Three Months at Work, First Penalty

After spending so long at school, I’ve gotten used to people calling me “teacher,” but lately I feel like I’m just muddling through. Random thoughts, whatever comes to mind.

Overall, the school’s management system is like a big state-owned enterprise — many management systems and practices are backward, departments mind their own business without coordination. The Software School is much better — a new school without historical baggage, flexible systems, advanced thinking in education and management, far ahead of traditional colleges. Many things are smooth. But the Software School is still subordinate — often has to follow the school’s pace. No choice.

I finished my master’s in April. Classmates working at foreign or private companies had already started, but the school insisted on following the registration process, making me officially report on July 11. So I was a social vagrant for three months. July 11 finally came, but the school started summer vacation on July 12. I only completed half the registration. Nobody told you what to do at any step. You’d find your way to a department, they’d deal with you perfunctorily, tell you a few things, then send you off without a second word. I went through procedures without knowing why. Three months later, my registration still isn’t complete. When I find something missing, I ask around, learn what I missed, then go deal with it.

Take my salary card. Tongji University uses Bank of Communications’ “quasi-credit card,” different from a credit card. I went to the finance office, they coldly asked for my ID copy and had me fill a quasi-credit card application. I thought they were applying for a credit card — thought the school used credit cards for payroll. Nobody told me where to collect it. I called Bank of Communications during the holiday to ask if my credit card application was approved. Later, I met another new Tongji hire at Fudan and learned I had to pick it up myself at the finance office. At the finance office, I asked about the PIN. Another “don’t know” — they said it would be mailed. After waiting endlessly, I went to Bank of Communications again, filled a form to reset the PIN. Finally my salary card worked. Compare: when interning at Microsoft, they handled the whole process — I didn’t even leave my chair. Everything was done for me, explained in detail, treated like royalty. The gap is unbelievable.

Too many such examples. After two months’ salary, I noticed no housing allowance. Asked around — had to fill a form at the Asset Management Office. Why is a registration checklist so hard? Why must I discover and solve every problem myself?

Speaking of salary — when signing the三方 agreement, salary was a required field. The HR person boldly wrote “per regulations” in the monthly salary column. Let’s not debate legality. When I pressed for details, they said ask the finance office, not their department. Regulations — bull. So I sold myself without even knowing the price. Eventually I found out I’m worth less than pork. I’m a堂堂 man, 180 jin — even at 10 yuan per jin that’s 1800 a month. My first month’s salary was 5 yuan per jin — can’t compete with pork. The fruit vendor on the Jiading street cart charges more than that. My first salary came on September 10. Before that, I checked my bank balance daily. Finally on September 10, I saw 940 yuan added. At first I thought it was a Teacher’s Day bonus — felt warm inside. Then I checked the school’s finance website and was horrified. It wasn’t a bonus — it was a whole month’s salary! My heart froze. Everyone’s晒 salary these days. Here’s mine, genuine.

<img id=img20071016170242.jpeg alt=money src=”http://images.blogcn.com/2007/10/16/9/omale,20071016170232.jpeg” align=baseline border=0>

Years ago, I saw young teachers on the school forum complaining about how little PhD graduates earn. Now I understand. Schools are like this. School is half of society — huge wealth gap. Academic overlords earn well; most are just at subsistence level. Why do so many PhDs fight to get into schools? For the empty title of “university professor” to feed their vanity? Many people already write “professor” as “predator” — people wearing the “prof” hat doing predatory things. Maybe someday the dictionary will include “predator” as a word. I wonder what Tongji’s Gini coefficient is — probably past the revolution tipping point. I’ll stop here. To be clear, I’m not complaining about being poor. At least I learned solid skills during my studies — doing training and freelance projects on the side. I won’t be a tycoon, but I can support a family and compete with “pseudo white-collars” (no offense).

The characteristic of working at school is杂 — no clear分工, everything relates to you, everything must be done in parallel. Not like a software company with clear roles. Programmers work overtime and get tired, but basically do one thing. At school, I often have ten things on my mind. My poor memory forces me to use a PDA for scheduling. As programmers know, multi-threaded programs are geometrically more complex than single-threaded.

Finally, the title: first penalty. Last Friday afternoon, the school organized pre-service training for new counselors. “Training” — basically meeting the leaders. The school’s notification method is advanced: spam SMS to your phone, just like “loans, revenge, stolen cars” texts — strange sender number. I received the SMS but had another commitment (also work). I replied immediately saying I might have a conflict. Since I replied to a mass-send number, they probably didn’t receive it. Then Friday afternoon, someone called inviting me to the main campus for dinner — leaders were throwing a banquet for all new counselors after training. I live in Jiading, 50km from the main campus. If dinner ran late, I’d miss the last bus and have to sleep under a bridge. Plus I can’t drink. So I declined. That was the last straw that angered the leaders. They called the Software School and accused me of: “Not only skipping the meeting, but also refusing to drink with the leaders.” So attending dinners and drinking with leaders is now part of a counselor’s job.

Ranting aside, we live in a food chain. The law of the jungle applies. The arm can’t twist the thigh. I admitted my mistake and wrote this apology letter:

Dear Ideological and Political Education Section Leaders:

I am from the Software School. I sincerely apologize for not attending the counselor pre-service training meeting last Friday due to other commitments, and for not notifying you in advance. As a new employee unfamiliar with many things, I made this mistake.

In the future, I will learn from this experience, take it seriously, actively participate in all activities organized by the Student Affairs and Ideological Education departments, and no longer cause trouble for the school.

You might ask: why am I under the Ideological and Political Education Section? That’s another不得已 story. Although the pay is ultra-low, schools are still hard to get into. Many universities explicitly want PhDs, or even overseas PhDs over domestic ones. Our school is the same. I can’t understand why PhDs have trouble finding jobs in companies — too old, too many real-world problems. Schools can only self-produce and self-consume. Without a PhD, to stay at school I had to take a side door — reporting as teaching staff or lab network admin. I was unlucky — reported as a student counselor. University counselors are supposedly a post-1989 phenomenon. So I ended up under ideological education.

Next March, I’m going to Dingxi, Gansu for half a year to teach kids (actually a good opportunity — free life experience, I can endure hardship). It’s supposedly the poorest area in Gansu, with backward education, no teachers — senior students teach junior ones.

The place is so remote: you need a plane, then a train, then a bus, then a donkey cart. Even if you can’t stand it and want to run, you can’t.

Massive sandstorms — everyone must dress like the Taliban, covering their heads, or the wind and sand will break your neck.

Dry with no water — only one bath and laundry per week in the county town. Your nose will naturally dry and bleed at night. Some people wake up to find their quilt has turned red.

No electricity at night, no cell signal — you must climb a mountain to send texts or answer calls. Truly “mobile” phone. Internet requires going to the village chief’s office and dialing up on the village’s only phone.

Only potatoes to eat (perfect for me): boiled potatoes for breakfast, a big pot of potatoes for lunch, shredded potatoes for dinner.

Kids have limited knowledge — you can only use farm-related examples: they know one potato plus two potatoes equals three, but ask what one car plus two cars equals — no idea.

All “supposedly” — true or false unknown. Actually it’s a great chance to lose weight. Will I go from 90kg to 90 jin? But my mom’s calculated auspicious wedding date will go down the drain.

Honestly, I stayed at school not for the money — I don’t need it right now — but for the opportunity to continue studying. Then I learned the school has rules: no going abroad in the first two years. So I’ll just hang around for two years. Written a lot. Stop writing. Continue hanging around. Over.