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Of all things, you just reminded me of an Iron Maiden song:
Key lyrics: only the good die young, all the evil seem to live forever.
FC
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This post keeps reminding me of this silly sod:
FC soundtrack @ 0:42
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Well, they say I have to visit the local police station because my visa has not been renewed. It has. My best guess is that the local police station that administered my address certification form (or whatever the fuck itās called) needed to be notified when I switched from a work visa to a residence permit. Technically, being late with this sort of thing has largish fines attached to it. Usually, from what I understand, they are not applied. However, I may be two months late on this, and my error was discovered when my apartment buildingās cop (I didnāt even know we had one) shook me down for my papers last weekend.
This bullshit wouldnāt have happened if my company was at all competent at hiring foreigners (and advising them once theyāve been suckered, er hired). Speaking of which:
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On my first month in which I was supposed to earn a full monthās salary, they didnāt pay me the guaranteed minimum. We went back and forth. āBut you didnāt work enough hours.ā āBut you were contractually obligated to give me a certain amount of hours. Itās not as if I was refusing to work.ā āBut weāre a new company and canāt afford to pay you when not enough work is coming in.ā I point at the company banner, a company that has been around for 20 years. They countered by claiming that they have merely franchised the name (or some such.) Maybe this is true, but when I punch the literal time clock and when I receive my salary, I go upstairs to the main division of the company, where they teach computers not English. The English language division may be new, but all the locals tell me that the computer department has been in this city for years.
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Last month, thanks to summer vacation, was great for business. By my count, I got more than four times the minimum amount of hours. But, I wonāt be pulling in quite as much money as I had been expecting because the wages I was told I was getting were the pre-tax amount not the post. And I had discussed this very issue with my boss before I signed my contract. My minimum is low enough that I was concerned about having taxes lowering it even further. I was assured it was the post-tax amount.
andā¦ 3) Remember that literal time clock? Once last month ended, and my boss got a look at my time card, she apparently noticed that, if one goes by the time card, I do actually get paid for all of my time that gets wasted around that place. So, she changed the policy. Now, Iām apparently only getting paid for each individual lesson that I teach. For example, today I got there at 9 and left a bit after 4. I get paid for two straight hours, 9-11, then I go on a three hour unpaid lunch break. (Three hours is too damn long for lunch, but not long enough for me to profitably go somewhere else and do something worthwhile.) I come back at 2, but my student is an hour late, the lesson doesnāt start til 3, and I get paid for three hours out of seven.
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My landlord has given me notice to quit. I have two months to find somewhere else to live and get my belongings moved. I guess I can do it, though I may have to borrow money to raise a new deposit. But my on-going depression and my mumās recent death have left me all meh about everything.
My landlordās a procreative-organ-of-your-choice: his first reaction on learning of my depression a couple of years ago was, āItās obvious that youāre not happy here, Nelsieā (my emphasis) and things went downhill from there, with him telling me shortly after that he didnāt care about my illnesses (I also had pneumonia at the time), then a couple of weeks later telling me that he had always considered me a friend. Heās had an ongoing fantasy that Iāve been earning money and keeping the fact from the authorities, and for a while had been demanding to see my bank statements. The last couple of years have been inconstant stress and worry, with him threatening to evict me, then doing nothing for months, then inventing spurious reasons to inspect the flat, such as a seemingly non-existent requirement to check the electrical fittings.
I should be glad to leave, but Iāve been here for 16 years, I donāt know where Iām going to go, or how Iām going to get there, or what Iām going to do once Iām there.
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Holy crapā¦ where are you? Because that sounds completely illegal to meā¦
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Asking to see your bank statements? Can they do this?
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Soā¦ is your landlord a drug addict or mentally ill? Cuz they sound not rightā¦ and none of that sounds legalā¦
Do you have a landlord tenant tribunal where you are? Tenants rights association? At the very least you may be able to get more timeā¦?
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China!
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Well, that explains the apartment cop.
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because itās the default here I thought of the US and a H-1B visa, and wasnāt at all surprised by the apartment cop. simply one more strange LEO and not more outlandish than a school police.
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Except our LEOs donāt get involved in federal immigration issues unless it is during the commission of a state crime or infraction. One good thing with separation of powers, I guess.
I do know that when my in-laws lived in France (off and on) during the late 90s and early aughts, they had to check in with the local police when they arrived. They said it was a pretty benign interview/introduction.
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Nah, it was bullshit. When I eventually called him on it, he sent me a minute from a cabinet meeting from ten years ago (which was about landlords being responsible for checking on immigrantsā legal status (which is another kind of bullshit)) and a google link for ālandlord responsibilitiesā or some such.
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Heās just a bully, trying to confuse me with bafflegab.
Edit: I can probably hold him off for a while: when the notice is up he has to apply for a repossession order from the court. Iāve no idea how long that will take, but I donāt know if Iām that bothered to fight it. Itāll be hard enough to get my head together to plan to move in two months or less.
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Ah well, sounds good that you get out then.
Change is hard, and harder still when youāre head is not in the game. Good luck!
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It turns out Iām kind of an expert on landlord and tenant law (I work in an related field on Ontario and have conducted jurisdictional scans covering a sizeable portion of the English-speaking world). Depending on where you live there may be valid reasons to throw out a tenant and non-valid reasons, differing periods of notice that must be given depending on the reasons, and different ways of resolving disputes. But regardless of where you live itās almost certain that the path of least resistance is leaving in the allotted time, even if the law is on your side.
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my knowledge about the US police is extensive and I had excellent teachers: police TV series and BB posts. Officers scream āYou have the right to remain silent!ā before they start shooting everyone.
btw, police. the coolest police station sign is a combined Dutch/German one, on a building directly on the border*
according to Wikipedia the kitchenette is in the Netherlands and the toilets in Germany
* we continental Europeans can see and feel and live the benefits of the united Europe. poor Britons miss out a lot.
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Well, I didnāt say that our LEOs wouldnāt shoot you. 
Itās just that my neighbor, the LAPD detective down the street who I met once in the almost four years weāve been here, wouldnāt ask to see anyoneās papers. I donāt think he even gave a shit when the local cops busted the pot growers who live in the corner house (and who were back in business almost the next day).
eta: This is why that idiot sheriff in Arizona is being sued.
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Oh goody, I get to have a colonoscopy.
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I got a camera down the other endā¦ not sure about from that end but I got some pretty awesome drugs for it. Donāt remember a thing after the needle going into my arm.
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