Enigma of Bill, Mongolian millionaire

UPDATE: Having just read over this, i really must add for future reference, considering this is almost all i wrote about the College specifically, that this was a RANT written shortly after a very late call-up on what was supposed to be a day off, at a time when i knew even less about China than i do now. That is, not the most even-handed point of view. So i must add the context here.

Bill is a GREAT guy. The occasional conflicts between us - it's really an exaggeration to call them 'conflicts' - were because of different standards in accepted practice - i.e. employer-employee relations. It's a common tale in China, and one of the most harmless recurring complaints that foreign teachers have.

Not only that, but Bill facilitated an extraordinary opportunity for us to see the country. Generally, when your boss does something extremely kind for you, the initial reaction is to question what the motive is, and of course, i racked my brains over what could possibly be the motive in this case. About all i could see that was in Bill's self-interest here was to be rid of two whingeing foreigners. However, his warm welcome on our return later in the year indicated he was truly happy to see us again - purely as friends.

As such, i salute Bill as a self-made success story of hard work. Some of his business practices may lead other China novices to frustration, but really what it requires is to thrash out exactly what the terms of the contract are to be, before you arrive there.

As such, i must say that Bill is a champion and i would thoroughly recommend any random readers to teach at his school - BUT EMAIL me and i can help you with a few tips - achubb {at} gmail.com



MAY 21, 2007: When we arrived it seemed the boss, Bill, couldn't be any better. However, the longer we've been here, the more eccentric he's proven to be.

He is, it seems, a self-made millionaire. We know he's a fan of paying bribes but he also has devious ways of getting around them. He is also a member of the Mongolian minority group, so the one-child policy doesn't apply to him. But he's 32 now and desperately seeking a wife in keeping with the demands of his mother, who lives with him (not the other way around, he got her out of that village as soon as he started getting rich).

His treatment of the girls at this place is in correlation with his chances of marrying them. His Chinese employees work 7 days a week, and very long hours. The turnover rate is astonomical. Since we've been here at least 4 have left and he recently asked Cynthia: "Do you think Australian girl would like rich Chinese businessman?"

Strangely enough, he had a girlfriend for like 10 years but didn't marry her - the friends of his who met us in Beijing were his ex and her husband! But for all his seeking of a wife, he always sends foreign teachers to the big dinners, like the one in Chagan Lake, ostensibly to drink on behalf of him. "I am not very social," he says. But this is a big problem, especially here in the north-east of China where drinking is a huge part of the culture. On our first night he got a round of beers for the men and a round of warm peanut milk for the girls...and him. "It's only for girls," he announced as he cracked open his, apparently without irony.

He will do almost anything for us - get us cheese from Changchun, spaghetti from Beijing, help us look for a car, lend us money. But he's refusing to pay another foreign teacher her overtime pay, from March when she saved his arse because he had only 3 foreign teachers. He's a habitual liar - he'll 'schedule' a day to go looking for a car, then give us classes on that day. He'll tell us he has the 4 blocks of cheese we asked for but then present us with half a block and tell us his mother ate it (this is implausible - she's a very traditional old woman from a small village!).

He also loves to play favourites - when we arrived we were the favourites but then 2 blonde Canadians arrived and suddenly we were expendable and he starts ringing surprise classes on us. Oddly enough, though, he doesn't care about the hole i kicked in the office wall - "It's cool, man, noooo problem."

He likes to paint himself as a man with all the answers, even when he's got nothing. Like when we first told him about how fuct it was teaching at the high school, he promised a new teacher was arriving soon and would "take over all the classes at the high school". Problem was, he promised the same thing to three teachers teaching 60 classes a week between them in 2 different schools.

Just last night i got served with a 7-days a week schedule starting next week. I was looking forward to my last Saturday afternoon off when the phone rings to tell me i'm teaching a class this afternoon. I ring Bill to complain that this short notice shit is rude, and he tells me, in these words, "It's Wu Lan's fault," (that's the new secretary). I didn't believe him so i said something to the effect of "whatever". And he responds, "I will deduct 100RMB from her wages - will you be happy then?" What a fucking nazi.

But really, who could really hate on those puffy cheeks?