When I am just about to lose all faith...I get promoted!

Over the past several months I have slowly been loosing confidence in the company I work for. I know it is sad to have little faith in the company, but after having my pay cut(for doing my job well), constant schedule changes, lack of proper communication, and not being able to get a straight answer to even the most basic questions it is hard to sing the company praises. So, you can imagine my surprise when I was recently offered a promotion.

I accepted the position of Instructor Leader. It is kind of like a head master position. Apart from my duties of teaching students, I will also be teaching other teachers, conducting workshops, handling some paper work, and keeping overall company spirit on the up and up. I will be getting a little pay raise but the promotion is more of an opportunity for future advancement in my career. The last time I got a promotion was back in the states. I was given the title of `Team Leader.` It consisted of doing a hell of a lot of paper work, record keeping, and trying to keep my fellow workers in line while assisting customers in understanding the meaning of the word NO. You can imagine, due to my southern sensibilities, the humor involved as I balanced a spread sheet while having it out with a customer, at the same time, answering questions from employees.

This time around the situation is very different. Unlike many American companies, I have found that in a Japanese company people actually care about what they are doing; and make more of an effort to do a good job. I am actually excited about this little promotion I have been given. I must have impressed someone at the top. All I really did was do my job to the best of my ability, hide my unhappiness with some of the decisions made by the brass, keep an up-beat attitude at work, and stayed cool with management. From what I have noticed not many people have been all that nice to management. It seems that the brass are always very surprised that I am nice to them, and even have a beer with them from time to time. The reason I have been nice to them is that I understand they are in a hard position. They are trying really hard to keep the company afloat when almost everyone said it was a lost cause. They are having to make some really tough decisions. I remember the first time I agreed to have a drink with management. We ended up drinking on the street. One of them said to me, `Ryan you are the first teacher to agree to drink with us. We will remember this as it means a lot.` Apparently it did mean a lot as I now find myself moving up the chain a little bit.

I am a little surprised that I have gotten promoted so fast. I have not been working for this company for even a year yet! Although, considering the company is operating a brand name it has never attempted to operate before, my promotion is most likely one of the first to be handed out to teachers. I do worry a little about the jealously factor. A lot of teachers are having a hard time and here I am getting a little promotion. I will have to be careful not to feed any jealous feeling from other teachers. It will be important for me to develop a good working relationship with most of the other teachers. As it stands now I work on my own, kind of like a lone gunmen. At the two schools I work, I am the only teacher.

So, for now I will put off my plans to change jobs. Hell, I got the positive attention of the brass so I might as well stay for a while to see how things play out. Considering that many people are losing their jobs and ending up homeless, I should be happy that I am in a decent position; with respect to my career. The future is still a little uncertain, but for now, things are starting to look a little brighter.