hallelujah not here to bore you

Bullies

This is exactly what I felt like at my awful old job. Once I have left Hiroshima for good I will talk more freely about it all (because my boss there actually threatened me, mafia style, that if I did anything bad to her "I would never work in this city again").

But this, basically, was my experience after the short honeymoon period was over and until I quit four months later. Scientology and my former boss. So much in common.

Substitute "religious bigot" with "selfish person for asking to be paid your salary and for lunch breaks" (and no, I don't mean PAID lunch break, I just mean a 30 minute unpaid break in an 8 hour stretch of lessons so I can actually eat something).

And for my reply, substitute all Tory's stuff with, "no, I just want money so I can pay my rent and don't have to leave Japan, breaks so I can eat and have more energy to teach better lessons, and I kind of thought if everyone here spoke up, things wouldn't continue they way they have till now."

Sad thing is, they did. Some very nice people are still working at that place, one of whom I know hates me even though I never meant her any harm.

The good thing is, Tory is right. There are very few bullies. My work now is full of shiny lovely people. Best policy is just to get as far away from the bullies as possible. And laugh.

I know not everyone is as obsessed with Scientology as I am but...

if you ever have a couple of hours free I recommend you listen to this interview with former Scientologist Jason Beghe. He is a hilarious guy, funny intentionally and unintentionally. He has a tendency to blow up when talking about certain ridic aspects of the place (and who can blame him) but he is so engaging and insightful that the whole interview just flies by. Hell, it's pretty static so you can just listen to it while doing something else.

Eight parts on Youtube and Vimeo, here is the first one:

The first few minutes when he explains his own deep philosophical nature are a bit much, but stick with him.

I especially like what he says in part 7 (at 4:30), which goes some way to explain what has always been a mystery to me: how do intelligent, thoughtful people not only join, but also stick with such bogus philosophies?

"How do people get involved in these destructive relationships, just between two people, you know? There's a lot of people that get knocked around and come back. And, you know, I doubt the person knocked them around on the first date."

I never thought about that before.