A former coworker has a brother who came to Taiwan more than a decade before any of us arrived. As such he was here when the economy was really maturing and expanding. Over his time here he has put his hand into a lot of pots, seeing what business opportunities there are. At one point he decided to get into disposable chopsticks such as the one you see in the picture. These are the chopsticks that pretty much every lunch box restaurant has, millions of these get used every day.
So he found a company abroad that makes them, and he would import them cheap, and then supply them to restaurants at a nice profit. One day some Taiwanese gentlemen came into his office and told him “you do not want to get into chopsticks. Do you understand? You do not want to get into chopsticks.” Then they left.
He didn’t get into chopsticks.
The picture from yesterday kind of perturbed me cause it gave a wrong image of what gangsters are in Taiwan. There really are no gangs, and no street crime. “Gangsters” refers to organized crime, which is just run like a business. They do use intimidation to get an advantage or even a monopoly in some business fields (luxury used cars, brothels, chopsticks apparently). But they never harm normal people as that’s bad for the image which in turn is bad for business.
They also like to be in high class, upscale businesses with high standards. The most popular and selective drinking lounges are run by the “gangsters.” Their attention to detail, customer service, and commitment to quality really makes their places stand out. Qualities that normal businesses could learn from.
In fact, stepping away form gangsters for a moment, this being Taiwan and it’s very…uhh…Chinese influence, there are quite a number people who peddle illegal wares, and illegal businesses here. Those people and businesses trade on providing great service and being honorable. In a strange way it’s almost safer to deal with these businesses as you now that there you aren’t going to be cheated.
Getting back to the gangsters, if I had a knock against them it would be that to my knowledge they don’t really give back the community. I think when we have a romanticized view of organized crime, it’s one in which they take care of their local community and help out people who can’t get help any other way. Perhaps they can give back by giving seminars for other business owners about how to run a customer friendly operation. Imagine what heights could be obtained if the real businesses could reach the standards that the criminal ones do.
