Upon arrival, you will first be given a form (one full A4 page) to fill out with your résumé, strengths and weaknesses, and work achievements.

After you finish filling it out, the interviewer will ask you to take Chinese and English typing tests, which will be scored.

The interview content is more or less based on what you wrote on the form.

The address is on Zhongzheng Road in Zhonghe District, New Taipei City.

Working hours: 9:30–18:30, with a one-hour break in between.

Working on holidays only earns you compensatory leave; it is unpaid.

Overtime on regular workdays is treated as a duty-based system, with no overtime pay.

Salary: The salary agreed upon in the initial interview was said to be NT$33,000, but it is actually NT$32,000 + NT$1,000 (perfect-attendance bonus).

Not counting lateness, NT$1,000 will be deducted from your salary for any leave you take.

This includes any kind of leave, including government-designated leave, annual leave, and so on.

When asked about the reason for hiring, they let slip that turnover is high, so they need to recruit people.

I was only there briefly for a few days; the following was pieced together from employees who had been there longer.

Gudi = Four Paws = United Partners = Jichong = Peak Pets

All of the above have the same owner. The companies’ related information is fascinating to cross-check.

The work environment is very quiet. Usually, the only sounds are keyboards and telephones. Employees are prohibited from talking because the owner will supposedly get angry.

To be honest, the atmosphere is about the same as the hospice ward where my grandfather spent his final days—and that is already a beautified version of the description.

The hospice ward was actually less oppressive.

Most work-related communication is done by telephone or via Skype.

The workload is very heavy, benefits and compensation are poor, staff are difficult to retain, and turnover is high. It is standard for one person to be used as three.

So ask for a high starting salary; by all means, don’t be shy.

The owner is unwilling to give New Year’s work-start red envelopes; the prizes at the spring banquet are poor, and the bonuses are miserly.

Three batches of HR staff have been driven away. After asking around, I learned that they do not intend to provide employees with particularly good benefits or compensation. The owner has even said things like, “With money, who can’t you hire?”

The KPI bonus system is a scam. Departments have points deducted in strange ways, so they cannot receive bonuses, and the final amounts are disproportionate.

There is no year-end bonus. I heard that the one-month year-end bonus is spread across 12 months and paid out quarterly.

The KPI bonuses for January, February, and March cannot be received until June, and so on.

If you resign early, you receive nothing, because KPI evaluations are conducted; even if you work for a full year, the amount actually received will not even equal one month’s salary.

There is no standard for the deduction system used in performance evaluations; it all depends on the owner’s sisters’ moods.

There is no “actual” holiday gift money for the three major festivals. It is converted into an employee-purchase credit and deducted accordingly; if you do not make an employee purchase, you receive no gift money either.

Employees are pressured to attend pet expos on holidays, and are given only compensatory leave.

At pet expos, regardless of your position, you are required to be there as a salesperson.

They say you can claim overtime pay, but in reality it requires “approval from a supervisor.”

Most people work overtime every day as an obligation. I have hardly seen anyone leave on time, and no one actually dares to claim overtime pay.

It is true that you can bring pets to work, and it is also true that you can wear flip-flops to work—but it is also true that they do not mention the conditions attached.

Bringing pets to work:

You may bring them occasionally, but not every day. Before bringing one each time, you must notify your supervisor, and you may do so only after the supervisor approves.

Pets must not be noisy and need to be cared for. If either of these becomes an issue, you will be subtly discouraged from bringing them again.

The company makes it sound nice by saying pets are allowed, but in practice it hopes you will not bring them.

New employees cannot bring pets to work when they first join (there is no written rule; it is an implicit one). Ask your supervisor after about a month at the earliest.

To be honest, even if you brought one, you would not have time to take care of it anyway.