And a nazi! Don’t forget that!
I think zeroborders is finding out that there are, in fact, borders, and that the culture and legal system here are quite different than in Australia. One difference is that petty theft, like soft drugs, is taken very seriously in Taiwan. [quote=“zeroborders, post:14, topic:159904”]
It’s a racket and i’m very very curious why the legal system is so accommodating towards her since she makes 10x claims a week.
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Yes, you are being railroaded, but the fact remains that you committed a crime, and the shop owner is within her legal rights to file charges and demand compensation. She’s abusing the system, but she’s doing it in a legal manner. I admire your urge to stand on principle. but you also need to ask yourself: Would I rather stand on principle and end up with a criminal record, or pay a small sum
and keep my record clean?
You’re obviously going though a serious bout of cultural shock, which is normal for the amount of time you’ve been here, and exacerbated by your current legal troubles. Taiwan, like any country, has its good and bad aspects, and it’s only natural that you’re focusing on the bad aspects at the moment. My advice would be to not try to buck the system, at least until you have a better understanding of how things work here.
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You now have or will have a criminal record for theft which may impact your ability to apply for Visa’s to many countries. If you still have the option to pay your way out of this then take it and be thankful.
Taiwan is not a ‘country’ according to almost everywhere so I doubt that he will have any issue with this misdemeanor.
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Read the Taiwanese law. It’s like drunk driving. First time drunk driving is an offense, but does not reach the threshold of criminal offense. It’s on your record, yes, but not as a criminal offense. but does not count as a criminal offense unless you injure, kill or cause destruction.
How? She’s reporting thefts from her store, apparently 10x per week. She even took her time to go to the police station twice to allow the opportunity for the thief to apologize and compensate for her time. If the rate of thefts being discovered and reported is truly 10x per week then she is having to spend a lot of time away from her business and down in the local police station. If it was me I’d simply refuse any negotiation and ask the police to follow up with the prosecutions.
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Their’s no misdemeanor involved. Even in a society like Taiwan, a judge is not going to ruin your life over NT65. They just want $$.
Unless of course Taiwan wants to make itself even more of a laughing stock around the world. Even in Singapore and Japan, the law/culture gives the offender the benefit of the doubt for first time offenders over such negligible amounts. Even for Taiwanese, NT65 is pocket change.
OP might have problems staying in Taiwan if convicted. Could he be kicked out of Taiwan for this conviction?
Someone check and see if I’m missing something here.
You stole from a store and were presented with an original penalty of NT$5000.
To which you refer as a “racket”, in addition to some pretty nasty characterizations about Taiwan and its people.
According to the Queensland government page (we don’t know which part of Australia you’re from, but one assumes they aren’t too dissimilar):
If the value of goods stolen is less than $150, shoplifting falls under the Regulatory Offences Act 1985 (PDF) and carries a fine of 6 penalty units ($731.4).
At today’s rate, that appears to be about NT$16,328.60.
Soooooooo??
As far as this:
Are you really suggesting you can’t get hired because of your “slanted eyes”??
Has it occurred to you that employers might be more inclined to hire staff who bring a little more to the table than “a way to stay busy”, and who aren’t going to 
off back to Australia in a year??
[edited by moderator]
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So you are denying that Taiwanese discriminate against Asians when it comes to English teachers?
Many English teachers are only here for a year or so and then they “ off back” to wherever they came from in a year. So I don’t see OP’s point as being invalid.
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So hire him.
Understand the unfortunate accident, but a crime was committed unwittingly and for sure the owner could’ve been more compassionate.
But you seem to be the one wasting taxpayer money?
If what zeroborders is saying is accurate, it seems pretty obvious. If she was more concerned with preventing shoplifting than making money off the shoplifters, why wouldn’t she just confront them when she catches them in the act?
She’s got a system going on, the problem is she has the law on her side…