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Hooooooly poo poo am I pissed. I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that my employer was bad about paying me on time. Well, it turns out that he thinks he's caught up when I'm certain that he's not. It's frustrating, because I keep very close track of my money, while this school's record-keeping is complete poo poo. He has me sign a receipt when I receive my pay, and he doesn't have one for February, but he thinks he gave me my pay and forgot to have me sign or something??? I don't know. I showed my boss the spreadsheet where I've entered every kuai I've spent in this country, and my bank statements backing that up, but he's pretty sure he remembers giving me that at some point or another so I guess I'm poo poo out of luck??? Because I'm sure someone's going to say it: yeah, I'm probably going to quit over this if it doesn't go my way. The moral of the story is: if your boss is late with your pay, don't let it slide. Jesus christ.
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Apr 4, 2014 16:43
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New Coke posted:Hooooooly poo poo am I pissed. I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that my employer was bad about paying me on time. Well, it turns out that he thinks he's caught up when I'm certain that he's not. Happens all the time in China. Has never happened to me but if it ever does more than once, I'm out. I told my boss that in my third month and I've gotten four and half years of salary on time, so I guess he got the message.
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Apr 4, 2014 17:18
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goldboilermark posted:Happens all the time in China. Has never happened to me but if it ever does more than once, I'm out. I told my boss that in my third month and I've gotten four and half years of salary on time, so I guess he got the message. We work for a huge, first-tier university, and its accounting system is beyond awful. We get paid on time but it is often a hilarious clusterfuck as our office's accountant has to run around coordinating with like 30 other departmental accountants in order to make all the numbers line up. I'm always mildly amazed that the money gets where it's going. New Coke posted:Hooooooly poo poo am I pissed. I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that my employer was bad about paying me on time. Well, it turns out that he thinks he's caught up when I'm certain that he's not. Also this guy is almost definitely loving you over and you should, of course, QYJ, as you know.
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Apr 4, 2014 23:12
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The thing that is hilarious to me is that payday is the same every single month. For us it is the 15th. You would think after your second or third month on the job you'd figure out how to get everything done on time, right? It isn't like it is constantly changing and you have to be working in a dynamic environment, never sure what may be thrown at you any second. (Outside of normal Chinese day to day living situations) it's the same thing over and over and over. How can you not have it on time? It is completely unacceptable. I was doing some tutoring to prepare this girl going to the states and her mom took 2 hours from me. I was 100% sure of it but I was only doing it to help out my best friend from Tianjin, it was the kid of his boss and she was a total clueless idiot on everything. Like how this woman is a manager of a bank baffles the mind. The girl was going to 7th grade and comically not ready and she and I were reading Holes together, because I put together an awesome readers guide for it, and her mom told me it was too easy for her and found me some nonsense to work with, like high school level. I told the mom if she wanted she could teach her daughter that but this is what I'm going to do, and I know it works because I've done it for years, and if you didn't like what I was doing that's ok, I'll leave and I won't be upset, I was helping out for a friend but I was also busy with work and tired, but if you want me to stay please do not interrupt us again because it takes away from the environment I created and stressed out her kid. The mom was like  and never bothered us again and I made like 3,600 extra that month which ain't too shabby 
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Apr 5, 2014 02:18
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Quick add on to that story: when I first met the girl I told the mom she needed at least one year prep to go to the States. Her English was atrocious for everyday use and her knowledge of anything western was limited. The mom said "not an option, she will go next month." So I worked that month with the girl, sweet girl but she had no business going. She was supposed to be in 8th grade but got placed in 7th which made the mom furious. A month after she had gone my buddy called me and said that his boss was freaking out because her daughter was failing every subject except maths, which a seven year old child in the United States could have seen coming. He said "she asks you for help, what should she do?" And I said "tell her to build a time machine, go back in time two months ago, listen to the expert who does this for a living and not send her to the States for another year." My buddy paused and was like "I'll just tell her I couldn't get in touch with you." Lol
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Apr 5, 2014 02:23
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Don't companies just do auto direct deposit? I get paid on time but I don't have any weekend off this week
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Apr 5, 2014 02:47
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goldboilermark posted:Quick add on to that story: when I first met the girl I told the mom she needed at least one year prep to go to the States. Her English was atrocious for everyday use and her knowledge of anything western was limited. The mom said "not an option, she will go next month." Sounds like most of the students we had in Beijing. Except for a few, none of them were ready to go overseas, but their parents -- not the university administration, but the parents! -- pushed them out the door. A few have struggled along and survived and had a lovely time and a few have just failed out completely since then. It's much better here at the high school. We've had a year and a half with these kids and almost all of them could go now and be fine. There is the one kid that nobody knows what the hell to do with, but that happens, I guess. His parents seem adamant on sending him abroad even though it's unclear if they or he even really want that for his future. Sad. caberham posted:Don't companies just do auto direct deposit? If by "direct deposit" you mean "the university accountant finally goes down to the bank on campus after having 4,000 meetings with the other university accountants about God only knows what poo poo," then yeah, sure, this happens for us. I guess I shouldn't be surprised when something as monstrously bureaucratic as a Chinese university slaps me in the face with bureaucratic inefficiency.
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Apr 5, 2014 03:45
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Considering most teachers are not legal, they cannot be paid out of the company account. Most of the time the company pays the boss and then the boss pays you from his personal account. Direct deposit and auto pay from company accounts need to be explained to tax officers and that brings trouble.
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Apr 5, 2014 03:50
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You guys need to work in a factory.everyone clocks in and out exactly the same time. Paychecks come in on time. Get free room and board!
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Apr 5, 2014 04:09
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caberham posted:You guys need to work in a factory.everyone clocks in and out exactly the same time. Paychecks come in on time. I can see it now: Caberham Enterprises, employer of 10,000 palefaced foreign goons. When you build the cement block company dorms, you can even skimp on the shower stalls provided you upgrade the internet connections enough!
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Apr 5, 2014 04:42
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It's actually quite brilliant. There's such a market for stupid goons who want to live abroad, have no skills and don't want to teach English.
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Apr 5, 2014 04:45
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Bloodnose posted:stupid goons who want to live abroad, have no skills and don't want to teach English. Please don't post about me as if I can't read what you write, it's rude
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Apr 5, 2014 04:47
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When I was a teacher I just got handed a wad of cash monthly, but always on time. NowI get paid in bitcoins and it's better.
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Apr 5, 2014 04:53
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So here we are month 3 in china. My Chinese is still bad but I can ask for things at shops and using mass amount of concentration and listening for key words I know I can sometimes figure out what people are telling me. Of my 2 teachers, 1 is great, the other not so as she speaks in Chinese all the time and I can't tell what she's teaching us until the second teacher comes in and goes over it slightly. Not really found any food I enjoy except Japanese curry but, that's hard to find without going to big malls. Almost had a complete and utter break down but, Luke and Sam helped me through so I didn't have to pay crazy money for a psyche evaluation. Still not really made any friends as Chinese people seem so difficult to talk to, even the ones who know English. Seriously I try arrange something and never get a reply, I'm always trying to organise things with the two people I know and I've only seen them 2 times in 3 months. It's so loving difficult to just say to people "hey, let's go for a drink!" Probably because I'm terrible  Trying to figure out how to do private tutoring as my gf (the breadwinner) tells me ¥30 is too expensive for things, but I have no idea how to start private tutoring. And teaching maybe a terrible idea as my Chinese isn't good enough, I already go to school so can't do full time and I don't want to be locked into a year long contract. And I finally caved and did some design work for my gf's company but they flip flopped on the method of payment and amount so for 15+ hours of work I have no idea how much I've earned but apparently expecting between ¥1,000 -¥1,500 is just loving moronic. Another reason why I'm trying to pursue the tutoring. This is my life now. It is not a happy everyday. It is the real china experience.  .Things could look up though, seeing cap am' 2 today, going to try hang out with Chinese friend I made last week whilst he smokes a bowl full of weed , so maybe a real friendship will bloom? And I managed to finally order something from taobao.So any advice on my lifestyle currently? Also taking bets on wether I'll sink or swim, commit suicide, get arrested, deported or just, just survive. Thank you for reading. EDIT: Also why the gently caress do Chinese family's keep every door and window in the house open?? It's loving freezing in here. Facepalm Ranger fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Apr 5, 2014 |
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Apr 5, 2014 05:54
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Not finding good food in China. In Chengdu, right? Does not compute.
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Apr 5, 2014 06:04
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Facepalm Ranger posted:Almost had a complete and utter break down but, Luke and Sam helped me through so I didn't have to pay crazy money for a psyche evaluation. Didn't they help you by repeatedly telling you to go pay money for a real, professional psych evaluation? That's what you should do by the way.
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Apr 5, 2014 06:04
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Bloodnose posted:Didn't they help you by repeatedly telling you to go pay money for a real, professional psych evaluation? That's what you should do by the way. They did other encouraging things. I'll wait till I'm either swimming in bank so I can afford it or in the UK. I'm complex.
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Apr 5, 2014 06:11
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Facepalm Ranger posted:
STOP. WORKING. FOR. GFS. COMPANY. Seriously, stop. No more work! post on a forum, IN ENGLISH, in a "looking for" section. for teaching, post the following: "Hello! I'm Facepalm Ranger, a native English speaker from COUNTRY with a WHATEVER DEGREE YOU HAVE. I'm interested in tutoring English for students (AGE RANGE) one-on-one. My rate is 250rmb an hour; I can provide lessons or work with students on materials they already have. I am only interested in working with students in AREA OF CHENGDU WHERE YOU LIVE. Please contact me at THROW AWAY EMAIL DEAR GD DONT USE YOUR REAL ONE to set up a sample lesson. No kindergartens or agents need apply. YOU WILL MAKE SO MUCH MONEY. Stop selling yourself short, little ranger. Things you will not do: agree to travel more than 20 minutes to these tutoring things sign a contract with some weird agent work for your girlfriend's sister's co-worker's manager's best friend for cheap show anyone any sort of copy of your passport Things you will do: get paid AFTER EVERY TUTORING SESSION. IN CASH.
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Apr 5, 2014 06:12
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Facepalm Ranger posted:So here we are month 3 in china. lol @ 30 kuai being too expensive for things. Didn't you meet this girl in London or something? She must have been catatonic the whole time just from looking at price tags. Tell me again why she came back to China to work for slave wages? If you get paid even a quarter of what you'd expected for the design work I'd be surprised. Once you let people walk on you, you might as well market yourself out as a doormat because that's what you'll become. Getting tutoring going is mostly about word of mouth. Once you've got a couple clients, more will come your way if you're any good. To get started, one easy method is to find coffee shops and see if they have boards where you can slap up an advertisement. Used to see those all over the place in Beijing, and both Starbucks here in Yuyao are no different. If you're afraid your Chinese won't be good enough to start with zero-ability people, write it in English to weed those out a bit and specify that you need to meet potential clients first before agreeing to tutor them. Then you can assess if it'll work out. Also, for the love of God, don't charge less than 150 RMB an hour, bare minimum. 200 RMB or more is ideal. People can and will pay that and often much more.
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Apr 5, 2014 06:12
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Facepalm Ranger posted:They did other encouraging things. I'll wait till I'm either swimming in bank so I can afford it or in the UK. I'm complex. You're not complex, you're a loving retard. Get professional help before you end up in Yinzhou in a stewardess outfit. Get. Some. Help. Your internet friends are not going to help, no matter how much false concern they throw your way.
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Apr 5, 2014 06:18
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Thanks Fearcotton! I just had no idea at all how to get started with the tutoring. If I consider teaching it would have to be part time around 15 hours a week as motto mess with my school and [insert aspiration here]. Oddly enough blinkey, in the uk (Leeds) she never had to worry about money as her parents sent her £1,000 a month and I had my job which paid around the same. Now that it's her money she's earning and because she's not been in china for 3 years everything seems to be a lot more expensive than she remembers. She took the job because she's friends with the head and wants to build a career out of it. Which is fine by me. This whole gf company thing has got me gridlocked as she hangs out with them afterwork all the time. When I mention ¥1500 as Payment (which is nothing for design work, good or bad) I get guilted with "oh but he's bought you dinner so many times (I don't eat much at these dinners). He let you borrow the play station (which I've already done work for in the past as thanks, gf in a heated argument about this has threatened to give it back). When I suggest hiring a Chinese employee they can under pay she dismisses it saying they haven't got anyone lined up. If I get less than ¥1,500 I'm not doing anymore work for them, their attitude to this whole clusterfuck has been unprofessional as hell and just loving difficult to deal with. Oh they also want to pay me when they pay the rest of the company which if I'm lucky will be 8th of this month, if I'm unlucky, next month. But due to all the loving dinners or whatever, I'd basically burn a bridge which will piss gf off that I didn't let them walk over me. I won't be a door mat blinkey! Facepalm Ranger fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Apr 5, 2014 |
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Apr 5, 2014 06:34
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Facepalm Ranger posted:This whole gf company thing has got me gridlocked as she hangs out with them afterwork all the time. When I mention ¥1500 as Payment (which is nothing for design work, good or bad) I get guilted with "oh but he's bought you dinner so many times (I don't eat much at these dinners). He let you borrow the play station (which I've already done work for in the past as thanks, gf in a heated argument about this has threatened to give it back). When I suggest hiring a Chinese employee they can under pay she dismisses it saying they haven't got anyone lined up. This is classic Chinese boss manipulation and your girlfriend would have to be an idiot not to know that. Seriously, screw her company (which doesn't sound like it will amount to anything, let alone a career for her).
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Apr 5, 2014 06:40
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This reminds me, how can I find the WeChat group without scanning the QR code, apparently WeChat and my phones camera have had a falling out so I can't scan it. Once I get that sorted I'll let you know and we can hang out sometime, with or without weed. The main forums for Chengdu are at http://www.chengduliving.com/forum/ and http://www.gochengdoo.com/en/ . Just go to some events and meet some people, the natooke guys are pretty friendly so go on one of their bike rides or something.
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Apr 5, 2014 06:43
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Jimmy Little Balls posted:This reminds me, how can I find the WeChat group without scanning the QR code, apparently WeChat and my phones camera have had a falling out so I can't scan it. Once I get that sorted I'll let you know and we can hang out sometime, with or without weed. I dunno my wechat is "Facepalm Ranger (肯)" search for me and add me, then I'll add you in. I'll check out those sites after I get back from "Colonel USA 2: The Americaning, featuring Mace Windu". Weed is fine, I don't smoke it or cigarettes, it just the guy seemed to be more about smoking weed than hanging out at a bar, I just went "yeah, sounds good" instead of saying "cool but no weed for me" I'm just that desperate for a really good friend.
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Apr 5, 2014 06:51
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blinkyzero posted:Sounds like most of the students we had in Beijing. Except for a few, none of them were ready to go overseas, but their parents -- not the university administration, but the parents! -- pushed them out the door. A few have struggled along and survived and had a lovely time and a few have just failed out completely since then. My university had a number of Chinese exchange students, of course they all lived in the same student housing and you'd never see them outside class, except my first roommate who was a PhD student who chose to live in an apartment with a random roommate (me) and never came out of his room. The Japanese students were the same. I never saw the point of studying abroad if you're only going to hang out with other people from your country, so my advice to everyone I taught in China that wanted to study abroad was to never hang out with other Chinese. My year study abroad taught me that Japanese college was like American high school so I stopped going and got a part time job at a fast food restaurant and copy-pasted a wikipedia article for one of my assignments, so I guess I learned something (delete the citation marks).
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Apr 5, 2014 06:57
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When I was at university we had a Chinese girl live in our house for a year, I only ever saw her twice. I completely forgot about her even after coming to China until I spoke to one of my old housemates who reminded me about her.
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Apr 5, 2014 07:01
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Also tutoring is one of these things where it's better to set a really high price point which in itself becomes a form of advertising. Suddenly you're the tutor who gets 6000 rmb an hour. You're this mysterious character from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ancient home of the English language. I heard maybe you're a duke? You're only in China because you deign to be for the woman that you love and you're offering your services for a limited time. You have to charge so much because otherwise you'd get flooded with requests. Better hurry before you're totally booked up!
Deep State of Mind fucked around with this message at 07:18 on Apr 5, 2014 |
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Apr 5, 2014 07:06
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How's Japanese College like high school? That sounds pretty sweet.Bloodnose posted:Also tutoring is one of these things where it's better to set a really high price point which in itself becomes a form of advertising. Suddenly you're the tutor who gets 6000 rmb an hour. You're this mysterious character from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ancient home of the English language. I heard maybe you're a duke? You're only in China because he deigns to be for the woman that he loves and he's offering his services. You have to charge so much because otherwise you'd get flooded with requests. Better hurry before you're totally booked up! This read like it started out helpful then Facepalm Ranger fucked around with this message at 07:24 on Apr 5, 2014 |
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Apr 5, 2014 07:12
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No it devolved into how pricing your services for an elite market may be received.
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Apr 5, 2014 07:17
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Bloodnose posted:No it devolved into how pricing your services for an elite market may be received. Ah...good then! Currently sat with gf's mum and auntie waiting for said friend girl to show up to go see movie. So much waiting in this family, so chengdu. Facepalm Ranger fucked around with this message at 07:26 on Apr 5, 2014 |
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Apr 5, 2014 07:23
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Facepalm Ranger posted:How's Japanese College like high school? That sounds pretty sweet. Japanese/Chinese/Korean high school is cramming 20 hours a day for a standardized test. If you do well you get into a good university where you are essentially guaranteed a degree. You spend your four years loving around, relaxing for the only time in your life before becoming a salaryman, and developing a personality as we usually do in high school.
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Apr 5, 2014 07:27
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Grand Fromage posted:Japanese/Chinese/Korean high school is cramming 20 hours a day for a standardized test. If you do well you get into a good university where you are essentially guaranteed a degree. You spend your four years loving around, relaxing for the only time in your life before becoming a salaryman, and developing a personality as we usually do in high school. God sign me up. I crammed through art college and missed out on that, seriously how did I manage to choose an art college that actually required cramming??
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Apr 5, 2014 07:32
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Facepalm Ranger posted:This whole gf company thing has got me gridlocked as she hangs out with them afterwork all the time. When I mention ¥1500 as Payment (which is nothing for design work, good or bad) I get guilted with "oh but he's bought you dinner so many times (I don't eat much at these dinners). He let you borrow the play station (which I've already done work for in the past as thanks, gf in a heated argument about this has threatened to give it back). When I suggest hiring a Chinese employee they can under pay she dismisses it saying they haven't got anyone lined up. Just so you know I can't imagine you will ever see this money and your girlfriend is going to keep guilting you into doing free work for her company. If she was getting a kickback it would be fine or if she was the boss but if you are blatantly getting taken advantage of because no one dare make the boss lose possible face in some confrontation then you are boned. Your girlfriend has put you in a lovely situation and I'm sorry for that. :/
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Apr 5, 2014 07:35
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Unfortunately GF not all of them develop personalities. 
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Apr 5, 2014 07:37
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Facepalm Ranger posted:God sign me up. I crammed through art college and missed out on that, seriously how did I manage to choose an art college that actually required cramming?? I don't know, sounds like you don't need Japanese College to poo poo around for a year
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Apr 5, 2014 07:40
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goldboilermark posted:Unfortunately GF not all of them develop personalities. Well, that's true everywhere.
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Apr 5, 2014 07:41
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Bloodnose posted:Also tutoring is one of these things where it's better to set a really high price point which in itself becomes a form of advertising. Suddenly you're the tutor who gets 6000 rmb an hour. You're this mysterious character from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ancient home of the English language. I heard maybe you're a duke? You're only in China because you deign to be for the woman that you love and you're offering your services for a limited time. You have to charge so much because otherwise you'd get flooded with requests. Better hurry before you're totally booked up! LISTEN TO BLOODNOSE. NOTE MY CAPSLOCK. Also...I don't "know" you because I don't WeChat, but if you're having any sort of issues you don't want to obligate yourself to 15 hours a week of teaching with one place--which you haven't done before--off the bat. Start off teaching a few little kids or high school students a few hours a week at a Starbucks or something, and then after a while--if you can handle it--transition into working more. If you do an hour a day, maybe two back-to-back on Saturday and give yourself Sunday off, you'll make 8000 extra a month. Again, not to judge your relationship, but...save some of that money for YOU, okay? Don't earmark it as communal money--HALF of it should go in a nice little Facepalm account, one where you don't have to get permission from you girlfriend for animes or therapy or maybe even a plane ticket home if poo poo hits the fan. The independence may make you feel better.
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Apr 5, 2014 07:43
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Luckily I've not given them the files yet. I think you and blinkey are right, they're going to try shaft me and my girlfriend will justify it as "this is just how it is here" which I already know to be utter bullshit. I'm so sick of hearing "that's just how it is here" as in the uk all I heard was "in china you can do/get/etc". "That's just how it is" is the most loving unmotivating thing to hear regarding doing work and wanting to get paid. The other part of the grid locking is unfortunately I don't really care for these people and they are unfortunately the closest thing I can describe as friends due to the frequency I see them. But I don't relate to them, can't really converse with them and am often bored as nails around them but, they get me out the house. Which is why I'd rather start up a friendship with a potential huge rear end stoner than hang around them. EDIT: oh god I wish I could hug fearcotton and blinkey at the same time right now. You guys are too helpful to me! (And blood nose too...I guess  )
Facepalm Ranger fucked around with this message at 07:46 on Apr 5, 2014 |
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Apr 5, 2014 07:44
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Pro tip, that's not just how it is in China. They're saying you're crazy for expecting them to pay a contractor 66 RMB per hour. The reason they don't have anyone local lined up is because local graphic designers probably won't accept the kinds of bitch wages they think they can get away with paying you.
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Apr 5, 2014 07:48
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Facepalm Ranger posted:Luckily I've not given them the files yet. I think you and blinkey are right, they're going to try shaft me and my girlfriend will justify it as "this is just how it is here" which I already know to be utter bullshit. Oh, you haven't given them anything yet? You've got them by the balls, then. By all means proceed with "oh, I'm having trouble with my computer" and "I'm sorry, I need to convert those files to a better format, it will take some time" and, of course, the old standby: "I'm too busy today for that, perhaps tomorrow." This is 150% Chinese and should at least result in you getting some money from them if they want the work you did. The "that's how it's done here" thing is pulled everywhere, too, as meramjert says. It's not so much that something is "done" in a place as it is someone saying "this is my lovely excuse for trying to fleece you, whatcha gonna do about it?" blinkyzero fucked around with this message at 07:55 on Apr 5, 2014 |
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Apr 5, 2014 07:52
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