Rip-off..

rip off (Slang)
To steal from: thieves who ripped off the unsuspecting tourist.
To steal: ripped off a leather jacket while ostensibly trying on clothes.
To exploit, swindle, cheat, or defraud: a false advertising campaign that ripped off consumers.

I've been hearing a lot over the last couple of days about the phrasal verb To Rip Off. I posted a message in support of my old friends and teachers in CCAA Planaltina and apparently it seems to have caused quite a stir. The director of the school thinks I was being a little hard on him and that firing all of his teachers and then getting his sister to tell them they will only rehire them if they take a more than fifty percent cut in their salaries isn't either cheating or exploiting them. Hmmm smells like bullshit to me! Plus the fact that they already dont get their full entitlement to benifits because the government think they are only getting paid R$3 an hour instead of the R$10 which means less INSS etc. Now they have to work for Hours and get paid just R$.88 an hour. So, tell me this isn't ripping off the teachers? Maybe as a native speaker I have a different understanding of the word that someone who is the owner of a school and is also a lawyer along with most other coordinators of his schools. Also the accountant of the school told us himself that the schools are sinking fast, looks like exploiting teachers salaries is the way they are coming up with to make even more money than they already are. Most teachers are in constant touch with me and filling me in and letting me know whats happening. Not really sure why though as I dont work there anymore, I think its because they feel so treated like shit that sharing their sadness with someone else helps them alot. And to be truthful a lot of them are extremely sad. Lets talk about a pregnant cleaner at one school who cannot get a bus home from her job at CCAA Planaltina at 10pm at night and asked if she could start and go home earlier so she didnt have to walk all the way home and was basically told forget it, if you're not happy find another job! You have to remember she lives in Jardim Roriz, one of the most violent places in Planaltina. Does this sound to you like the actions of a school that gives a fucking shit about its employees? How can someone let a person walk home at 10pm at night in a city where they will kill you stone cold dead for a pair of R$5 flip flops? Apparently one of the directors dim witted sisters (thew accountants word, not mine) was going to call me about my posting, Oh I was so fired up for that but sadly it didnt happen. I already knew what they were like after the way his sister tried to rip me off at the syndicato offices but I was already well prepared for them, taking someone with me who knew portugues and getting a tip off about what they were going to do. But hearing how they are treating people now shows me a new low they are willing to sink to. Sad in'it? Not for the school but the employees who have busted their arses and even had to pay for their own photocopies etc and then get the fucking dirt kicked in their faces when they are already laying on the shit-covered ground. Ripped off? I should fucking say so..