I need to rant and need advice.
I am infuriated, hopefully I contain myself as I explain my situation.
I am a music teacher and started working for another teacher about two months ago. She finds me students, I come to her place and teach those students, for 1500 yen per 30m lesson. We have 3 lessons a month. At the moment I only have 1 student from her, so I only go to her place on Tuesdays 3 times a month.
Last week, I woke up Tuesday morning with serious eye problems. My eyes were swollen to the point that I couldn’t open them, probably due to hay fever and a mix of contact lense infection according to my eye doctor. Naturally, I call the teacher, explain the situation to her, and say I can’t come today, can we move the lesson to next week?
And this is her response:
「生徒には当日キャンセルしていいけど、先生なら…」
“It’s one thing for the student to cancel, but if the teacher cancels….”
And she pauses, as if she’s waiting for me to say “ah right, I’ll come after all of course!”
And then she continues
「まあ病気なら仕方ないですけど、来週はよろしくお願いいたします」
And she hangs up the phone.
That was the coldest response I have ever received from someone, I was pretty hurt and felt so much guilt for cancelling the lesson.
But, I moved on and my eyes healed, and today we had the makeup lesson.
Here’s the main story.
I finish the lesson like I’m supposed to. She hands me the compensation from February.
She explains to me 「先生には絶対欠勤しちゃダメ」「キャンセルは絶対しちゃダメ。だからペナルティがあります。ご了承ください」
I, completely flabbergasted, accept the little envelope, say thanks and leave, while doing my best not to show my dissatisfaction (cuz i hate confrontation, so Japanese of me).
Once I’m home I read the amount written on it.
3500 fucking yen.
I did 3 lessons last month. 3×1500=4500. That should have been the amount.
I notice there’s a “contract” inside the envelope too. It says for any lesson you come late, 500 yen deducted (came a couple minutes late one time, still gave them the 30 full minutes though). For any lesson “missed” (I never “missed” a lesson, i moved it because I was SICK), you get another 500 yen deducted. She also didn’t pay me the travel costs although she was supposed to according to the “contract”.
I am infuriated. Why? Because I essentially worked for free one day, and I remember I specifically decided to work for her because I remember she DIDNT have the stupid penalties that so many contracts in Japan have. That’s why “contract” is in quotes. And that was the first time I heard about the stupid penalty, as she handed me the envelope
I remembered some of the other things she said as i was leaving:
「日本人は時間を重視してるから」
“Japanese people value time”.
Yeah so do fucking I. Insulting.
「これから自己管理してください」
“Take care of yourself from now on”.
Oh thank you so much for the 気遣い! Basically, never ever have an emergency, cuz me prioritizing my health clearly inconveniences you so much.
That was the rant.
Now the real question. I’m in an angry mood so my gut reaction is to just quit and teach her a lesson, tell her this is unacceptable. Obviously, since she is of the opinion “this is how we do it in Japan, and you gotta follow the Japanese culture”, it’s obviously acceptable to her. I doubt I would change her mind by quitting, although I wouldn’t mind burning this bridge right now. The rational part of my brain doesn’t want to do that just yet though, because it’s possible she might give me more students which would be good income (assuming I don’t ever get sick sigh).
So, is this penalization illegal? If it’s not then I guess there’s nothing I can do. If it is, what can I do about it?
EDIT:
I found the original contract that she gave me when I started. It’s exactly the same as the one she gave me today in the envelope, EXCEPT there’s two extra lines at the bottom saying I will get penalized for coming late or cancelling. The original one says there’s no penalty for coming late or canceling. In other words, she conveniently changed the contract after I had to cancel due to sickness without telling me. What a greedy snitch. Definitely quitting.
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Does it say in your employment contract that there is a penalty for canceling like specifically the exact yen amount (for discussion sake)? If not then she has no right to do so.
What are the terms of your employment? Is it just a verbal agreement or do you have a written contract?
I don’t think legally she can have this kind of penalty.
Now to be honest, fighting in court for 1000 yen is not worth it.
However, it is worth answering this kind of behaviour. Unless you really need that money, I would send her a message to shame her the most polite japanese way.
“Thank you for your time, I thought Japanese people were respectful of others and of the law regarding employees, it seems even here there are some rotten apples. It will be difficult to work with you in the future. I will be looking for new respectful partners for further venture.”
She’s an asshole, and that’s super illegal. Managers/bosses who act like you can’t get sick are the worst.
I’ve been at both types of places: people who will move the world for you because you can’t be there, and people who condemn you to hell just because you couldn’t.
However there’s nothing really much you can do over 1000. I would just leave.
Ask for money upfront going forward, or quit otherwise. That way you would avoid situations like this going forward.
Life is too short for this bullshit, stop working with her.
Sounds like a very legitimate business operation. I assume you are being paid in cash and not receiving any sort of pay slip or tax deduction information etc? I’d suggest saying to her, casually of course, that your last pay packet was short and this will mess up your tax filing you have to do as an independent worker, so could she please either provide you with the missing money, or a statement for the tax authorities explaining the inconsistency in the amount. Note that this is total bullshit, you don’t need to prove missing income to the tax authorities, but I’d suspect she’s paying you under the table and pocketing the difference between what the students are paying her and what she’s passing on to you without reporting it so maybe you give her a sleepless night or two?
It’s over, you’re finished with her. Tell the people you had lessons with that you quit because she wasn’t paying you, then try to make them direct students.
A gig that is not worth it, with a boss that is inconsiderate and probably earning a decent chunk more on the lessons you give. Deducting 1000 Yen is just petty and pointless. However, she might be within her right.
Don’t work for her anymore. Things can only get worse at this point. If she has no lessons to distribute, why would you expect more to come now? And now that she is pissed at you, why would she allocate more to you? Factor in preparation and commuting times, then your 1x30min gigs sound like a terrible deal.
From my own experience with language schools, there are penalties for missing a lesson for whatever reason. You aren’t paid, and, from past contracts, you pay the amount you would receive otherwise [If you miss a lesson you would be paid 1.500yen for, then YOU pay 1500yen instead].
Illegal or not, I just know it exists.
For the amount you receive I’m surprised you put up with their shit.
This is funny.
Whole OP can be summarized as:
#shady cash in hand gig is shady, wot do?
Talk to the labor consultation desk at your local ward, they often have lawyers who help with this sort of thing. Also, don’t quit if you can, get fired and file for unemployment possibly.
Japanese people value time? Since when? They work 20 hours a day 7 days a week with very little to no free time at all.
Why would you even go to that length for a measly 4.500 yen a month? There are high-school students earning more per hour with tutoring.
If you factor in the commute, I bet you could make more by just working part-time at a Conbini near your house.
👋👋 And treasure the っえ？！
Not legal. I’m.assuming it’s not in your contract? You have a contract right?
I’d just block and ghost this bitch if it were me. Idk if this is money you need though.
Japanese people value time? If that were the case they wouldn’t spend 10 or 12 hours a day doing 8 hours’ of work at their place of employment.
Fuck working for that bitch.
You charge every low for private lessons. I would quit and get my own students
You need to talk to a labor lawyer. ASAP.
That is neither Japanese culture nor legal, so please talk to 労働局(roudoukyoku). They should call her from them and instruct her.
Wow, that’s ridiculous, especially considering 1500 for 1 30 minute lesson is a really good deal for her, I bet the student is paying her a lot more. You should stop teaching for her, and in the future, value your time more, and establish at least a 1 hour or 2 hour minimum.