台灣中油股份有限公司

A semi-government organization with fairly good benefits and stable income

I joined as an administrator through the joint recruitment examination for the state-owned “oil, electricity, sugar, water, and gas” enterprises.

Because the acceptance rate was low, I originally expected my colleagues to be quite capable, but that turned out not to be the case. Some people came in who left me utterly speechless.

For example, a junior colleague in my unit sometimes makes me wonder: with this person’s intelligence, how did they really pass the exam? But because they work conscientiously, I can still accept them.

There are also some people whose intelligence may be lacking, but that would be one thing— their character is seriously problematic as well. One of them actually asked a supplier over the phone whether there were any benefits they could give her. Otherwise, she would open Excel at work and click around with the mouse to pretend to be busy; or, when she failed to do something properly, she would blame someone else, saying that her workload was huge while everyone else had it easy (when she was clearly the one with the lightest workload); or she would stuff her own promotion presentation with exaggerated claims and take credit for other people’s achievements as her own. Fortunately, she works in another unit. When I heard these things from my colleagues, I simply couldn’t believe it.

There are also people who are clearly very incompetent but put on an act as though they are highly capable. What’s funny is that their managers indulge them. I once had the chance to work with one of them and was practically driven crazy. I had already explained to him how to configure the Web Service, but he told his managers that I had not taught him and that the configuration was wrong and could not be completed. Later, his managers summoned me to demand an explanation, so I configured it in just a few steps right in front of both of them. That gentleman sat far away as if it had nothing to do with him. All I could do was laugh bitterly.

So, to be frank, I really feel that many people there got in through connections and nepotism: if you have connections, nothing is a problem; if you don’t, connections become a problem.

The “officials” there also fit the saying that the higher someone’s position, the greater they think their knowledge is. Every day, they recklessly spend the company’s money based on their fanciful ideas. At one point, an official said they wanted to step up the construction of hydrogen refueling stations. I thought: Have you calculated the vehicle-conversion cost of using hydrogen? Have you calculated the time cost of how slowly hydrogen refueling works? Gas stations are already considered undesirable facilities because they could cause fires. Do you really think the public wouldn’t worry that hydrogen stations might explode?

They also wanted to follow the trend and create some kind of “Lai Su Coffee,” hoping to increase customer traffic at the convenience stores attached to gas stations. But the coffee was both expensive and served in tiny cups, and it wasn’t even particularly good. The key point is, I’m here to refuel. My car might be parked at the pump, so am I supposed to get out, specially go into the store to buy coffee, and browse around for a while? Then are the cars behind me supposed to wait until I finish browsing before they can move forward to refuel? Or suppose I’m not here to refuel and only came to the gas station’s attached store because I particularly wanted Lai Su Coffee. In that case, what obvious advantage does Lai Su Coffee have over other reasonably priced coffees? Besides, gas stations aren’t usually located on nearby streets where they’re easy to reach on foot. Why wouldn’t I just buy coffee at the PX Mart near my home or at a convenience store, instead of walking a long way to buy a cup of Lai Su Coffee that doesn’t even taste better?

Sometimes, being in there really feels unreal.

But honestly, as long as you can ignore all of that, it’s actually quite enjoyable to work there.

Ming Hing Development Co., Ltd. No double pay. Staff shortages often leave customers waiting. They even held two wedding banquets at a gas station—wanted to die, yet still forced employees to work. And they used a stove; really thrilling. Applause.

Ming Hsing Development Co., Ltd. {the one with lots of tour buses}. The owner has three businesses, and the gas station is one of them. Even though it is clearly a franchise station, employees are required to say that it is company-operated. When prices go up, employees on leave have to come back and provide support for three hours. During the Lunar New Year, they wash cars but are unwilling to hire people, instead bringing in migrant workers from factories to help. They pay people NT$1,000 for working from morning until night. There are few benefits. They falsify time cards, and they also know the CEO, so they seem pretty impressive.