I should stop wasting my time reading them. Nothing better to do between live events than read the ramblings of people on these forums. I think the income overseas tax thread has been removed…
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Have you tried books?
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Weird shit that this is frequently the case. What the fuck happens to people? Do they get replaced by new friends, or are they having some kind of pay disput with whatever agency seems to employ the people in my life, Truman Show style?
Good afternoon, good evening, and good night.
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We weren’t all that close. And they had a kid. I didn’t take it personally.
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I like reading science fiction.
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Have you read the Sprawl books? Any good?
Sounds like he stayed with her.
It was JD or her.
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I think their son was more the deciding factor. Some people don’t know they don’t know how to communicate. It takes a village catastrophe to get the ball rolling.
This stuff often happens. Happened to me too.
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I feel for you, if it is any comfort you are not the only one facing this, and being alone and far from your home country isnt helping.
you are right abt the backstabbing, lying and unproductive work environment. Work place politics exist everywhere, but they do seem more toxic here.
As for family relations : familiar… families fight over inheritance everywhere, its just sad that it happened to you.
i find that the general atmosphere in Taiwan is helpful and safe, it makes it easier to deal with the rest of the shit that is thrown at me. Imagine having your own family problems and on top of that adding crappy commute, or high taxes, or student debt, or sub zero winters…
Stay strong, try to build your own niche, and in the end, this too shall pass.
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This changes everything. I think any mother would prefer their husbands stay home and help with the kids than go out drinking until midnight.
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I think it’s sampling bias. There’s a subset of people in Taiwan that are disillusioned with anything Taiwanese. They tend to actively look for relationships or just friendships with “foreigners”. There’s a reason they got disillusioned with Taiwan in the first place. Either they are surrounded by dysfunctional people or they are dysfunctional themselves.
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Everyone deserves a little personal time now and then
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The husband gets that at work.
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Even Tolstoy wrote : “all happy families are the same, the unhappy ones are unhappy each it its own way”…
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To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.
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I empathize with you OP.
I worked at a MNC in Taipei before which was supposed to have 外商 culture, but it was still run by Taiwanese managers and bosses and had all the attributes of 台商…
I quit within a year… and started working remotely for a company based elsewhere, much better for my sanity.
Personally I wouldn’t continue living here unless I had a modern, professional working environment. So far haven’t met anyone local who says that about their job. It’s really abysmal at the local companies here.
What could make your life a bit more tolerable? Try to upskill and join an international company in Taiwan. I know it’s going to be incredibly hard when you have kids and commitments, but it’s possible. This is anecdotal, but I’ve worked with several great software engineers that learned how to code in their 30s and switched to the field.
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it’s not a bad idea to vent on the internet, but my dude, please talk to a professional. there are so many things going on in your post (and in your life) that a therapist could help you reconsider/reframe/think deeply about.
but also, see if you and your wife can each take a separate weekend vacation in the near future. a little personal time goes a long way and it sounds like she needs it, too.
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Very common story here…not all TW managers will be so bad though.
I have worked remotely for years which solved above issues but created others.
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He works for a foreign company outside of Taiwan.
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