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FromPhilly
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2010 6:56 am
- Location: UK
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Last edited by FromPhilly on Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sorry for your stress as you're getting set up in a new country. I would suggest talking to the Head of School about your situation. He/she may be able to intervene with finance.
Also look into more temporary housing like a serviced apartment until you get paid. Someone might be subletting. Or negotiate with a landlord to pay the security deposit at a later date or in installments. Explain your situation to an agent. Someone will probably have sympathy with your situation, know that you have steady income as a teacher and wait for payment.
You can see if you qualify for a credit card or a loan at your new location. With an employment contract and a bank account you may be able to get one quickly.
Good luck.
Also look into more temporary housing like a serviced apartment until you get paid. Someone might be subletting. Or negotiate with a landlord to pay the security deposit at a later date or in installments. Explain your situation to an agent. Someone will probably have sympathy with your situation, know that you have steady income as a teacher and wait for payment.
You can see if you qualify for a credit card or a loan at your new location. With an employment contract and a bank account you may be able to get one quickly.
Good luck.
Sorry
Im sorry, I really am this happens every year to teachers. Im going to save you the lecture.
So in deciding what to do my first question is, how much do you need and will your cheque in the 2nd "ish" week of September cover the 3 1/2 months, plus allow you to live?
There really is only one question and thats "stay or go"? Otherwise youve been there for some amount of time and I have to imagine that your in some kind of temporary housing and not living under a bridge, or a cardboard box in some alley. If they pay you this month and it s enough to afford living there, do you want to stay knowing this is the atmosphere you will be living in for 2 years?
If the answer is "no" there just isnt enough money soon enough, you only have two options: 1) Get more money, or 2) Spend less money. So heres my check list:
1) Apologize to Finance and HR (Good advice from associate, and already done).
2) Talk to Finance again
3) Talk to your schools head. This person may not even know whats going on. They should either expedite your housing allowance, arrange an advance against the allowance, or assume the coast of whatever housing (permanent or temporary) against your pay packet.
4) If there is no more money, then you need to look at how much you have and start looking at other more transient options, such as a serviced apartment, long term hotel, or hostel. Starting with your present accommodations would be a good place to start.
Going home:
I would seriously ask yourself if this is the type of school you want to be in? I'm sure you already know that the "local" side of a school such as HR, payroll, etc can sometimes lack in western customer service. Their reflex is usually to say no and deny requests. Typically, its because they just dont have authority to do anything outside of what their standard office procedures are. For all intense purposes they are just the messenger. They (the school) may not want to start or control a precedent. if most teachers come prepared to fund their expenses, but some dont, the ones that can are going to want to get paid sooner as well. That could create a cash flow problem, or it might mean more risk in the case of a teacher leaving for some reason who has already been "advanced" significant money without a means to really reclaim it. From their point of view its all just risk management.
Ok so that's their side, assuming everything in your report is accurate you have a bigger problem though. There is a culture in the school (could be just this school or a standard business practice for the region, doesnt really matter), that is not productive to a health employment relationship, they simply dont care. In my experience the head knows or has been advised, and if they havent they are willfully ignorant, or complacently negligent. If there is a hole in the ship no matter how small the captain knows. They know you dont have a lot of options (if any) this late in the year, and that your "there" and the cost of pulling a runner would be pretty high for you, and they have no problem with taking advantage of you. This is not going to change over the course of your contract. This event is just one manifestation, that is VERY likely to continue. They arent demonstrating any desire to maintain or build the relationship they have with you, or they would have acted very differently. That should tell you more then anything, that this schools culture is going to be a constant negotiation for anything and everything. The will treat each and every request granted, as if they are doing you a personal favor, and they wont loose a bit of sleep over every denied request, and any failure of those denied requests will just be framed as a failure on your part.
So you really need to decide whether to stay or go, either:
1) Get the money and stay.
2) Economize and stay.
3) Run out of money and leave.
4) Dump a bad relationship and leave.
Postal Script:
I dont know where you are, but I doubt a bank would approve a credit card (for many reasons) and if they did, it wouldnt be for very much (a credit line of 3 1/2 months housing costs would be unrealistic), and would still take some time (a couple weeks to a month) to get the card to you, and a potential landlord isnt likely to be equipped to accept credit card payments for rent and deposits.
So in deciding what to do my first question is, how much do you need and will your cheque in the 2nd "ish" week of September cover the 3 1/2 months, plus allow you to live?
There really is only one question and thats "stay or go"? Otherwise youve been there for some amount of time and I have to imagine that your in some kind of temporary housing and not living under a bridge, or a cardboard box in some alley. If they pay you this month and it s enough to afford living there, do you want to stay knowing this is the atmosphere you will be living in for 2 years?
If the answer is "no" there just isnt enough money soon enough, you only have two options: 1) Get more money, or 2) Spend less money. So heres my check list:
1) Apologize to Finance and HR (Good advice from associate, and already done).
2) Talk to Finance again
3) Talk to your schools head. This person may not even know whats going on. They should either expedite your housing allowance, arrange an advance against the allowance, or assume the coast of whatever housing (permanent or temporary) against your pay packet.
4) If there is no more money, then you need to look at how much you have and start looking at other more transient options, such as a serviced apartment, long term hotel, or hostel. Starting with your present accommodations would be a good place to start.
Going home:
I would seriously ask yourself if this is the type of school you want to be in? I'm sure you already know that the "local" side of a school such as HR, payroll, etc can sometimes lack in western customer service. Their reflex is usually to say no and deny requests. Typically, its because they just dont have authority to do anything outside of what their standard office procedures are. For all intense purposes they are just the messenger. They (the school) may not want to start or control a precedent. if most teachers come prepared to fund their expenses, but some dont, the ones that can are going to want to get paid sooner as well. That could create a cash flow problem, or it might mean more risk in the case of a teacher leaving for some reason who has already been "advanced" significant money without a means to really reclaim it. From their point of view its all just risk management.
Ok so that's their side, assuming everything in your report is accurate you have a bigger problem though. There is a culture in the school (could be just this school or a standard business practice for the region, doesnt really matter), that is not productive to a health employment relationship, they simply dont care. In my experience the head knows or has been advised, and if they havent they are willfully ignorant, or complacently negligent. If there is a hole in the ship no matter how small the captain knows. They know you dont have a lot of options (if any) this late in the year, and that your "there" and the cost of pulling a runner would be pretty high for you, and they have no problem with taking advantage of you. This is not going to change over the course of your contract. This event is just one manifestation, that is VERY likely to continue. They arent demonstrating any desire to maintain or build the relationship they have with you, or they would have acted very differently. That should tell you more then anything, that this schools culture is going to be a constant negotiation for anything and everything. The will treat each and every request granted, as if they are doing you a personal favor, and they wont loose a bit of sleep over every denied request, and any failure of those denied requests will just be framed as a failure on your part.
So you really need to decide whether to stay or go, either:
1) Get the money and stay.
2) Economize and stay.
3) Run out of money and leave.
4) Dump a bad relationship and leave.
Postal Script:
I dont know where you are, but I doubt a bank would approve a credit card (for many reasons) and if they did, it wouldnt be for very much (a credit line of 3 1/2 months housing costs would be unrealistic), and would still take some time (a couple weeks to a month) to get the card to you, and a potential landlord isnt likely to be equipped to accept credit card payments for rent and deposits.
The poster seemed to be in the same region as I am. We put in credit card applications during orientation at the same time we set up our bank accounts and received the card in about 2 weeks. My limit was set at about $10,000 US on a teacher's salary of about $55,000. That's probably not how it would have worked at home, but it did here. So, it's definitely an option.
And while I wouldn't normally recommend this, they can take a cash advance until they get paid.
And while I wouldn't normally recommend this, they can take a cash advance until they get paid.