Working Conditions for Chinese Lady

[Pierrimus]

OK so I realize this perhaps has been a topic thread before but my attempts to search for it are ending up with SQL database error messages.

 

I was wondering if it was typical for a lady that works as an Accountant in a Shipping/Trucking company in Nanning to have to work six 12-hour shifts? For the one I am asking it ends up meaning she is doing about 15.5 hour days at least. She said this leaves her little time to try learn English and she just wants rest on day off. I can understand, I once quit a job because I was doing five 12 hours. Just wondering if that would be normal out there?

[dnoblett]

Was not the case for my wife, she worked as a Vice Principal at a language school normal 9-5 job with a "Nap" from 12-2pm.

 

She did live at the school weekdays in the dorm which was about 40km from her home in Guilin, an advantage because it gave her easy access to high-speed internet so that we could chat as much as we wanted.

[b.c]

Not normal but anything is possible. I might be wrong on this but I think there were some policies impleneted by the government over the last year or 2 that would make this situation very disadvantageous to employers.

 

Most office jobs in China are as Dan stated, the 9 to 5 variety (most actually seem to be 8am to 6pm with a 2 hour lunch break. This is the case for the jobs my wife worked and most of the office workers of the factories that I deal with).

[Randy W]

Many people work long hours by choice and appreciate the opportunity to earn "a lot of money".

[chilton747]

I think it is somewhat common. When I met my wife, she was working in an office and she also took work home with her. She had a fax machine and a computer at her home. She would go in to the office around 7 am come home around 6 pm. Then she would work at home until 11 or 12 at night. Not sure if this was 6 or 7 days a week but it was a lot.

 

She was there for one purpose only and that was to make as much money as she could.

[Kyle]

During summer sessions/holiday breaks, my wife would leave the home around 7:70 and not get home until after 10 PM. She taught English at New Oriental. Like others have said, she took the extra classes to make more money.

[Stepbrow]

Playing the Devil's advocate, maybe she just doesn't want to put in the time to learn English, so she told you a little white lie?

[Scott@Hong]

My wife changed jobs, she went from full time wedding planner working large number of hours to full time English student. 1.5 years later her English skills are amazing, reading, writing, speaking, but she spends 50 hours plus a week in class or at home reading and practicing.

 

If you want your spouse to improve English skills then you have to give them a way to have the time to do so. I wanted her to improve her English skills so I fund everything now.

Basically it was either I quit my job and work full time on Chinese or she quits her job and works full time on English.

 

The great part is the better her English the better the relationship has become, the down side when she is mad, now I actually understand what she is yelling at me about.

[shenzhen]

The 6-day work schedule is not unusual if it is a domestic company. The hours are longer than what I would call normal but again it depends on the type of company/the bosses/etc. I would beleive her if she told me this ... if that is what you are asking ... again assuming it is a domestic company.

 

As Randy and Kyle said sometimes the longer hours are to earn extra money. On the other hand it is also a custom in some domestic companies to be in the office when the big boss is regardless of whether you have anything to do or not. Thus if the boss is a workaholic than others stay in the office but play games and goof off mostly.

[Pierrimus]

My wife changed jobs, she went from full time wedding planner working large number of hours to full time English student. 1.5 years later her English skills are amazing, reading, writing, speaking, but she spends 50 hours plus a week in class or at home reading and practicing.

 

If you want your spouse to improve English skills then you have to give them a way to have the time to do so. I wanted her to improve her English skills so I fund everything now.

Basically it was either I quit my job and work full time on Chinese or she quits her job and works full time on English.

 

The great part is the better her English the better the relationship has become, the down side when she is mad, now I actually understand what she is yelling at me about.

 

Thanks to everyone here that has posted replies. I liked this one because I would love to know what my Juanjuan really wants to say. I think perhaps she is one of those that is a domestic company because she works more but does not get any more pay for it. I think that example of how they need to stay when the boss is there regardless of the amount of work is perhaps the closest. I know she also attempts to help out her sister whom has a catering business so even on her day "off" she might be running around. I did offer once to pay so she could quit the job but she said she would be "bored". She has a friend that did that and the friend's English is very good, but she only seems to go out and play a lot of mahjong gambles her guy's money away.

 

I have put in a lot of money, but perhaps not as much time as I would have liked into learning Mandarin/Chinese characters. Now that my college courses are over I will turn more toward trying to figure this stuff out. I am starting to get to the point that I can connect the dots between the words I hear, the pinyin and the characters. But I haven't yet got the hold down on the tones exactly. I joked with Juanjuan that I want to be able to know what she is saying to our future kids.

 

I definitely want us to be able to reach that point where it is us chatting directly rather than having her friend translate for us. We were trying to do the K1 Visa paperwork and the letter she wrote had dates one year before we even began online emails, so very bu hao. I told her you do not lie to government. I think this was friend's doing. (I had written a letter based on some of the online guides and all she really had to do was sign and date it.) The information in the biography form was also not right. Sadly, I probably reacted badly as I got very angry. So right now things seem to be a bit up in the air and that is why I asked the question, because she said she does not have the time to study English. Sigh. I guess we will see. Thanks again.

[heyjimi]

My wife normally worked long hours,6 days a week,and when it was the busy season,for 2-3 months straight,she worked 7 days a week.The Chinese are hard workers,my wife she had a beautiful apartment,nice modern furniture and appliances,if she wanted something she had to save to buy it,she didn't have credit cards....so off to work she went......and my wife still had time to yahoo chat me,email and go to english school.

 

jimi