Currency Crisis

I came back to Taiwan with a shiny new $100 bill from my grandpa. I forgot to change it at the airport, where they only opened three booths for several hundred people and we all had to wait an hour to clear customs, and have been holding onto it until today.


Of course, I waited until I was flat broke and needed to buy books and meet my classmate to discuss a presentation before I headed to the bank. I assumed, since they had the big electronic board with the conversion rates on it, that my request would be relatively smooth. This is how it went: The young man working there kept scratching his head and giggling feebly. A girl came over to be involved and peered over his shoulder, talking with him. Another woman came over too, and hovered nearby shouting advice - she seemed to know what she was doing. But then several times I heard her say in Chinese, "I haven't done this for a long time."


After finding several forms on the computer, filling in my personal details, getting my passport number and phone number, making several phone calls to various superiors, they finally printed out an enormous receipt (about one square foot) on an ancient printer - the kind that makes the loud screeching noise. Then they gave me my hundred dollars back. Armed with the receipt, I now had to go downstairs to another teller, who had to make several phone calls to her superiors before trading my 100 dollars for about 3,000 New Taiwan Dollars.

Now it's true, they probably don't face that specific issue on a regular basis and weren't use to dealing with it. Maybe they'd never seen a real one-hundred dollar bill before. If someone came into a bank in America with a thousand dollar Taiwanese bill, it would probably take some time to get it verified. Or would it?

Later that afternoon, I was talking with several foreigners. They were complaining about the organization (or lack thereof) of the University - and not just ours, it seems even the very best universities in Taiwan are prone to chaos. There are many different offices in many different departments, and no one seems to know what's going on. We pinned it down to lack of accountability. There is no one who can make a decision, all by themselves, when faced with a dilemma. Every decision needs consultation, outside input, group effort. One of my friends said, "Asia may be developing quickly, but I don't think they'll ever be a real threat to Americans, because we are more organized. You can ask a guy something and he'll make a decision, then and there, all by himself, and you move on. Things get developed quickly. Good ideas are implemented."

I'm not sure if this is true - however, I think American businesses as a rule have stronger processes. They've already thought of nearly everything that an employee might need to do, and there is a process for them to follow, which is probably explained in the training period. But its not just that. Often I've noticed that Taiwanese people just don't hurry - when there is a huge line and only one teller, she seems to be in no rush to speed things up. The bank doesn't open another line or help her out, perhaps because they don't have any contingency plans for extra traffic.