09/22/24 - He said that on average, he made 2 RMB per order.
“Why do I have to be yelled at when I’m just experiencing life in my own family’s company?
I’m experiencing life at my family’s company for summer break, and a lot of people are making me do their work. I did everything the best I can, but occasionally, someone will want me to do something and I’m already working on something else and they can’t find me, and they’ll accuse me of being lazy. I get to work at 10AM because my dad told me to. I’m not an official employee anyways. I’m just here to experience things. I’m not even an intern. And they’re telling me to not act like I’m at home? Goddammit, I’m really upset. But I’m so soft that I don’t even know how to stand up for myself.”
OP attaches a text exchange:
Coworker: You’re not here yet?
OP: I start work at 10AM?
Coworker: Who told you that?
OP: I live too far away. I’ve always started work at 10AM.
Coworker: Zhang lives much further than you and she’s here every day at 8:40AM. Can we talk? As your dad’s daughter, the future owner of this company, you should lead by example and not be tardy all the time, like you’re some kind of princess. Nobody can ever find you. Is this your attitude towards work? What do you think the other employees think?
OP: My dad told me to start work at 10AM. I’m not tardy. I’m here on time every day. And I’m supposed to move through all the departments. You can’t find me because I’m doing something in a different department.
Coworker: Don’t talk about your dad if you’re at work. If you’re at the company, you’re an employee. Don’t bring up things outside of work.
OP: Yeah, I’m an employee. That’s why I’m doing everything that’s in my job. You can ask around all the departments and see if I’m working hard or not. If anyone complains about me, then you can come lecture me. Next, it’s fine that you want to talk about the time I get to work, and I’ve told you the reason why, so stop lecturing me. You also come to work at 10AM, don’t you?
Comments say, “Just fire her. Why waste your time?”
“Oh, so after all that, she also comes in at 10??”
“If you didn’t already explain, I’d assume this was her company or something.”
“Can I marry into a family like this? First time going to my boyfriend’s house. The big TV they have on their wall looks really creative. Dunno how they did it. I guess I’m really falling behind the times with all this fancy new technology. Their food is laid out all nice and neat too. There’s just something I can’t put my fingers though, like something’s wrong.”
Comments say, “It looks fake. It all looks neat and tidy, but there’s no signs that people live here at all. It looks like a sample unit.”
“No, they have too many rules.”
“If they live normally at home, there’s no way everything is this neat.”
“No wonder she’s the OG influencer. Never in my life would I come up with the idea to photoshop other people’s heads bigger, so I don’t have to photoshop myself much but I still stand out as the prettiest. We all gotta learn from Wan Wan.”
[The top photo is the actual live event, the bottom photo is what the influencer posted.]
Comments say, “This is a legend in the photoshop world.”
“Hahahahaha, genius.”
“Dude, you’re almost trending.”
“Got back from my morning jog and a boy in a yellow Meituan jacket [food delivery app] was delivery takeout. He politely asked me if this was Unit 1, Building 7, and I nodded, and he got in the elevator with me…
I saw he was constantly scrolling on his phone, so I asked him if people really were placing orders this early in the morning. He said that it’s mostly young people ordering, and there are some people who’ve stayed up all night. I asked him how old he was, and he said he’d just turned 19.
I asked how much he made from each order, and he said that on average, he made 2 RMB per order. I asked him how much he made in a day, and he said that if he worked from the early AM to late at night, he might make 300 RMB.
I asked him that 300 RMB meant delivering 150 orders. Isn’t that stressful, especially when he’s on the road? He said that he goes everywhere like he’s flying, because if he’s late, he gets fined and gets bad reviews.
I asked him when he gets the most business, and he said it’s mostly when it’s windy or rainy. Sometimes, he’ll work all day and never have time to eat. And he’ll get home way too late to even think about food, so he’ll just flop into bed.
I watched him say to the other person, “Hi, your food is almost here.” His youthful face was all covered in sweat. He’d just turned 19. Theoretically, he should still be listening to lectures in a brightly-lit classroom, but he’s already stumbling around in society…”
Comments say, “Everyone is just ordinary people.”
“Making a couple bucks per delivery is a lot more reliable than anything that promises you tens of thousands though.”
“I dropped out of school super early, but I still feel bad when I see teenagers already working. A lot of my coworkers dropped out of school because they couldn’t afford tuition.”
A blogger shows someone else’s post, “I want to start selling boxed lunches at Lujiazui [district of Shanghai]. Would you be willing to buy a ground pork lunch like this on a workday in Lujiazui? For 25 RMB each?”
And shows several exchanges this poster has with the commenters.
[To help keep track of the conversation, I’ve tried to label people who repeatedly respond by number, while one-time commenters won’t have a name.]
Commenter 1: “No.”
OP: “Do you work at Lujiazui?”
Commenter 1: Yes.”
OP: “Can you tell me why?”
Commenter 1: “Doesn’t raise my appetite.”
OP: “Understood~ Thank you. Can I ask where you’re from? This is something I’m concerned about because I’ve discovered that the food I make isn’t very universal.”
Commenter 1: “You’re definitely not a Shanghai native.”
OP: “I’m from Fujian. Are you local?”
Commenter 2: “When are you starting?”
“Lol, look how excited this one is.”
OP: “Tomorrow. Do you want to preorder?”
Commenter 2: “But tomorrow is Saturday.”
“You better buy it early. I’m worried he won’t last until Monday.”
OP: “Next Monday then. Do you want to preorder?”
Commenter 2: “No, I don’t work in Lujiazui.”
Commenter 3: “You keep going on about veggies, but is it possible that not everyone wants their food to be half veggies?”
OP: “Obviously, but is it also possible that I’m not trying to sell food that everyone wants to eat?”
Commenter 3: “Then what are you trying to sell?”
“Don’t want to sell food that everyone wants to eat, but asks everyone if they want to buy the food??”
“What are you even doing here then?”
“If you don’t sell food everyone wants to eat, who’s gonna buy it then? Look at if what you’re saying makes sense before you start arguing with people.”
OP: “I’m just selling food that I want to eat.”
Commenter 4: “No, operating without a license.”
“Lol, careful, if you don’t want her food, you don’t work in Lujiazui XD”
OP: “Do you work in Lujiazui?”
Commenter 4: “Hahahahaha, what, if people don’t want your food, they couldn’t possibly work in Lujiazui?”
Commenter 5: “I’m not in Lujiazui, but honestly speaking, you don’t have enough protein. Throw in half an egg first.”
OP: “I’m really curious. You’re saying there’s not enough protein, but how can you even tell? Sincere question.”
“I looked with my eyes.”
“There’s just that tiny bit of ground pork. Is it really hard to tell?”
“What, is there a protein bar buried under the rice?”
Commenter 6: “I think it looks really tasty! All those people thinking it’s not worth it have definitely never worked in Lujiazui.”
OP: “Thank you. God bless you.”
Commenter 6: “You’re welcome, I was just trying to meme here. Never thought you’d take me seriously. Now I’m kind of embarrassed. I’m never going to meme again.”
Commenter 7: “No. If something went wrong, I wouldn’t even know who to sue.”
OP: “Do you work in Lujiazui?”
“Are you a bot?”
“When my grandpa was younger, he drank half a bottle of beer every day, until he got gout and was rolling around in pain. The doctors told him to quit alcohol, and he did.
At 75-years-old, he switched to drinking coconut milk, two big bottles every day, with some snacks. He drank it like alcohol for two years and started feeling stomach troubles again, and doctors told him to quit cold drinks.
At 77-years-old, he switched to warning his coconut milk in hot water and drinking it hot, two bottles a day, for three years straight, until he got diabetes. Doctors told him to quit sweet drinks, and he asked doctors whether he could just get insulin instead.
At 80-years-old, he learned how to give himself insulin injections. A KFC opened up near our house, and he’d say he was going out for a walk just to buy egg tarts at KFC, until my mom found out and forced him home.
At 81-years-old, he had a small stroke. Dropped to the floor while I was having breakfast. I was only in middle-school at the time and couldn’t haul him up, and had to run out the door and call for help and got my uncle-in-law to haul him onto a motorcycle to get him to the hospital. Since we got him there in time, he got discharged in just half a month. The doctors told him to stop eating greasy foods, and my mom said we never make greasy foods. After much questioning, my grandpa admitted to sneaking out to get fried chicken.
At 83-years-old, his legs started getting bad. He asked me if there were any drinks he could have, so I snuck him a bottle of diet coke from school and it blew his mind. Since he can’t walk very far himself and didn’t know where to buy one, he had to rely on me to bring some home. He waited by the door for me every Friday.
At 86-years-old, he got diagnosed with high blood pressure and the doctors told him to cut back on salt. Diet cold still has sodium in it, so he’s not allowed to drink it anymore. He got really depressed when he heard that.
Why do I remember? Because my grandpa passed away at 87. I was in Sophomore year of college that year. I worked out the ages based on that.
My grandma too, was secretly eating white rabbit candy and it stuck her false teeth together. She’d come back from grocery shopping to chug a whole bottle of orange juice. At 80-years-old, she’d still bike for 7-8km in the middle of the day to eat fried pork tenderloin.
My mom bought some Tang, and my grandma will make herself a giant bottle in the summer and put it in the freezer, and put that giant bottle in her bike whenever she had to ride anywhere.”
Comments say, “My grandma is 95-years-old now and still eats ice cream every day. She used to drink two bottles of coke a day too.”
“I see. So food is the last thing that keeps you going at the end of life. Gonna put a bookmark on that.”
“If he got gout on just half a bottle of beer a day, then he really shouldn’t have been drinking.”