Saving Face

I signed a new contract 2 weeks ago. They sat on it, getting things uncomfortably close to the visa deadline.

No word from the labor bureau made me quite nervous. I followed up only to have coworkers imply that I’m being unreasonable and a little rude. i need to trust them.

In a hallway i wind up having a heated exchange with the person in charge of submission.

Finally, it comes out that the bureau has asked for supplemental information, which they had just submitted. And, I’m being rude, unreasonable. (Reality, i nervous, asking questions)

Actually, this is all a bunch of lies that a bunch of folks are telling me, includingmy manager. My gut is telling me otherwise.

Yesterday, unreasonable i become. I am the rude foreigner on email. I asked targeted questions and cced people. I’m taking face culture apart im so angry thst i can’t get a straight answer.

A whole day later, with an email chain as lomg as my arm…

They forgot to submit it. That’s it. The person handling it didn’t understand the process and left out a key part.

All this bs to protect the feelings of one person. Not willing to give me the correct information freely to address the issue…

my mind is finally blown…i can’t believe this level of bullshit and lies

If i didn’t act like an unreasonable asshole (in their eyes) the contract would still be unsubmitted today.

srsly, mind blown

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Are you sure you want to continue working there?

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Not really, very typical.

Not sure if that’s why. I think it’s more a combination or language barrier and never acknowledging your own fault.

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Get the visa. Then start looking.

Going to visit immigration today. Mentality, I’m exhausted. Having to be an asshole to so many people in order to 1. get the truth 2. get them to fix it.

i did get some apologies…but this is Taiwan, so behind it is blind rage and hatred of me for exposure.

All i want now is my aprc. Start my own biz, do what i do now for 3 or 4 clients.

Wanna laugh? last year doing a photo shoot on a tool we sell, i almost had my face taken off when the protective guard dislodged. 1/2 kg of plastic and metal flying at 200km/hr hits the spot i was standing in just 10 seconds before.

I have the video of it. im floored everytime i watch it.

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the main person worked in corporations for 15 years in the US.

There’s no language barrier.

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A man I worked for once said “I wear boots to the office cuz its full of snakes”

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You did the right thing. Fuck face.

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I didn’t think personal insults are called for, he was only venting. :wink:

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I guess the part that gets me the most is that i asked a few times, only to be told I’m being unreasonable and that i needed to trust them.

Only after becoming “that foreigner” with the big F on my chest…

…did someone stop, open up the application website and check the progress.

How fucking lazy can people be? They’d rather lie then do a simple check.

In all that time, nobody bothered to check. And by check, just open the gov website to check the application progress.

srsly, i couldn’t make this up

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Welcome to Taiwan, the land of bureaucratic incompetence. Some are saying they’re not hearing the other side of the story, but I fully believe you because I’ve dealt with similar situations before. In fact one just happened to me. The new secretary (and also liaison to the foreign teachers) who works in my department forgot to submit my class book list to our campus bookstore over the summer, even though I sent it to her back in June (I’m supposed to send it to her and then she passes it on to the bookstore). Now since it was only submitted when classes began I have to do supplementals for all my courses until they arrive in late October. Instead of owning up to her mistake, the secretary told the chairperson I forgot to submit it to her. Luckily I have the email on hand with the June date clearly visible; do these people forget that it’s super hard to cover up mistakes in the digital age? :man_facepalming:

Anyway, hang in there @Southernboy . Or quit.

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You’ll probably still be blamed for not following up with her or calling her or Line messaging her or some other BS to make it not her problem.

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I don’t think it necessarily needs to be one way or the other. Surely you could have gotten the results you wanted without blowing up and losing face?

(And by the way, you’re the one losing face more than anybody in this situation. They see anyone who blows up as a big baby.)

Maybe state more clearly why you were worried about the submission progress, and give concrete evidence of why you suspect something wasn’t handled properly? Perhaps using a logical approach to rebuttal their inadequate responses to you? Perhaps emailing people separately instead of copying everyone so you’re not publicly humiliating anyone?

I don’t know what I would have done. It’s a tough situation for sure, and I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.

You need a kevlar back and ass shield too. Not only Taiwan either.

Only if you’re an underling, boss/supervisor blowing up is perfectly fine as it’s was obviously someone else’s incompetence that caused it.

Ahhh, when i say saving face, i mean the person who made the error. We don’t have face to lose. You must be new.

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I knew what you meant, but what I’m saying is you should be more concerned than the person who made the error. To them, you’re the one who made the bigger blunder.

Even if you’re not embarrassed by blowing up, it doesn’t change the fact that they now have a bad opinion of you, and will likely treat you poorly in the future.

Poppycock

They’ll certainly have a bad opinion of him and try to treat him poorly in the future as payback due to the fact that he highlighted their incompetence and caused them a loss of face.

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Even if your wife is Taiwanese…it’s the same.

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