Chapter 200: Chapter 200: Stubborn peers
When he returned home in the evening, he was once again mocked by his sister for buying an ugly big metal box for several hundred thousand yuan. Of course, he didn't dare to tell the original price, as his parents would nag him to death, so he first discounted it by half, then by half again, and the final price he quoted was only slightly higher than half the original price.
Mei Qiuping served the last dish and said with a smile, 'It's not very attractive, but it looks quite sturdy.' She would generally support her son unconditionally on general issues.
During the meal, Feng Yiping mentioned that he wanted to skip a grade. Feng Zhenchang spoke up, and unlike back home, where he always had to beat about the bush, he went straight to the heart of the matter, 'Can you guarantee that you'll be top of your class in the arts after skipping a grade?'
'I can't guarantee that, but you'll definitely get into university.'
'Then you'd better study hard. We're in no hurry for you to come out and earn money. Getting into a good university is the most important thing.' Mei Qiuping was also very insistent on this issue.
Feng Yiping tried many times, but in the end, he was still met with the same question: Can skipping a grade guarantee first place?
He then realised that the teachers in primary and junior high school had instilled in him the idea that getting into a good university was the way to become a winner in life, and the people who had accepted it most thoroughly were actually his parents.
Feng Yiping was very depressed. He felt even more depressed than the scholar who encountered the soldier.
Back home, adults often use the common saying 'a scholar meets a soldier, words cannot explain' to describe a cultured and reasonable person encountering someone who prefers to use force over words. Then no matter how much you quote from the classics or how persuasive you are, they remain unmoved and refuse to listen.
Imagine a person who is right, but because of a particular person, all the reasons they have prepared to say, all the reasons they have in their belly, are stifled by a simple sentence or a single action. The frustration is so great that they could spit blood!
But the most frustrating situation is not like this.
Excluding possible contingencies, there are at least three types of people in a man's life that are more frustrating and more frustrating than 'the scholar meets the soldier'.
These three people are, in terms of reason, nuclear bombs. No matter how much you swear (not swear words, but the US missile defence system, which is interesting because the acronym is so similar to our swear words), they are all useless.
Feng Yiping later felt that they were: your elderly parents; your pregnant wife; and your young children.
It seems that now you have to add one more: your parents, who are not old, but who are single-mindedly convinced that this is what is best for you.
Feng Yiping is at his wits' end in the face of this situation. What else can he do? He can only study hard in high school, and in the future, as his parents hope, get into one of the top universities in the country, so as to make their life story a little more perfect.
For Feng Yiping, this is no big loss, and it is not a matter of principle. Didn't his parents unconditionally support his unreasonable request to suspend his studies in order to profit from the financial crisis?
If parents can understand their children in this way, it is only reasonable for the children to appreciate their persistence in return, as a way of being filial to their parents.
Besides, even if they stay in school, they will not be delayed in doing what they need to do.
More hands make light work. Before returning to school, Feng Yiping had already received the work plan drawn up by Zhou Xinyu and the others. Some people would stay in the provincial capital first, using the phones they had brought from their previous units to liaise with suppliers about purchasing matters. The rest would go to the city to start with site selection and prepare for the preliminary work.
Feng Yiping signed the plan and approved the budget for buying a car. 'How are you getting on with everyone?' he asked, which was a veiled way of asking if Zhou Xinyu and the others had naturally formed a clique.
'Very well. We're all young people and we're all here to get things done, so we're getting along very well so far.'
'You've worked hard!' He said to Gao Zhiyi with a smile, knowing that the credit must go to his office manager.
'Not at all, just a little pay rise in the future will do,' Gao Zhiyi also joked with a smile.
Although the work he is doing now is not related to his profession, Gao Zhiyi has regained his long-lost passion. As a founding member, he is also very satisfied with starting a promising career together.
To be honest, Feng Yiping is not used to the old-fashioned high-pressure management style. He quite likes the current working atmosphere. Just like those well-known IT companies later, he also wants to create a family atmosphere in the company.
For this reason, he made a decision and made it a system. Within the company, everyone should not call each other by their job title. Only for courtesy, those slightly older people like Zhou Xinyu should add a teacher after their surname.
In the early days of a company, efficiency is always the highest. By Thursday, they had already rented a large warehouse first, and then the twenty people that Feng Zhanchang had decided on were also sent over by two school teachers. That day, pre-vocational training began in full swing.
On Saturday afternoon, Feng Yiping drove to the warehouse that is now used as a training base. This was a new warehouse built when the former city glass factory was doing well, but in recent years the factory has been in a downturn and the warehouse has not been used. However, the hardware is still quite good.
Ten men and ten women, twenty young people of similar age to Feng Yiping, sat attentively behind the desks, watching a large TV in the centre.
What was playing on the TV was a Japanese TV drama about a Shinkansen train attendant. Of course they weren't meant to be watching TV. Zhou Xinyu paused from time to time while they watched, calling on everyone to discuss and summarise the etiquette at work, how to deal with difficult passengers, and so on. He then extended the discussion to convenience stores: how should similar situations be handled?
There are no special etiquette classes in China yet, nor tutorials on how to deal with emergencies at work. This TV series is really quite suitable, and it is entertaining as well as educational, which makes a deeper impression on these girls and boys.
Zhou Xinyu nodded when he saw Feng Yiping come in. Feng Yiping found a seat in the back row and watched those in front of him speak enthusiastically, afraid of leaving a bad impression on the people in charge of the training. Feng Yiping was very moved. Wasn't he originally just like them now?
But his first pre-job training was even more intense. During the day, it was harsh paramilitary training, and at night, there were academic studies. There were frequent assessments, and anyone who failed would be fired on the spot. At the time, thinking about the family's debts and the thousands of dollars he would earn each month after starting work, he worked like crazy.
During his breaks, Feng Yiping looked at the people his father had chosen. Regardless of their abilities, they all looked quite attractive. Of course, this was good. Attractive waiters and waitresses in a service industry are a condition for customers to feel comfortable, especially those cashiers, who are the face of the convenience store, and of course, the better-looking the better.
After Zhou Xinyu, Hong Haoran went up with a few boards to explain the work process. The work process has now basically been set in stone. From the moment you enter the store in the morning, everyone in each position knows what to do first and what to do next. Everything is laid down in detail. This is a very boring but also very crucial thing. It is their work guide, and they must all be proficient in it. Of course, they will also be assessed afterwards.
The evenings are not easy either. Although there is only one training session after dinner, this is currently the most demanding. One hour after dinner, all 20 trainees stand in military formation. The current requirement is one hour for the boys and 45 minutes for the girls.
As everyone who has participated in military training knows, something that seems so simple is actually the most difficult to do.
However, this is a basic requirement for staff working in a place of business such as a convenience store. During normal working hours, they have to stand for half a day at a time. Feng Yiping and the others require that for the final assessment, the boys stand for four hours and the girls for three hours.
The training was of course very strict. Zhou Xingyu and the others gave each person three pieces of paper to hold between their hands and knees. If you moved even slightly, the paper would fall, and you would have to start again from the beginning.
Feng Yiping saw that on such a day, several people were sweating profusely on their faces. Although their eyes were fixedly staring straight ahead, inside they were hollow and it seemed that they were persisting entirely out of a sense of conviction.
Feng Yiping had also suffered such hardship in his youth. When he first stood for an hour, he experienced what it meant to see stars for the first time. During the final assessment, he stood for four hours, feeling as if his legs were not his own. Not only was his close-fitting clothing soaked through with sweat, but his loafers were also soaked through. There was a puddle of water next to each person's feet, but it wasn't water, it was sweat.
However, these children from the old country are very persevering and tenacious. Maybe a few days ago, when they were at home, they were still the objects of their parents' coddling, but now, none of them are complaining, just like the person they will become in the future. Feng Yiping is very gratified!