discrimination alive and well in Melbourne
[posted to The Age (letters) 8/1/2010 - note: I’m not really looking for employment]
I recently walked into a Chinese massage shop in the CBD and advised them that I knew how to perform massage and asked if they had any jobs available. I received a flat “no”. I proceeded to take down their sign in Chinese advertising for workers and repeated that I was able to perform the most soothing of massages with the greatest therapeutic effect. They resorted to their next reason for refusal: “But you cannot speak Mandarin.” I told them in Mandarin that I certainly could speak Chinese… but this didn’t really seem very important. Westerners who can speak Mandarin aren’t thought of as equals in the same way as Chinese who can speak English.
Consistency please - either display both job advertising and other types of signage in the shop in English or have both Chinese. I wonder how many customers would actually use these shops if they were aware of their employment criteria.
James Forsyth
I had a similar experience in Taiwan when my Taiwanese roommate helped me call to ask about apartments posted and book a time to meet the landlord and see the apartments. When I got there the shocked person would suddenly say “Oh no the apartment is not available”. It happened at several places until I got to a landlord who was looking for an English teacher for his son. He was the only one willing to rent to a laowai.