So recently I've been job hunting in a large American city. I speak Mandarin fairly well, so I thought I'd try my luck with some of the Chinese companies in the area.

Well, I got an interview with a small, but growing publishing company. The initial phone interview went well. It was a very standard interview except for the fact that it was in Mandarin. At the end, the asked me to name a salary range. I named a pretty standard range for the position, nothing unusual. They accepted, and a few days later asked me to come in for a face-to-face interview.

Here's where the fun begins. I walk into the building and immediately notice that all the employees are Chinese. Every single one. Granted, they don't have that many employees, but this is still a red flag to me. I'm seated by the receptionist, who tells me that it will only be a few minutes, they're wrapping up another interview. In the meantime, I go to use the bathroom. In the bathroom there is a large wastebasket completely overflowing with toilet paper and paper towels, some of them bloody. The sink does not work. I finish up and use some hand sanitizer from my bag. Red flag #2.

The interview begins 45 minutes behind schedule. I meet with the HR lady and the head of marketing. I explain my resume and field the standard interview questions. A few times I have to revert to using english to answer some particularly technical questions, but the interview otherwise goes well.

However, toward the end of the interview things suddenly take a turn for the worse. The head of marketing begins prattling on about the benefits of hard work, and how American's often expect to only work 40-hour weeks. He worked hard to build up his company, he says, often sacrificing his personal life to do so. This I take as a roundabout way to say that they will probably want me to work overtime, and I tell them that I would be more than willing to do so as long as the work and pay are worthwhile.

With that, the interview nosedives into the ground. The HR lady steps in to explain that while they know they offered salary on the phone, they are a small company and can't actually offer salaried positions. They say that they are a Chinese company, and thus they do things the Chinese way. They offer the following pay scheme: the first 160 hours of work are uncompensated. After that you are on a probation period for 90 days, during which time you are paid minimum wage. Following those 90 days you are paid 11/hour.

Red flag #88.

I'm sort of dumbfounded and insulted. I suddenly realize why there are no American employees in their office. I'm tempted to tell them that they aren't in China, and that the pay they're offering is laughable and possibly illegal. But I don't. Instead I finished the interview, came home, deleted all their correspondence, and wrote this shitty post.

Two questions. Is this actually how Chinese companies do things? I studied in China for two years, but never worked while I was there.

Two, is this pay scheme even legal in the states?