What an orgy of Miserable Me today,
after thinking about all those teachers who are complaining about earning more than 900,000 HK annually.
Non of the Hong Kong Chinese reading
the television said what they really thought, though a recent ad in the paper for a Chinese biochemist paid only 10,000 monthly.
There are those who walk through this world coated
in smugness and now I know why, when some lucky lucky ones got to
negotiate these sweetheart deals
with the local Hong Kong Chinese
before the Communist take-over -
yes, in this uncertain job climate,
they managed to let the locals know
how brave they were staying here,
and for this life
of suffering here, they would need
casualty pay for all their air tickets home,
and their full rents included!
Well - Boo Hoo.
These complainers were on the streets this week
to protest a ten per cent cut, when the schools that have treated them so well
are about to see their rents
possibly double next year with widely discussed
rental hikes coming here.
Never think they have tons of qualifications,
as they were here at the right time,
which is all students of life success
and life failure know, is very critical
in our destinies.
For those of you who have no
currency calculator handy, that is an unbelievable
more than 10,000 Canuck dollars a month.
Their Western manageress answered sensibly to
the ones that threatened to quit and to go to schools who would appreciate them more -
Yes, that just shows how much
they understand
The Chinese Mind
- The Chinese as Employers are always rushing
down the street to hire
teachers who go in public protest marches!
The manageress answered
that she didn't think they would find it that
easy if they quit
their jobs.
No Kidding, Ralphie.
Has anyone offered you
a job contract
at more than 100,00 Yankee or Canuck
dollars lately, and then had to put
up with you waltzing down the streets complaining
that you are not appreciated?
I am a good teacher too.
And I am teaching you all right now.
For that matter.
I know so many sad stories about ESL teachers,
and all they did, and how they have treated out in foreign lands.
A story like this just causes your mind
to back up in reverse and go into
the other direction, and that is good for
freshness of thought, if not, freshness of heart.
Arielle Gabriel, Hong Kong 2005.
PS The protests were done around an EFL office
in Wan Chai, and took place this week.
