Birthday rip-off

There was one more thing I was angry about, besides getting a lot of work dumped on me in my last three days -- the new teacher got my birthday money.

JEL has this thing about birthday parties. On a birthday, everyone contributes about $3. The school orders a cake, and the birthday-ee keeps the money. Good deal, but it's a little strange because it's a bit like having your taxes withheld from your paycheck only to get it all back at the end of the year. Or like a zero interest savings account -- what's the point?

It works out well for those foreign teachers whose birthday is in the early part of their contract. They get the money first, and then can drizzle it out over the rest of the year.

But for me, it sucks. I've been at JEL dishing out $3 a pop for over nine months. JEL has about 30 employees ... nine out of twelve months ... that's about, what, $70? And now, I'm being fired one week before my birthday.

The new guy's birthday, however, happens to fall on his first day at the school, so he got his birthday party and a boatload of cash before he even started working. Nothing against the new guy (it's not his fault), but I was hurt by the whole thing. I work for nine months and get fired -- no birthday party. He shows up as a trainee -- boatload o' cash.

Thumbs down.