溫野菜實業有限公司

There is indeed a free employee meal (though you have to write down how much you took; EX: cabbage is limited to 200 g).

The following account is all based on my experience at the Taichung Shinkong Mitsukoshi Station Front branch. Friends who are considering working there, please think carefully.

1. You really do clock in with a “dummy punch.” It was only my second day on the job, and even though we were still in the closing process, I was asked to clock out early. I’m not sure whether this was because it was a national holiday, but I ended up losing half an hour on my second day. Then, on a certain day the following week, I was scheduled to start at 7:00 a.m. When I arrived, the acting store manager had me wait in the office. I didn’t start work until 9:00, wasting a full two hours in the office. Then, during closing, a full-time employee again asked me to clock out early, costing me at least another half hour. After only three days, I was shorted an hour and had also wasted two hours sitting in the office.

2. The acting store manager position is filled by a part-time employee. It is described nicely as “training,” but the acting store manager only earns a few hundred dollars more per day. If I remember correctly, the acting store manager changes every day. From the time I started working until I resigned, I never actually saw the store manager at the store.

3. You are only notified half an hour before your shift that business is slow that day, so you do not need to go in so early or can take the day off. Sometimes, when you are almost at the store, you receive a message saying that you might not need to work that day or that your shift will start later. Running back and forth is truly exhausting.

4. The staffing for weekday evening shifts is genuinely insufficient. Sometimes only four people close the store—one outside and three inside. There are nearly 30 tables in total, and one person alone cannot clear the inside quickly. Going back to the first point, how can they still require you to clock out early?

5. Even when the store is already in the closing stage, full-time employees still require you to respond using Japanese service phrases. If you do not use the required phrases, you have to copy them as punishment. (As an aside, you also have to copy them if you fail an exam. I think having an exam is normal, but requiring people to copy phrases when they fail is, in my personal opinion, excessive. I came to work, not to attend classes and turn in assignments.)

There are free employee meals (but you have to cook them yourself, and before cooking, you also have to weigh and register how much of each ingredient you cooked).

⚠️ I worked at the Taichung Showtimes store, so I’m not sure whether the following drawbacks also apply to other branches!

1. Employees are required to clock out falsely, then continue working after clocking out, often working 10–14 hours per shift.

2. New employees are also required to share the store manager’s workload, euphemistically called “training.”

3. They often tell you only half an hour before your shift that business is slow and you should take the day off; sometimes they do not tell you until 10 minutes before your shift, which is very … for employees who do not live near the company.

4. On weekdays, there are only 1.5 staff members scheduled, so you have to run between the front and back of house.