Workplace reviews and discussion: 白的確幸_重餘國際行銷股份有限公司

Let me talk about my actual work experience at this company.

Let me talk about my actual work experience at this company.

Chongyu International Marketing Co., Ltd.—at first glance, it sounds a lot like a direct-sales company and has a strong marketing-company vibe. But don't be fooled by this company's misleading name. Although its main products are medical supplies and sanitary pads, it is, in every sense, a traditional “responsibility-based” company. (So you can set aside that glamorous direct-sales-company image you had in mind.)

There were seven permanent employees at this company, including the owner and his wife.

Two new employees, including me, joined the company at around the same time. The other one was a woman. All three of us were gone within three weeks. The other woman was scared off after just her second day in the warehouse; I lasted three weeks before leaving. It may not sound like long, but I decided I would no longer let them exploit me without limits. Whether it was my physical strength, my time, or my wages, this company could exploit every one of them to the fullest.

When I applied for the sales assistant position, the job description was basically copied from the standard template on the job website (backing up orders and so on). It sounded like an indoor office job, suitable for women. Don't be naive! Did you forget the four conspicuous words I mentioned above: “traditional industry”?

From my very first day, I started working in the warehouse and assisting with shipments.

The owner’s wife, Ms. Lin, did briefly mention this verbally during the interview, but I never imagined it would become one of my basic daily duties.

Moving goods every day was not particularly exhausting, but the heaviest product was alcohol, with each box weighing 24 kilograms. If a woman had to move these every day, she would certainly find it quite strenuous—unless she was born with the strength of Wonder Woman.

So, besides being physically fit, you also have to be unafraid of all kinds of filthy dust in the warehouse and unable to have allergies. Otherwise, you will find the job extremely painful. You would need to wear a mask every day to block allergens, and there would also be a very high chance that a minor cold would become severe and difficult to recover from because of physical exhaustion, allergies, seasonal changes, and other factors. (What allergens are there? Lots of rat droppings, huge cockroach carcasses, and all kinds of indescribable dust. After all, the warehouse is just an open space.)

Think I’m exaggerating? Physically fit people are welcome to come try it for themselves—you’ll understand what I mean!

And then, as luck would have it, during my third week I ran into the period of the company’s twice-yearly Amway convention, so shipping became even busier. I worked in the warehouse from 9 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. without even being able to take a break. Meal time was only 10–15 minutes, after which I had to continue unloading goods, sealing boxes, checking shipments, and doing other work in the afternoon.

Because of my allergies, I had already caught a cold the previous week and was feeling extremely unwell. Yet we were so busy that I didn’t have time to eat until 1:30. By then I was already feeling physically ill. When the owner’s wife saw my displeased expression, she was clever enough to know that I didn’t want to continue. So at noon, she took the initiative to ask me, “Have things been okay these past few days?” All I could say was, “Please look for someone else.” She immediately agreed cheerfully, saying, “Okay, okay!”

Your ulterior motive is obvious, Mrs. Owner. You don’t want to see employees making a sour face at you. Even if they feel unwell, you expect them to let you take advantage of their break time and their after-work hours, while still smiling as they work for you—that’s the kind of employee you think is suitable for your company, right? Otherwise, you can only probe them tentatively and then get rid of them, right? No wonder you can’t find anyone! Every new hire is wiped out!

It doesn’t matter, right? You think that as long as you keep looking, you’ll find someone. When a newcomer leaves, you can simply bring in a new disposable liver, can’t you?

The youngest employee at this company had already been there for more than six months. How many newcomers had left during those six months? Only you know the answer!

Moreover, apart from the accountant and the owner couple, who sit comfortably in the office enjoying the air conditioning, there is no one over the age of 36 at this company! Pay attention to my wording: 36!

You say someone over 50? Don’t be ridiculous! That would be pure fantasy!

Oh, right—I forgot to mention that at this company, from your very first day you learn what it means to work somewhere that “absolutely will not let you sleep at noon.” Pay attention to my wording: “absolutely.” Not only is it a responsibility-based system with no overtime pay, they also exploit your lunch break. Sometimes it is even worse: at 1:10 p.m., warehouse staff may drag you back to the warehouse early to ship goods. (Because the afternoon shipments cannot be completed, you have to start work early.)

Note: The scheduled break is from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m.

So the scheduled working hours and lunch break are all meaningless here. Sleep during lunch? Don’t be ridiculous! If you work here, you will not have a single lunchtime nap—not even once. If you work here for your entire life, you will go your entire life without being able to take a midday nap.

Getting off work at 6 p.m. on time? Don’t be ridiculous! If you leave at 6:40 p.m., that is still considered early! On average, you will be kept until 7:00 or 7:30 p.m. or later.

After the owner’s wife drove me away, she paid me my wages in cash that same day. The result? She calculated my pay by dividing the monthly salary by 31 days—you read that correctly, by 31. After conversion, for moving goods by physical labor every day, she paid me only a little over NT$700 per day after labor and health insurance deductions. That was even less than a part-time worker earning the NT$133 hourly wage. She practically treated me like a dog!

I immediately told the owner’s wife, “I move goods every day, and this is not easy work. You’re giving me a little over NT$700 per day, which is less than an hourly wage. I really cannot accept this.”

Only then did she change her tune and say she was willing to negotiate. During the negotiation, she even taunted me euphemistically: “It’s a small world; everyone knows everyone,” implying that I should be careful. She even had the nerve to say, “You agreed to the salary being divided by 31 when you signed the contract upon joining.” I could only reply, “It is true that I signed the contract, but I signed it because I had no choice if I wanted the job. If the contract conflicts with the Labor Standards Act, it is invalid even if it was signed. Bringing in the company’s lawyer would not help you.”

Knowing she was in the wrong, the owner’s wife then changed her argument and sneered, “The Labor Standards Act is biased in favor of employees.” In any case, it was all a series of outrageous and unpleasant remarks. Work there for yourself and you will understand what an exploitative boss—and boss’s wife—is like.

After negotiation, my actual take-home pay was roughly half again as much as the amount provided by the exploitative contract—that is, the unconditional division by 31 for working less than a month. This was calculated using only the minimum hourly wage and did not include the overtime pay owed for each day. If all the overtime they had exploited me out of were included, the amount would have been even higher.

The cost of medicine after becoming sick from the work goes without saying. These are all hidden costs you have to pay yourself.

In short, at this company you can experience the traditional-industry practice of “using women like men and men like livestock,” as well as the bizarre culture of “no lunch break.” If you are a man who is not afraid of hard work or being pushed to your limits, you are welcome to apply! But if you are a woman who wants to sit comfortably in an office enjoying the air conditioning and does not want to handle goods and dust in a warehouse—or if you are an awakened young person who does not want to be exploited under a responsibility-based system—please thank me for writing this review for you!

The Friday of the week after I left that company, I found a job that did not require moving goods, would not exploit my overtime hours, and was entirely office-based.

The purpose of this review is to remind Taiwan’s workers that, just because the year-end is approaching and jobs are harder to find, you do not have to force yourself to settle for an especially terrible job. However, I do not encourage changing jobs constantly. Once you enter society, you still need considerable stress tolerance—but!

Please do not blindly settle for a garbage company that exploits your physical strength, wages, and working hours. The easier you are to bully, the more people will enjoy exploiting you. That is human nature.

Here is a little general knowledge: In New York City, under local law, if an employer does not pay employees overtime, it is treated as stealing the employees’ wages and can result in imprisonment and criminal liability.

Unfortunately, with the current prolonged economic downturn and political-business collusion in “Ghost Island,” it may be another 100 years before such paradise-like legislation can be adopted here.

[As an aside, after I left, this company immediately posted another listing on 104, changing the full-time sales assistant position into a half-day warehouse part-time position—the one you can now see on the job listing page. Presumably, this was done to cut costs even further.]

If you are deeply servile, an older middle-aged person who views young people 70 or 80 years from now as the “strawberry generation,” who believes that work is supposed to involve being worked to the bone and exploited, and who thinks a job without such treatment is impossible, then you can simply treat this review as a pointless pity-seeking rant and ignore it. ^^