21-25th August
My first week went by in an instant. But the working experience has been really fun so
far. In the beginning it was quite hard to communicate but we found a good solution with
google translate and after our shifts we also went to skate often together where you
luckily don’t need to communicate as much, adding to this some of my co-worker’s
friends spoke English quite well. As the shop usually isn’t as busy during the first few
opening hours, I had time to get used to my tasks and the communication. Something
Interesting I’ve learned to is that the number of online orders is way bigger here in Taipei
than in Okinawa. A lot of people order online and then come pick it up or have someone
pick it up for them, so often our work also included packing orders and if they wanted to
products shipped to bring them to the post oIice. When it comes to the working culture,
I can say I was also quite surprised. I felt a big pressure as the “new” worker because
I’ve learnt that its normal for people at new workplaces to work a lot harder than the
others. Of course, I wasn’t told so but for example it was expected of me to clean the
store by myself same goes for Infront of the store even though it wasn’t a problem for
me, I was surprised by the fact that nobody ever really told me directly. It was just
expected or hinted which I think is again a sign of high- context culture. And I think that I
would’ve struggled way more without my prior experience in Okinawa because there is
no way of understanding it if you come from a low-context culture where you are always
used to clear orders. What I also found fascinating is how different the atmosphere was
while working compared to when spending time with my co-workers outside of work for
example skating. It always was as if they switched their personalities.
In general, I can say that I had a nice first week and I will give a bigger conclusion at the
end of my working period.