Large storefront with beautiful décor

I had read many people’s reviews before and thought they were talking about an office, so it probably couldn’t be that exaggerated. It wasn’t until I actually joined that I truly regretted choosing this job in the first place......

1. During the HR interview—I agree with the concept of division of labor, but having a secretary and a product department team leader conduct the interview, they described the company’s situation and the job responsibilities fairly clearly and understandably. However, when I asked about salary and benefits, HR simply said, “We have a confidential salary system; HR will discuss it with you separately.” Even up until I resigned, I still didn’t know what my base salary actually was. After asking internal employees, I discovered that HR had quoted every person the same figure. Confidential salary?! What a load of bull.

2. Family business—Perhaps most people don’t know much about Ma Yushan. It just feels like a large company that suddenly sprouted up out of nowhere by the roadside. The chairman is an elderly man, his son is the director (similar to the brand’s CEO), and his son’s wife is the curator (the person in charge of the tourist factory). These three people seriously affect the entire company team’s day-to-day operations. Above the rank-and-file employees, there are also many management positions that are effectively nominal. What you do may be considered right, but the three of them will each have different understandings and explanations..... Well, the one who pays is the boss, right?

3. Office cliques—Anyone who reads the other articles will know that Ma Yushan’s office infighting and clique culture are quite serious. At first, I thought this was limited to the office and shouldn’t affect the product department. But what happened? The product department itself had no fewer cliques than the office, and even the kitchen chefs were divided into two groups. Come on, there were only three chefs, and they still managed to form cliques. I don’t know whether cliques are good or bad. After all, if everyone normally gets along well, cooperates at work, and a few people happen to be closer, then having a small group is no big deal. But that wasn’t the case here. Even though everyone worked together, they wouldn’t tell the person concerned about any problems. Supervisors led the exclusion of certain people; at work, they said nothing, but in private they were very happy to curse and complain.

4. Training—I don’t know whether the training in other departments of this company is good or bad. At least I know that the restaurant’s training was basically equivalent to no training at all. I can understand that there were many customers and a heavy workload, and I can also understand that a lack of staff on site made training impossible. But is it acceptable to teach people nothing during normal times and simply leave them aside? After asking, there were countless different versions of the SOP—is that acceptable either? New employees were left on the floor and taught nothing during normal operations, while at closing they picked the easiest tasks to do—is that acceptable? The most ridiculous part was that when problems arose, the more experienced employees didn’t step forward to solve them. Instead, they hurried to complain on LINE and in their cliques first. No wonder people came and went and never stayed long.

5. What happened to the promised 5S?—Ma Yushan is a certified tourist factory, and quality control and occupational safety constantly emphasize hygiene, safety, and the quality of food production, among other things. But what about the product department?! After taking customers’ orders and handling money, staff didn’t even wash their hands, nor did they wear gloves, before directly touching partially prepared ingredients. When clearing returned dishes, they used the scraper for making desserts to scrape off food waste, then after washing the scraper, they directly used it to scrape partially prepared food products. Most outrageous of all was the waffle maker. Its interior should have been the grayish-white color of new Teflon coating, but by then the entire interior had already turned black, covered with burnt-on butter. Needless to say, there were other hygiene-management problems as well. What response did we get after reporting them? The on-site supervisor remained unmoved, while occupational safety only issued fines. Naturally, gaps appeared in the training of new employees. When we actually asked whether gloves were required, they guiltily replied: “Actually, we’re supposed to wear them, but everyone takes shortcuts because we’re too busy.”

There were many other problems, but the fundamental issue with this company is that when those at the top set a bad example, those below follow suit. Perhaps the factory upstairs at Ma Yushan strictly oversees food safety, but what about the other departments?? If a company cannot lead both its people and their hearts, nor sincerely educate its employees, and everyone is constantly wary and suspicious of one another, what is good about such a company? Please think carefully before joining!