Just thought about this today while I was contemplating the purchase of a scooter.. before I accepted the “job” to move to Taiwan.. one of the motivating factors that my “owner” gave me for moving to Taiwan was that I would be a millionaire.. at the time I didn’t give it much thought.. I just figured he was trying to sneak that one by me.. but while I was thinking today.. I realized, it only takes about $30,000 USD per year to be a millionaire in Taiwan.. so the distinction of being a millionaire in Taiwan doesn’t really mean squat.. thinking back, I can’t believe he said that.. he must think I’m dumb.. oh wait, I am dumb, I gave up the comforts of the United States, Southern California and traded it for BFE Taiwan..

General | 2 Comments »

Before we came to Taiwan, we were advised of a few things:

(1) Never talk about salary with others since we were guaranteed that we make more than “they” do and talking about salary would only lead to ill feelings
(2) Do not make friends with the “locals”
(3) Never, under any circumstances, engage in discussion of local, Taiwan, politics since we are from the US and our views would never overcome those of the “locals”

But since I’m in a fairly anonymous environment (although anyone from work that visits my site will know who I am, since I’ve already stated that I’m aric), I feel empowered to discuss my views on the Taiwan military and their “role” in Taiwan’s quest for independence. First, I have to preface my comments with my observation that not all Taiwan residents wish for independence from China. I’ve been told that polls in the news say its about a 50/50 split. But, as you can imagine, the voice of the “independence seekers” is much greater than the voice of the others simply because those who wish for independence are much more adamant in their “cause”. I’ll write more on this later since I’m at work now and we’re leaving in about 30 minutes.. so onto the meat of my discussion..

The Taiwan Military.. add ‘military’ to the end of anything and it makes it sounds ‘official’ and ‘formidable’. But the Taiwan Military is anything but formidable. First, you have to understand that Taiwan’s only real enemy is China. China wants its island back and people living in Taiwan want to be independent of China. Truth be told, I don’t think China gives a rat’s ass about Taiwan. China’s economy will smoke Taiwan in a few years. I was told like the top 100 companies in Taiwan have all invested heavily in China. Thats got to tell you something. China, in my opinion, does not want Taiwan to become independent simply because it would be an admission of defeat. China would lose face in the eye’s of the world. In any case, when I step outside of the office compound, I occasionally see tanks being ferried around on flatbed trucks. F16 and Mirage fighter jets cruise through the air, training that the faithful day when they’ll be called into action. All for what? To defend Taiwan against China. I was told by a co-worker that the US has “promised” to help Taiwan in the event their livlihood is threatend by China’s military, the US will intervene by sending aircraft carriers and battleships to the region, presumably to occupy the Taiwan Straights (the portion of the ocean that divides China and Taiwan). The US told Taiwan they need a military force capable of defending themselves for 2 weeks. Two weeks would give the US enough time to send ships to the region. The Taiwan miltary said that 2 weeks would be impossible and that they believed their military “strength” would only be able to hold off an attack from China for a period of 1 week. China, hearing of this little deal, publicly claimed that their military would occupy the island of Taiwan within 3 hours of launching an attack. Furthermore, China has about 140 short-range missles aimed at strategic targets in Taiwan. Personally, I think 140 missles would be enough to sink the island itself. So this begs the question, why does Taiwan have tanks? I mentioned earlier that Taiwan owns F16 fighter jets. Whats funny is, whenever the US military decides to sell Taiwan a stripped down version of the F16 (think of it as a Civic DX), China must approve of the sale. If China knows Taiwan only buys military hardware to defend against a mainlain attack AND they approve of the sale, do you think China really gives a crap that Taiwan has the hardware to begin with? I think I will email Microsoft and ask them to add this to their Encarta encyclopedia.. file it under, “act of futility’.

General | No Comments »

Here are some gross generalizations I made the first few days I landed in this hellhole.. I can grossly generalize because:

(1) I want to
(2) I feel like it
(3) Because no one can say otherwise

1. people in taiwan love to sound like they know what they are talking about – often times that means talking at length about something that really doesnt involve them, sometimes that may include arguing a point that they dont really care about to begin with

2. people are obsessed with job security, that, or they are obsessed with manual labor, still evaluating – we had a meeting, the CEO said, “I want you to computerize, it will save YOU time”.. about 3 or 4 users stood up to explain they think the manual process is better and that they don’t mind working 16 hours a day to fix something that can be automated.. the Director of Finance, when commenting about the proposed RMA process, said “well, if a customer buys 1000 pieces, and they are returning 8 pieces, do we still need the RMA process ?”

3. people in taiwan like to spend time shuffling around responsibility – “thats not my problem, its your problem”.. “thats not MY problem, thats YOUR problem”.. what makes this point funny is that in one meeting, they’ll fight tooth and nail to push off responsibilities.. in another, they may talk at great lengths about how the responsibility they just pushed off may impact their responsibilities

4. just because you sit at the top of the totum pole doesnt mean you can see more – case in point, the CEO makes a suggestion, a good one I might add, a suggestion that clearly follows best practices for a sales order flow. He spends another 30 minutes convincing his own people that its not right to invoice AFTER the customer receives the product (basically, currently, they’ll ship, wait for shipment delivery and the customer is happy, THEN invoice). At no time did our “team” ever say anything to refute the CEO, we were all nodding our heads in agreement. After the meeting, the CEO tells us its our responsiblity to infuse his people with best practices, good ideas, and the correct way to do things. I guess he didnt realize in the meeting he spent most of his time trying to convince his own people of his ideas.

Ok, so maybe most of these generalizations only pertain to the company that I’m working at.. big deal.. people here do the same.. I’ve become the official spokesperson, cover model, and poster child for the United States of America..

Work | No Comments »