Please watch the entire YouTube video and read my entire blog post BEFORE judging me. This is just a summary of the video and this will not make a lot of sense without the back story and details that the video provides. I know that the video is very lengthy but you can watch it over the course of a few days or listen to it while you clean, cook, organize or study at home or work. As always, I am sharing my personal experience and story and NOT asking you for advice. This happened over a year ago. I finally feel strong enough to speak up about it. I hope that my story can help others in some way. There is way too much to write about so I will quickly summarize the video in my post below.
You Can Watch My YouTube Video on This Video's Topic Here...
Why I Quit
Making a Deal With The Devil
After a day or two went by, I spoke with the head teacher and the school principal (my big boss) about my desire to return. After begging for my job back I was given the option to work for them temporarily until the end of the 1st semester which would make the school look good and give them time to find and train a new kindergarten teacher to replace me. After begging more I was told that they would consider having a meeting in July to reevaluate their decision but that there was no guarantee that I would be kept. My visa was at risk and so were my chances of finding a new job since most GOOD schools only hire during the Spring and there was no telling how this pandemic would affect job availability.
The deal was that I could not use any vacation or sick days and had to write a resignation letter to the school BEFORE continuing to work for them and in exchange they promised to renew my visa, help me find a new job, new apartment, AND to give me a letter of recommendation. I have been burned in the past and immediately began searching for a new job as any adult would especially as a foreign, young, single black American woman. This was in the Spring time and during a global pandemic. NOW was my best chance at gaining employment so as soon as I was offered interviews I accepted them BEFORE I officially quit. When these jobs contacted AIS my boss became angry and emailed me saying that I cannot start my job search or interview elsewhere because I am not allowed any vacation days or days off and that I am still employed with them until July. After seeing that he was this petty I decided to leave Abroad International School for good, but this wouldn't be the end of our relationship because even after leaving they continued to to think and talk about me in an unprofessional way.
The Aftermath
The thing that surprised me the most was NOT the fact that they didn't allow me to continue working at their school (because they theoretically did give me the option to work there temporarily until July of 2020), but the fact that after I left they did just anything that they could think of to prevent me from living in Japan and to damage my reputation both as a teacher and as a person since I would no longer be of any use to their school. They tried to get revenge by hurting me in any possible way out of anger.
1. They changed the combination on my mailbox and took all of my mail out of it within days of me vacating the property despite the month not being over with and it NOT being legal to take someone else's mail.
2. They tried to make me pay them about ¥20,000-¥30,000 to cover the cost of the locksmith or fee that the actual landlord charged them. They claimed to have believed that I had the house key which I put back in the door as I was requested to do at my prior apartment (I wasn't stupid I knew that they had their own key to my home). They NEVER called, emailed, or contacted me via LINE to ask about my house key. Even if I was hiding their key or trashed it YOU CANNOT LEGALLY TAKE MY MAIL AND THEN BLACKMAIL BY REFUSING TO TELL ME THE LANDLORD'S CONTACT INFORMATION! Yeah they really did that!
3. They didn't allow me to use them as a reference despite the fact that I completed my contract with them and helped them out A LOT in 2019 and 2020. Even after they decided that I couldn't stay there with a guarantee of having a position at the school that would be permanent they told every job that I applied to that I was still employed with them until July which made my potential employers confused and see me as a liar thus decided NOT to continue the interview process with me.
4. They called immigration before my work visa was ready and had my visa cancelled which caused me to have to go up to immigration 4 times and even speak with the police and embarrassingly explain my situation and ask for a designated activities visa. I had no privacy and because I sent a resignation letter to Abroad International School already (due to them tricking me into doing it) I couldn't prove that they dd anything wrong or scammed me. They were supposed to have renewed it months ago but I didn't want to take any time off from work because I loved my job and my students. I wanted graduation and YEP to be perfect so I decided to wait until Spring break to renew my visa. BIG MISTAKE! To make this worse I had expressed to my bosses how I had been burned in the past and fired near my visa's expiration and they assured me that they wanted to keep me as a teacher and would renew my visa.
5. They lied and told their students and parents that I was sick and heavily implied that I had Covid-19 which is being treated more like AIDS or HIV in Japan. Here in Japan people are not broadcasting the fact that they tested positive or that they are being hospitalized. People feel ashamed and fear losing their job or relationships with others.
6. They lied to their staff and shared personal information about me borrowing money from them and not paying them back. I was constantly spending money on my students and for my classroom. I can admit that I should have paid back both of my bosses but they also never asked for their money back. I was in a deep hole of debt because my commute was very expensive and I was behind on my rent AND trying to buy things to make my classroom a better environment. However this was between me and my bosses and should not have been shared with the staff.
7. They tried to paint me as being an alcoholic and took a situation of me having a single chuhai drink at work as me being an alcoholic. They asked who they thought were my friends if I had a drinking problem (after I left the school) and gossiped to their staff about how I was drinking at work. I explained to them what happened in the past before privately and without me asking they promised to keep it between us and told me that I couldn't have alcoholic beverages during my lunch ( I was truly ignorant and didn't know or think about this). I am in Japan where it is cultural expected and acceptable to drink and get sloppy drunk with your boss and even clients and coworkers. We had all gone out drinking before and I don't even like alcohol. I had that drink due to having no money for food. It was Summertime and very hot that day. I had nothing else to drink and tehri sinks were old and filthy. I took accountability for this already (please watch my YouTube video for details). If I were a real alcoholic and struggling with drinking why would you tell people that you know don't like me this stuff? hat is private information and could have led me to harming myself which it honestly made me want to...
In The End...
This was my personal experience working at Abroad International School. I had no intention in making this video even after I quit and wasn't allowed back due to the Islamic principal having pride as he indirectly admitted during a private ZOOM session, BUT I can't allow a company to lie on me and tarnish my reputation as a teacher publicly and privately to the city that I live in. Japan is not like the U.S where people are bragging about having Covid-19 and surviving and taking pictures and videos from their hospital beds. Having the virus in Japan is comparable to having AIDS or HIV or something. People are ashamed and even the media is keeping names, faces and voices of prior covid patients prvate by masking them and disguising their voices. Everyone knows that being an alcoholic is culturally acceptable in Japan but of course drinking on the job is not. Despite the fact that I rarely drink and only went out with the staff a few times (and only got drunk once in an environment where everyone else was too) my company was run by muslim staff who do not drink for religious reasons. They went behind my back after I left and started telling everyone and implying that I was an alcoholic just as they implied that I was sick with covid and had to go back to the U.S. They also cancelled my visa and blocked me from getting 2 other jobs and my stimulus check and mail all because I decided to quit. I could honestly say so much more but I will leave it at that. In the end I am extremely grateful for this job experience and for the certifications that I received as an employee here. I am not a perfect person and I am definitely not a perfect teacher. I made some embarrassing mistakes as a professional and I owned up to them a long time ago. However as an employer no matter what happened even if I was an alcoholic or really did have the coronavirus disclosing that information is NOT appropriate and could have caused me to commit suicide. It honestly made me feel suicidal. I recorded hours of video of me crying about everything the day after I quit. I have no intention in ever publishing it but I have it on my memory card as a reminder of how far I have come as a person since then. This all really broke me down and if not for my then boyfriend I probably would have caved in and took my own life. I was really hurt by all of this because I would NEVER bad mouth them. I was so grateful for all of the money and experience that they gave me that it made it hard to believe that these same people would go so far to damage my reputation as their former employee. I accepted this position at a time when they were desperately in need of help. I worked the entirety of my contract and signed a new one. after about 1-2 days I realized that quitting was a BIG mistake and begged for my job back and was offered to stay on board for a few months and told that I would get a letter of recommendation that they of course didn't give me because I changed my mind again and pursued work elsewhere to protect myself.
