Overtime
Sure that at some point you have heard or you have used the expression “to work as a Chinese”.
So that is how it is, Chinese spend many hours working and in some cases they are even devoted to the company as it was part of the family. We are talking in this case about office workers, not blue-collar workers. As we already explained, in Eastern countries the respect to elders and superiors is much appreciable than it is in Western countries. This is why it is pretty common people stay until late in the office, even when the work is done, if the boss is still there (it is not well considered to leave before the boss). We can find some other anecdotes of this kind that from our western perspective, sometimes they may seem a bit silly but it is part of their every day life.
Furthermore, many companies do not reward the overtime. It is true that Taiwan has become one of the most competitive countries in terms of technology, but it took Taiwanese people a lot of hard work. Some numbers to have an idea:
- 63.9 percent of office workers see an average work day as long as 10.4 hours, and 21.4 percent even have to work more than 11 hours daily.
- Many office workers say they do not receive overtime for their extra hours of work, with 47.2 percent saying their companies do not give overtime pay or compensatory leave.
- Another 14 percent say they receive only compensatory leave, and six percent say they are afraid to apply for overtime even though there are company policies in place for such pay.
- Many workers think they are overworked and underpaid: 55.9 percent of them believe they spend too much time at work, but 31.8 percent earn less than NT$22,115 per month ($773 USD).
This is only a poll so the results are not global or accurate. You can read more about it here, here and here.
But on the other side, there are the foreigners living in Taiwan. Most of expats enjoy their labor contract or agreements issued in their respective countries and often that means with better conditions. Also English teachers, a popular job among foreigners, cannot complain of overtime.
Foreigners very often have second jobs and that allow them to have an extra salary. The advantage to be a Westerner in an Eastern country is that one can easily excel just to be different. This why many advertising or models agencies look for foreingers that give an exotic touch to their commercials.
And this is how I ended up in an advertising agency and I have started my career as “supporting actress” in commercials. Until now I have worked in a couple of them and it seems that from time to time there will be some other. By the way, it is not bad pay and even some foreigners can live only with that, just doing four or five commercials per month!
Here you are the making-of pictures of the first commercial:
And here the result… can you find Anna?! :)
Anna et queda millor que a mi la barba
Enriiiic!
Has fallat! Estic més enrere…
No donarem pistes, “vestidito” color verd y con un “maromo” al costat
jajaja, molt bó Anna, jo si que t’he vist, encara que podien haver posat el pirulí de ratlletes en un altre lloc…!!
Bingo!! Bon ull Irma! ;)
Després de veure l’anunci en què intervens com a “actriu secundària”,ens ha fet l’efecte d’estar buscant en Wally. Esperem que quan arribis a “primera figura” sigui més fàcil de reconèixer-te.
Anna will be the Super Star in Taiwan!!!!
Fua, t’he vist a la primera, però concentrant-me lo màxim!! jeje enhorabona!
What an interesting opportunity Anna! Are you creating a black n’ white contrast with the man walking next to you?
It’s also funny that you’re endorsing (sort of) a car that you drove around the island~
Hans… we didn’t realize that we car we rented was this one XD
Molt bé tothom! A veure si en els següents se’m veu una mica més ;)
Well done everybody! Let’s see if in the next ones it is easier to find me ;)