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Bad Working Abroad Experiences
Travel blogs and websites tend to make out travelling as an always great experience, emphasising the wonders of the world and neglecting the negative. We are no less guilty in our working abroad niche so here are some horror stories:
Working in a Hostel
From the hostel shuttle bus getting hijacked by random drunks to drugs, nudity, and Australians, the human factor inherent in hostel jobs means this is an adventure always primed to go wrong. Other mishaps detailed in this reddit thread of hostel horrors include a drunk Dane dislocating his shoulder after slipping on a stray ping-pong ball and staff grappling with suicidal knife wielders. Into the mix, add an otherwise quiet and reserved Korean girl getting fisted in the middle of a bar, homeless people smearing shit over the bathroom walls and French guests pissing out the window. And who cleans up the mess afterwards? That’s right. You.
House Sitting
A flea infestation turned one of Jeannie Mark’s house sits into a two week nightmare but the consequences for Jessica Dawdy lingered for months. Her disastrous time in Spain ended when assault charges were filed against her boyfriend, Brent. Thinking at first the home they were looking after had been burgled, neighbours had instead forced their way into the property and, under bizarre Spanish laws, claimed the place as their own.
Teaching English
You have to go far to find bad teaching abroad experiences. All the way to China will do the trick. Negative stories of scams, identity theft, dodgy agents and contracts not worth the paper they are written on are common themes in teaching in China forums. One such worthless contract was signed by Frank Macri, who within 48 hours of arriving at his new school found himself living in unsafe accommodation and working double the hours of work he was not qualified to do.
Image courtesy Chris Yarzab
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This piece was first published in an older version of our blog which included the following comments:
We said: “We also found a Backpacker’s Blacklist (for Australia) which I hope prevents some of you winding up with a crappy employer: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eMw8Hcp5G2KyyBp9a-gtK_lH9rxBvZsfvZtGexnhGgY/edit?pli=1#gid=409992207. It hasn’t been updated for a while but might still be useful.”
Ed Phelan said: “I have been assured from a very good friend of mine that it is not only China that you need to be wary of when looking for a TEFL job. I also know several people currently teaching in China who are delighted with their school and have no plans to return to the UK. There are a lot of undesirable schools in Europe as well!”
– we replied: “Thanks for the feedback Ed. China’s the country about which we hear the worst teaching stories but, as your friends can attest, there are plenty of good schools too, and bad ones elsewhere.”
