What’s your experience with staff at Eikaiwa? I’m the only FT at my school, so it felt a bit isolating for a while, but the JTs and manager seemed nice enough so I was fine just being nice, professional, and just keeping my head down while I did my work.
But damn, I’m really starting to relate to others who have posted that the Japanese staff at eikaiwa are really like… backstabby? I’m not sure the word to describe it, but for example: secretly hiding outside the door timing your lessons *to the second* and then complaining to the manager about any deviations from lesson plan timing or whatever other nitpick they find.
I discovered in the last month that this was happening to me. I have no idea how long it’s been going on, but it feels really invasive and now I’m constantly paranoid about constantly being viewed under a microscope every second I’m at work.
And meanwhile those same Japanese staff regularly start their lessons 5 minutes late and admit to going on unrelated tangents in their lessons, and face zero repercussions lmao
Anyway, anyone having similar struggles?
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>secretly hiding outside the door timing your lessons
If I noticed staff doing that to me, I’d non-chalantly sneak over to the door and open it on them, say hello, ask if they’d like to come in. Something seemingly innocent in the perspective of the students, but would be clear in intention to the staff.
Previous job had 1 that was very annoying, backstabby and a pain to deal with. Current job’s staff is pretty chill, nothing to complain about with them
I deal with one Japanese staff like that. I think that bootlicking がいぉこぎん can be even worse. They try even harder to prove they are worthy to their superiors by putting you down to show separation from “a typical gaijin.”
I don’t think that is exclusively a Japanese thing. You will find nitpicky, passive-aggressive, micromanaging, meddling, miserable people in any workplace.
However, I think Japanese work culture generates a lot more of these people. Nobody wants to work crazy overtime hours, or go drinking every night with the boss. They do it because they have to. I find that there can be a lot of pettiness from Japanese to foreign workers for two reasons. One, the Japanese workers become jealous because we don’t have to do the overtime hours or have the obligations they do. Two, some of us just can’t “read the air” and cause offense to them without meaning to.
This cluster-fuck leads to pettiness and resentment. The vast majority of Japanese staff I’ve worked with are cool as long as you don’t cause trouble (being late, etc). Just like I believe most of us are reasonable to work with. But then you get that one who will be a pain in your side for no reason. Simply because misery loves company and they want to make you as miserable as they are. Then they do stuff like you said. Monitoring your break down to the second. Making bullshit requests just to show their power over you. Causing you inconveniences on “accident”. Etc.
You saying you’re the only FT. I’m assuming it’s a small eikawa?
Small eikawas are hit and miss.
I work at a small eikawa as well. We’re only 6 staff and I’m the only foreigner.
There is one staff member that is shady as fuck. Has no real own opinion and only agrees with the boss and so on.
She has backstabbed me a couple of times. However my boss knows how she is and how I am.
My boss asks me if it’s true and then if I say it’s not my boss believes me.
We both prefer communication over small BS.
Backstabbers are fucking annoying but if you have a relatively good relationship with your boss, it doesn’t matter. The boss will believe you…. Or, so I hope.
I think the key in getting on in an eikaiwa is being super friendly with the staff. I mean really butt kissingly nice – bring them drinks, get little presents, omiage, say hello and use proper greetings, speak Japanese with them, treat them like they are your sempai even if you are older and have been there longer … and so on. If they like you, they won’t do this sort of thing to you.
Of course the downside is that instead of targeting you, they will target the other teachers, who will then see you as an ass-kisser (rightly so) and might resent you.
Really, it’s a shitty environment and you’re always going to be pulled or pushed around between teachers and staff and management.
Honestly, when people have a shitty job, not much money, and then get a little power in said shitty job? Yeah, it goes right to their heads. This includes the foreign “head teachers” and “managers.”
Get out before the toxic work environment starts making you think this is normal.
Yeah, I used to have a part time job at a small eikaiwa, the teachers (Japanese and foreign) were all nice and very helpful, the boss was generally good, but the staff could be very nitpicky and it was kind of annoying. I get that I made mistakes, everyone does, but I don’t need to be ridiculed for them, especially by someone who isn’t a teacher and only speaks passable English.
It really depends on the company, and if the company has more than one location, whoever is in charge of that location, as well as the individual admin staff and fellow teachers. All it takes is one person to make the experience a nightmare.
Just recently quit an eikaiwa where I worked part-time at for 2 years. I really hated the micromanaging part. My students loved me to death and they would often ask me to be their teacher but management would disagree with my teaching method. They’d be like “I noticed you only asked 5 questions to your student”, “don’t interrupt your students when they make small grammar mistakes”, “she made a grammar mistake but you didn’t correct her”, “you barely spoke and made the student do all the talking” and “you keep talking. let your students talk.” It was so frustrating because I was adjusting my teaching methods to the student’s ability and their feedbacks were very contradictory.
Management would always have something to say and it would always feel like they were hunting down the next teacher to fire. It was also a bit shady because we shouldn’t disclose information about nationality, languages we spoke or countries we’ve lived in. It was hard to chime in to my students whenever they tell me about their experiences abroad. It felt kinda draining to dodge all questions and pretend I was a native from an English speaking country. And, smiling the whole time while someone was secretly watching me was grueling too.
My friend still works there and now as a manager. She told me they’re very understaffed because a lot of teachers left. She plans on leaving as soon as she finds another company to work at. She says there’s a lot of tension between the managers because certain someone is power tripping.
Japanese staff at Eikaiwa are backstabby? That’s just your average Japanese worker’s attitude to foreign colleagues. They’ll use any excuse to other them!
I can’t relate personally, as the Japanese staff I have dealt with in the past have been sweethearts to a fault.
Foreign owners and managers though… ugh…
From my own experience I really disliked the Japanese staff at my eikaiwa. They were always putting their heads in things that weren’t their business. I only interacted with them when I needed to.
I’ve never had any problems with Japanese staff. I think it helps that I can actually speak to them in Japanese unlike a lot eikaiwa teachers. But we all hate (astronomy related company name) just as much. We can enjoy bitching about the terrible company, customers and managers together, and be a (sometimes literal) shoulder to cry on.
…Also playing video games together at lunch.
This is normal Japanese business culture lmao
All Japanese staff at all Japanese companies are like that.
I did an internship at a major construction company and they all just pretend to work, gossip, dodge responcibilities e.t.c. Same thing happens at my girlfriends place of work.
It is not unique to Eikaiwa. Japanese people are some of the laziest, most stubborn, selfish people on the planet!