There are none… really none

Interview experience:

During the final interview, you have to keep asking questions yourself to learn more details, such as the salary and bonus system, job responsibilities, and regulations. Management will not explain these proactively. Even after listening to the interviewer, things are still unclear, and there is no document or form for you to review.

HR said they would notify me of the result after completing the review and contacting my previous company for a background check. However, because they could not reach my former supervisor (I later learned that the supervisor was on leave at the time), and it was already the end of the month, HR emailed me to say that I had been hired and asked whether I could start work directly at the beginning of the following month—just a few days later. Maybe they were really short-staffed?

Work experience:

1. Frequently working overtime and leaving late without overtime pay.

Example 1: Closing out the register and preparing reports after closing. This time is not included in working hours or salary calculations.

(The POS system is terrible—slow and frequently crashes—making it very time-consuming and troublesome to close out and prepare reports.)

Example 2: Even when a customer enters at the last minute and serving them causes you to leave late, it is still not counted as overtime.

Example 3: Setting up new displays or rearranging the counters after closing is also not counted as overtime.

Only very rare situations count as overtime, such as the annual inventory count. Overtime must be reported by the store manager and approved by a supervisor, and is mainly compensated with compensatory leave.

2. Surveillance

The company's HR department and some supervisors have permission to view the surveillance cameras and conduct random checks at any time. If they happen to see, “at that moment,” that an employee is not constantly standing beside a customer introducing products, is using a phone (regardless of whether for work or personal use), taking a short break in the back room, helping another coworker, and so on, they will call or email to ask what you are doing and why you are not beside the customer.

Even when there is a pile of unfinished work, you still have to spend time finding evidence and explaining and proving to upper management that you served customers, were not slacking off, and were handling official work.

Who wants to have a service employee constantly following them around while shopping? Being monitored long-term really has a huge impact on employees' mental well-being.

3. Sales targets

Sales targets include new phones, used phones, original and third-party accessories, mobile phone/tablet insurance, and repairs. When supervisors visit the store or see the reports, they ask why sales have declined this week, why they have declined this month, why something has not sold, and so on… Sometimes they require you to write an email or an improvement-plan report.

When you meet the target this month, they usually raise it the following month. Meanwhile, other businesses offer promotional discounts and anniversary sales, but this company does not offer any price discounts; it only blames employees for not being able to sell, causing sales to decline. Do they think consumers are stupid and will not compare prices? Do senior managers act as if a new phone is launched every month and every month is Chinese New Year?

4. Never-ending new work

Besides sales and repairs, the workload continues to increase. You are also expected to handle general affairs, paint over dirt and stains in the store, ask customers to leave reviews to boost the Google rating, manage the Facebook fan page, and so on.

The Google rating is especially frustrating. The poor results left behind by former employees and the company have to be improved by those who come after them, which would be bad enough, but if the rating does not rise every week, they still keep complaining. What exactly is in the supervisors' heads? They seem to think everything is very simple…

5. Employee rights and safety

After COVID-19 began causing large-scale local outbreaks in Taiwan, this company's epidemic-prevention policies were always several steps behind. The contact-tracing registration system was implemented several days later than at other businesses, and the company did not proactively provide employees with more protective equipment, such as goggles or face shields. It was only much later that protective partitions, like those in food courts, were installed at the counters.

While other nearby businesses—whether large groups, chain stores, small independent shops, or street vendors—had already adjusted in response to the pandemic, this company made no adjustments to staffing, shift patterns, or business hours. Frontline store employees were left working as usual under high-risk conditions, physically and mentally exhausted. Meanwhile, people at headquarters working in offices had already been assigned to work in shifts…

Summary:

Unless you have too much free time and want to come here to cultivate your patience or be treated as disposable, do not come here to wear down your enthusiasm for no reason!

When you raise problems to management at this company, they usually will not be resolved. Even when improvements are made, they are only the tip of the iceberg.

When you discuss matters with supervisors, they will only ask you to consider the company's position and style from a different perspective. Who will consider the position of frontline store employees? If I were to look at everything from the perspective of those above me, I might as well become a supervisor! They simply do not value employees and do not know how to cooperate with one another…