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Published: December 6th 2014
Theft does not seem to be a huge problem in Taiwan, although some may disagree with me. At least it's not as big of a problem as it is in other countries, for sure. One time I accidentally left my wallet at a side counter at the post office, and anyone could have ran away with it. When I finally realized it was gone, 10 min later, it was still there where I had left it.
When is comes to dealing with customers in terms of paying the bill, the Taiwanese also seem to be very honest. Several times I've given the wrong amount of change, and the cashier will always tell me, "Oh, you paid too much." And hand me back the extra money. Once I even had an owner of a restaurant run after to me to give me the equivalent of 15 cents. Several times too, for example, at a convenience store, the clerks have told me about special discounts I wouldn't have know about had they told me.
At the post office twice, I also experienced the kindness of strangers in terms of honesty. Both times the postal worker told me the cheapest ways to
send the packages (yet also quick and reliable). Once I want to send a package something like "parcel post" style overseas, and the employee told me to send it registered mail instead, since the package was so light. I can't help but think about how many times I have gone to the post office in the US, and the staff there would never reveal to me the cheapest method to send (ie media mail) even if they knew the contents of the mail. One needs to be wise about shipping oneself in order to ensure the best deal. A good majority of these staff, I believe, are not about helping people save money. Not to be negative, but this has just been my experience and observation.
Although it's true, in Taiwan, that there are some "cheats" out there, who want to make money off a foreigner, I can usually spot them pretty fast, and steer clear.
Most people in Taiwan in the food service, however, are small business owners and have a name to keep up--at the center of that name is honesty.
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