Bill the Cook

The second teacher that departed the school in the time that I was there was Bill from Canada. He was in his early twenties and was with us from the first of the school year which began in May 1999 until about August or so.

Bill had no teaching experience and his formal education was in the form of completing a cooking school. His prior work experience was as a cook on an oilrig where he worked something like 7 days on and then 7 days off.

Bill like many westerners came to Thailand on a short vacation and then didn’t want to leave so he sought employment teaching English. This was quite easy for Native English Speakers to do at the time. There was a huge demand for teachers and the government requirements were very relaxed. This has tightened up a good deal, but work can still be found by the under qualified.

Bill even had a little support here. He had a brother also living here who was self employed as a free lance travel writer and doing well for himself. At least as reported by Bill. The brother had a nice apartment and initially Bill visited there often. However, I believe he soon wore out that welcome as he began spending more nights in the teachers quarters that were provided to us.

Bill taught third grade and did well. He prepared his lessons, presented them well; the kids liked him and he did what was expected. Bill’s down fall was his need to visit the adult entertainment establishments on a very frequent basis, like almost nightly.

When you develop this habit, your money just doesn’t last long and at our school as in all of Thailand; payday is just once a month. At first Bill started asking for his pay at mid month and the director give in and paid him. Then Bill started asked for his pay each Friday. This went on for about a month and the director gave in each time. Then one Friday the director wasn’t at school and Bill wanted to be paid. Bill then took it upon himself to visit the director’s home and seek his pay

I don’t know what happened during this visit, but Bill showed up back at the teachers quarters ranting and raving using very colorful words to describe the director, the school and Thailand. He went to his room, packed his gear and was never seen again.

I guess he didn’t get paid and had other options. I also recall that he still owes me something like 800 baht.