Interview time: from 14:30 to 16:00 on December 26, 2012 Interview location: Food Court at the Dream Mall
1. He is the operations manager of Dream Mall Shopping Center, in charge of the operation of shops on 4th and 6th floors, and personnel management.
2. He has been working there for 6 years. Until he was transferred to the operations department in October 2012, he had been working in the marketing department.
3. He has served in the department store industry for more than 10 years. Thus, he is very familiar with the purchasing, operation, and personnel management of the department store industry.
4. He has extensive experience in organizing large events, such as the New Year Countdown Party, Balloon Parade, etc.
Interview Summary
Q: Would you please tell us about your experience? What is your daily routine like and what are your duties at the Dream Mall?
1. I work as the manager of the operations department, and I am responsible for promotion and making profits for our company.
2. My working hours are from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm. My busiest hour is at 11 am.
3. The day shift at the Dream Mall is from 8 am to 12:30 noon. The night shift is from 1:30 pm to 10:30 pm.
4. Dream Mall employees do not have a fixed day off. It’s impossible for them to take weekends off. Most of them take days off on Monday and Wednesday.
5. I found it interesting that a love affair can be seen between our colleagues who have worked here for a long time.
6. Our mall opens at 11:00 am every day. At 10:30, there is always a morning meeting at which all directors will discuss important matters.
7. Our company operates based on the responsibility system. That means that our employees have free schedules as long as they finish their duties today.
8. We often find thieves hiding in the mall, so our company policy is that our guards start to patrol after 10:35 every night.
9. The best selling goods will be selected to post on our member magazines.
Q:How does recycling work in the mall?
1. Someone comes to help with the recycling every day. Surprisingly, he must give a sum of money to collect the recyclables. The mall produces tons of trash every day. Among the waste, the recyclables can be sold for money, which is also a major source of income for our company.
2. The mall is equipped with oil-blocking devices to filter the oil produced from the leftover food.
3. Decorations and ornaments for the big holidays are kept in our warehouse. Then they will be reused year after year. Each year we will dump and renew some of them.
4. Because electricity price keeps increasing, our company hired a technology company to install energy-saving lighting equipment. We estimate that we can save 30% of cost in one year by doing so.
5. Our company hopes to increase recycling annually. Currently there is a 30% recycling rate. They hope it will be increased to 50%.
6. Our company strictly requires our employees to carry out garbage sorting.
Q:Would you please tell us more about the mall?
1. Our rent varies based on the area of the shop. Generally speaking, the rent of the shops near the escalators is the most expensive. This year, the sales of children’s clothes grew by 40%.
2. Location, events, and the stream of the customers are the three key factors in a successful department store.
3. So far, our mall is the second largest shopping center in the world. We hope that we can be the number one.
4. Missing children has been the most worrying issue for people holding events in recent years. There is a certain danger associated with shooting off fireworks at the New Year Countdown Party.
5. Our company is developing automation. Shooting off fireworks is under strict control. Portable toilets are quite important to events organization.
6. Because of the New Year Countdown Party, Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp. has some plans to cooperate with us to solve the problem of traffic.
7. Our company itself hires 220 employee. Adding sales clerks and cleaners, there are more than 5,000 staff total at the mall.
Reflections
Yuhsian
This afternoon we visited the manager of Dream Mall, Mr. Sun. He told us about their operating situation and the amount of waste at the mall. I was surprised when I heard that his company collects money from the garbage delivery company. Then he explained to us that was because they have enormous amounts of waste. That let me know one aspect of the operation of the mall, which is different from common shops or restaurants.
Guanying
I learned that Manager Sun used to work in the marketing department and was later transferred to operations department. The operations department is responsible for making profits and selecting commodities to be put on their direct mail.
He is in charge of managing shops from the 4th to 6th floors. He does not have fixed working hours. As long as he finishes his work, he can relax, but if it is a busy day, he has to keep working until all things are finished no matter whether it is off-duty time.
There is a lot of garbage at the mall every day. The amount of recyclables is large enough to be a source of income.
I learned a lot from this interview.
Jinhan
Today I went to the Dream Mall to interview the manager. I therefore found many things that I would not know from the usual shopping. The amount of garbage produced by the mall numbers in the tons. Oh my god! There is so much. But the recyclables can earn money. For their waste, they make special processing machines such as refrigerators to store the leftover food, etc. I learned a lot from this visit.
Tingjun
The manager told us that he has been working at the mall for 6 years. He was transferred to the operations department in October this year. The operations department is responsible for promotion and making profits for the company. His company operates based on the responsibility system. That means that our employees have free schedules as long as they finish their duties today. Most of them take days off on Monday and Wednesday.
Currently the mall is the second largest shopping center in the world, and their recycling rate is up to 30% which is very high in the department store industry.
Today, I gained a lot of knowledge and I am very grateful to the manager.
Dream Mall Shopping Center Manager, Mr. Sun 
Foreword 
