Crazy working hours..

[steelersman]

It's common for Taiwanese to come in a little late due to overtime the previous day. Taiwanese often work weekends too.
Not enough holidays and time off, spot on.

The workers don't want to work late, but they have no other choice in many cases. Meetings are often scheduled at 6pm or 7pm. If you leave early you risk losing your job.
Well you say, just take the risk , but maybe they need the money and most importantly the next place of employment will likely be the same.
Shit working conditions with low pay, welcome to Taiwan.
At least in the US and Japan you have shit working conditions with high pay. Actually Japan has an average of a public holiday every month so it is significantly better.

I am not sure that the US really has high pay. Of course some jobs pay well however many people or working two or three $10 an hour jobs.

Even if someone makes twice as much in the United States as Taiwan, your expenses in the US are a lot higher. 12% federal tax compared to 5% in Taiwan. Plus state tax.

[PigBloodCake]

It's common for Taiwanese to come in a little late due to overtime the previous day. Taiwanese often work weekends too.
Not enough holidays and time off, spot on.

The workers don't want to work late, but they have no other choice in many cases. Meetings are often scheduled at 6pm or 7pm. If you leave early you risk losing your job.
Well you say, just take the risk , but maybe they need the money and most importantly the next place of employment will likely be the same.
Shit working conditions with low pay, welcome to Taiwan.
At least in the US and Japan you have shit working conditions with high pay. Actually Japan has an average of a public holiday every month so it is significantly better.

I am not sure that the US really has high pay. Of course some jobs pay well however many people or working two or three $10 an hour jobs.

Even if someone makes twice as much in the United States as Taiwan, your expenses in the US are a lot higher. 12% federal tax compared to 5% in Taiwan. Plus state tax.

Believe me, if you earn US pay in professions which offer high salary while living like a Taiwanese in US, you'll be filthy rich in years.

Here's a great gospel:

Heaven is defined as an American salary, a Chinese cook, an English house, and a Japanese wife. Hell is defined as having a Chinese salary, an English cook, a Japanese house, and an American wife.

[PigBloodCake]

Odd. At the place I visited in Taipei, I observed these working hours.

09:30-10:00 : Show up at work
10:00-11:30 : Tea / BS with co-workers / Facebook / surf the web
11:30-13:00 : Lunch
13:00-13:30 : After lunch nap /tea
13:30-19:00/20:00 : work.

So it seems like they only actually do 5.5/6.5 hours worth of real work, even though their day is 10.5 hours.

Sh*t...you've discovered me

[steelersman]

It's common for Taiwanese to come in a little late due to overtime the previous day. Taiwanese often work weekends too.
Not enough holidays and time off, spot on.

The workers don't want to work late, but they have no other choice in many cases. Meetings are often scheduled at 6pm or 7pm. If you leave early you risk losing your job.
Well you say, just take the risk , but maybe they need the money and most importantly the next place of employment will likely be the same.
Shit working conditions with low pay, welcome to Taiwan.
At least in the US and Japan you have shit working conditions with high pay. Actually Japan has an average of a public holiday every month so it is significantly better.

I am not sure that the US really has high pay. Of course some jobs pay well however many people or working two or three $10 an hour jobs.

Even if someone makes twice as much in the United States as Taiwan, your expenses in the US are a lot higher. 12% federal tax compared to 5% in Taiwan. Plus state tax.

Believe me, if you earn US pay in professions which offer high salary while living like a Taiwanese in US, you'll be filthy rich in years.

Here's a great gospel:

Heaven is defined as an American salary, a Chinese cook, an English house, and a Japanese wife. Hell is defined as having a Chinese salary, an English cook, a Japanese house, and an American wife.

How many non-Taiwanese could work as a doctor in the US and drive around a scooter? Plenty of doctors and lawyers up to their eyeballs in debt in the US.

[ferb79]

haha I guess killing time at work is common here.

When I visit my Taiwanese friends at their office, they are always "facebooking" or "youtubeing"
They take 3 hours lunch breaks: 1 hour surfing the net trying to decide what to order, 1 hour order the food or go to the nearest resturant, and 1 hour digesting the food while posting their latest meal experience on Facebook.
I guess they do like 2-3 hours of real work.
Then from 5pm - "as late as possible" pm they surf the net again.

I`m thinking it's really because the office gives them a break from their families, which can be 嘮叨 sometimes..

[Exister]

My girlfriend's office job tried to dock her paycheck 2000nt for showing up to work 3 minutes late one time. Finally one of her co-workers helped her find the company rulebook (or whatever) that showed that rule had changed the year before, now it has to be several times in the same month or something like that, so they ended up not doing it. I was so pissed that they would even try, 3 minutes late one time, not to mention she stays late every night! At least the rule being changed recently shows that her company is slowly improving, I guess. They still try to work her to death though, she just worked a full week, Mon-Sat (including some expo where she was waking up at 5:30am and getting home around 9-10pm), had to get up at 4am last Sunday to spend the week in Jakarta working 12 hours a day, she gets back this evening (Sunday), and has to go straight back to the office tomorrow morning to work another straight 6 days. Oh, and her salary is less than what I get for showing up 2 hours a day at my ARC school. Anyways, /rant over/.

[Taiwan Luthiers]

It's illegal to dock that much pay for being a little late. Many companies dock 3 days pay for not showing up to work, but the law doesn't allow for this. It doesnt mean much though because the fine is maybe 30,000nt at the very most which companies just won't feel it.

[Exister]

It's illegal to dock that much pay for being a little late. Many companies dock 3 days pay for not showing up to work, but the law doesn't allow for this. It doesnt mean much though because the fine is maybe 30,000nt at the very most which companies just won't feel it.

When she told me they were going to do that, I just felt like that couldn't even be legal. I guess they are just counting on most people to not know the laws or to not even be willing to fight back. I really hate that company she works for, but I quit complaining to her about it because it just creates an even more negative atmosphere and, for the time being, pretty much any other job she can find in Taipei is going to be just about the same. Eventually we can hopefully just do something on our own here or we'll go back to the States and do something there.

[tommy525]

They have slaves here in the USA too. People who work in retail. Having to go to work on holidays, even if thats their day off. Getting minimum wage unless they SELL LIKE HELL. I know cuz thats what I do (hate to admit it).

And then there are the investment bankers !! Met a young lady just a few years out of college. Shes getting 200k a year. But insane hours! Start work at 530am , end no earlier then 7pm . Working (voluntarily) most Sundays. Only day off is Saturday.

Id burn out !

Ex Gf worked for a bank in Taiwan. Officially she worked 9am to five pm. I say officially because that never happened in 4 years there. She did go to work on time at 9am but she regularly got home at 11pm or later.

And on weekends, what does she do? Go to the office !

And shes never tired (course shes young too).

The reason is , lets face it. Work for her is not a 4 letter word. Its not like Terry Gou's concentration camp work.

She basically hangs out with her friends. IT takes her like forever to finish one small project (ok maybe not true but seems that way to me). Work consists of chit chatting with co workers most of the day. Eating lunch together, eating dinner together and hanging out some more until 9 to 10pm.

Why else would anyone want to be there that long every day and rush to the office a few hours each saturday and a few hours each Sunday.

Actually I think thats the only time Real Work gets done. Because she spends monday to friday mostly chit chatting and falls behind on her actual work and shes does this actual work on Saturdays and Sundays so that when Monday rolls around its ready to present.

And for me too, im not really working unless a customer is actually in front of me.

So that means collectively i really only do a few hours of work a day. Most of the time chit chatting with me co workers too


But i cant leave that dungeon till the clock rolls around tho.

I gotta win the lotto !!

[steelersman]

They have slaves here in the USA too. People who work in retail. Having to go to work on holidays, even if thats their day off. Getting minimum wage unless they SELL LIKE HELL. I know cuz thats what I do (hate to admit it).

And then there are the investment bankers !! Met a young lady just a few years out of college. Shes getting 200k a year. But insane hours! Start work at 530am , end no earlier then 7pm . Working (voluntarily) most Sundays. Only day off is Saturday.

Id burn out !

Ex Gf worked for a bank in Taiwan. Officially she worked 9am to five pm. I say officially because that never happened in 4 years there. She did go to work on time at 9am but she regularly got home at 11pm or later.

And on weekends, what does she do? Go to the office !

And shes never tired (course shes young too).

The reason is , lets face it. Work for her is not a 4 letter word. Its not like Terry Gou's concentration camp work.

She basically hangs out with her friends. IT takes her like forever to finish one small project (ok maybe not true but seems that way to me). Work consists of chit chatting with co workers most of the day. Eating lunch together, eating dinner together and hanging out some more until 9 to 10pm.

Why else would anyone want to be there that long every day and rush to the office a few hours each saturday and a few hours each Sunday.

Actually I think thats the only time Real Work gets done. Because she spends monday to friday mostly chit chatting and falls behind on her actual work and shes does this actual work on Saturdays and Sundays so that when Monday rolls around its ready to present.

And for me too, im not really working unless a customer is actually in front of me.

So that means collectively i really only do a few hours of work a day. Most of the time chit chatting with me co workers too


But i cant leave that dungeon till the clock rolls around tho.

I gotta win the lotto !!

Don't a lot of US retail managers average like $5 something an hour. They get a $40,000 salary, but when you figure in how many hours they have to put in, it is below minimum wage.