Friday 8 April 2011

A Profile of 'The Timinator' of Al Ain

This story concerning 'Tiny' Tim Smith, also known as 'The Napoleon of Al Ain', or quite simply 'The Timinator', popped into my inbox just yesterday. I offer my profound thanks to the author for this stark tale of one of HCT's legendary leeches.

Many years ago Timmy was at Academic Services pretending to be productive. He interviewed prospective employees along with two other mid level managers. If you were North American, he automatically blackballed you.

This dislike for western hemisphere teachers became blatantly obvious when he conducted a Delta course. At the first session he said ”I see some Americans here. Well, you may as well leave now, because everyone knows that Americans can’t write." The non-Americans were a little put off with this comment. At this point most North Americans left on the spot, and within weeks the rest were gone. He failed them on their initial writing assignments, so they saw the “writing” on the wall and the rest is history.

In fact, Timmy was so lazy he didn’t want to prepare any lessons, so he assigned a student each week to prepare and present a topic. After a few weeks, Timmy didn’t bother to attend, even though he was being paid to do so. The final nail in the coffin was when they had the final exam. He was the invigilator, and he fell asleep during the exam. Needless to say, there was a bit of “helping” going on among the candidates. (Shades of “Teacher, he my friend, I must to help him” here).

When the Sharjah campus opened, the college was desperate to attract teachers from around the system. Few volunteered. However, one much-loved North American gentleman did, and that was his downfall. Timmy trumped up some charges and sacked him. This gentleman had been with the HCT for several years and had an exemplary record of outstanding performance, and all his colleagues knew it was a hatchet job.

To everyone’s surprise, a replacement teacher showed up the next day. The replacement was an old friend of Timmy’s from his days in Kuwait. What a coincidence!

Now Timmy is acting director in Al Ain. How nice! When you go to dinner at the Intercontinental Hotel in Al Ain, and you order a rack of pork short ribs, don’t be surprised if pig-faced Timmy Smith shows up.

Timmy is an example of what many long-term Hong Kong residents call “FILTH” - “Failed In London, Try Hong-kong”. Except, of course, it’s easier to fool them in the UAE than in Hong Kong. But Timmy is not fooling anyone. Except himself.

Note to Timmy: “Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small.”