My Days as a Judicial Interpreter — Book Notes

The author's main role was serving as an interpreter when foreign migrant workers were arrested and interrogated at the police station. The book records the many small situations encountered on the job, along with the author's reflections.

Generally, when undocumented migrant workers are caught, they face deportation. What the author observed was that workers who were frequently apprehended would consistently go out of their way to protect their employers — possibly because the employer had informants back in the worker's home country, or because the worker feared being blacklisted in the industry, or simply because they were genuinely satisfied with how their employer treated them.

By Taiwanese standards, migrant workers' wages are not high — but Taiwanese employers generally don't withhold pay and deliver cash regularly.

The book is mostly made up of small stories: working at a soy milk shop, incidents at escort establishments, the thankless daily effort of law enforcement officers. Everyone is quietly contributing to Taiwan's public order. A quiet salute to every person working hard for Taiwan behind the scenes.