If It's Broken, Don't Fix It.

My sole foreign co-worker has been "laid off" from my school. Due to foreign affairs meddling and the graduation of his kindergarteners, they told him that his services would not be required next year. That's fine, I guess, though being the only Western face at school may get kind of tiring. I rely on our cigarette breaks (we're the only 2 who smoke) to get me through the day.

So, he's found work at another school. I wish him the best, but I fear the worst. The school he's going to work for has, among everyone I know, a horrible reputation for lying and cheating it's staff. In fact, he was surprised that they even hired him. He figured they must be desperate. When he went there for orientation, there were at least a dozen other foreigners there for the same thing.

Of course, they had that many foreigners there last year, but every single one of them quit. Tired of being treated like children, cheated out of wages, being lied to even when the truth is harmless, and then being socked with fines and extra work when they complained, they all left, one by one.

I imagine that from the Chinese (Taiwanese) perspective, all those foreigners were insolent complainers, who needed a firm hand. What they really needed, in my opinion, is a union, but they're illegal in Taiwan. I'm sure next year will be the same, my former co-worker already having been lied to about several things before he's even started.

The school, staffed by Chinese managers who value face-saving above all other concerns, would never admit that they don't know what they're doing. So the cycle will continue. Foreigners will hate the place, and the school will acquire a new crop of them every year.

So be it.