Workplace reviews and discussion: 振聲鐵工所股份有限公司

None. The boss said he was in his fifties and a second-generation business owner. He talked incessantly for an hour and a half, rambling all over the place.

*The environment was dirty and disorderly, resembling an old machinery factory. They make motors.

*The boss seemed to be an older, second-generation rich heir. He claimed that when he was in college, he had to study while receiving faxes and taking orders at the same time. (Personally, I guess he came from a wealthy family in those days.)

*If a company has high revenue and is profitable, would its boss really have so much free time during work hours to spend 1.5 hours "talking nonsense" with every interviewee? When I left, there was still another woman waiting. It seemed that by the time her interview ended, it might already have been past noon and lunchtime. (What was strange was that during the interview, not a single person or phone call came looking for him.) He said exports currently account for 25%, but there are only about 10 payment collections and payments each month, and he still has to have an additional form prepared for him to review. I asked, "Couldn't the system export it directly?" He did not answer. The international sales staff also have to organize employees' fuel receipts and so on. (Strange.)

*After listening to him talk aimlessly and abruptly change topics to ramble about random things, I tentatively asked how long the previous salespeople had worked there. Besides explaining the reasons, he also went on to explain why two salespeople had resigned at the same time—it was actually because of "COVID-19."

The story was this: one had worked there for six years, while the other was still in the three-month probationary period. They both submitted their resignations together because, the previous month, an American customer who had been vaccinated came to Taiwan for a visit and both salespeople were expected to receive him. However, both refused because they were afraid of getting infected. That boss criticized the two salespeople in front of me, saying that refusing together to receive the customer was irresponsible and violated company regulations. I said, "Pneumonia is an infectious disease unlike anything humanity had experienced before, so I am not comfortable listening to you criticize them, especially since one of them is still employed here." He criticized them in front of me in a very unpleasant tone and attitude, so I decided that this company was run by a callous boss who disregarded employees' lives. I then said that if I had been vaccinated, I would be willing to receive the customer. Only then did he quiet down and continue, saying that he later received the customer himself, then went to Shengfeng to get a PCR test. He displayed the negative report for all the employees to see, and that finally brought the matter to an end.

*This is his own company. During this special period, the matter should have been discussed and communicated about, rather than sending employees who earn only a little over ten thousand dollars into battle. Of course, he should have gone himself. How could he blame the employees for refusing to cooperate and causing a senior employee and a new employee to resign together?

*From beginning to end, he kept criticizing the companies I had previously worked for, criticizing the employees he had hired, and exaggerating how capable he was. He said that young people today lack stability, so he wanted to hire older people. But then he said that once older people are over fifty, nobody wants them and they cannot find jobs. I wondered: Are you living in a bubble? Hasn't the government already passed the Employment Service Act protections for middle-aged and older workers? What you are saying is irresponsible!