't want to live in an overprivileged country hepling the rich housewives learn English for fun..... We do, however, want to see the underprivileged countries around here--it's what we came to do---we wish we could be helping. Nova is huge, allowing us to work overtime when we want extra cash, get two consecutive days off together, and allowing us to be able to swap shifts with others for more vacation days..... We have some thinking to do.... Sooo...until the next saga....
posted by MarisaPaulCharlie | 6:30 PM
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