Taiwanese inflexibility

Yes

To me Italys problem is too much bureaucracy but not enough corruption :joy: or perhaps not enough greed?

Vietnam is super bureaucratic for no reason but it’s possible to make things happen with an envelope to the right person.

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Sounds french

Unfortunately I’m here all week

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Sometimes things are less an issue with being inflexible and more an issue of ignorance (be it language barriers or not fully understanding the law and/or cultural norms). When I first came in to Taiwan all filled with cum and vigor in my hormonal teens, I was rudely awakened to this “inflexibility” as well. Because it wasn’t “logical”, in terms of my norms. Thank fuck I went through that young and then learned the local language, culture etc. If I came in now stubborn and older, it would be harder to accept, bend, compromise and learn, for sure. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do that. Taiwan has a very different logic. Once learned, Taiwan is easy enough to deal with. Only ego gets in the way, 95% of the time :slight_smile:

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I have similar experience, but a different perspective about this topic.

I think Taiwanese people tend to be inflexible when it comes to taking risks, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are not open to trying different things. I strongly believe many of them also think the corporate system is inefficient and counterproductive, but they don’t want to risk being wrong.

In this context, I think culture plays a significant role, because Taiwan has a traditional hierarchical work system where you respect and learn from those above you. Questioning authority can be seen as a challenge, which could bring embarrassment to superiors and damage your relationship with them. Additionally, there is no upside on bringing new ideas to the table, because if everything goes well, the credit will go to those above you, but if things go wrong, you bear the blame. This cultural system doesn’t encourage innovation or improvement.

But as I mentioned, Taiwanese people are not opposed to trying different ways, but you need to show them that it works before asking for their support. This is because it makes them feel more secure about getting on board. I know that getting positive results on your own, without support or even permission, is challenging and demotivating. However, if you manage to do it, I believe they will become interested in learning from you.

Very strange, is it a company account ?

I don’t want to disparage the lived experiences of other posters, but IME it’s the complete opposite. Taiwanese bend over backwards to get what I want done, often cutting corners even in bureaucracy.

This may all be relative as I’m used to dealing with British bureaucrats, of course.

A recent example: I went to my bank to invest some money and part of my investments were in USD. I wanted to change the USD to NTD in order to invest. They required my passport to do this and my account had a previous passport account number. Can’t be done. But they still did it.

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That’s why the advanced chips aren’t designed here :laughing:

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Exactly, killing it until recently. bad moves being made now a days.

Even if you say it is just different culture and it is fine, it still sounds too much dystopian.

And, of course, it is up to Taiwanese to choose the way they live, but still I can say my opinion though.

Yes, the banking system here is utterly shit. A friend of mine tried to send me money and the bank refused to accept it because he didn’t include my middle name.

Also, to send money abroad you have to go to the bank. Bank is only open from 9am to 3pm, which means I have to take time off work and lose money to go.

Can’t transfer money abroad online apparently.

Don’t about inflexibility, but it’s definitely frustrating as fuck.

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Which bank do you use?

Ctbc

Try to ask at Taishin Bank, their app Richart allows that, not sure if there is a catch, but you can ask.
But also works only from 9 to 15 (9am to 3pm) Monday to Friday.

Also, about the driving. That’s not inflexibility, that’s a complete lack of anything resembling driving standards.

Actual driver training along with a rigorous test and enforcement of driving laws would fix that.

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That’s my bank. They are really difficult with sending money abroad. Once you’ve done it once it’s easily repeatable. However, it’s 1980s banking.

Banking here is mostly based of relationships and the size of and frequency of your business with them. I am a foreigner with companies are registered in my name. My banking experience is top notch with better service than my local bank at home. I did have to use my relationships though and without those (first five years here) the banking experience is awful.
Once you got the relationships, your banking experience will improve. I get a house visit every year from my bank manager on CNY as well as my birthday, and now the bank associates deal with the bureaucracy and I only have to pop my head in real quick to sign/stamp whatever docs are needed. If banking is going to be a part of your life/business here it would be a good idea to build those contacts, it’s amazing what you can get done here once you start acting like a Taiwanese.

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It’s all based on how much money you have with the bank. Which, to a lesser extent, is the same everywhere.

The point is the banking system is very archaic if you don’t have a lot of money.
Relationships also no doubt help. I wouldn’t know about those.

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The bad driving is just selfishness and because car culture hasn’t existed long enough for people to be good drivers yet. Might have been similar in the US back in the 1950s perhaps. People only really started driving somewhat recently. Until about the 90s, you had to be rich to have a car. And rich or powerful can drive however they want. Then you have all these people here driving luxury cars so they feel the same way. It’s a face thing. The worse your driving, the more face you have. What’s really ridiculous to me are people who overtake me when I’m on my scooter as we are approaching a red light. They zoom past me, get to the red light and slam on the breaks really quick. I gently glide past them a few seconds later, come to a slow controlled stop and get right in front of them in the scooter box. WTF was the point of overtaking me? Some face to be gained by doing so? Fucking peasants.

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When I ride my bike people overtake me just to immediately do a right turn right in front of me. What’s that all about? Potentially hit me just to save a few seconds.

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