None

During the interview, they made everything sound great, saying that, compared with the treatment offered by other FamilyMart franchisees recently, theirs was the best. But once I started working there, it was completely different. First, there was the issue of insufficient staffing. Some stores are extremely busy while others are not very busy, and many employees are sent all over the place—working at one store today and another tomorrow. Some employees who do not have scooters are also assigned to these shifts. When they raise this with the boss, the answer is, “There are buses and the MRT over there,” or “Walking home is good exercise.” It is not enough to simply consider whether someone has transportation or not—commuting takes time too! Regardless of employees’ gender, shouldn’t they consider whether it is late or dangerous when we get off work? At the very least, they should care whether employees get home safely or provide transportation allowances, but there is none of that here.

Also, busy stores naturally need more staff, and the shifts are often eight straight hours of nonstop work. There is basically no time to rest or eat. Everyone has an understanding of their own tasks, so cooperation is acceptable (this applies to employees who are already familiar with the work). The boss often sends new employees who have only been on the job for less than two days and do not know anything, or employees with a poor work attitude, to provide support. First, no one has time to train them because everyone already has an overwhelming amount of work and customers are lining up. Second, having to train someone or cover for someone who does not work properly means that the other employees have to complete that person’s tasks as well. If something goes wrong, customers may end up backed up, and we still have to clean up the mess. After finishing the support shift and returning to our original store, if a problem occurs, they blame those of us who work normally, asking why we did not train the person properly or why we had such a poor attitude toward the new employee. Many people have suggested that new employees should first learn to a certain level at less busy stores before being sent to provide support, but it has been completely ignored.

Many people have strange schedules, and the schedules are frequently changed. The pay is also a major problem. They make deductions here and there, and when we receive our pay, we often have no idea why so much was deducted. Only after raising the issue do they say they misread something and will pay the difference later, or they brush it off with some excuse. There is no clear policy telling everyone how much is deducted for absences or leave; they just keep creating work regulations and deducting money for violations. They use a so-called monthly salary system, but working on national holidays does not result in the double pay that ordinary people would expect. Overtime pay is also not calculated or paid consistently. Whenever we ask about salary issues, there is always an excuse. It is genuinely common for someone to resign almost every day of the month.

Often, at some very busy stores or during very busy periods, only one employee is working. Customers keep coming, leaving no time to use the restroom or eat. If incoming goods have not been processed by the end of the shift, unfortunately, you have to stay overtime to finish them. When we ask whether additional staff can be assigned during exceptionally busy periods, the answer is that it is impossible because they also have staffing considerations. Whenever a store suddenly needs support, they often name a specific person in the group chat and tell that person to go help immediately. This work environment is really not worth it. They often make you take responsibility, and if something is not done well, they berate you. Sometimes they scold people in the group chat without even clarifying what happened. Even after discovering that they wrongly blamed an employee, they do not apologize. It is not only physically exhausting—the emotional exhaustion is even worse. There are also many other problems, both large and small.