07/18/24 - Why do young people these days have such weird thoughts like they might not ever get social security?
#Coworker drowns after drinking, fellow partygoer sentenced to 10K RMB in damages. “Lately, Mr. Liu in Jiangsu went over to his coworker, Mr. Yan’s place to eat. The next morning, he was found dead from drowning. His blood alcohol content was 319.6mg/100ml. Afterwards, Mr. Liu’s family sued Mr. Yan and two other attendants of the party, Wang and Shen, in court.
The court ruled that as the organiser of the party, Mr. Yan did not fulfil his responsibility to maintain safety, so he should shoulder some of the responsibility. But at the same time, Mr. Liu was an independent adult who should’ve foreseen the potential dangerous effects of overdrinking, and should take primary responsibility for his death.
Finally, the court ruled that Mr. Liu is 90% responsible, Mr. Yan is 5% responsible, and Mr. Wang and Shen are both 2.5% responsible. The three should pay a total of 10K RMB in damages to Mr. Liu’s family.
Comments say, “Great ruling.”
“That’s how it should be. If you drank together, then all of you have a responsibility to each other. Don’t like it, don’t drink together.”
“So, this means that nobody is allowed to attend a party anymore? Just live your own life and never get involved with anyone?”
#Worker fined 209K for being late multiple times. “A worker was fined well over 200K in wages due to showing up to work late many times through the year. After he went to labour arbitration to demand the company pay him his owed wages, the company sued him in court.
As Shanghai’s Huangpu District Court explains, Mr. Jiang was hired at a certain pharmaceutical company in a logistics and sales position in September of 2019. His pay every month was composed of 24,000 RMB as basic pay, plus another 6000 in commission. According to the company’s attendance policy, workers who no call no show, show up late, leave early, be absent from their desk for more than 60 minutes are all considered absent for the day. If the total amount of time by which you’re late or leave early in a month is greater than 10 minutes and less than 30 minutes, you get fined 1% of your monthly salary. If you’re late for more than 3 times, from the fourth time you’re late, every time you’re late, it’s considered one day of absence. Every day of absence will get you fined for 8% of your monthly salary.
From the 30th of November 2020 to the 30th of November 2021, based on their attendance policy ad Mr. Jiang’s attendance record, Mr. Jiang was fined 209,400 RMB of his salary. Mr. Jiang applied for labour arbitration and claimed that the company was not legally allowed to deduct his pay for absences and demanded his pay back.
Arbitration ruled that the company should return Mr. Jiang his pay, and the company was dissatisfied with the result and took the case to court.
The court ruled that companies can use internal policy to punish workers for tardiness, including not paying wages for time not worked. However, such managerial powers should be used cautiously and kindly. Normal companies do not have the right to levy fines, and excessive fines are against the law and against common sense. Workers should just be paid for just the time they actually worked.
Looking at the amount of time that Mr. Jiang was actually absent from work, after calculations, the amount of money Mr. Jiang should’ve been fined for being late is 12,781.90 RMB. So the court has ruled that the company has to pay Mr. Jiang back 196,618.10 RMB.
After the first hearing, neither party has appealed.”
Comments say, “So why don’t we get paid for overtime, then?”
“All I know is that even if I showed up late every year, I wouldn’t be able to get my company to fine me 200K, because that’s way more than my total pay.”
“But it’s not reasonable to ask salespeople to clock in every day to begin with.”
#How to tell if your takeout is prepackaged food. “You can check this before you order takeout next time. After all, nobody wants to buy prepackaged food for tens of dollars.”
[OP shows how to click into the restaurant information on takeout apps where you can pull up a photo of their business license, which will say whether the company is only approved to sell “prepackaged food” or whether they’re actually licensed to cook.]
Comments say, “I didn’t know you could do that! I learned something today!”
“The best solution is just to cook yourself.”
“Saved, thanks.”
#Uncontacted tribe discovered in Peru’s Amazon. “According to Reuters’ news report on the 17th, indigenous rights organisations have posted a series of videos of the mysterious Mashco-Piro tribe in the Amazon region of Peru. In the video, many tribe members appeared near where the local logging company was active.
Said organisation explained that the Mashco-Piro tribe was one of the primitive tribes cut off from the world, mostly living between Peru’s nature reserves and almost never show themselves to people or attempt communication with the outside world.
Not long ago, about 60 members were found in villages in Southeast Peru. The local indigenous rights organisation claimed that the Mashco-Piro tribe has been frequently leaving the rainforest due to their attempts to avoid loggers. Reports claim that multiple logging companies have obtained a license to cut trees in the Mashco-Piro tribe’s living area. One company even built over 200 kilometres of road so that trucks can be used for logging purposes.
The local indigenous rights organisation criticises that the local government has failed to protect the region. More and more logging companies and workers might bring new diseases and violent conflict, causing harm to the Mashco-Piro tribe. They claim that this is an ongoing humanitarian disaster and all logging permits need to be urgently recalled. We need to recognise that this area belongs to the Mashco-Piro people.
Comments say, “We’re in the information age. How are there still primitive people?”
“We still have cavemen in the 21st century? What rare footage of what primitive tribal people lived like. They look so carefree.”
“Get them a modern lifestyle already! I get pissed off when I see people who don’t have to worry about house or car payments.”
#Three men get assigned to the bridesmaid party instead. “13th of July, in Weifang, Shandong, a bride didn’t have enough bridesmaids and called her bros to fill in. Three men were moved to the bridesmaid’s party instead by the groom. Ms. Li says, “At first, they were pretty embarrassed to put on the bridesmaid dresses, but the more photos we took, the more into it they got.”
Comments say, “I just want to know how you talked them into it XD”
“Why didn’t you provide makeup to your bridesmaids? No hairstyling either??”
“Who would refuse an opportunity to get into the middle of the bridesmaids?”
“Why do young people these days have such weird thoughts like they might not ever get social security?”
Comments say, “Because multiple young people are supporting one old person right now, so old people have it super nice. But our social security is already bankrupt, and look at our birthrate. Just 9 million a year. If you can survive to retirement age, how many young people will be around to support you?”
“What if our generation doesn’t get to retire until 70? Can you live to 100? Or 200?”
“Every industry is trying to take my life. You really think I can survive to retirement in this body?”
“Because people are getting more in social security than we’re getting paid at work. What do you think?”
“When did you notice consumption downgrade? Mixue has 30 different types of drinks, and everyone is only ordering the 4-5 RMB lemonade.”
Comments say, “That’s what I ordered. It’s so cheap, tho.”
“Lemonade is just what I’m in the mood for in the summer. Sure, cheapness is a factor, but I just want something sweet and tart. It’s really hydrating in the summer heat.”
“Ohhh, I see. So lemonade doesn’t actually taste good at all, but it’s healthy.”
#Why do workers feel so ashamed when asking for time off? “You’re the one getting pay deducted when you take time off. Even if it’s paid time off, that’s a part of your benefits to begin with. But everyone gets so nervous asking for time off.
What excuse do you make up to get a day off? I borrow it next time I need to take some time off.”
A compilation of comments, “I think this culture of shame was formed in school, including insecurity when faced with your superiors and this supposed “obedience”. They’ve trained you into being used to this culture at school, so once you’re int he workplace, you’re still influenced. You have to get permission to get time off. You need permission for everything you want to do.”
“You remind me of something else, like every stage of our life is really hard. It’s hard in school, it’s hard in work, it’s hard in marriage, it’s hard with kids. We almost never feel like we’re going through a happy period, because we keep being subjected to “suffering education.” We’re always taught, “It’ll get better once you blah blah blah….” But actually, enjoying the moment is what’s actually important. If you keep waiting and waiting, your life will just slip by in the blink of an eye.”
“I have such strong time off shame. Every time I ask for time off, I have to hype myself up for the longest time before I send a message, and I’ll worry about exactly how to word it all day long too.”
“Me too! It’s like I’ve been PUA’d long term or something.”
“Because you need permission for time off. If you don’t get permission, it counts as an absence. Absences can be an excuse to fire you. This isn’t just a matter of having pay deducted.”
“After time off shame, I have clock out shame too. Hardly anyone at my company leaves work on time. We all have to waste half an hour before leaving, and even then, there’s still clock out shame.”
“That’s just involution. Leave this environment, and you’ll see what happiness and freedom feels like. None of my coworkers involute now.”
“Whenever my underlings ask for time off from me, I just give permission right away and never ask the reason, because I know they’re self-aware and responsible. I’m sure they have a good reason to need time off. But I’ll tell them, “If the higher ups ask about it, make sure you know what to tell them.””
“I asked for my annual leave and my boss didn’t want to give it to me.”
“Guys, gals, when you take time off, your PTO time or pay is what’s getting deducted. Just get your work in order and demand time off. Don’t feel ashamed about it.”
“I was scared of teachers as a kid and scared of my boss as an adult.”
“I never felt ashamed of getting time off from school. I was just happy to get a day to rest in that high stress environment. But if I take time off of work and get pay deducted, I’ll feel super ashamed, because I feel like if I’m not even capable of showing up to work every day as a grown ass adult, it’s a sign that I don’t have enough determination or something.”
“Ever since my boss said we can take time off if we don’t have customers, I’ve been paying attention to the work groupchat to see if everyone else had an appointment with a customer (I’ve completely laid flat and stopped setting up appointments). Every night around 11PM, I’ll be like, “I don’t have any customers tomorrow so I’m taking the day off~” But I’m pretty stressed out too. Without an attendance bonus, I only get a basic 100 RMB a day (but laying around in an air-conditioned room all summer without having to work is also pretty great).”
“I just go ahead and book the tickets and hotel rooms, and I can get 8 days in a row counting the weekend. Whether they approve of my leave or not, I’m going. If they won’t even let me have my annual leave, I might as well quit anyways.”
“I used to feel shame, but I stopped once I found out I was getting paid 1000 RMB less than all my coworkers. After all, you can’t get anything good for cheap. I’ve laid flat.”
“Once I’ve been on a roadtrip twice, I never want to go on one again. Here’s the top 10 reasons why:
It’s too expensive. No matter where you go, it costs 300-500 RMB a day. 100 RMB for food, 100 RMB for hotel room, 100 RMB for tourist spot tickets, and I’m not even counting gas, wear and tear on your car, toll road, parking fees, etc. Even if you park your car at the hotel, that’s still an average of 300 RMB per day per person. Any long trip at all quickly becomes unaffordable.
Driving is really tiring. Even if you only drive 250km a day, that’s still 5-6 hours on the highway, and that causes dizziness, dry eyes, sore shoulders and necks, and your back and side muscles get really tired too. Sometimes, you have to put up with really bright sunlight too, and I feel like my arms are about to carbonise from the sun.
Traffic is super annoying. Drivers on the road have very different levels of manners. Some cars don’t turn off their far lights at night, some cars will drive on the oncoming traffic lane to get past traffic jams, some cars will try to pass you on a curve, or lean on their horn for no reason behind you. Not only is the experience just awful, but it can involve really frustrating traffic jams too. A lot of tourist spots are fairly small, and sometimes, you’ll be circling for 30 minutes without finding a parking spot. And if you run into a traffic jam, you might be stuck until the next morning.
You never have enough time at tourist attraction. “You can’t enjoy the view while driving, you can’t drive while enjoying the view.” A lot of traffic accidents happen during road trips because of distracted drivers. While you’re driving, you have to keep your eyes on the road. No matter how beautiful the scenery is to either side, you still can’t enjoy it fully. You can’t stop wherever you want on the high way, so out of safety concern, you don’t actually get to enjoy the view at all. You just have to listen to the delighted chatter of your passengers and imagine it in your head, and maybe glance at it every one in a while.
Bad food and living conditions. You’re in an unfamiliar environment, so you have to just stop at any random restaurant on the road to eat. The flavour and price is all up to luck. You’re sleeping in motels the whole way. Aside from being super expensive, they’re often smelly, noisy, dirty, etc, etc.
Safety risks. If you don’t know where you’re driving, you have to ask for directions frequently. If you drive into a swamp, your car could get stuck. If you have to go on a dirt road, it could hurt the chassis. If a tire goes flat, you have to take out all your luggage and waste a lot of effort putting in a spare. If your car starts acting up, you’re stressed out the whole way, and the whole vacation mood is gone.
Car maintenance. Aside from gas, parking, and toll roads, there’s a lot of wear and tear on your car too that a lot of people fail to calculate. Normally speaking, your car drops in value by 50 cents every kilometre you drive. You have to get a full maintenance check after every long road trip, and that’s another big expense too.
Taking care of passengers. As long as you’re sitting in the driver’s seat, you’ve turned into the whole car’s free tour guide. Not only do you have to drive, you have to set the itinerary, find a restaurant, book hotels, show them around tourist attractions, and no one else has to worry about anything. If you’re travelling with old people or small kids, they need extra care, and the kids might fuss the whole way. No matter how beautiful the scenery is, you won’t be in the mood to enjoy it.
Itineraries are a pain in the ass. If you’re going on a road trip, you’re setting your itinerary yourself, and putting together a good route takes at least 3-5 days, or maybe even a whole month. The amount of energy it takes to figure out a route, schedule, attractions, food, and hotels is almost like a mini Gaokao.
Boring. The formula to every roadtrip is like you drive to somewhere new, you stay a night, and you drive another 300km the next day, and get to another new place, and stay a night, and so on and so forth, day after day. You get scenic drives, maybe a walk around a tourist attraction, but you almost never get to really experience the local culture.
This is what most road trips are like. There might be a couple of diehard road trip enthusiast, but they have a lot of free time to only drive 50 km a day. They have a lot of spare money to spend half a month wherever they want. For these people, road trips are a convenient way to stop and go whenever they want.
But not all travellers have that much time or money. Most salarymen only have 7-8 days for their vacation to finish a 2000km loop through Sichuan/Shanxi, Gansu/Qinghai, etc. So long as you have limited time and budget and want to see a lot of attractions, you’re going to run into all 10 of my complaints.
If you really want to get into a tourist spot’s local culture, I suggest you guys backpack instead. It’s got more freedom, and you get to ride with locals, shop with locals, eat with locals, and see what locals see, not all the attractions built by out of staters for out of staters.
Once you’ve tried it, you’ll find that sitting on an old rickety train by yourself, listening to old timey songs, watching the mountains fly by from the window is a lot more interesting than sitting in the driver’s seat, nervously watching the road conditions.”
Comments say, “What a waste of time. You still need to have time and money at the end of the day.”
“China’s gas prices are too high and income is too low. Road trips are just looking for more ways to suffer.”
“You’ll end up with so many tickets on your car.”