I come from Changhua [in central Taiwan]. Together with my five brothers, I worked in the family business—a sock factory. Oh, that's hard work. The machines were always running. If it was your shift, you had to work. No matter if it was day or night, workday or holiday. You know, there are good and bad points about working with your family. You start out working together really well. But sooner or later you fight about who works harder and who is paid too much or not enough. And I'll tell you, the cost of labor in Taiwan is rising. It's getting tough to turn a profit. I tried investing in Southeast Asia, but a lot of the guys down there wanted to get paid in advance. Then they'd go drinking and not come back to work. If you refused to give ’em the money, they'd leave right away. I considered setting up a factory in mainland China. But things there are a bit too shaky.
About six years ago, I decided to move to Taipei to try my luck. To get a new start, anyway. At first, I worked as a private chauffeur for the boss of a furniture company. After a couple of years, I bought this house. But it was too far away from the boss's place, so I quit and applied to be a black taxi [VlP limousine] chauffeur at a nearby company. All the work came from government agencies in charge of hosting foreign guests.
I liked the job, but I decided to start my own company—partly to provide a better service for customers and partly as a protest to my boss. There were lots of things I didn't like about the way he ran his company. First of all, he wanted us to pay our own labor and health insurance in full. That's against the law. And you know how much he paid us? Barely NT$20,000 [US$740] a month! And he didn't provide insurance for the passengers. I pay an extra premium to insure both my drivers and their passengers.
Secondly, even if we had no assignments, he made us stay in the office for at least eight hours a day. You couldn't wait at home. And while you were hanging around the office, there was no water or anything to drink! If they're not scheduled to drive, I let my drivers wait at home. If I need them, I just call ’em on the phone. Another strange thing was that he would never let us know if we were on the next day's schedule. In most cases, he'd have to know because the cars had to be booked in advance. He made us put the job before everything else. I mean, it's reasonable to let the guys run family errands occasionally, so long as they let the boss know a couple days in advance. But this guy wouldn't have it. That's why I missed my mother-in-law's seventieth birthday party!
Sometimes he wouldn't send the vehicles that customers had requested. Like he'd send the driver with a twenty-seat mini bus if the nine-seat one requested wasn't available. That not only makes the customer angry, but it's also a pain in the neck for the driver. The bigger vehicles can't squeeze through small lanes and certain shortcuts. And a lot of his cars were old and in really poor condition. Sometimes they would break down or even catch fire on the highway!
Anyway, the job itself was all right with me. I was used to driving around and I took the opportunity to find new customers and visit existing ones for my family business. You just need a driver's license for business use to do this kind of work. Every thing is on-the-job training. If you're a patient, even-tempered, and outgoing kind of person, you'll get along better with your passengers. You also need to be strong. We have to carry our passengers' luggage. And working hours are longer than for ordinary jobs. Once I worked for about twenty-three hours straight. I had to drive a Japanese group around so they could take photographs and shoot videos. First we went to the whole sale flower market, then rushed over to see people doing their early morning exercises. It was like they wanted to see a day in the life of Taipei or something. Last stop was the night market.
One of the job's advantages is visiting lots of places and getting special treatment because you're escorting foreign guests. But, like I said, it's not a nine-to-five job. Sometimes it's very straight forward. But we might have to pick up passengers at the airport at five in the morning, or bring them to their hotel in the late evening after a dinner party. Service is service. You have to be available whenever you're needed. We have to be extremely punctual because foreign guests are usually calling on busy high-ranking officials. I always arrive at least half an hour early. I don't want my clients to worry. And I can use the time to clean the car again.
There are nice passengers as well as strange ones. Sometimes a passenger would send me off with his glasses or shoes to have them fixed, that kind of thing. My worst passenger was a Mexican photojournalist. He asked me to stop in dangerous places, like on the highway, and at a tunnel exit so that he could take some nice pictures. I told him that he needed prior approval to take pictures like that and that it was dangerous—both to us and other drivers. But he insisted. The craziest thing came when I was driving along Yangchin Road. You know, the road is full of bends and curves. He sat on the door with half his body outside the car to take pictures. I was scared and suggested that he get back inside, or at least let me stop. But he angrily ordered me to drive on. He said it was okay, but I worried that he might fall out. If that happened, it would've been jail for me. But I had to do what he asked.
Of course, there are lots of good passengers. Like the director of a U.S. public television station. He gave me all his leftover NT dollars when he left Taiwan and asked for my name and phone number. He was so impressed with my driving that he wanted to use me again the next time he visited. When I squeezed the car through a really narrow alleyway, he thought it was a miracle!
Now I've got this business that I run with a partner. My job is getting assignments from government agencies, his is to get them from travel agencies. But times are tough these days because of the economy. A lot of travel agencies have gone broke. That's been hard on our tour bus business. Luckily, the limousine service is pretty reliable. There are always foreign guests.
But it's not an easy business. If you don't have new or good imported automobiles, people will go to other companies. I have six Dodges; each cost me over NT$2 million [US$74,000]. That includes the cost of putting them on the road. Depending on the number of hours they're hired for, one of them can make any where from NT$730 to $5,000 [US$27 to $185] a day. When am I ever going to make back the money I invested in those cars? By the time I do, it'll be time to buy new ones.
In my company, chauffeurs are not allowed to drink alcohol or gamble. How can anyone drive properly when they're drunk? As for gamblers, they don't have the energy and concentration required for driving. Besides, those who lose money become ill-tempered, and those who win start losing interest in driving because they think it's easier to make money from gambling. I also prefer my drivers not to smoke. If they've smoked for a long time and can't quit, then I tell them not to smoke in front of the foreign guests.
Getting and keeping good chauffeurs is difficult. The salary isn't very high, and since they often work long days and can't get regular meals or bathroom breaks, drivers are prone to stomach, kidney, and liver problems. Also, unlike tour bus drivers, limousine drivers don't get the chance to make extra money, like gratuities from souvenir stores at scenic areas.
You've got to be an extra good boss to keep chauffeurs longer. I discuss salaries with my drivers and I treat them like my partners. When I make more money, so should they. Besides, we're like friends. They can come to my house any time they like. We can have tea and chat. It's good to share experiences. Senior drivers can help teach newcomers how to deal with problems, and we can all discuss customer complaints. If we can see a way to improve our service, we will.
We're busiest around National Day [October 10] because that's when the most foreign guests visit. Christmas and Chinese New Year holidays are slow. Those are times for family reunions. I guess on average, we send two or three cars out every day. When there are no jobs we all get a chance to relax. In my free time I often practice Chinese kung fu. I used to be pretty good at it. [He smiles.] There's lots of things I like to do on my own time—except drive.