Anger

I have been stewing with anger at my company for the last few days. It hasn't gotten better. When I am teaching, I have pretty much no contact with my company. I go to the school and work witht he teachers there. It works pretty well that way. My old supervisor was rad. She always helped me out and told me I was the best teacher they had and how happy they were to have me and we got along great. I would go to the office to drink coffee and talk. She got the company to make arrangement for my very nice apartment which I lived in from October of last year. She quit in December. SInce then I have been largely forgotten about, which is great when I am working at the schools.

I have been asking about what would happen with work since Novemeber or so. Telling them that I need to make arrangements for the next year and I needed information to make my decision. I was ignored. When asked when I would move out of my apartment, I gave a random date because I had no idea about my job. Throughout all of that I kept asking though. My company advertised for job openings in another city, near Osaka, where I used to live. I told them I would take it. They didn't report back to me. I had to rent a storage space (which cost a lot of trouble and $340 for the first month, $84 after) to put my stuff in. I moved by myself, in the rain last Friday. As soon as the last load was in the storage space, I got a mial saying they wanted to re-hire me. Now I live in a guest house with 10-15 other people, in the middle of nowhere. It is run-down and has one toilet and one dirty shower. My apartment was brand-new, and in town. It had broadband internet and a super toliet. The water was always warm and it wasn't too hot or too cold. Roaches never showed up. $300 will be deducted from my salary as a moving out fee. I am sure they will try to take more as I am a foreigner. I mailed my work back and told them I would take the job if they could help me out with an apartment. They wrote back, "No, but I can give you a list of realators." I know how to find an aparmtent. That isn't a problem. But getting an apartment in Japan, especially if you are a foreigner, is a process of extortion. You are expected to pay 1-3 months rent up front, and a "deposit" That you will never see again. After paying for everything regarding moving I had about $17 in my bank account.
I waited for pay-day. No money came. I waited through the weekend. No money came. I called my work. "Oh, didn't we tell you? YOur pay will be 10 days late because you are moving." "No, you didn't tell me. That isn't going to work. " "I will call my supervisor, maybe we can give you an advance." I don't know how paying you a few days late can be considered an advance. "But I have no money to eat." "Do you have any friends?" Fuck you. This is what Kayoko asked me when she stopped paying me and said, "But I gave you a bag of rice."

Now at this point you might be saying, "Wes, why don't you just move home?" Good point. I would have loved to at many different points, but I have been broke for 2 years. I couldn't afford a plane ticket home if I didn't eat for two weeks. I still wore the same clothes I had in high school. I wear the same suit I bought when I got on JET. I sewed up the pants for graduation with a sewing kit I got at the dollar store.

The advance came. I went to the company through which I got my old apartment in hopes of getting it back. "You want an apartment in March, in Kyoto?" He laughed at me. He laughed. Kyoto is a college town and the school year starts in April. Everyone who transfers jobs, transfers in April. I could have planned for this if my work told me anything earlier. The man, with his rotting teeth, finding me amusing, manged to find an old, wooden apartment, outside of town. The first payment will be $2,500. That is feasible. Why not $25 million. It is the same thing to me.

Work called today. The company. They asked why I hadn't responded to the email about signing my contract next week. I live in a broken down guest-house north of the city where there is a filthy community room with a broken down, out of date computer in the corner the you can pay $1 to use for 30 minutes. It doens't look like it works and there is a note on top saying that you can only use it for mail and information. I told them the date and time of the contract signing were okay but I was unhappy with how I was being treated. The lady in cahrge of this stuff, who is 8 years younger than me and whose English is worse than my Japanese, kept trying to change the conversation rudely back to English explaining that the company had budget concerns this year an would only pay for people relocating from far away. "How is that different from me?" I kept asking. "Let me ask you a question? Where did the money go?" Fuck them. It went to all my diamonds and watch collection. It would to my stocks and gold reserves. It went to charity. It went to fuel for my plane. I work for a haken company and live in Japan.

This call was also to introduce me to my new supervisor who laughed when I spoke Japanese to her.

I told the other lady that I had done a very good job for her company. That the teacher, the students, the principlas loved me and that that had to reflect well on her company which was trying to get a new contract with the 3rd most populous city in Japan. "Whether you did a good job, that may or may not be true." Ho demoralizing. After last weeks graduation with everyone crying and telling you how they want you to come back and seeing the kids that you love do so well, and fitting in with all the teachers, a jerk in an office who can't even dress herself (just my theory) reduces all the energy you have put into "You may or may not have done a good job." It is almost enought to make me take my $17 and down to the travel agency and get a ticket down the street.

I know I will love the job once I get to the schools. I hate being treated like this. As a nutmeg of consulation, the lady mailed me a list of places I could live in Osaka. I live in Kyoto. I thanked her for the list, but it was all foreginer houses. I am not a human being. I am not being trated as a human being and I have no recourse. I told the lady this. She said "Maybe you shouldn't work here." I knew it was coming to that. I told her I liked the job, but I didn't think they were being fair.

I am out after this contract. I can't take this shit. I love the job, but I hate the system. I love my gym though.

anyway.