Dark Clouds

I work for The Nova Group of Japan. I admit it. Of late it has appeared in the media for a variety of reasons, as a result of their own doing and because of bad luck.

Let's start with their own doing. The company had been in the middle of a couple of lawsuits and in the end they lost. The result was that they had to refund a large sum money to disgruntled customers. The company was then investigated by the Ministry of Trade and Labour and they were found guilty of negligent practices and making false claims. As a result they were banned from taking on new contracts for more than one year and they were forced to bring in more teachers to meet their promise of a lesson at any time.

Now on to bad luck. Around this time a Nova teacher was murdered by a Japanese national. Her body was found in a bathtub full of sand while her killer waltzed past the local police in his bare feet. The details were unclear as to how the killer and the girl were connected but Nova's name came up again and the press was still negative. To this day the killer is loose, though the police claim to be working very hard to catch him.

So at this time people thought the company would go under that very moment. Subconsciously I had a small fear. It manifested in the form of a dream involving me at work and having the building topple. Hindsight is 20-20 they say. I stayed because I thought that management would have started a recovery plan to drag us out of the mud as most companies would.

The next omen was a delay in pay for half the company. The official word was that it was a bank error. Apparently a person in payroll left or was let go after this incident. The next delay in pay was not a bank error. The staff, which doesn't include the instructors, didn't get paid and their bonuses were nowhere in sight. Keep in mind bonuses in Japan are not the same as they are elsewhere. They are somewhat expected here.

At this point fears became apparent throughout the company at different levels, but the lack of transparency in the company kept most from jumping ship. The smart ones obviously left before or at this time. The fact the company was still importing new instructors gave most hope that the company was still stable. At this time no-one had translated the results of the investigation so no-one knew it was because the company was forced to do so.

On the fifteenth of September, all of the Titled Instructors company wide were told, when they came into work, that they would not get paid that day. Regular instructors in many areas got paid on time but not all. We all got a letter that stated we would be paid on the following Tuesday, then another letter on Tuesday that said we would be paid on Friday, then another that said the following Tuesday. It has been 12 days since I was to be paid and I still have nothing.

These facts can be found all over the internet in various forums and websites. Tomorrow I have to take part in the initial training for some new instructors. I'll try my hardest not to say, "Welcome to the hand-basket."

Hey, no-one is perfect.