八糎米文旅國際有限公司

My colleagues are very nice.

The supervisor can't do anything but wants to control everything.

We received a customer complaint, and we were still expected to absorb the refund ourselves.

Pros

1. The colleagues are all pretty nice. Coworkers help each other, and they teach things carefully. Almost everyone is very kind. The supervisor is good-tempered with employees (though outsiders might get a different impression), can tolerate others’ mistakes, and is fairly patient. The supervisor also works many more hours than we do, and respects employees’ preferences when scheduling leave. She is a good supervisor. Basically, considering her position and the things she has to manage, I feel that being a supervisor is a really shitty job.

2. You get to interact with people from different countries. When it’s busy, you can only keep things brief, but basically I like interacting with people—except those who come looking for trouble. Having to start working almost immediately after arriving was pretty intense. I had to grit my teeth and get started even though I wasn’t familiar with the whole process or the hotel’s location, which trained my ability to react on the spot.

3. You learn more things. When there aren’t many people working at the front desk, you really have to learn how to do many things at once. While checking guests in, you also have to help them with their check-in process. If there’s a language barrier, you have to use every possible method to communicate. You also have to answer their sightseeing questions, which actually helps you understand the city a little better.

This company is actually still fairly new, and I have several issues to raise.

1. The system is poor. The system is called the De’an Information System. The homepage is very intuitive, but everything else is like looking at Windows 98 today in 2018—ugly and difficult to use. Often, rooms that have already been assigned and are vacant still trigger an “overbooking” message when you try to enter the guest directly, because of numerical settings in the background of the reservation system.

2. There is insufficient staffing, but salaries have not been raised. This is a common problem in the service industry, but they are still unwilling to increase pay. The funniest part is that the salary was originally listed as NT$25,000–28,000, with NT$28,000 after the probationary period. But a few days after I started, I checked again and the salary had somehow become NT$25,000–27,000. They lower the salary even though they can’t find people. The price is still unsatisfactory and fluctuates—I’m speechless.

3. The working hours are too long. During shift handovers, the previous shift must finish balancing the accounts, complete the entries, and close out the shift before the handover can take place. When too many guests arrive, the shift often runs over, leaving the next shift with no choice but to wait or help with check-ins. The middle shift on busy Saturdays often extends until 2 or 3 a.m. You also have to clock in at 12, supposedly to avoid missing your turn. The problem is that the following two or three hours are effectively unpaid work. Is there overtime pay? I’ll update this later.

Also, 104 originally listed the morning, afternoon, and night shifts clearly as 7:00–15:00 and 15:00–23:00, and so on. Only after actually starting did they say the hours were 7:00–15:30, meaning every shift had an extra 30 minutes. You can’t even properly eat for those 30 minutes because it’s too busy. And now it’s even better: they’ve simply removed the working hours from the 104 listing.

4. The training system is incomplete. Everyone is simply too busy. Although the colleagues and supervisor are very nice and willing to teach, and there is also a “secret manual” (?), there is no proper training SOP for new employees. The training has holes here and there; some parts are good and some are not, so it’s easy not to know how to handle certain situations. The listing on 104 says the promotion system is well established, but basically it’s just a pile of crap—whoever lasts the longest gets to take the position. After all, the turnover rate is frighteningly high. Seriously, you might as well not have this kind of promotion system, although I don’t know how much more the salary is.

Now for the conclusion: Although I had heard that it usually isn’t busy, the unclear responsibilities and various inefficient ways of carrying out tasks leave a bad impression.

Although the starting salary is a tiny bit higher than that of ordinary competitors that “know how to save money” (five-star hotels), they seem quite proud of it. But in reality, it’s only NT$1,000 more.

Although the staff shortage and the fact that you face guests directly on the front line mean that you start working and receiving guests on your very first day, with someone assisting nearby, you do indeed learn a lot. At first I thought that was enough to make up for it, but recently I opened 104 and got furious. They seem to be looking for someone who can lower their quoted salary, so I’ve decided to reach a conclusion—this is a shitty job. If you want to enter the industry, it is indeed a low-barrier way in.

Although the colleagues and supervisor are kind, I feel sorry for them, but if you already have experience elsewhere, think carefully. The only thing this kind of company fears is being unable to find people, receiving complaints because the accommodation quality declines, and having all its employees leave. Otherwise, it’s simply a display of how willing people are to be exploited.