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If I had to say something, the boss replies quickly??
1 Extremely disrespectful toward applicants. The time and place had already been arranged, and I had already arrived at the site, yet they simply told me to go home and come back another day.
2 Their statements kept changing, and they repeatedly went back on their word.
3 Poor internal communication within the company.
4 The employees were extremely immature, and working with them would prevent personal growth.
First point – Disrespectful toward people
The boss and I had discussed and agreed on the time and place of the interview, as well as the fact that the interview would be conducted by Xiaohan. I arrived early that day and sent the boss a text message to let her know. I then asked the receptionist to notify the interview supervisor. Since many people were coming and going to handle inventory, the receptionist told me to wait outside in the hallway. There was no air conditioning and it was very stuffy.... Usually, applicants wait in a conference room, but here they told me to go outside.
I started waiting at 55 minutes past the hour. During that time, I saw the interview supervisor, Xiaohan, walk past from the front while hauling goods. (How did I know she was Xiaohan? Because someone behind her happened to call her that.) She was a short, fairly stocky young woman, probably because she often hauled goods. She gave off a rather tough impression.
I also found it strange that after I had already been waiting for 10 minutes, Xiaohan walked out of the office and passed directly in front of me, glancing sideways at me. It felt like she was sizing me up, but she showed no intention of conducting the interview at all??
After I had been waiting for 15 minutes, a man walked out of the office. He said:
He: Are you here to interview for XX?
Me: Yes.
He: The boss isn't here, and the supervisor is busy, so please come back tomorrow for the interview.
Me: Huh? What did you say?
He: We need to ask you to come back for the interview tomorrow.
Me: Why...? Wait, I confirmed with the boss that Xiaohan would be conducting the interview today. What about her?
He: She has something else to take care of, so she can't conduct the interview.
Me: So it will be tomorrow.... What time tomorrow? And who will be interviewing me?
He: At 2 p.m. tomorrow, with the boss.
Me: Two o'clock... Let me check. (Takes out my calendar.)
Me: Two o'clock won't work because I already have something scheduled tomorrow. What about the morning?
He: The boss sleeps all morning, so that won't work.
Me: The boss sleeps all morning.... Then what about 3 p.m.?
He: Three o'clock works.
Me: If it's at three, I'll ask the person I had originally made plans with.... It is definitely at three with the boss, right?
He: Yes.
Me: Okay, I understand. (Leaves.)
So I made the trip to the site, was first sent outside, waited for 15 minutes, and was then told to go straight home. This is the way Ruìqí Pet Boutique Co., Ltd. (Wangcheng Pet Boutique) does business.
Second and third points – Repeatedly changing their story and going back on their word / Poor internal communication within the company
But that wasn't the end of it. After leaving the company, I immediately messaged the boss.
Me: It seems that an interview isn't convenient right now. Let's reschedule.
(I worded it somewhat tactfully at first because I wasn't sure whether the employee was causing trouble.)
Her: Sorry, our supervisor can directly conduct the interview, that's OK.
(You said it was OK, but the people on site said it wasn't. Does that mean the people on site make decisions on their own?)
Me: Someone just asked me to leave. I've already left...
(I was telling the truth; I sent the message after leaving.)
Her: Sorry, I forgot. Sorry~~ I'll personally conduct the interview tomorrow.
(So what exactly is going on?)
(If the boss hadn't told Xiaohan, that would indicate extremely poor internal communication.)
(If the boss had told Xiaohan, that would mean the employee knew about it but deliberately caused trouble.)
Me: That's great, but I already have plans tomorrow and can only spare two hours to meet with you. I'm afraid I won't have enough time to get to your company. If you agree, we can meet somewhere else.
(That way, each of us makes one trip, which is fair, and I can also see whether you are sincere.)
Her: Yes.
(Oh, she agreed!?)
Her: I'm taking an afternoon flight tomorrow.
(You just agreed to an interview tomorrow, and your employee also said that 3 p.m. tomorrow with the boss was okay. Now you're suddenly saying you have to take an afternoon flight. Those times completely conflict. Do you realize how unreasonable this explanation is and how much it contradicts what you just said?)
Her: Or should we reschedule for another day?
Me: Okay.
Her: Good.
Her: I'll be back in Taiwan next Monday.
In conclusion, this is a very strange company.
Everything had already been arranged and confirmed, yet when I arrived, they said the person wasn't there and was busy.... When I reported to the boss that her employee said the interview couldn't take place, she said it could.... At first, they straightforwardly said an interview the next day was possible, and then in the very next message said they had to fly abroad....
Even if the afternoon flight were at 5 p.m. at the latest, you would still need to arrive at the airport two hours early. Therefore, neither the boss's claim that she would personally conduct the interview the next day nor the employee's claim that the boss would interview me at 3 p.m. the next day could be true. If the flight was real, doesn't that mean the employee and the boss had both lied earlier? And vice versa.
Now let's discuss the poor communication.
The time and place had been arranged a full week before the interview, leaving four whole days to coordinate internally. During that time, they could have notified Xiaohan, confirmed whether there were any important matters that day, set aside the necessary time, or even rescheduled after discovering a conflict the day before. There was more than enough time, yet I still ended up being told to go home after arriving at the site....
Moreover, that day the employee first said the interview could not take place. I messaged the boss, and the boss said it could. At first, she did not mention, as the employee had, that the interview the next day would be conducted by the boss.
I strongly suspect that the employee made a commitment without confirming it. But think about it: even though the boss supposedly had a flight the next day and could not conduct the interview (let's assume the flight was real), she initially stated with certainty that it was possible.... This indicates that there was no internal communication and that everyone was saying something different. I advise anyone planning to interview with this company to be very careful and not let themselves be played.
Fourth point – Immature employees
The environment is important; as the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. That day, the employee who told me the interview could not take place said something that shocked me: “The boss sleeps all morning.” When I heard that, I was so shocked I almost took three steps backward and shouted. You may think this was simply a normal statement of fact, but you may not realize that saying this damages the boss's image. Most Chinese people are relatively traditional, and many tend to value getting up early; sleeping late can, to some extent, represent laziness. Moreover, regardless of what the boss does in the morning, whether for business or personal reasons, there was no need to tell an outsider. Yet she said it so casually.
They don't even know the basics of what can and cannot be said. This indicates that the employees at this company don't even understand basic etiquette and are extremely immature. Several things can be predicted:
1 is that there is no good management or guidance from supervisors.
2 is that this level of behavior and culture indicates that the overall standard of the people there is unlikely to be very high. Staying in this environment might feel comfortable at first (because you don't have to learn workplace etiquette and ethics), but it will become very bad later, and it could seriously harm your future development. You really need to consider it carefully.
There has been no news at all up to today. To prevent anyone else from encountering the same situation when interviewing with this company, I'm sharing this experience. I hope everyone thinks carefully before going to an interview. If things are already like this before the interview, then nothing that happens after joining would be surprising....
There was also another interview victim who was even more unfortunate than I was. They had already confirmed their start date and resigned from their previous company, but this company turned around and refused to honor its agreement.... (Link: https://disp.cc/b/510-9iHi )
※ To protect the people involved, names have been altered or replaced with pseudonyms.