Here we go again

I had a feeling my tattoos wouldn't go over terribly well at my new job. When I interviewed, and the first couple of days I taught, it really was cool enough to wear long sleeves. Today, however, was hot. So I figured I may as well show up in a t-shirt and bring things to a head.

My suspicions were right--no sooner had class finished (and they're going quite well now, by the way) than two of the four beautiful secretaries discreetly came into my classroom and closed the door behind them. I like how they sent two people to talk to me--like I might get violent and one of them would need to run for help.

So the bottom line is, casual clothing is just fine--as long as you have no tattoos. I had been expecting them to say exactly that, but just for fun I asked what the problem was.

"Most of our students are from Asia, and Asians are more conservative. So, it is better if you wear long sleeve."

Uh-huh. I just spent two hours in a room with five "conservative Asian" students, and their reaction was pretty much like anyone else: surprise and curiosity for approximately two to four minutes. Then they were over it, and we practiced making sentences in the past tense.

I assured both lovely ladies that I was perfectly accustomed to being discriminated against, and that when I lived in Japan I had been kicked out of many otherwise welcoming premises for the same reason.

"Oh, really? So, you understand..."

"Yes, I do. I thought maybe it would be different here since we're in America, not Asia. But I guess we're working under Asian rules."

Yeah, got a little tetchy there at the end, but hey. No point in pretending I'm thrilled.

And by the way, what does this have to do with learning English? Sweet fuck all.

In most of the classes I've peeked in on, the poor students' eyes are so glazed over I want to go check for a pulse. I could teach a completely nonsensical, disorganized, frustrating lesson, have the students stumbling out the door in tears because they're convinced that they'll never learn English, and nobody would say 'boo' to me about it.

But for God's sake don't let them see your ink! Their conservative Asian eyes might not be able to handle it. Are you kidding me? This is K-town we're talking about. The front door of our school is next to "Empire Exotics: Sexy Gifts and Lingerie", complete with blow-up dolls and dildos in the window. Directly across the street (and visible from the classroom window) is "Ricky's Cabaret" (which I hear is doing quite well now that Scores lost their liquor license), featuring posters that illustrate precisely what type of business it is, in case your English lessons haven't covered the word "cabaret" yet.

We're talking about a school where printer never has enough ink, the walls are about as soundproof as toilet stalls, and they don't give W-4 forms to their employees. Seriously, tattoos are their big concern?

OK, I'm done. I knew it was coming, and there you have it. If I saw this as anything but a temporary job, or if I really wanted to make a career out of teaching ESL, I'd probably start looking for another gig. But it's just another workaday example of bullshit rules being made and enforced for no good reason, and we tattooed freaks are certainly not the only ones to be reminded that our appearance isn't acceptable.

I've gotta be honest--I'm kind of looking forward to when it's like ninety-five degrees next month and a student asks me why I'm wearing long sleeves.