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| “Where are you from? How long have you been here and what do you do?” AI-generated file photo |
AF Reeves – @afreeves23
I think it would be fair to say that when it comes to certain topics, I have a short fuse. I am irritable and my generally well-natured attitude disappears. It’s not that I intend to, or enjoy, debating or arguing with people, especially in public. It’s that I think, in a world which seems more bigoted with every passing minute, those of us who aren’t shy about batting back in conversation should do so. If someone is rude or speaks in a derogatory manner about others without justification, say something, if you feel comfortable, of course.
In similar fashion to my article from a few months ago, at that time in response to a digital nomad working on a tourist visa (paying no tax here, yet complaining about migrants ruining life back home), I found myself in a similarly tone-deaf exchange. The scene? A typical few beers while enjoying the football at a popular ‘expat’ spot which will remain unnamed. An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman are chatting at the bar. Unfortunately, that’s where the joke ends.
Another Englishman decides to pitch up at the bar. After joining in and exchanging a few pleasantries, the usual questions are rolled out: “Where are you from?”, “How long have you been here?”, and of course, “What do you do out here?” This is where things turn sour. Before I’d so much as caught a breath, he continued, “Oh, you’re not another one of those bloody English teachers, are you?” In that rare tone which somehow manages to pair a distinct sense of disdain with a generous helping of superiority, and more than a dash of arrogance.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I knew exactly what the inference here was. I’ve no doubt people will be quick to leap to this man’s defence and reference the various lazy, drunken, washed-up or drugged-up, downright fraudulent vagabonds that they’ve seen pass through these parts with nothing more than a Caucasian complexion and Groupon’s second cheapest TEFL certificate. That, however, is beside the point.
I responded, “No, as it happens I’m not, but what if I was? Would there be a problem?” He was another hypocrite working here on a tourist visa, ‘paying taxes back home’, with the justification that he was contributing to this economy in ways a humble ESL teacher could not. I, for one, am tired of the wayward superiority with which ‘expats’ here discuss the job that has kept most foreigners on these shores. To be clear, the expat community here has largely been built by ‘TEFL teachers’.
Some have started the businesses you love, many have started families, and most have obtained the necessary qualifications to continue their careers in accordance with government regulations. In all honesty, they don’t need my defence. If you are an investor, a diplomat, a journalist or even an international school teacher, good for you, but it does not make you better than anybody else and it’s high time a few of you realised it. Denigrating the profession of others does nothing to elevate your own.
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