There's something going down in a language school in Bali
The last day of work
I tentatively stepped out of the office, my headset, now contraband, tucked neatly in to my handbag. I had discovered it that morning hanging not above my desk as usual, but in the admin room with a stapled sign saying 'Do Not Take'. Umm, I paid 300,000 RP for that thanks.
The last lesson, like any other, passed insignificantly. The sheer boredom of teaching people how to to lay a table in English solidified my utter bliss to leave a poorly paid, joyless, monotonous, technically errant, and somewhat exploitative company (no names for legal reasons) that also happened to be totally de-void of any kind of Human Resources contact. I like teaching, but I don't like being mugged off, and for the same aforementioned legal reasons I can't go in to too much detail. And you thought I was going to write something sentimental!
I parked Gloria outside Zula, the 'Vegetarian Paradise'. A soy latte to encourage my fingers back in to writing mode- my brain had become rather numb in the last three weeks. Saturation point had certainly arrived well before now. The drink arrived, falafel promised and the sky threatened. It was as if the weather knew Nicki had left, that we were mourning and my brain began to wake up from three months in the job from hell. Office chains, a paradox in Bali. Or Bali, the paradox. An opportunity and simultaneous trap. Bali [School Name]. Not what it seems.
I settled down to use the internet, checking in with querying parents.
"Yes I have finished as of an hour ago and I am free."
Wait. I read it again. My eyes rested on the words, then flicked back up to the ominous purge waiting in the sky. I'm free? How can I be sure. I'm free. My brow furrowed. I wrote it on the page.
"I'M FREE!"
My heart leapt to the limits of my ribcage. I kept having to type it to believe. I felt how you feel after a really good date. I wanted to shout it, jump up and down and hug people. I am free, I am free, I am free!
Free from 'Is your microphone working?' and all manner of daily technical errors, fuck ups, disconnections and frustrating audio problems.
Free from desks and chairs completely lacking any kind of safe ergonomics and clearly designed for a creature witho t human posture. Free from continuos shooting back pains.
Free from a company that finds any opportunity not to pay its' staff by way of endless new 'policies' (read: loopholes), changes to rules and agreements in contracts without actually making changes to said contract and just generally moving the goal posts and weaselling out of their part.
Free from being pushed as hard as possible to my limits as if I am a robot slave rather than a human.
Free from having a life promised to me that, as it happens, was a total fabrication.
Free from interrogation, criticism and being spoken to like shit when genuinely ill by my entirely unprofessional hyper defensive boss, despite having called in sick as required in protocol.
Free also from a huge lack of staff support or help (ironic as it is), and the completely backwards, neglectful and beurocratic system that goes hand in hand with that.
Free from the visa system, which is essentially a money-making scheme. And therefore, and most of all, free from a company that uses this system to exploit their staff for its' own benefit.
But...
I must say thanks where its' due. To my friends for letting me get to know you, to Bali for allowing me a safe time here and to my family for their support. And to Tim Hannigan for all your help.Thank you Indonesia for the opportunity, the experience and the change you've inspired in me. Thank you to the Universe for teaching me a valuable lesson. But seriously, f*** you [corporation].
I don't know what the next chapter will bring, but won't you join me?
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