Sources and scope
This page collects workplace experiences, questions and discussions submitted by users. Dates shown are submission dates, not periods of employment. Individual reports do not describe the entire company.
Read the community guidelinesThe colleagues are very easy to get along with~
The colleagues are very easy to get along with~
The only advantage
The turnover rate is very high, and they think it is the employees’ fault when newcomers leave
It is very easy to get stuck in a negative thought spiral and overthink
There are surveillance cameras and audio recording, and they will listen in
They do not want you to chat during lunch breaks or when there is nothing to do, and will often come to check on you
If they do not like you, they will directly tell you not to come to work the next day
They directly speak badly about employees to newcomers, and also do so in front of employees
They often give you work right when you are about to finish for the day, as if it were expected
They frequently change their instructions from one day to the next and have no consistent policies
You are expected to perform multiple roles, and are often told to do other tasks
The salary never changes
The storefront is beautiful, and the overall environment has a strong artistic feel.
Classical music is played during work hours.
There is a 1.5-hour lunch break.
Overtime pay is provided.
There is an annual bonus.
Two days off per week.
Work starts at 9:00 a.m., with a grace period until 9:10 a.m. for clocking in without a salary deduction for lateness.
Because the company mainly makes a living by photographing fruit calendars, premium fruit is available to take home and eat after the shoots are finished.
The company also photographs promotional materials for the latest products from department stores, so you can learn about new products firsthand.
1. During the interview, I was told that the salary during the three-month probationary period would be NT$23,000 and would increase to NT$24,000 after passing the probationary period. However, it remained NT$23,000 until I left.
2. The job title “Design Assistant” means exactly what it sounds like: you do the work that the senior designer does not want to do. The boss’s wife would sit beside you, direct your work, and constantly make revisions. (A calendar project could be planned and drafted starting in January, then continuously revised countless times from when production began in August or September.) The boss’s wife would also sit beside you and repeatedly tell you, “Move this image a little to the left, a little to the right, make it a little transparent, put this in,” over and over. (Because she did not know how to use graphic design software, she treated you as her graphic design software.)
3. Employees are expected to be grateful for receiving overtime pay. The workday ended at 6:30 p.m., but overtime hours were not counted until after 7:00 p.m., at NT$100 per hour. Because overtime pay was available, you were expected to work overtime every day. (My personal record was working until 5:00 a.m. the next morning—the legendary record of my lifetime.)
4. Any decision made by the supervisor (the boss’s wife), as well as anything recorded in a meeting, was merely talk until she gave her final confirmation at the last minute. Abruptly changing decisions was common.
5. There were two days off per week, but during the busy season employees had to take turns working overtime on Saturdays. Also, because we were in the “design industry” rather than laborers, we were not allowed to take May 1 off for Labor Day, nor were we allowed to take typhoon days off. (If you took the day off yourself, you would be called back to work, without overtime pay.)
6. The company supposedly treated its employees well, so employees were expected to use their own resources to help the company. Even if you used your personal phone multiple times for company business, asking the boss’s wife for reimbursement was considered rude, inconsiderate, and stingy. She would criticize you behind your back to all the employees.
7. In summer, the company conserved electricity. No matter how unbearably hot it was, the air conditioning would not be turned on unless absolutely necessary.
8. Salaries were paid on the 5th of each month, but it was common for the boss’s wife to delay payment until the 6th depending on her mood.
9. The lunch break was 1.5 hours, but during the busy season, employees had to work during those 1.5 hours.
10. Because the format and methods changed every month and every year, being scolded by customers was common.
11. When staff were short-handed, taking on multiple roles was your obligation. My duties as a “Design Assistant” included: temporary accounting when the accountant left, design assistant, photography assistant, sales assistant, vendor outsourcing coordinator, customer service representative, administrative assistant, and tender assistant.
12. You often had to accompany the boss’s wife to submit bids or visit printing plants. Riding in her car let you experience the ultimate example of reckless driving: eating from a bowl with both hands while driving, falling asleep while waiting at a red light and being blasted with whistles by traffic police, stopping directly in the middle of an intersection, turning without making a proper 90-degree turn and cutting across the sidewalk… I experienced all of these.
13. The boss’s wife particularly loved speaking badly about current or former employees in front of the staff. The only person she had never spoken badly about developed nerve problems after I had been there for almost a year because, having been ill for a long time, they did not dare take leave to see a doctor. They had to undergo long-term steroid treatment and were unable to work normally for more than a year.
14. If she decided you were not a good fit, she might text you without warning before the end of the workday to tell you that today would be your last day.