07/02/24 - How can you destroy something that never existed?

A compilation of unimpressive jobs that pay a lot of money:

“I buy and sell bamboo leaves [for making Chinese rice balls with], and make 1-2K a day. Got a date with a girl last year that I was really into, but as soon as she heard what my job was, she instantly ghosted me. Never even asked my income.”

“My BIL’s dad sells urns and shrouds [寿衣—clothes you put on dead people] outside of funeral homes. Bought a Land Rover in one year, and bought a 170 sq metre house in three years. Now he doesn’t even want to keep selling urns and shrouds anymore because it’s too much hassle to bother with.”

“My dad and I install ACs. We bake under the sun in 30-40C heat. Got 620K in profit in 7-8 months though.”

“I grill potatoes on the roadside. A fist-sized potato sells for 4 RMB. I heard two aunties selling potatoes gossip the other day that someone sold three buckets of grilled potatoes in a day, at least 1200 RMB in profit. They only get 5-600 RMB a day out of selling raw potatoes, at most 800 a day.”

“Faeces suction trucks. One trip is 600 RMB, and 550 of it is sheer profit, and you can make 10 runs a day. Cut out gifts you buy for your customers and what you pay to the water sanitation plant, it’s not hard to make 3000 a day with one car.”

“I started a breakfast stall at 20-years-old against the advice of my family. Now I’m 26, and I’ve got my own house and car. I have to wake up at 4:30AM in the summer and 5AM in the winter, and get off of work at 10:30 AM. I make 10K+ a month and have all day free and occasionally do some part time work, or go travelling, or just sleep or work out or whatever. A lot of people look down on my job, like I’m wasting my youth in this industry, but I’m really happy.”

“My dad sells tiles. We used to be super poor. Like, I wasn’t even allowed to open the fridge door for too long. He started selling tiles around 2019, and now we’ve already paid for a 1.7 million RMB house in cash in the city.”

“I met a guy on the train, don’t know if he was just bragging or what, but he said he sold oranges around holiday season [oranges are a pun for “good luck” and a popular gift during New Years] and it makes 500K or so.”

“Went for a foot massage, and the masseuse looked really exhausted, so I asked him, “This job sucks so much, you gotta make at least 20-30K a month, don’t you?” And the guy grinned and was like, “Who would work this job for just 20-30K a month?” My heart dropped and I was like, “50-60K?” He didn’t say anything and just got me two half-off coupons.”

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#Ministry of National Defense says that’s never worked on us. #Ministry of Defense responds to American threats. “On the afternoon of the 27th, the Ministry of Defence held its regular press conference, Director and spokesperson Wu Qian answered reporter’s questions.

Reporter: “The commander of the US Indo-Pacific Headquarters claimed that the US military is going to launch an initiative named “Hellscape”, by launching mass numbers of drones, unmanned submarines, and unmanned ships to turn the Taiwan stripe into an uncrossable hellscape, in order to defend against “an attack from the Chinese mainland.” The US Navy news website even went into detail about this initiative lately. What would you say to this?”

Wu Qian: “Those who are threatening to turn other people’s homes into hell should be prepared to go to hell themselves. Some people in America are willing to turn the Taiwan stripe into hell on earth in order to use it to hurt China, which is psychotic behaviour. But this also shows that if supporters of Taiwan’s independence has delusions of achieving it through relying on America, they’ll just become discarded pawns.

Taiwan belongs to China. China will never be split apart. When it comes to protecting China’s sovereignty and territorial totality and resisting outside interference, the PLA has always been unafraid of hard battles and determined to victory. Threats and intimidation has never worked on us.”

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“Is it safe to buy these unpackaged porridge stuff in the supermarket? It looks really healthy.”

Comments say, “I usually buy this stuff to feed my guinea pigs. It’s super convenient and my guinea pigs are nice and fat.”

“Nothing’s really clean. There’s even dirt and bacteria in air. Why would people look down on perfectly good food?”

“I literally just came across a news story of a cat who got into a supermarket and pooped into the unpackaged millet or corn or something, and now I can’t face unpackaged grains anymore.”

“I’ve seen a lot of people stick their hands into unpackaged grains in the supermarket and sift it around, or some moms will put their kids inside, feet and all.”

“These also come in bags, right? Try not to buy unpackaged stuff. Dirt is one thing, rats or cockroaches getting into them is another.”

“I don’t understand why all supermarkets have unpackaged bins like this. It’s so unhygienic.”

“They can tear open all the packages of stuff about to go bad and mix it together. There’s even unpackaged dumplings/rice balls/tang yuan, etc. It’s all pretty common.”

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#Ukraine launches air strike on the Crimea causing 5 deaths and over a hundred of casualties. Russia blames America. “On the 23rd, Russia successfully struck down five missiles Ukraine launched towards the Crimea port city of Sevastopol. However, the missile shrapnel fell onto the beach, causing 151 casualties and 5 deaths, three of which were children. Russian Department Defence claims that Ukrainian missiles were provided by the US military, and the trajectory of the missile was also calculated using data from American satellites. Thus, Russia believes that this terrorist attack was deliberately caused by America. So far, Ukraine has yet to issue a statement.

On the same day, Russian territory of Tajikistan was also attacked by unknown armed forces, causing 15 law enforcement officers and an unknown number of civilians to die. Mellikov states that government and law enforcement agencies have already controlled the situation and will be launching an investigation.

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“Someone accidentally took my luggage on the train and made me pay to have it shipped back.

I rode on the train from Wuhan to Shanghai on the 30th of June, G2817. I put the luggage on the top shelf of the luggage wrack. Since the Wuhan station was the first station on the route, the rack was completely empty at the time. When I went to get off the train (since I sat near the luggage wrack, I was the last person to get off of the train car, and at the time, only one suitcase was left on the bottom rack). As soon as I pulled the handle out, I noticed it was rusty and it wasn’t mine at all. So I found the conductor and filed all the information with him, and half an hour later, the person who’d mistakenly taken my luggage added me on wechat. Right away, they were like, “You took my suitcase!” ([sweatdrop emoji]).

I’ve attached the screenshots of our negotiations. He said he got off in Nanjing, and I asked him where he took his luggage from, and he said he took it from the top rack. But he also admitted he put his own luggage in the bottom rack, but he didn’t see his suitcase anywhere else so he assumed the one on the top rack was his. But when I got off in Shanghai, I saw his suitcase right there on the right side of the bottom rack.

In the end, he made me pay to have it shipped and still thinks he did nothing wrong. None of this would’ve happened if he didn’t screw up. I’d brought a lot of bedsheets that I can’t use now and I had to buy all new bedding last night. I’m already basically paying to come intern in Shanghai, and now I feel so betrayed. Worst part is, he genuinely seems to think he did nothing wrong.”

Comments say, “The person who took the wrong luggage should pay for shipping, right?”

“Honestly, you should be grateful she even gave it back in this society…”

“You just graduated, didn’t you? Once you’ve been working for a while, you’ll find there’s plenty of this type of people in society. You just can’t understand how they think.”

“You should call the police. It’s clear from the text exchange that he clearly knew he took a suitcase that wasn’t his. Taking stuff that isn’t yours is basically the same as stealing.”

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#America worries that Yutu might have driven over Armstrong’s footprint. “As China’s moon prove lands on the surface of the moon, Yutu sets out to begin working. The American government’s negotiation team was very eager to discuss with Chinese experts on how to protect the historical traces people have left ont he moon. For example, will Yutu’s wheels roll over Armstrong’s footprint? Who should the resources on the moon belong to?”

Comments say, “How can you destroy something that never existed?”

“Why don’t they go build a fence around it then?”

“But then they’d have the perfect excuse—all the evidence of the moon landing was destroyed by Yutu.”

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“After I started renting, I’ve discovered living expenses are beyond my imagination. I thought everything would get better once I graduated and got a job, but then I discovered that finding an apartment, renting it, furnishing it are all incredibly costly, both in terms of time and money. All kinds of fees add up quickly…you never know how expensive things are until you start running your own household.”

[OP attaches the checklist she made of what she had to buy, including anti-mite spray, laundry machine disinfectant, underwear laundry detergent, laundry beads, dishwasher detergent, anti-mosquito spray, anti-mould spray, two rugs, bedsheets and blankets, sofa covers, couch cushions, dishes and chopsticks, tupperware, shrink wrap, mattress protector, wet wipes [for the bathroom], toilet paper, cooking implements, condiments, curtains, shelves, desk, mirror, toilet seat cover, wardrobe, coat hangers, rice, table cloth, window shutters, lazy chair, apron, food-washing basin, men’s slippers, couple’s towels, and a basin.]

Comments say, “If it’s a short-term rental, all you need is an electric tea kettle. You’re buying stuff like you intend to live there for ten years.”

“You don’t have to buy all this shit for a rental, because you’re going to move anyways. You gotta learn how to improvise.”

“Why would you buy a rug? What are they for? They’re a pain to clean and an even bigger pain to pack eventually.”