The GEOS Fallout Begins

I agree, Jack. G-Com is not buying GEOS Eikaiwa schools to lose money. It will do whatever it needs to do to make the acquisition a profitable one. There is nothing to preclude G-Com from closing more schools than GEOS had announced it would.

Bottom line is the bottom line and teachers will be sent packing.

Ah well, we were warned, at least the teachers here cannot say differently.

Anyway, I am in fact one of those teachers. I was/am looking for a job, but I didn't find one that paid more than GEOS so I didn't accept their offers. (If I could back time...)

To say that this wasn't planned... Please, they were going to tell us on Tuesday but something obviously went wrong so they gave us a 4 minute VCHAT with no info what so ever. And GEOS' pay month is from the 21st to the 20th... Good thing they made us work a whole entire month!

Now I really have no idea what will happen...
One thing is for sure:
1) Getting money for work from the 21st March to the 20th of April is not going to happen
2) Students will probably not show up for classes
3) the ones that do will bombard the staff with questions, but we know nothing. They won't believe this of course.
4) Not all of the (saved) schools will open on Friday
5) We will see lots of people quitting over the next few weeks: students, teachers...

Did any teacher actually get a call or email today?
From what I gathered online, employment conditions at G.Com are the rock bottom of Eikawa... And I thought it couldn't get any worse :D Does anyone confirm?
I'm also wondering about their whole 40,000Yen fine for missing a day, is that for real? I mean... Those of us who have holidays booked will get ripped off! Might as well not go to work for a whole week in that case, LOL.

Ah, one more thing... Can they just tell you on the next day that you were fired? Don't they owe us 30 days of notice in addition to the missing wages?

Ah, and being unemployed for one day with no notice sucks. The bad weather doesn't help either.

Monthly contracts would probably be easier to sell but they would also present a less-stable source of income. They should really focus on bringing the cost-per-lesson down, which is difficult for a big company like AEON with a set way of doing things. It always struck me that in an industry with few barriers to entry like Eikaiwa the big schools with high fixed overhead costs like AEON aren't well positioned to compete in an economy like this. If any individual teacher with a bit of savings and some business sense can charge half the price for basically the same service - which they basically can - the AEONs of the world are going to be an endangered species.

Its possible that you know me, but its been 7 years since I worked at AEON!

senseiman1

7 years you say....I might not know you then.

But anyway, as for lesson cost, the group lessons are quite reasonable (around 2000yen a shot). Not too bad considering the location of most schools, and the other perks they offer. The round up lessons are a different story though.

I see the GEOs breakdown causing people to be afraid of big contracts...which might hurt things a little. But not enough to bring down the company, that is for sure.

I won't be working here for the rest of my life, but our jobs are all pretty stable.

Yes, I am glad to hear that AEON jobs are safe for now. I actually liked working there, loads of memories.

2,000 yen isn't too bad for a com lesson, but AEON really needs the higher income from the Round Up and Private lessons to get by. When I worked there the Round Up lessons were about 4,500 yen each and privates were something like 8,000 each, which is probably more than most people are willing to pay these days. If memory serves I think my schedule at AEON was about 45% Round Up, 45% Com lessons and 10% Privates, with the income from each lesson roughly similar due to the difference in students per class.

This was one of the points I remember our manager trying to drive home all the time - that we needed to steer students away from com lessons and into Round UP in order to make our "spirits" (god what a stupid name for it) each month.

BTW out of curiousity is AEON still hiring overseas or only in Japan now? Think I read something here that they had stopped overseas hiring or something after NOVA went bust.

well put.

Congratulations! I know you've put in a lot of work bad-mouthing GEOS over the years, and it must be immensely satisfying to finally see them fail.

I think you've every right to be bragging about this one for years to come, and we all look forward to reading about it on your blog.

So you're saying that Shawn brought down GEOS by bad-mouthing them on his blog?? I didn't see so many negative posts about the company on here until September/October, when it was reported that salaries had been paid late. Do you honestly think that's led to the collapse of GEOS? From what I can see, they were already preparing to file for bankruptcy back then. I don't think Shawn had anything to do with it. If anything, it was a combination of bad market conditions and GEOS' inability to balance the books.

GEOS is bankrupt - get over it and move on.

Before former NOVA closed, there were about 800 schools. Now there are 200. G-com had promised to keep all the schools alilve, though. Also G-com kicked out lots of teachers.

This will happen to Geos as well. Many more schools will be closed than promised. Stop clinging to Geos.
I don't know how much longer Aeon and ECC will survive.

Actually, there are now more than 400 NOVA branches open, either directly owned by G.communication or franchise schools. Otherwise, I agree. They said they would keep the GEOS schools open and offer GEOS employees jobs "in principle," which pretty much means they'll be closing schools down when they decide it's expedient to do so, and staff and teachers will be given a choice of transferring to other areas or getting laid off.

However, I am not sure about your other comments on the Nova clientelle. Certainly when I worked there, I came across a few people who behaved strangely, but most were relatively normal when you bear in mind that the Nova universe was a strange environment to be in. I can see why a lot would have a stressed reaction to lessons in the Nova format, as well as have a negative attitude once they realised they had wasted their money.

Just off the top of my head (and it's been 5 years since I worked there, so no way I can remember all the incidents) at my branch alone, there was:
- a female student who hurled herself down a flight of stairs screaming "I want to die" in Japanese.
- a male university student who one evening yelled out his love for a male instructor and proceeded to run down the stairs bellowing "I'M GAY!"
- a middle-aged female student who climbed under the table in her classroom when she saw a bald-headed instructor from another class walking by.
- a middle-aged male student telling a junior highschool girl in my classroom how pretty she was and if she had any boyfriends.
- a young male student who had odd physical tics and strange expressions one night blurting out in front of a full Voice room how the female teacher had "big t*ts".

Incidents like these were almost daily occurrences; I doubt very much this behavior was provoked by the thought of wasted money on lessons or the stress of the Nova lesson format. As one of the posters implied, I'm no psychiatrist, but I don't have to be to recognize wierd or inappropriate behavior, and while you may be right, I'm betting someone demonstrating suicidal or homosexual behavior probably had it long before they ever opened a copy of Diplomat.

@22:36

Well, I could tell you a few stories as well. Not only about students like the ones you mention, but teachers too. An AT who made a point of doing nearly all demo lessons himself, so that he could recommend his friends school to them instead for a commision. Staff helping students from Panasonic to get higher scores on the TOEIC by telling them the answers in advance for a fee, so that they could show the Nova certificate to their boss and have it count at their company. Teachers going to the bank on their no shows and getting the other teachers to call them on their cell phone if the student showed. Male teachers sticking their hands up women students dresses in the classroom. Trainers who later moved up to head office sitting and watching as teachers and students smoked dope in a Karaoke bar at a sayonara party. Mate, I saw it all.

I would still contend that these abnormalities were largely the product of the weird environment that people were working in and that given a different set of circumstances those people would not dream of behaving in that way at work. Having said that, there were a few people at Nova with genuine disturbances: both teachers and students.

Is your contention is that the bizarre behavior of people involved with Nova (be it customers or staff) was a direct result of the Nova system, and had nothing to do with any other issues they may have been carrying before they walked through the doors?

If you want to argue that the environment at Nova enabled or emboldened people who already had problems to begin with to act out further, you might have a case there. Staff were notorious in tolerating any freakish behavior as long as the customers kept coming back. However, if your assertion that the environment at Nova was so extreme that it prompted people into engaging in strange behavior in the first place is frankly unbelievable. Tolerating strange behavior in the name of making a buck is far different than causing people to do it in the first place.

This was a conversation school in Japan, not a bunker somewhere in Iraq. And I wasn't talking about teachers; your point goes without saying and is largely tangental to the issue I'm pointing out. (And before going on any more about the teachers, do remember this: it was Nova's responsibility to properly screen prospective employees.) I was talking about customers; we had a local medical university with it's pyschiatric facility a few blocks away and it was common knowledge (verifed by staff and students who were at said college) that the staff routinely advised patients with psychological problems to take English lessons.

All of this behavior, be it on part of customer or instructor, could be avoided if some sort of standards were in place, as advocated by one of the earlier posters. My point was as long as eikaiwa tolerate the sort of behavior we witnessed at Nova in order to satisfy the bottom line, things will not change. It's hard to foster a proper environment for language learning when customers don't bother to demand it and eikaiwas don't bother to provide it.

I don't think there can be any disputing that.

I think the whole culture shock of being away from home, in a very different culture like Japan, and working in a weird environment like NOVA did make more than a few people act differently than they would normally, or in the worst cases, cast off all their social conventions and behavioural norms from back home and lose the plot completely.

You're working in a place where you're held in majorly high "esteem" for being a foreign "teacher", get gawped at like a zoo animal by a crowd of "curious" Japanese, and pick up a gaggle of Japanese girls falling over each other to get into your pants - add copious amounts of booze into the mix as well, and I think it's understandable how people could go bonkers at a place like NOVA.

Again, you're arguing apples and oranges; while I don't disagree with your points, it's another argument completely. You've been largely talking about teachers, and while your points are valid, it's not the teachers I've been talking about-it's the customers. As I've said before, Nova tolerated abberrant behavior on part of it's customer base as long as they kept showing up and buying more points. And it's a model that has been copied by more than a few eikaiwas, big and small. And unfortunately the damage has been done; Nova has been around long enough that it has essentially altered the perception in Japan of what it is to learn English. It's going to take a long time before that attitude changes, and places like GABA continue to foster it.

'If you want to argue that the environment at Nova enabled or emboldened people who already had problems to begin with to act out further, you might have a case there. Staff were notorious in tolerating any freakish behavior as long as the customers kept coming back. However, if your assertion that the environment at Nova was so extreme that it prompted people into engaging in strange behavior in the first place is frankly unbelievable. Tolerating strange behavior in the name of making a buck is far different than causing people to do it in the first place.

This was a conversation school in Japan, not a bunker somewhere in Iraq'.

Actually, I would equate working at Nova as being akin to working in a bunker in Iraq. Boy was I glad when I got out of there.

With regards to the prompting of people who already had issues to act on them, I would say that most people have issues, particularly young people, and given the right circumstances they will be prompted to act on them.

I agree that the staff did tolerate people with real mental problems in the way that you say. However, I would not claim as you originally did that these people were representative of the Nova clientelle as a whole.
The fact that there was a facility near your school that recommended English lessons to such people probably meant that you saw more than your fair share of the genuinely ill and that has colored your view of the clientelle of Nova as a whole.

Your final point about the responsibility of companies to provide an appropriate environment is indeed unarguable and I would agree with it.

By the way, I forgot to mention the two 'teachers' who had a running competition to see who could teach the same lesson the most times in a given month. Said teachers were ecstatic when the zone system was introduced because they could push to record levels of teaching the same lesson.

I'm just talking about what I saw at work. God knows what happened outside work, because I'm a family man myself.

With regards to the prompting of people who already had issues to act on them, I would say that most people have issues, particularly young people, and given the right circumstances they will be prompted to act on them.

If you are alluding to the teachers at Nova, I don't know how many times I have to concede to you on that point, and I also don't know how many times I have to say it's not the general thrust of what I am saying.

The fact that there was a facility near your school that recommended English lessons to such people probably meant that you saw more than your fair share of the genuinely ill and that has colored your view of the clientelle of Nova as a whole.

That may very well have been the case, but there was nothing stopping the local branch (or head office) from making a command decision and saying that anyone who poses a physical threat to themselves or others or engages in harassing behavior towards staff and other customers should be banned from the premises, have their points revoked and their money refunded. That would have been the responsible thing to do. That would have been the practical thing to do. And in the end, it may well have been the smartest thing to do, because by elminating such distractions it would have improved the atmosphere at the branch I was working and may have prompted an increase in enrolment.

But Nova never did that; they never stepped in and put and end to it, never banned anyone (that I was aware of) from the premises. Oh, teachers were fired for whatever reason, or transferred. But I never once heard of a customer who was banned from my branch because their conduct was impacting other customers' learning. But as I have said, for that to happen it would have to involve a customer base with courage base and a company that cared. Neither were in evidence.

Sadly, Nova was not the only eikaiwa like this.

Teachers at Amity received an email today from the company explaining why Amity and AEON should be safe despite the recent fall of GEOS. I have to say, I honestly believe Amity is fine. We definitely go out of our way to please the current students and focus on maintaining our current student population and giving quality lessons.
At least at Amity parents pay for their children's English lessons usually because they look at it as supporting their child's education and preparing them for their future.

As for the regular AEON branches though...I have no idea.

1:35 Dude, you are a bitter old manager, aren't you? Ha, ha! Actually, I love watching you and the others go at it. But this time I felt like chiming in.

Actually you seem to be the only one bitching about GEOS teachers/ ex-teacher/ others on here. Either you are up late and drunk, or you are a manager in North American given the time difference in your posts. So what is going on in North America? Things as smooth as you said they were? Any letters to pen about how perfect the world is at GEOS...?

Wow, you are easily suckered into responding, aren't you? I guess that is what happens when you lose power elsewhere. If you haven't noticed, this board is the only breathing room available to those who were screwed by GEOS and its managers. Deal with it. Otherwise you will be writing a lot on here...Maybe your time is better spent looking for a new job. I finished my search; have you started yours?

Aeon has huge debts and staffing problems. They will fall this year. Inside information.

Besides the obvious signs like no more full time hires, staff quitting and not being replaced, moving to smaller premises, desperate discounting, declining student numbers, horrible enrollment numbers for April peak season.....

Geos was Nova 2. Aeon staff should start looking for new jobs immediately, lest you be caught up in Nova 3. By all means... stay playing the gaijin clown dipshit rolling around on the floor in your expensive suit with a bunch of rat faced spoiled snotty nosed 4 year olds, but upon your head be it.

I was gonna leave this one alone, but it's proven to be too tempting...
Let's review some of your claims:

CLAIM: Aeon has approximately 4 years' of funds saved for financial hardships.
FACT: No evidence provided (company financial statements, links to websites independent of Aeon where this can be confirmed, etc)

CLAIM: Company runs at a profit every year.
FACT: Same evidence issues as previous statement.

CLAIM: Aeon provides ECE (Early Childhood Education) certification.
FACT: To teach ECE up to the level required in order to be professionally certified, one would need to have a PhD in Education. There is no mention of any PhD requirements on Aeon's recruitment page, nor is there any mention of such training in any review of the company. Perhaps you meant ECE Certification in Japanese, but there is nothing that indicates such training goes on at their facilities in English or Japanese.

CLAIM: Aeon is reducing it's teaching staff.
FACT: Staff reduction can be an indicator that a company is in financial trouble. And why would Aeon have to downsize it's teaching staff if they are "running in the black year after year" as was claimed earlier in the same post?

CLAIM: Having professionals that need English taking lessons at Aeon is an indicator of financial health at Aeon.
FACT: NOVA had a lot of professionals that needed English on it's books as well. That didn't save it from piss-poor management and fiscal mismanagement.

CLAIM: There is nothing to worry about right now.
FACT: But there may very well be something to worry about in the near future. Because:

FACT: 2 of the Big 4 eikaiwa in Japan have gone bankrupt in the past two and a half years. If I was working at Aeon, I'd be dusting off the resume and looking at the want ads.

Teachers at Amity received an email today from the company explaining why Amity and AEON should be safe despite the recent fall of GEOS.

I'll bet the crew at GEOS recieved similar letters after the collapse of NOVA as well. Interesting choice of words by you though: Amity and Aeon should be safe. That's quite a bit different than saying they will be safe. Freudian slip on your part?

I have to say, I honestly believe Amity is fine. We definitely go out of our way to please the current students and focus on maintaining our current student population and giving quality lessons.

Lemme get this right: you believe your current employer is fine based on nothing more than a reassuring email and a gut feeling that you think you're doing a good job? By the way, pleasing customers and giving quality lessons are quite often mutually exclusive concepts when applied to eikaiwa.

The domino continues...The first morning after the announcement, my e-mail box was a little more full with all the Japanese contacts I know who do not go to GEOS right now...They wrote "Did you hear about GEOS going bankrupt? It is all over the news..." This does not bode well for the Eikaiwa. It is already on thin ice and with really low enrollments, a strong company would have a tough time.

Aeon is next on the block. We will see what happens.

As an overseas GEOS insider (now ex), I have been something of a Let's Japan addict for the last few months. It's now time for me to go cold turkey, move on and get on with my life.
I'm grateful for the truths that have been posted here and I've enjoyed the informed speculation. The mass of totally uninformed speculation on Let's Japan has been sometimes amusing and sometimes annoying. I don't have much respect for those who slag off named people on the internet behind a cloak of anonymity. I don't think that's very brave.
I have even less respect for those who delight in the collapse of GEOS. Yes, there were always things wrong with GEOS, but a lot of good people worked very hard to make the company successful and to deliver a worthwhile service to our students. A lot of decent people are now without a job or in fear of losing their jobs. I don't think that's at all funny.
I have mixed feelings about the fact that some Let's Japan readers enjoyed my little Hitler video. I made it as a private joke for a few friends and never intended it to go viral. I do hope that K and his children never got to see it and I apologise to them if they did. Yes, K has a lot to answer for, but he is a human being and I suspect that he is now suffering more than enough for his sins.
Best of luck to ALL ex-GEOS insiders. I hope things work out for you.

Dudes, I realy feel sorry for you GEOSES. I don't know how people can say the writing was on the wall because we all knew Nova was fucked but Geos pay was only late once and then it was all over. I just say a full time ALT gig for 175.000. 4 years ago I was getting 340.000 for working 5 days a week, plus coporate classes I could make an easy 400.000 working 4 days a week. I reckon at best I could make 300.000 now 5 days a week. Can't you see english education is pretty fucked in Japan. Japanese don't have money any more as they are no longer a nation a savers. In 10 years the rate at which they save is even less than the US these days. So basically no one is going to have the money to pay for 8000 yen for a one-to one class. I spent a few days looking at job sites in Japan thinking about going back to Japan but though nah, the money isn't good enough and now this shit happened so its just got worse 100 times. What happenes to those stupid gaijins that are married, ( nothing wrong with that) but stupi enough tohave kids and then stupid enough to get a house or car loan when they had hints that goes would go down, what the fuck are they going t odo now? Dudes I tell you Japan used to be easy money it still is easy money but for the next 3 months it will be fucked because everyone will be scrambling to get a job and employers know they can charge bottom dollar as most gaijin will be happy enough to get 150.000 yen for full time ALT. I tell you if I owned an english school or haken gaisha I would offer jobs for 150.000 yen full time and I know although I'd get lots of losers apply I could still find someone nice enough to smile and write I am from America or something like that on the board. That's just a fact the other fact is that GCOM is going to make GEOS look like the best job you ever had. They will drop the wage, they will stop nearly all holidays, last obon they didn't pay and just closed the schools and deducted money. Gcom is a cunt of a company. Better get you credit card limits maxed out and get on the phone to you mummis and daddies becaue most gaijins will probably need a bank transfer. I know when I was in eikaiwa I spend every penny I had.

The sorry state of Japanese companies today...

http://beta.profit.ndtv.com/news/show/toyota-falls-to-360th-from-3rd-in-...

Btw, I teach in Kansai. Perhaps the situation is a bit different in other areas.

"Can't get laid elsewhere (CGLE syndrome) likely"
I think eikaiwa schools help in meeting women, but you're not doomed without them especially in a big city.
In regards to Japan as a whole, compared to your home country, the women here are not that easy anyway unless you're going to foreign bars every night. I honestly got hit on far more in my home country, found sex came much quicker after meeting someone (where loads of alcohol isn't involved), less games, easier to keep in touch, etc. Maybe the average woman wasn't as attractive, but on the other hand, barely any women here can speak English (especially the better looking and younger they are). This may not be a problem if you're fluent in Japanese and don't plan to leave, but then you'll have a problem if you do want to leave with your gf/wife who can't speak/understand English.
And guess what country ranks the lowest in sex frequency and satisfaction? http://www.durex.com/en-CA/SexualWellbeingSurvey/pages/default.aspx

Your experience is the exact opposite of mine, You dont understand Japanese or the way they think. you expect everone to speak English. It is so easy to get laid in this country. It is easy to get a BJ in Japan but it is hard to get rid of one.

LOL. Now, the truth comes out. Ninety percent of you "couldn't get laid in my own country" horndogs came to Japan to get rid of the blue balls. No wonder you could not focus on teaching.

l

I agree. One bad thing about grade school work is your clients are kids and your coworkers tend to be older Japanese people who are married and have families. At Nova, you had so many chances to flirt while getting paid, and many/most students were interested in hanging out anddating foreigners anyway. Of course, 3/4 of the customers were house wives, salarymen, and random strange people, but the others made it worth it for a short time at least. Outside eikaiwa, it's more work and money to meet ladies. As others said above, it's easier if you speak Japanese and go out to drink a lot (harder to do as a school teacher waking up at 6am everyday), or maybe live in an area with less foreigners (?), otherwise not so much.

That is, equating what you experienced at your branch as being typical of the client base as a whole.

You're the second person to come on here and misinterpret what I said. Stop putting words in my mouth; what I said was "a substantial portion". I did not say "the majority" or even "typical of the client base." If you require more clarification as to what I meant, I meant a noticeable number of people.

none of them engaged in disruptive attention grabbing behaviour at the level you describe.

None engaged in behavior that you saw-that doesn't mean they never engaged in disruptive behavior. By the same token, there may have been far more cases at my branch than I was aware of, but either didn't hear or see it.

was no more so than some of the antisocial behaviour that I saw from teachers.

Well, I certainly never saw any instructors attempt suicide at my branch, nor did they make passes at junior highschool students, nor did they stalk any of their students and send them nude pictures of themselves, nor did they present them with gifts of pornography, prescription medication and enemas. Maybe the teachers did that at your branch, but I never saw teachers do anything close to that in the branches I worked at.

Thanks for the input Fri, 04/23/2010 - 02:05. Some good observations, but you kind of just brushed over a lot of things.

FACT: No evidence provided (company financial statements, links to websites independent of Aeon where this can be confirmed, etc)

---yeah, I got no proof to offer you there. Like I said...insider. heh.

CLAIM: Company runs at a profit every year.
FACT: Same evidence issues as previous statement.

---If you work at a school, this isn't really hard to see for yourself.

CLAIM: Aeon provides ECE (Early Childhood Education) certification.

---I said "child teaching certification," so I guess I could have been more clear. 　Here you go: http://www.aeonet.co.jp/personal/course/instructor.html

CLAIM: Aeon is reducing it's teaching staff.
FACT: Staff reduction can be an indicator that a company is in financial trouble. And why would Aeon have to downsize it's teaching staff if they are "running in the black year after year" as was claimed earlier in the same post?

---Other than the video game industry, the economic downturn hit just about everyone. Does reducing staff when the economy has slowed down really that strange a concept? I don't think so. That's the kind of thing the keeps the books in the black, and keeps companies from going belly-up.

CLAIM: Having professionals that need English taking lessons at Aeon is an indicator of financial health at Aeon.
FACT: NOVA had a lot of professionals that needed English on it's books as well. That didn't save it from piss-poor management and fiscal mismanagement.

---Having a lot of professionals does help a lot. People who need English are much more secure students than people who just like it. And I agree, nothing will save a school (or any business) from piss poor management.

CLAIM: There is nothing to worry about right now.
FACT: But there may very well be something to worry about in the near future. Because:
FACT: 2 of the Big 4 eikaiwa in Japan have gone bankrupt in the past two and a half years. If I was working at Aeon, I'd be dusting off the resume and looking at the want ads.

---Yeah, we could say the same about every company couldn't we? There are OK right now......but in the future...

Granted, 2 of the big 4 have gone out of business, and that is scary news. But that was kind of my point, I don't think AEON has to worry right now. But, go ahead and dust off your resume if you like. I heard there are lots of teachers looking for work right now....

About two other questions:

1. Yup, AEON still recruits abroad. There is no office in London anymore. The New York office covers London.

2. Amity is making a killing.

Bankruptcy bring out the worst in people? -I think it should be the worst in people bring out the bankruptcies.

Life will go on for the spouses and unemployed teachers.- sure then it will happen again and again just about every fiscal quarter until every chain is over and out or downsized to a more manageable size . If the charisma-man spouse took time to speak in either language to their partners (beyond the "Iiiii liiike naa to. Wee doon't haave naato foorrr breakfaaast wee eeat.... iin..insert anglophone country here (please shut up they know)...Doo youu liiike J-pop?--Go ahead dispute that-I hear conversations like this all the time between two people that are very clearly dating for a while or married and that is about 70% of your conversation content-not a joke) They would realize that their spouse did not sign on to support their charisma-man at city hall. When the inevitable downfall is complete I really feel bad for these spouses in a patriarchal society that clearly make very little room for women over 30 on the corporate playground. I am not clairvoyant but I see a lot of cut off fathers in the foreseeable future. Of even worse perhaps seeing some native mothers having their children torn from them all because the house and credit history were in the Japanese sales/mid-management office workers husbands name. google that too divorce/child custody here is harsh leaving primarily foreign parents and women punished for life for falling out of love. I am sure a lot of family court cases will pop-up as part of a domino affect. One of the few upper-hands women have in family courts is they can make claims the husband does not sufficientl¥ provide-that is where some foreign soon to be ex-husbands may find themselves. So I don't think it was out of line at all for the previous post to state these men need to be men and need to make a plan.

Kusunoki does deserve to be trashed. A LOT, but you know what this is not an isolated incident (NOVA, J.E.T.s- not JET, now GEOS and I'm sure others I haven't heard about yet). Therefore any people that polished and licked his boots along the way deserve some of the trash talking too. This includes the government and industry for not setting or upholding standards, so do the students/ company clients/school systems and parents for not demanding quality,credentials and standards, also the education system for not wanting to own up to personal responsibility by doing direct hires, and the taxpayers for not questioning why are they paying taxes for this crap (Kashiwa BoE-google that), and employees who see the writing on the wall but choose to do nothing about it even if only on a personal self-improvement level, because that is what resourceful people should be doing if not for fellow teachers/office workers then at least for themselves-but I do not see this happening. Until more than one of the above mentioned people take action there will probably be the very same posts and articles all saying that same thing with different eikaiwa or educational institution name. That strikes me as stupidity ,insanity and laziness not resourcefulness.

@9:06

OK I take it back. My understanding of 'substantial portion' was - a lot. In the case of my school the 3 truly mentally disabled people we had were the slobbering or zombie types and certainly not attention seekers. They would barely have been capable of the kind of conduct you described. As regards the rest, the badly behaved were an often commented upon small percentage - and by small percentage I mean: not many. The same was true of the many other branches inside and outside of my area at which I worked. You don't need to see things to know what is or is not happening. Although, as regards my own account of teacher behaviour, I saw most of it first hand (not the AT in the demo lesson, however).

I believe that the level of customer behaviour you saw was not representative, but would be happy to hear from others who disagree. Also, I am quite prepared to accept that the level of teacher misbehaviour that I saw was not in fact representative.

Really, having understood you better, I am not in disagreement. Quality institutions offer different kinds of packages to different kinds of customer and are careful about entry requirements in order to maintain standards. This conflicts with the maximise sales mentality, and so one doubts if it will happen.

You are talking about Japan, Japan does not want to be changed at the present time and least of all by Non Japanese. that is why alot of the people you are talking about have that shoganai mantra be ceause it is a way to deal with the walls one comes up against in this country and it is the way a lot of Japanese people deal with those same walls.

Im on my 10th year here and I hav not sponged of anyone and support my family well not in the same eikawa type job but still teaching and I did start in Eikaiwa and had stints in management not related to Teachers or teaching.

My advice is make your own paradise here work for yourself surround yourself with positive people not the whingers because you are in for a hard grind if you try to change systems or ways of thinking.You dont need to become Japanese but you kind of need to understand the Wa aspect of interacting here. Many of the Managers and Teachers that have come, have done so with short term goals and never last long term because in the end Japan grinds them down and they end up going home to enter rehabiltation Clinics due to the booze and womanising screwing up their brains.

Just a few points:

If the charisma-man spouse took time to speak in either language to their partners... Go ahead dispute that-I hear conversations like this all the time between two people that are very clearly dating for a while or married and that is about 70% of your conversation content

You are forgetting one fundamental fact: no one is forcing Japanese women to date foreign men. They do that of their own free will and accord. If it isn't a problem for the Japanese women involved, it shouldn't be a problem for you. I'm sure they would be touched by your concern, but this is obviously a sore spot with you and in reality has absolutely NOTHING to do with the collapse of GEOS.

They would realize that their spouse did not sign on to support their charisma-man at city hall

And what information are you basing this assertion off of, aside from your own glaring bias?

I am not clairvoyant but I see a lot of cut off fathers in the foreseeable future.

No need to comment on the delicious irony of this statement.

You made some decent points in your second paragraph, but it was lost in the tidal wave of anti-foreign male bias of your first paragraph. In fact, you should have dispensed with the entire opening paragraph, because it was essentially irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

no it was not a previous poster stated it first.

I am basing it on women I talk to both single and married. mainly two single mom's I know one that is working two jobs cos husband is not stepping up to the money earning plate. Bias comes from what is seen and practiced.

no one is forcing these women but they sure are advertising eikaiwas as a place to meet men. most recent case and point met woman the other day cvrying on the phone in broken English begging for her teacher to please help her or at least answer her calls and not to avoid her-after having coffee with her turns out she was pregnant and peaced when he found out-She had a problem with that, a big problem. I do not care what that persons excuse could have possibly have been no excuse for that anywhere-do not tell me people here are not taking advantage of this. I see it all the time. I can not even count how many co workers talk schmack about their girlfriends of wives- "she does what I tell her when I tell her" being the nicest one I have heard.

Glaring bias?-you mean that people of color other than really white I have yet to see in a management position anywhere I have come across? Or do you mean for example a recent Berlitz dress code request stating women should wear skirts? Or..a friend of mine a Parisian born and bread person was fired for not being native French speaker cos she had African heritage...is that the bias you mean? not clear on what bias you mean exactly. There are just so many, just wondering why it is ok for you and others of like mind to act or speak on out that bias but not for women or other minorities? just curious as to why when you (plural) the preferred minority says it it is regarded as opinion but if a woman, forward thinking Japanese, or another minority says something it is bias? I did not realize I would have to account for everything in my life that I have sees, heard and witnessed to make an opinion more easier for you...Wow wait sec do you mean that type of bias? oh I get it now.

read it again that would be more specifically anti-white anglophone male with the "the world owes me cos I was born white and speak English" attitude and not entirely males or anglophone males on the whole would be a more accurate assement.

a fundamental fact your forgetting-longer term foreign residents of both genders have to deal with backlash when most of these people peace out and talk about Japan back in the day at the pubs/bars. no it is not GEOS related you are right, but it was related to previous comments on eikaiwa fallout on the whole on this thread-and GEOS of other it is just same thing happening almost to the letter over and over and to not look at the industry on the whole each and every time is not addressing the bigger issue-which in a way agree with it or not IS THE discusssion.

so thanks for reading and good night.

And this is related to Geos... how?

Its like a nuclear war, there is fallout all over the place get over it and just go with the flow man. GEOS IS DEAD!!!!!

if my last comment was in error than I apologize to all involved. Yeah that is strange it should go to the post that you are replying to, could cause an unneeded argument.

again if that is the case then I am sorry to both parties, I thought that was response to my last post.

I
NEVER
EVER
NEVER
SAID
SPECIFIACLLY
JAPANESE
COMAPANIES.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

basing it on more than two people-again do I need to post my autobiography to spoon feed you? I was just merely citing a few examples. please don't answer that.

You want to mis-cite, and say I said Japanese companies, were done here. really. not a game really were done here. I am not even playing with false accusations.

over and out straight up and down.

got nothing to say to someone who is just trying to solicit an arugument.

Damn autocorrection. Last post should have read "Uri is telling staff to shut the f- up..."

NO you are right it is not a womens study. Ugghain responding to a previous post that was posted yesterday and earlier today. so my post are just a relevant as questioning the North American affiliates seeing at the site is "Let's Japan". So including me not very many of us innocent in only talking about strictly GEOS and what is happening to the people here

But I think since this keeps on happening at Eikawas maybe we should look at the whole industry and not just GEOS and how rather this could be prevented in the very near future that might be more helpful-myself included-name one post here that helps anyone in the industry or anyone that is wondering if they have a job after golden week? I do not believe there is a one. What is any of us doing to help/prevent or alleviate-not very much. and when someone does that then we can feel free to complain about content of posts.

fair and understanding has a point that it is over and done and maybe we all should move on in a more productive manner.

maybe someone can post useful information or links such as where one could go for 80% of their backpay? or how to get the ball rolling for collecting unemployement? Who is hiring elsewhere even in other sectors?