I work at big chain Eikaiwa and have done for 4 years. The teachers I work with are nice and SOME of the Japanese staff are.
However, whenever I take a (paid and completely within my rights to) sick day, I am met with hostility and glares from all the Japanese staff the following day. I also get told that I’m “burdening others” for my sick day. They try and catch me out as they thinking I’m faking it (???)
I’ve literally only ever used my allotted amount but you’d think I was pulling a sickie every week! One particular staff member has taken to banging violently on the door of the room I’m in whenever she wants to speak to me.
Does anyone else get this much hostility for taking a sick day? Or am I just particularly unlucky.
22 comments
yeah, that’s how japanese job culture be sometimes
No, because I am not treated like cattle. It is always the shittiest jobs that start making a fuss over using your own rights.
For the 726th time in this sub: fuck eikaiwas
Luckily I don’t experience anything of the sort at my company.
If I did though, I’d be glaring and banging right back at the offending party. But I’m petty like that.
Those kinds of people are expecting you to thank them for their extra hard work during your absence, because it was such a struggle and inconvenience for *them* that you got sick. You didn’t tell them how much you appreciate their hard work, so you get death stares. How dare you.
I’m not even kidding
My advice is to enjoy this lucky chance to learn who those people are, and stop making eye contact with them from this point forward, and keep being awesome. They’re still mentally at Yochien and need praise for coloring in the lines perfectly or they’re emotionally lost
It gets pettier the more they know about you, so also keep all personal facts and opinions to yourself
Literally just quit a teaching job over this. I had a pretty bad injury that made it painful to walk (and this particular job had me on my feet all day), so I took the day off and got lectured over it. And this was a part time gig without sick days or benefits – like I’m really going to miss out on a day’s wages for no good reason.
Seems to be cultural for SOME people?
Have you tried actually faking illness and come in coughing and spluttering directly in the face of those who give you the evil eye?
I always apologize *profusely* when I take a sick day as I know it really does inconvenience others because the company has nothing in place to cover anybody who might be ill. Luckily this seems to do the trick and I never get any glares etc but if I did I would be dealing with it in a very clear and direct confrontational manner and maybe almost go to cough on them because my cough is still lingering!
Japanese work culture is known for being abusive. Combined with the shitty eikaiwa business culture you get this.
It is not normal at all but common.
I worked for one of the big eikaiwa chain shops myself for a year and a half in my first years here and I had exactly the same problem. I got influenza and missed a day of work and they were lighting their hair on fire. When I used some of my vacation time to extend my New Year holiday by a couple of days so I could have enough time to visit my parents in the US they were lighting my hair on fire. They refused to extend my contract after that. Fortunately, I had already received another job offer, so I didn’t care.
I remember hearing about a Japanese area manager at an eikaiwa not wanting to renew an employees contract due to him being off during their busiest time of year, summer school. How inconsiderate of that teacher not to work during that time!
Reason for absence: In hospital for a month after being involved in a rather bad car accident.
So yeah, it happens unfortunately. The image of something being more important than the details of it.
I’m surprised some places still have this mentality even after 2 years of pandemic. Do they want you to come in and spread it?
I also got “you must be faking” and then silent treatment when I took days off when working at a certain eikaiwa some years ago. Sucked because I got so many bad colds and flus from working with the kids, I had to take sick leave 4-5 times a year. Unfortunately plenty of workplaces still have this culture that paid leave days are a mere legal formality on paper that no one actually indulges in. So then you get Japanese staff who’ve worked there for years without once taking a day off getting salty af over the foreigner who takes the idea of paid leave literally and makes sure to use all their days each year. After I learned a few things I stopped experiencing drama about it though:
-apologize a lot when asking for time off. In Western countries apologies are for when you’ve done wrong, but here it’s also used to solidify your position and indicate you’re not open to changing your mind, the situation can’t be helped. Apologize some more.
-be vague, don’t describe in detail your symptoms or illness just say they are such you *must* get to a doctor *today*.
-DO NOT let them talk you into coming into work, not even for a half day. They might guilt trip you hard. But if you waver and go back on your word, they will assume a) you weren’t *that* ill =you called in sick for a frivolous reason, so you won’t be believed next time you say you’re sick and b) you’re the type who can be wheedled and bullied into doing whatever they want.
-don’t share any social media profiles with *anyone* at your workplace, set your profiles to private/invite only, and don’t add anyone from work, not even fellow foreigner work buddies. If you must, maintain a neutral profile for show but don’t update it, or at least make double-sure your posts aren’t visible to anyone connected to your workplace.
-when you ask for time off in advance as vacation days, don’t ask permission, make statements: “I won’t be able to work from June 6-10th, I’m so sorry for the inconvenience” if asked for why, just say “personal reasons” and leave it at that. Do not share who, what, where, why of your little vacay. If they try to press you for more info or to change your dates, stay firm by continuing to apologize. I used this technique to get things like using all my accumulated paid leave days at once to go visit my family in my home country, and for getting off “black out” days we weren’t technically supposed to disappear from, worked like a charm.
-do not talk about your time off or boast about where you went or are planning to go. Do not ever say things like “I can’t wait for my trip next week!” This is especially true if you got time off in a way that’s technically “against the rules” like I did above. When you get back, apologize again and thank the people who covered your absence profusely (this is very important and applies even when you do things perfectly within your rights, if you don’t thank and apologize both when you ask for the time off and when you come back, you will be seen as a selfish 自分勝手 prick=hostility against you will grow). Then never speak of it again. Don’t bother with omiyage or divulge anything about where you went. Be vague. If asked say something like “I had some personal stuff come up, so sorry I left you guys in a pinch, how was ____ while I was gone?” steer the conversation back to work. In these kinds of workplaces the only time talking about vacays, bringing omiyage etc. is socially acceptable at work is when it’s a vacation time that *everyone* has like Golden Week.
-ideally, quit and find a more humane and reasonable workplace. They do exist once in a while.
Take more days to recover from the abuses
Stop working at an eikawai
Sounds a bit like ブラック企業。
A little, but reminds me that part
Lol on my last job, at a big Eikawa company, I had 62 days off at the start of the year (including carry overs). Took 2 weeks off to go back home, multiple sick days, another 4 days for vacation and nobody cared, as long as I had things set up for my coworkers to cover while I was gone. That’s how it should be I guess.
I completely understand how you feel. I work at a big eikaiwa and luckily when I’ve been sick, at least at my school, my manager has always been understanding when I’m too sick to come in. I try not to take advantage of it lol.
But honestly, it’s not much different from back when I was a server in America. I could be vomiting with a stomach bug and the restaurant will still ask “well, are you still able to come in?”
Legit businesses don’t do this. Eikaiwas are 90% trash
That’s eikaiwas for you. Doesn’t happen when you WFH. xD
I never had a problem at my eikaiwa because we had to bring a doctor’s note. Prior to that policy being implemented, absences were exponentially higher. When so many teachers are “sick” on Saturday and Sunday with “food poisoning”, it tends to raise eyebrows.
The biggest problem with Eikawas is the lack of covering staff if someone gets sick. Remember one time I had to go to work with 38,5 fever and I “looked” really sick (obviously) because there were no one to cover my classes. Was also told by the manager that “wow, you look really sick”, YOU THINK???
The shoe string budget approach that most eikawas have puts the teachers in such a shitty position because the company will fucking flame you to death if you don’t show up because they don’t have enough staff. The kicker here is that if the Japanese staff gets sick there were always teachers to cover because the company can call the temp agency.
Have language students or whatever on as PT. They can fucking jump in anytime considering eikawas Always have shitty work hours.
I quit the company the month after the ”You look really sick” experience.
I just ignore shit like this. Do your job, take off your allotted time, fuck all the political shit, and find a hobby outside of work. If you can just ignore your coworkers and go about your life, it’ll make things a lot easier for you.