My company is located about 15 miles outside of Taipei, which can be a 40 minute drive depending on traffic conditions. Fortunately, its location was already stored as a "Favorite" in the GPS. I quickly got onto the highway and traffic was smooth heading out. My only blunder was I got trapped in the wrong lane at the toll booth. Apparently all of the tolls are 40NT (~$1.35) and I could figure that I didn't belong in the ETC line as that might be some sort of EZ Pass. I got stuck in the middle in the "Ticket" lane. You can get a book of tickets each valid for one toll. I didn't have such a ticket.
I had $40NT though so I just begged for forgiveness and after making it clear that I was in the wrong lane, the toll booth operator accepted the $40NT. Lesson learned: keep your eyes out for the "Cash" lanes. I actually should get the EZ Pass thing as soon as I can get someone in the office to explain to me how to get one.
I didn't have a local security badge yet for work and tried to enter the parking lot which had an automatic gate. I pressed the call button on the device, but there was a caretaker type person near by who motioned that I need to scan a badge and he pointed back toward the front of the building. So I parked the car in what I can assume is the visitor lot.
At the front security desk I asked for my HR rep who came down to greet me and lead me upstairs. We went in to her office and she explained that she had some documents for me to sign. She whips out a pretty good stack of papers; it felt like the closing of a house, where your lawyer sticks a 10 page document in front of you, gives you a 10 word explanation, and says, "sign here", and repeats this 10 times. There was the form to open a bank account which we both joked was a high priority as it would be nice to be able to get paid.
The funniest part was when she handed me a single sheet to sign that indicated that I had read our "Ethics Policy". Then she went to a shelf and plunked down a 200 page document. We both started laughing. She explained that I didn't need to read it right now. We talked briefly about applying for my ARC (i.e. green card) and decided that we would wait a few days until I found my apartment so we could use my real Taiwan address on the application. I'm a bit anxious to get that done as I need it to get my own car and probably get a cell phone and such.
Speaking of cell phone, I have my Verizon phone and am roaming over here and have no clue what it would cost to use the thing so I'm a bit handicapped, especially when it comes to dealing with the real estate agents. I went over to the I.T. department and asked if I could requisition a cell phone. I knew this would shape up to be a hassle because the policy is, we only get one when travelling. When local, we have a plan by which we file for partial compensation for our personal cell phone if we agree to also use it for business. The I.T. guys were talking in Chinese and I could gather that they were coming to the conclusion that it is against HR policy. I explained that I'm not looking to scam a free phone but since they haven't finished my ARC paperwork I can't buy a cell phone and I have to work with the RE agents before I can start putting in full days at work, it might be universally beneficial to just let me borrow a phone that is otherwise collecting dust. The faster I get an apartment resolved, the fast I can get to work. The kicker is, in Taiwan, you don't pay for incoming calls so it would likely not cost a dime. They agreed to file an electronic request but I would need my boss to sign it off who is travelling on business. One of the local guys has a stack of old cell phones at home and he said he'd bring one in and I could just buy a prepaid SIM car at 7-Eleven and be on my way. I haven't been back in the office to pick it up so I am still without a local phone. I at least know Shirley was able to text me but one of the local RE agents was not successful.
One impression I have about Taiwan is things can be very rigid. There is an exact process to everything; if you think about the issue with getting me from the first floor, to the second floor, and then up to the apartment to the process with the parking garage. From all of my dealings through the job search process, I have found this to permeate society. There seems to always be a script. Shirley called the airline about getting Tucker a reservation on the plane. They needed to know what size his carrier was before they would reserve a space. We wanted to get him a bigger carrier for the plane ride and hadn't yet picked one out. Shirley asked if there was a size he would recommend, then we would get that one. He could only comment on the sum of the sides must be less than some #. So we went online, ordered a carried, wrote down the dimensions, and called back and booked the flight.
I was able to secure an office, no badge or laptop; they're working on it. The building is quite nice, I think it was built from scratch for our company. The space is much more open. I haven't yet seen the cafe or fitness center. Our place in the States is an old building, built like a prison. It was fun to meet the handful of people I knew from business trips or just emails and phone conferences. I spent enough time in the office to get through that Ethics Policy and HR was glad that we got that out of the way. The Ethics Policy covers the entire corporation so, unfortunately, there was nothing uniquely Taiwanese in there. After work one guy I had previously met took me out to dinner with his wife.
On the ride back I at least made it into the cash lane. I paid with a big bill and they paid me back with some cash and a book of tickets for the balance. These tickets are the ones that I was expected to have when I mistakenly got in the "ticket" lane.
At the front security desk I asked for my HR rep who came down to greet me and lead me upstairs. We went in to her office and she explained that she had some documents for me to sign. She whips out a pretty good stack of papers; it felt like the closing of a house, where your lawyer sticks a 10 page document in front of you, gives you a 10 word explanation, and says, "sign here", and repeats this 10 times. There was the form to open a bank account which we both joked was a high priority as it would be nice to be able to get paid.
The funniest part was when she handed me a single sheet to sign that indicated that I had read our "Ethics Policy". Then she went to a shelf and plunked down a 200 page document. We both started laughing. She explained that I didn't need to read it right now. We talked briefly about applying for my ARC (i.e. green card) and decided that we would wait a few days until I found my apartment so we could use my real Taiwan address on the application. I'm a bit anxious to get that done as I need it to get my own car and probably get a cell phone and such.
Speaking of cell phone, I have my Verizon phone and am roaming over here and have no clue what it would cost to use the thing so I'm a bit handicapped, especially when it comes to dealing with the real estate agents. I went over to the I.T. department and asked if I could requisition a cell phone. I knew this would shape up to be a hassle because the policy is, we only get one when travelling. When local, we have a plan by which we file for partial compensation for our personal cell phone if we agree to also use it for business. The I.T. guys were talking in Chinese and I could gather that they were coming to the conclusion that it is against HR policy. I explained that I'm not looking to scam a free phone but since they haven't finished my ARC paperwork I can't buy a cell phone and I have to work with the RE agents before I can start putting in full days at work, it might be universally beneficial to just let me borrow a phone that is otherwise collecting dust. The faster I get an apartment resolved, the fast I can get to work. The kicker is, in Taiwan, you don't pay for incoming calls so it would likely not cost a dime. They agreed to file an electronic request but I would need my boss to sign it off who is travelling on business. One of the local guys has a stack of old cell phones at home and he said he'd bring one in and I could just buy a prepaid SIM car at 7-Eleven and be on my way. I haven't been back in the office to pick it up so I am still without a local phone. I at least know Shirley was able to text me but one of the local RE agents was not successful.
One impression I have about Taiwan is things can be very rigid. There is an exact process to everything; if you think about the issue with getting me from the first floor, to the second floor, and then up to the apartment to the process with the parking garage. From all of my dealings through the job search process, I have found this to permeate society. There seems to always be a script. Shirley called the airline about getting Tucker a reservation on the plane. They needed to know what size his carrier was before they would reserve a space. We wanted to get him a bigger carrier for the plane ride and hadn't yet picked one out. Shirley asked if there was a size he would recommend, then we would get that one. He could only comment on the sum of the sides must be less than some #. So we went online, ordered a carried, wrote down the dimensions, and called back and booked the flight.
I was able to secure an office, no badge or laptop; they're working on it. The building is quite nice, I think it was built from scratch for our company. The space is much more open. I haven't yet seen the cafe or fitness center. Our place in the States is an old building, built like a prison. It was fun to meet the handful of people I knew from business trips or just emails and phone conferences. I spent enough time in the office to get through that Ethics Policy and HR was glad that we got that out of the way. The Ethics Policy covers the entire corporation so, unfortunately, there was nothing uniquely Taiwanese in there. After work one guy I had previously met took me out to dinner with his wife.
On the ride back I at least made it into the cash lane. I paid with a big bill and they paid me back with some cash and a book of tickets for the balance. These tickets are the ones that I was expected to have when I mistakenly got in the "ticket" lane.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment