The End of G.com Thread

[steki47]

On a related note, I still see ECC's advertising campaign posters featuring that funny man Beat Takeshi. Nothing like paying a few hundred million yen to a 65-year-old 'tarento' to accurately represent and entice your student base.

A 'tarento' who doesn't really like being overseas to boot. He made a few negatives comments about Hollywood a few years back. He's entitled to his own opinion, of course. Just a bit strange to choose him to be on an ad for an English school. Oh wait, he is popular with the Japanese. Gotcha, never mind.

[japansmith]

It's been a year or so since the old Nova went bankrupt, and although I've moved on, the exerience of bankruptcy will always be with me. It really helped draw the curtains back and let me see what a company really is. I work at a couple of new companies now, but I still always think about if and when my next company will go bust (there are too many of them going bust in Japan and elsewhere at the moment). All the imaginary power you give to people further up the ranks than you, it's all gone the minute the doors shut. It reminds me of taking ecstacy and then having a look at all the people I was being friendly with while high, after I've come down. It seems like a fake reality. And then extrapolate that to all companies, because really there are a lot of companies that are running on unsustainable principles (even if you don't take into account the environmental destruction that we're living off).
Just a few meanderings...

[Kuronama]

Fake reality... you are spot on man! Japan, particularly Tokyo I find, is living in a total fake reality. Sure, this kinda superficiality exists everywhere, back home in Canada where Im from definately, but Jesus... I dont think Ive ever been anywhere where an employees behaviour and a normal citizens behaviour is in such contrast. The BS bowing and handing out of tissues or anything to reel in a customer at an izakaya or whatever for that matter. Then get on the train and not a single fuckin soul barely will give up their seat for someone in need (does happen on occasion, im trying to be objective here), let alone talk to ya. The complete employee personality then the non-work/antisocial/shy/fucked up personality comes out almost right after. People are polite - WHAT A FARCE!

[suria]

On a related note, I still see ECC's advertising campaign posters featuring that funny man Beat Takeshi. Nothing like paying a few hundred million yen to a 65-year-old 'tarento' to accurately represent and entice your student base.

Since Takeshi Kitano is actually quite a prolific and successful director (he won a prize at the Venice Film Festival a few years ago), he could be considered to be more than just a 65-year-old "tarento". Whether he is a good spokesman for an English school is another issue.

[sex_sensei]

[... Takeshi Kitano is actually quite a prolific and successful director (he won a prize at the Venice Film Festival a few years ago)...

Yes, he may be a good director with some fresh ideas, but he is best known here (and largely unknown outside Japan, despite that award) for being the baffoon on a number of idiotic evening variety and quiz shows. I know you didn't mean to put him in the league of Speilberg, Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee, Ang Lee (no relation ), Baz Luhrmann, Jane Campion, etc.

It's sad that ECC feels it's necessary to pay an old man like Beat mega-money to endorse a product he doesn't use himself. But, that's advertising in Japan. I still remember ads showing Sylvester Stallone hawking ham! Well, like they say, "It's good money if you can get it."

Fair notice: I'd whore myself out too for 20 million yen to hold up a product and grin.

[thedeli]

[... Takeshi Kitano is actually quite a prolific and successful director (he won a prize at the Venice Film Festival a few years ago)...

Yes, he may be a good director with some fresh ideas, but he is best known here (and largely unknown outside Japan, despite that award) for being the baffoon on a number of idiotic evening variety and quiz shows. I know you didn't mean to put him in the league of Speilberg, Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee, Ang Lee (no relation ), Baz Luhrmann, Jane Campion, etc.

It's sad that ECC feels it's necessary to pay an old man like Beat mega-money to endorse a product he doesn't use himself. But, that's advertising in Japan. I still remember ads showing Sylvester Stallone hawking ham! Well, like they say, "It's good money if you can get it."

Fair notice: I'd whore myself out too for 20 million yen to hold up a product and grin.

Even when Toza was in its death throes they still managed to get Mr Bean to do ads for them.
"Where's my money?"
"Ask Mr. Bean."

[Level3]

How much you wanna bet that both Kitano and Atkinson made sure to be PAID IN FULL before actually doing the ad work?

Oh and just a reminder, you can check out subway and eki advertising rates any time.

http://www.kotsu.city.osaka.jp/ct/other ... e-list.pdf

If I'm reading it right (you have to go back tot he website to see examples of each poster size and position)
a single 16-frame "jumbo" poster in a major eki in Osaka runs 640,000 yen

PER WEEK

That's right. If your eikaiwa has ONE of these, they think ONE jumbo poster
is worth more than what they could do with that money, such as:

1. pay for 10 full-time teachers so students could actually book more lessons

2. fund shakai hoken payments for about 120 teachers

3. Pay a mere 2 full time teachers whose job is to cover for teachers going on vacation,
so they can actually go on vacation without the guilt trips and blackout periods,
and fund their travel AND give a 50,000 yen per month raise to your "best" 50 teachers.

4. Hire ONE full time trainer who ACTUALLY HAS AN M.S. IN ESL EDUCATION to train your teachers better
and make your students see results, plus ONE full-time MBA who can tell you how to stop wasting money
on posters nobody notices AND have a kickass party each month, nomi-hodai at a good hotel for 150 teachers
and staff.

5. Just keep the money as profits so the company will be stable.

And that's just ONE jumbo poster in ONE city per month. Do that in each region and every damned eikaiwa problem gets solved.

Reliable sources tell me that some branches spend 100,000yen per new student contract on advertising.
Yet the most common contract is under 90,000 yen, and they don't see anything WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?!!?

[In The Know]

That's right. If your eikaiwa has ONE of these, they think ONE jumbo poster
is worth more than what they could do with that money, such as:

1. pay for 10 full-time teachers so students could actually book more lessons...

some branches spend 100,000yen per new student contract on advertising.
Yet the most common contract is under 90,000 yen, and they don't see anything WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE!?

If your advertising rates are accurate, point 1 is glaring.

I'm surprised no school has snagged that bimbo Paris Hilton to be their spokesperson. Granted, I would cringe if they did. Sometimes word-of-mouth advertising is the best. Happy customers tell other people where they go for (product).

I've always wondered why there wasn't a set schedule system. For example, when you sign up you choose a day and time(s) that you will have a guaranteed seat in a lesson. You could have the option to change it once every 3 months, for example. Granted, some people get surprised and have to work late or be out of town on business, thus missing a lesson, but most employees know when they will have time off. It would eliminate booking lessons one by one, which infuriates students when they CAN'T book, which is turn causes students not to re-sign AND they tell everyone what a fraud G.Comm (et al) is.

[thedeli]

I've always wondered why there wasn't a set schedule system. For example, when you sign up you choose a day and time(s) that you will have a guaranteed seat in a lesson. You could have the option to change it once every 3 months, for example. Granted, some people get surprised and have to work late or be out of town on business, thus missing a lesson, but most employees know when they will have time off. It would eliminate booking lessons one by one, which infuriates students when they CAN'T book, which is turn causes students not to re-sign AND they tell everyone what a fraud G.Comm

Regular B's (the government sponsored students) had set schedules. It became problematic when the Regular B student was in a level in which there were few students. We leveled up a few regular B's (especially the ones who often no-showed) just so other students could book a lesson. I agree that your idea would offer a good service especially to the students who tend to book at the same time but the school would have to somehow guarantee full capacity. If a new level 6 chose 1:20 on Mondays, you would have to hope that the next level 6 student you sign up would be able to take the same lesson or you would end up with a lot of holes in the schedule. I could imagine staff telling teachers what level to put the new student into.

[Ziggy]

Even when Toza was in its death throes they still managed to get Mr Bean to do ads for them.
"Where's my money?"
"Ask Mr. Bean."

True enough but mcnova pulled the plug on advertising a couple months before it went six feet under.

[Level3]

school would have to somehow guarantee full capacity.

That's exactly why Nova raked in tons of dough to become the biggest chain, and also why they failed.

Basically Nova was doing the same thing as selling 200 1-week time share contracts for a ski resort condo even though
there are only 52 weeks in a year, and most people only want to book in the 12 weeks or so of the ski season.
And for a long time, they got away with it.

I assume doing that is illegal in most countries. But in eikaiwa-land it's perfectly legal, until enough people complain.
METI could have just made a regulation calling on schools to guarantee they have the capacity to handle x% of their students'
free lesson scheduling requests. But that would be easy to fudge the numbers on.

"Free schedule system" should be the #1 warning sign to NOT join a school, especially one that DOES guarantee a class size limit of
only 4 or 5 students. It's insane.
Schools can sign up as many students as they can with no concern about fitting them into the schedule.

A fixed schdeule system is a handicap to legitimate eikaiwas, which have to turn away students who can't fit into the lesson schdeule.
[Although there are plenty of tricks to squeeze them in somehow by level ups and such.]

Fixed schedules also give a reluctant student who is weak against sales talks an "out", by lying about their own schdeule
not matching the school lesson schedule. Nova's masterful scheme doesn't give anyone that excuse. "You can book a lesson ANYTIME!"
and thus might yield more money from weak-willed people. It also gives people fewer options when trying to quit a contract.
They can't use the "I'm busy at work and can't schdeule lessons" excuse as easily. "You can book lessons ANYTIME!" is the counter.
[Though the easy counter-counter is "No. I can't book a lesson any time. I tried. Give me my money back you lying fuck."]

One can understand why G.Con would want to continue such a system, but doesn't explain why METI would let them, or any eikaiwa, do it,
except just ignorance [or bribes].

[In The Know]

...One can understand why G.Con would want to continue such a system, but doesn't explain why METI would let them, or any eikaiwa, do it,
except just ignorance [or bribes].

"ignorance, bribes, lack of early METI intervension", I first thought of NOVA when I saw this headline from today's on-line Asahi shinbun. Wait until you get to the good part where the politician in question (with a straight face, of course) called this income 'lecture fees'. What a stinkin' crock o'

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asa ... 40154.html

[parallel universe]

My hat is off to the Berlitz strikers (Tokyo only, apparently) trying to affect a change. This thread caught my eye and I wondered if a similar move for 'The End of G.Comm" disgruntled teachers is at hand.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=256340

[strongbad]

A friend still at the G-Spot tells me that Christmas is going to be unpaid holidays. Scrooge lives on in eikaiwa, apparently.

Anyone confirm this?

[The Black Knight]

Wouldn't fucking suprise me.

If they tried to pull that one off only the truly truly desperate would come back after Christmas surely??

Mind you if they've stayed with it for so long until now I guess they'll just continue to take it up the shitter even more.

[Japandy]

I take the PH situation is true by the lack of responses. Sympathies to those still unfortunate to be there. Are they making money yet?

[SNAFU]

A friend of mine who works at G.com/Nova told me the following regarding end of year holidays at G.com/Nova.

There will be no days off for Christmas. Business as usual, like most companies in Japan.

G.com/Nova will close at the end of the year from the 30th December to the 4th January. Six days.

'A' type instructors: Three of those six days will be paid. The other three can be taken as unpaid, shift-swapped or taken as paid holidays in the usual way.

'B' type instructors: The six days can be taken as paid holidays in the usual way or shift-swapped.

[sex_sensei]

There will be no days off for Christmas. Business as usual, like most companies in Japan.

G.com/Nova will close at the end of the year from the 30th December to the 4th January. Six days....

My sympathy for those still there. I almost feel like getting hired at G.Spot and staying for a couple weeks just to look around and see how NOT to run a company. From what I've seen since they took over, they took a mismanaged company and made things worse in all respects. So many times on these threads I've read comments like, "In retrospect, I guess the old NOVA wasn't so bad."

Assuming you go back to Oz, the U.K., America, etc., with one day travel time each way, that would leave you with four days at home under this Stalinist holiday scheme-- AND you can't leave until after Christmas. Clearly, the Japanese management doesn't have a lot of cultural understanding. Imagine a foreign company here telling its Japanese workers, "Oh, we're working January 1. Why do you ask?" you, G.Comm!

[SNAFU]

It's possible, I believe, to use your annual paid holidays to take Christmas day off. Of course you can use your annual paid holidays to take Japanese Public Holdays off too. Although, if you are new to G.com/Nova, you will probably only receieve 10 paid holidays a year. So, you will not have enough annual holidays to cover all the public holidays you are not given by G.com/Nova. Also, for many, holidays do not kick-in until you have worked the first six months of your annual contract, which is renewed every year. So, there is always a period of six months where you have no holiday entitlements, unless you have carried some over from your previous contract.

[allblacks]

I was just reading the blog. Apparently some G com instructors have not been returned their degrees. Is this true? Anyone got more info?

[Kuronama]

A friend of mine who works at G.com/Nova told me the following regarding end of year holidays at G.com/Nova.

There will be no days off for Christmas. Business as usual, like most companies in Japan.

G.com/Nova will close at the end of the year from the 30th December to the 4th January. Six days.

'A' type instructors: Three of those six days will be paid. The other three can be taken as unpaid, shift-swapped or taken as paid holidays in the usual way.

'B' type instructors: The six days can be taken as paid holidays in the usual way or shift-swapped.

I can confirm this... Fax came through today. Its for real! This company is seriously fuckin TIGHT ASS! But this really doesnt surprise me, to be honest..

[SamhainP8]

A friend of mine who works at G.com/Nova told me the following regarding end of year holidays at G.com/Nova.

There will be no days off for Christmas. Business as usual, like most companies in Japan.

G.com/Nova will close at the end of the year from the 30th December to the 4th January. Six days.

'A' type instructors: Three of those six days will be paid. The other three can be taken as unpaid, shift-swapped or taken as paid holidays in the usual way.

'B' type instructors: The six days can be taken as paid holidays in the usual way or shift-swapped.

I can confirm this... Fax came through today. Its for real! This company is seriously fuckin TIGHT ASS! But this really doesnt surprise me, to be honest..

How do you shift swap those 6 days with someone when the place is closed?????

[Stick-Swinging Incident]

Probably self swaps, you work 3 of your days off in the future, or before.

Basically if you want to keep your salary, you work extra. (and seeing as how its a short month, those deductions will be larger than a usual month.)

Good luck GCom-ers!

[fine-print]

A friend of mine who works at G.com/Nova told me the following regarding end of year holidays at G.com/Nova.

There will be no days off for Christmas. Business as usual, like most companies in Japan.

G.com/Nova will close at the end of the year from the 30th December to the 4th January. Six days.

'A' type instructors: Three of those six days will be paid. The other three can be taken as unpaid, shift-swapped or taken as paid holidays in the usual way.

'B' type instructors: The six days can be taken as paid holidays in the usual way or shift-swapped.

I can confirm this... Fax came through today. Its for real! This company is seriously fuckin TIGHT ASS! But this really doesnt surprise me, to be honest..

How do you shift swap those 6 days with someone when the place is closed?????

This is totally against there own contract. I.e. type A contract employees' salaries are based on the number of lessons they are scheduled to teach in a given month. With being closed for 6 days over the new year break, the type A instructors can't possibly be scheduled to work, they are simply scheduled to work for fewer lessons in Dec and Jan. They should still receive their full salary. If this wasn't the case, salaries would be different for each month based on the number of days worked. Anyone still at G.education should really take them to task over this before it's too late. The contract should be clear evidence enough. They may change the contract for the future but with the intellectual prowess they have displayed to date, I doubt anyone has had the forethought to alter the current contracts.

[SNAFU]

Nova/G.com are going to replace the present paper filing (files) system with a computerized system. Student lesson mark-off sheets, comment sheets and profiles will be kept on a computer bank which instructors can call-up on computers in the branches. This will provide more space and a cleaner, leaner working environment. It will also allow students to book a lesson at any branch.

[quato]

Will the computers be in each classroom like at Gabba? Or will there be 20 teachers in the teachers' room fighting over an old 486 PC with a monochrome screen.

[yoshifumi tanaka]

Will the computers be in each classroom like at Gabba? Or will there be 20 teachers in the teachers' room fighting over an old 486 PC with a monochrome screen.

and as Instructors are supposed to finish everything in the 2 mins after the bell, those computers are gonna have to work damn fast.
If it works it sounds good, but it sounds expensive for a very few number of students that would take advantage of it, especially in the boondocks.

[Examination_Hell]

Will the computers be in each classroom like at Gabba? Or will there be 20 teachers in the teachers' room fighting over an old 486 PC with a monochrome screen.

nah, most likely they'll lease the old cash registers that maccas has and just replace the "large fries" button with "needs adverb practice" or some such shite.

[SamhainP8]

There goes the ability to fill out the files during the class, be out the door before the bell stops and do the mad dash from Apita-Minami to Doutoku station and catch the 9:04pm train etc. That help shift was always the highlight of my week and I didn’t miss the early train once.

[SNAFU]

G.com/Nova expects their foreign staff to be responsible and act like their Japanese counterparts. If this means inputting information into a computer in non-working time, then so be it. If you want to understand G.com/Nova just take a look at how the Japanese staff work and are treated by G.com/Nova.