2 posts tagged “employment”
On Friday the headmaster called me into his office. He told me that the new deputy head teacher appointed last week would be taking over my classes and that I was no longer needed at the school.
The news came as a shock because I was expecting to be given a permanent contract. As much as I hate the school I figured it would be best to stay with the devil I know and get qualified teaching status before moving on.
Now I feel like a fish out of water. It is nerve wracking to be out of a job without another lined up. How long will I be flapping about before I find another post? With luck the agency I am registered with will to put me in touch with some schools in the next month and I can take it from there.
Despite the worry of being unemployed I must say that I feel immensely relieved to be out of the school. It was an absolutely soul-destroying place to work. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I am looking forward to finding another job.
The only thing I am not happy about is moving out. I live in a lovely quiet house that would be next to impossible to find elsewhere for the price I am paying. It is a one in a million find. If there is any consolation to be had, it is that I could move to a nicer part of England. Gravesend is nothing to write home about.
Isn’t it scary how dramatically we can change our lives by a single decision? If I simply accepted a job offer at the company Nancy works for in Taiwan, my life would suddenly look very different. For one thing, Nancy and I would be able to resume living together like a normal couple. Furthermore, it would be in a home we could take ownership of ourselves. It is tempting to take the job for these two things alone, but there are other tempting factors too, not least of which is earning a rather sizeable income again. It would instantly free me of the financial strain I face in South Africa. Also, by accepting the job I would enter the world of business, which is something entirely new to me.
Essentially I would be trained as an overseas sales representative for the company. Since the only working experience I have so far is in teaching, the opportunity to enter a different line of work is something that doesn’t often come along. In fact the reason I can get into the company at all is because of Nancy and her family’s close relationship with the boss and his family. As is the Chinese way, they would hire me and train me because I am already a part of their ‘family’ in a sense.
During the interview the sales manager highlighted some of the positive aspects of working there instead of teaching at a school. She said that apart from the thrill of seeking out clients, winning them over and making money, I would be extending my social network all around the world. In a few years, she said, there would hardly be a country where I didn’t know someone. She also said that I would be able to work in different countries without having to start at a new job every time as they are already in the process of opening more offices in Europe, America and Asia.
All in all it is a tempting offer, but I am still hesitant to accept it. Despite the positive aspects of working at the company, I am not that keen on working in an office cubicle in front of a computer (unless it was a Mac and I was doing something creative, but this job is hardly that). I also don’t particularly like selling things (unless they are things that will profit me directly, but this job wouldn’t. I would merely be paid a reasonable salary to make someone else very rich). Despite the convenience of it, I am not really that exited by the idea of working at the same place as Nancy either. I quite like the fact that we have different interests, abilities and types of work. I am also reluctant to work for a Chinese company. I know that Nancy works overtime every single day, and has to go in on weekends too. That’s just the way it goes here. You are busy, busy, busy all year round with a measly 10 days off to recuperate.
Accepting this job would mean becoming someone else and I am not entirely comfortable with that. I quite like who I am now, and what I do and where I am headed. The trouble is that Nancy feels the same way about her situation in Taiwan. If only we could find something we both feel happy doing in the same country, let alone the same city.
