Workplace reviews and discussion: 三友圖書有限公司

The environment looks beautiful, and there is a small photography studio. During your first week, everything will feel wonderful. If you work quickly and efficiently, the editor-in-chief will spare no effort to praise you in front of everyone.

It is a responsibility-based system, and many colleagues end up working until eleven at night. Although I arranged my schedule so that I basically left at eight, when I ran into obstacles, I also ended up working until ten (the scheduled end time is 6:30 p.m.). You also have to clean every day. Even though you already arrive early and leave late, they still insist that you clean thoroughly.

As for editing, you will learn that Google is extremely useful, learn how to use Word, and even discover that your ability to organize information has improved! Since the authors merely throw you a name and a table of contents, Google tells you everything about the content, and at most the author will provide a few photos of their handicrafts and then leave everything else to you. So you have to know how to control your temper and soothe the authors. It is not a matter of discussing things with them; you have to speak gently and kindly, like you are talking to children, telling them what photos you need and pleading with them to let you take the pictures: “Please don’t be angry, okay, good~” Then there are the messy documents created by the tight deadlines, which you also have to spend your own overtime organizing and consolidating.

As for the environment, the small photography studio really is very small. They will not let you use it or learn from it, and it is also somewhat messy. Since there are few people, each person is responsible for a large area to sweep, and you have to sweep every day. You may start out leaving at six but end up leaving at seven, while still having to finish your work. There is also no toilet paper in the restroom, and you have to bring your own paper and pens.

As for the colleagues, you are enveloped in a cold, stifling atmosphere all day. Authors occasionally visit, but they are very high-handed, while the managing editor and editor-in-chief are also so obsequious that there is no sense of anyone being on equal footing—you will feel even more inferior. If you do well, the editor-in-chief praises you; if you do poorly, the editor-in-chief gives you a dirty look. The managing editor will tell you not to talk to your colleagues, not to discuss salaries, and not to ask about one another’s family backgrounds.

As for a sense of achievement—or rather, my state of mind—this was also an important reason I resigned. The books we produced were essentially large reports compiled through Google, and we were not allowed to write in much depth. The books were not really your own creations; they were merely simple dictionaries published under the name of a useless author.