Chapter 260: The Spread of the Crisis
Qian Meng felt her worry seep away. "Oh, no. Something came up. It's a complete mess at this point. I don't think I will go home tonight. You go home and sleep well. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" she asked.
Mo Qingchen was silent for a second. "What is it?" he said softly. "Anything I can help with? Tell me and I can make it happen."
"There is nothing you can do. You are so busy with the software trial. How can I unload my worries onto you? Just rest tonight. I'll give you updates when something big happens. Don't worry about me."
There were no greetings mentioned as Qian Meng hung up. Li Min was already inside the room, a file in her hands.
"The PR team forwarded the draft of the statement and called me. Please look at it."
Qian Meng looked at Li Min. "Did you read it already? What do you think?"
Li Min looked confident. "For now, this statement is ideal. I made sure there were no grammatical errors as well. After you approve it, we will be posting it to our social media."
"Just make sure the PR team doesn't give any comments to the news outlets right now. We will do that once we have the footage and story in line."
"Yes, Boss," the reply was immediate. Li Min left the office and Qian Meng quickly turned to the computer to check her mail. The statement was short and apt.
[The claims about our customer service standards are grievous. In light of recent events, the company is looking into this matter. Strict action against all parties found at fault will be taken.]
Qian Meng looked at it once more and nodded. It captured how serious the claims made were, but didn't specify if the company thought they were true. It showed that the company was taking this seriously and looking into the matter. It didn't matter who was at fault, they would be punished indiscriminately.
She picked up her phone and called Li Min. "Ask them to post it," she said as soon as the phone was picked up. "And when is the videotape coming in?"
"Yes. And the videotape will take some time. They are sorting through everything before sending us the footage," Li Min responded quickly.
"Just make sure you have the footage from outside the store as well. We need to see who was taking videos if it gets released to the public."
That was another headache. The videos could be edited and would show her being escorted out by the security. It would make things so much worse.
And then what she thought would happen did happen.
A video did come out.
There were two security guards on either side of Shi Yuhan. She had a faint but sarcastic smile on her lips. With how good cameras in this day and age were, the surroundings with their small details were clear.
"There is no federal law that can justify you doing this to me," she said provocatively.
"Ma'am, please. You know what law you have broken," the security said firmly, no expression on their face as they rushed her out. Quite a crowd had appeared outside, watching what the commotion was about.
"So, you don't know about my rights as a human being. What a joke!" she shouted now. Her eyes were slightly wide with panic at the words the security had said. She looked at the crowd as if she had been caught stealing, which she had.
"Ma'am, don't make this difficult for us. We are obligated to make you leave…" The crowd was buzzing with activity.
"Don't spout nonsense to me. What threat do I pose? You illegally searched me inside the store. You threatened my person and you still act all high and mighty."
The security guard refused to speak or acknowledge her taunts.
"Just because I was wearing less expensive clothes, you think you can get away with this? You guys are in so much trouble." She chuckled. "Customer care is something ingrained in our culture and you did someone important dirty."
The footage showed her shouting for a few more seconds before she quietened down as was led outside.
Li Min was seated in front of Qian Meng as they assessed the footage. "It's a good thing the security guards didn't make any rash comments while they were escorting Shi Yuhan outside," Li Min grumbled.
"Seriously. It would have been a mess if that was the case. It would have made things worse," Qian Meng agreed. While people would have thought any other client had done something wrong to be escorted out, it was a celebrity with enough money to not behave improperly.
Therefore, her story was believed. No matter what the guards said would have been twisted and turned until no truth was left. And people would believe what they wanted to.
"The video and clips from the live stream are already airing in national news. Media outlets are picking it up as well."
Qian Meng scrolled through the news and saw that most of it were really bad. The comments were looking really bad, too.
"How bad do you think this is going to hit us?" Qian Meng asked.
"The Shift is getting launched in ten days. This is the worst time for something like this to happen," Li Min whispered.
"The timing is too coincidental, don't you think?" It was a rhetorical question. "But we can't make wild guesses yet. This could be a standalone problem. Keep the manufacturing up for now. Let's see how the crisis matures and then decide if we should delay the launch or not," Qian Meng sighed.
Li Min nodded. "I'll relay the message quickly. The PR team has also sent charts on the spread of the crisis. They also added sample comments and general sentiment," Li Min added once she glanced at her phone.
"Great." She clicked open the email and downloaded the file quickly.
For something drawn up in such a short time, this was very well done.
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