Taking a Day Off
(for whatever reason)
"My Wife has Some Sort of Yeast Infection or Something"
actual gaijin-san excuse
*For more posts similar to this one, see General Working Conditions
Here's where it gets really weird. The first thing you need to know is that there is no such thing as a 'sick day' in Japan as Westerners know.
As you would imagine, taking a day off in Japan is not something to trifle with. If you're a foreigner, then the Japanese will let you slide for the most part because they expect you to not be as dedicated and committed to the cause.
However, as an English teacher, more than likely you will not get any paid sick days.....EVER! There are some contracts out there that will accommodate some sick days, but they will be called personal days or something like that.
You will always have the option to request a day off beforehand, but even this process is arduous. Trying to get a day off will lead to excuses such as death in the family and extreme things that you would not use back in your home country because it's usually not as big a deal to get a day off. In Japan it is the biggest pain in the ass you could ever possibly imagine and then some. You will get the biggest guilt trip of your life laid upon you.
Just to give you a little taste..... I requested a day off for personal reasons about two months in advance. The real reason was that I wanted to watch the Super Bowl of American Football -- the grand final. It just so happened that it turned out to be the one where my beloved New York Giants whipped up on the Patriots.
Anyway, the company did their routine and said they needed to give the school a better reason than a personal day, so I told them I had a personal commitment. Then I gave them the "it's a private and personal matter" story.
We went back and forth for about a week on this, and they just kept busting my balls, "We need to give the school a reason!" So, I finally told them that I had a job interview with a better company on that day.
Of course, there's no chapter in the Japanese playbook on how to deal with this kind of foreigner excuse. So, after what was probably a series of crisis control meetings at the home office, they finally got back to me and asked me not to tell anyone at the school and just to pretend like I called in sick on that day. So I did. WTF. Welcome to Japan.
I never requested another day off after that. God forbid you should need a day off because you have an appointment with a doctor....ugh. Anything related to getting time off from work is one of the worst things about living in Japan.
Do you have a question about Japan or a topic that you are interested in that you haven't found on this blog? If so, please tell me about it in a comment. I will get a post up about it as soon as possible. Thanks for reading!!
As you would imagine, taking a day off in Japan is not something to trifle with. If you're a foreigner, then the Japanese will let you slide for the most part because they expect you to not be as dedicated and committed to the cause.
However, as an English teacher, more than likely you will not get any paid sick days.....EVER! There are some contracts out there that will accommodate some sick days, but they will be called personal days or something like that.
You will always have the option to request a day off beforehand, but even this process is arduous. Trying to get a day off will lead to excuses such as death in the family and extreme things that you would not use back in your home country because it's usually not as big a deal to get a day off. In Japan it is the biggest pain in the ass you could ever possibly imagine and then some. You will get the biggest guilt trip of your life laid upon you.
Just to give you a little taste..... I requested a day off for personal reasons about two months in advance. The real reason was that I wanted to watch the Super Bowl of American Football -- the grand final. It just so happened that it turned out to be the one where my beloved New York Giants whipped up on the Patriots.
***Time Diff. Alert: Super Bowl starts at around 8:20 Monday morning***
Anyway, the company did their routine and said they needed to give the school a better reason than a personal day, so I told them I had a personal commitment. Then I gave them the "it's a private and personal matter" story.
We went back and forth for about a week on this, and they just kept busting my balls, "We need to give the school a reason!" So, I finally told them that I had a job interview with a better company on that day.
Of course, there's no chapter in the Japanese playbook on how to deal with this kind of foreigner excuse. So, after what was probably a series of crisis control meetings at the home office, they finally got back to me and asked me not to tell anyone at the school and just to pretend like I called in sick on that day. So I did. WTF. Welcome to Japan.
I never requested another day off after that. God forbid you should need a day off because you have an appointment with a doctor....ugh. Anything related to getting time off from work is one of the worst things about living in Japan.
Do you have a question about Japan or a topic that you are interested in that you haven't found on this blog? If so, please tell me about it in a comment. I will get a post up about it as soon as possible. Thanks for reading!!
No comments:
Post a Comment