Of Indomaret Banyumas and Rumah Bahasa
Over the past few weeks there have been occasional news reports about a clash between Indomaret (a local chain of mini-mart) and the administration of Banyumas, a regency in Central Java. While the fate of 19 condemned Indomaret stores in Banyumas might not appear to be of great interest in and of itself, the case…
TBI Age Discrimination: The Final Wrap
One of the issues we have raised in recent weeks is the rampant age discrimination which is evident in TBI job ads, and even on the TBI website itself. Worryingly, their very own website stated that they were only interested in interviewing managers who were 35 years or younger. When it comes to service staff,…
TBI’s Word of the Day: Deceive
Doin’ the TBI Age Limit Backflip
There’s a new dance craze sweeping the TEFL world of Jakarta: it’s known by some as the TBI Flip Flop; others prefer to call it the TBI Knee-Jerk Reaction; but here on this blog, we call it the TBI Backflip, because every time someone points out how immoral, greedy and unprincipled they are on a…
TBI’s Latest Stunning Backdown
Never let it be said that TBI has any deeply-held values. Yes, they are incredibly greedy (in a short-term way) but that is surely a vice, not a value. There are no moral beliefs that I can see that have ever trumped short-term expediencies or the lure of an easy dollar. Respect for their customers?…
TBI Fails the Quality Circle
I was teaching Business English the other day to a Pre-Intermediate class and I came across a reading passage on ‘The Quality Circle’. This is a common term which is thrown around in business books these days and no doubt it is already last decade’s news on the corporate training circuit. But like most of…
TBI’s Latest Age Discrimination Outrage
Another week, another case of rampant age discrimination at TBI: the so-called British Institute, which is really about as British as a plateful of oily nasi goreng from a Jakarta street stall. We recently reported, based on a series of online job ads, that TBI is no longer accepting managers who aren’t youthful. The maximum…
Frendy Horas Unmasked
In 2013 we broke the story of a scandalous new school chain in Jakarta: Rumah Bahasa, The House of Language. We had received a tip off about lies and scams at Rumah Bahasa from a teacher who had gone for an interview and then an information session. He had painted a portrait of utter dysfunction:…
How TBI Bought Positive Comment from Its Customers
When this blog started in 2012, TBI was caught completely by surprise. After years of covering up abuses at TBI Bekasi, not to mention the embezzlement of over Rp2 billion at TBI Dago when Luke Preece was manager there, the TBI authorities had a lot of practice at keeping the lid on their dirty secrets. They…
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