博塔納設計行銷有限公司

Sometimes they order drinks to help celebrate birthdays and the like.

The design supervisor likes to dump projects they don't want to draw on employees, then make the employees rush like crazy while they sit there watching videos and scrolling on their phone, leaving work punctually when the time comes. They don't care whether employees can handle what they've thrown at them, expecting them to clean up their mess. When you report this behavior to the boss, they soothe you at first, then support the design supervisor the next day. Nearly every one of the design supervisor's images looks the same; the visual treatments for different sizes can even be applied incorrectly. Meanwhile, they do nothing every day while the employees are rushed off their feet.

The company doesn’t pay overtime, but replaces it with bonuses instead (the Labor Bureau has warned them about this before).

Know how to butter people up, and life has no worries.

There’s plenty to eat, and the coffee never runs out.

First, regarding overtime: there is no overtime pay; it is replaced with bonuses. However, the bonuses are only paid after the projects are closed. Even when you ask the company, they won’t tell you which projects the bonuses are for or how they are allocated. You might receive them once every few months—it largely depends on the company’s mood.

The company was previously warned by the Labor Bureau that replacing overtime pay with bonuses was illegal. For a while afterward, the company required employees to clock in and out falsely. If you worked past 7:30 p.m., you had to clock out first because the company was afraid of being caught and having a record of it.

During the interview, they said that if you worked overtime, you could arrive at the office later. In reality, if you arrive late, the boss will complain endlessly and criticize you in every possible way. The design department’s pseudo-supervisor will also go on and on, demanding that you apologize to everyone in the company group chat. Yet he himself can take sudden leave for all sorts of “divine” reasons (the boss usually complains behind his back whenever someone takes sudden leave), including his cat being sick, suddenly having a fever (while actually appearing at a café working on his side business), or suddenly needing to wash or repair his car. The design supervisor’s specialty is pushing things away. He refuses to handle small tasks and won’t do simple graphic work, dumping it on the graphic designers instead (whatever happened to sharing the workload and helping one another?). Then he leaves work on time—or leaves early when the boss isn’t there—leaving coworkers to stay behind and deal with the mess. After 10 p.m., you may suddenly see him post in the company group chat that he has just finished something, making it look as though he loves working overtime, when in fact he went out to eat and work on his side business, then deliberately showed the already-completed work to the boss and the boss’s wife very late at night.

P.S. Because the design supervisor is an only child, he is quite self-centered and lacks empathy. I heard from coworkers that if you sit opposite him, his legs will keep extending indefinitely under your desk. Reminding him does not help, because he thinks he is entitled to sit that way and has no intention of caring about your feelings.

Conclusion about the design supervisor: He presents one face in front of the company, constantly flatters people, and endlessly seeks validation and sympathy. To work under him, you either have to make a show of working hard and praise him, or oppose him and have him sabotage you behind your back. He privately messages the boss and the boss’s wife to complain about you in every possible way, while pretending everything is fine at work. He is a very ungenerous person. If he sees you on the street, he will pretend not to notice you unless you greet him first.

The sales supervisor considers himself to be of a different status. He once suddenly went shrimp fishing in the afternoon (I was stunned), then returned right before the end of the workday to dump tasks on you or ask about your project progress. Other times, he would suddenly go get a haircut. But if an employee wants to take annual leave and gives advance notice, he starts complaining, asking things like whether it is really necessary. The sales supervisor is on another level: he cannot use office software and cannot write proposals. At most, he is a senior clerk who knows how to bluff clients. However, because the company was jointly established by his company and the boss’s wife’s ex-boyfriend, working under him is exhausting. You have to know how to do everything he cannot, and if you do not do it well, he will complain at you.

The sales supervisor keeps an eye on the design department’s progress. His specialty is telling you that something is not urgent and that there are many days left, so you can take your time. But when you arrive at the office the next morning, he starts asking whether you have finished it yet (hello?).

The company has very little discretion, especially the sales supervisor. When someone leaves, the very next day they start gossiping about the former employee, including their private life and romantic relationships. Someone who was previously praised is immediately described with a look of disgust instead.

From time to time, the company puts on scenes worthy of a chaotic family drama, because the sales supervisor and the boss’s wife used to date and have never fully separated. All kinds of arguments can happen in a single day, from minor quarrels to major fights, slamming doors, and calling each other’s parents to cry and complain. Then they may suddenly make up, only for the boss’s wife to end up on the floor being restrained by the sales supervisor in various couple’s games (hello, I’m dying here—could you two go home and play?).

When I first interviewed, the boss’s wife said the company had very low turnover. Yet not long afterward, they dismissed one graphic designer and hired a new one. A few months later, one planner left, then another planner-sales employee left (yes, the boundaries between planning and sales at this company are very blurry), and then another planner left. I have no idea how many people left within a year.

Regarding design: Everyone, regardless of their position, can criticize your work in every possible way—whether they are a veteran employee, a newcomer, or a recent graduate. Constructive feedback is acceptable, but it is usually entirely subjective, concerning things like size, layout, color, structure, appearance, materials, and so on. At this company, everyone except the designers can be a creative director. Even people with no sense can harshly criticize the design and then produce something ugly that they are proud of. The company went years without a color chart. The boss’s wife or the sales staff would use all kinds of bizarre logic, showing you something on a phone and telling you to match the color or make it exactly the same. The pseudo-salesperson (in my eyes, he was merely a clerk) would bizarrely claim that the color numbers from the color chart provided to the printer could not be printed, forcing you to spend a great deal of time making similar colors for him to print samples and compare (hello, what are color charts for? And what kind of magical printer is this?). The company finally purchased a color chart around early 2021.

Regarding leaving the company: The company has a habit of staying in contact with people who leave amicably, hoping they can help out in emergencies. One former planner returned to the company on weekends to help and stayed up late working on proposals for an entire week, but the company paid only a few thousand dollars (the kind of few thousand dollars you would definitely not be satisfied with). They also ask graphic designers and 3D designers to finish all kinds of incomplete work, promising bonuses in return. However, the bonuses are only paid after the project is closed, and no one knows how long that will take—roughly six months, at a guess. They also refuse to say how much the bonus will be. Wasn’t everything already handed over? What was the point of the handover?

Summary: The coworkers are generally easy to get along with, but all kinds of trivial, irritating problems pop up from time to time. When you are busiest, the supervisors ignore you. When you finally finish a project and are able to breathe a sigh of relief, they pile all kinds of tasks on you, while you watch them continue to relax.

The boss’s wife is easy to talk to, and you can discuss problems with her. However, there is a sense that she plays the good cop while being very scheming behind the scenes. The sales supervisor is essentially the bad cop—a smiling, two-faced person.

There are both good and bad points. My personal experience was poor, but someone else might like it. For reference only.