The End
October 13, 2007
I’ve always refrained from writing about Nova for a lot of reasons but the crazy roller coaster ride that has been happening over the last couple of months has helped change my mind.
I am a Center Trainer (CT) at Nova. That’s equivalent to a Branch Trainer (BT), the next step above an Assistant Trainer (AT). At work I wear a dark green tag to differentiate us from the light green ATs, and the purple instructors. Just to let you know now, the colors mean nothing and really, the positions don’t exactly mean much neither. It is and always has just been a job. I hope I can say without a lot of people flaming me that I’ve always tried to keep it real. I never carried the “company line” and always called it as I saw it. I almost never gave bullshit to anyone and the times I did, well, those fuckers must have been really out of line.
I feel the end is nigh and I’m just about ready to close this chapter of my life.
So just a quick overview of the past couple of months:
- Japanese and Foreign staff (ie. permanent, salaried employees) had their salaries delayed each month since July.
- Titled Instructors (ATs, BTs, CTs) and many regular instructors outside of major cities had their August pay delayed for two weeks in September.
- Instructors living in apartments subleased by Nova have been evicted because Nova did not pay rents (the rent was deducted from instructor salaries).
- Branches have been closing all over the country – hundreds of schools are done.
- Rumors of a lot of people quitting in gaiji, payroll, everywhere “higher up”.
Just yesterday the useless president sent a fax to all branches saying that our salary on the 15th will be delayed until the 19th. This refers to ALL instructors now, across Japan. This will be the final straw.
This morning I woke up early and contacted LS (the administrative area at the MM) and confirmed the contents of the fax. Already then, I was told of 20 sick calls and this was at 6:40AM. I can only imagine the chaos happening right now as hundreds of branches across Japan will be unmanned and hundreds of lessons being cancelled. This will only continue all week until there’s nothing left.
Surprisingly, I am not at all angry right now. This has been expected and in fact, I’m looking forward to the end so that I can finally move on and start something else. When my salary was delayed last month, that really caught me by surprise. I didn’t think it would ever come to that because the instructors are the company’s final line. I was completely shocked that they crossed it. Now, the end is all but inevitable – it will be drawn out and ugly but I am glad.
I do want to say that I have really loved working with the people at MM over the last 5 years and 4 days (not that I’m counting). Many have become excellent friends and I have learned a lot from them and my position. The experience I gained working with people will last and I’ve made a fair bit of coin as well.
To friends and family back home, you need not worry about me. The lady and I have funds saved up, she’s still working, and hopefully I can get unemployment insurance in a timely manner. I have held out on job applications because there are literally hundreds of people applying for the same jobs right now. I am applying for the couple of jobs here and there that really appeal to me and skipping out on the crap. Worst comes to worst, I can bunker down and enjoy a bit of a holiday.
I’m on my weekend but I will be going in on Monday because that’s our scheduled pay day and technically they can still pay us on that day. I am planning to go in on Tuesday so that my pay will “officially” be late and also I will help out LS staff as much as I can. Wednesday… let’s leave Wednesday optional for now.
If anyone at Nova has questions feel free to contact me and I’ll try to answer them if I can.
October 13th, 2007 at 20:25
Good luck dude. I almost wish i had stuck around and could enjoy the upcoming holiday time with you!! Beer at 10am… 100 yen okonomiyaki for lunch with another beer… watching a movie or looking at some porn on the internet early in the afternoon… late afternoon nap…. aaaarrrrhhh the good life. Enjoy my friend!!
October 14th, 2007 at 06:04
Thanks Billy. I have definitely missed you around the place. You have always been one of my favorites to have graced the old Core Group. You had me at, “If you don’t pass me I’m going to kick your ass.”
When all is said and done I’m going to throw a big party.