 My
wife has scrawled "ticket purchase" on this unimportant area of a copy
of my daughter's passport so no one can use it to steal her identity. |
When you hand people a copy
of your
passport, ARC, or other ID, write something like: "job application use
only" on the copy of the passport, across some area of the passport
copy
itself (not on the blank paper next to it). Criminals frequently use
copies
of ID documents to steal identity, and this will spoil it so they can't
use it. Additionally, schools (even universities) will put data and
pictures
of foreigners on their websites, even if the foreigners don't work
there,
just to attract students. |
- Get receipts for everything to prove that you have
worked at the
place,
for both pay and taxes.
Most businesses will not report you to the tax office and get you
kicked out of the country (that's generally considered out of bounds,
as
well as dangerous, since your employer is probably evading taxes) but
you
never know. I know of two cases in which a school reported teachers to
the tax office for illegal teaching at their other jobs, then denied
they
had ever taught at the school, just to save paying their salaries.
Possible tax screw: you
quit
in
June, only to get your tax return next year and find your employer has
added the income of another employee to yours to reduce that employee's
taxes. Instead of paying taxes on 500,000, you pay taxes on 750,000,
although
you only got 500,000 in income. Hence, be careful how you leave legal
jobs;
always leave nicely, because a bogus tax filing can cause you a world
of
pain. Besides, you might be back again....
- Always check your pay, never take it without counting it
in
front of
the people handing it to you (this may be considered insulting, but so
be it). Check for those strange deductions.
- Using a false name is a common tactic (though I have
never
done it).
- Go easy on the personal information.
Never tell anyone where else you work, how much you get paid or
any other personal information until you know that they are trustworthy
(do not say "It's none of your business." Instead, either lie or be
noncommittal
"I work on the other side of Taipei," etc.) I am saddened to report
that
people will collect personal information on you and use it against you.
Taiwanese regard all relations within institutions as zero-sum games in
which if A rises, it must mean that B is falling. If you rise, some of
your Taiwanese coworkers are almost certain to go after you.
- Do not get involved in office politics, since your
position will
undoubtedly be unaffected regardless of who wins such internecine
strife
(office politics are the life of Taiwanese businesses; in my darker
moments
I often wonder if people here open businesses just so that they can
have
office politics).
- Never work for an illegal school. A legal school
will
display the
owner/manager's name and picture in an official document which must be
hung in a prominent place. If you don't see it, don't work there.
Illegal
operations can vanish at any moment, leaving you at best, without pay,
and at worse, expelled from Taiwan and forced to pay heavy fines.
- Avoid showing your passport unless it is demanded at
the
interview. The less people know about you (at least at first), the
better
off
you are. Additionally, Taiwanese may rip off your personal data and use
it for tax or other purposes, even advertizing.
- Do not work for a school which is constantly advertising
for
new teachers
in the paper; it is probably a poor place to work.
- Work at (at least) two different places. That way,
if you
get fired,
or the manager absconds with the cash, or the place goes bankrupt, etc,
you still have income during the time you need to find a new job and
get
paid. Additionally, you are less vulnerable to the demands of your
superiors,
since you are not so dependent on them.
|
A small cram school in a small town. 
A
mountain road through my windshield.
A
cruise ship lights up Keelung's beautiful harbor.
The
interior of a small restaurant in Taichung.
A
sign in a small diner in northern Taichung. Prices in restaurants are
fixed,
except for seasonal dishes, and rip-offs are extremely unusual. The
vast
majority of your restaurant experiences will be positive, once you get
over the shock of finding out that real Chinese food is nothing like
what
you are used to in the States.
Getting
served at a small-town bank.
A
Chinese medicine shoppe.
A
river in central Kaohsiung.
Fishing
boats parked at the dock in southern Taiwan.
The
old gives way to the new: card phones crowd out an old coin phone in
front
of a 7-11. The old coin-operated phones are gradually disappearing.
A
shelf at Cave's Books, a local English bookstore.
Good
things can happen to you too, as this card from an intensive English
class
says. Taiwan will be filled with wonderful experiences like this.