I no longer focus only on personal suffering, but think about how personal suffering is formed.
Written by 丨 Zhao Jingyi
The era of consumption has created convenience stores, which make people's lives more convenient and automated, but also seem to have less fun.
From the birth of the first 711 in 1980 to today, there are more than 10,000 convenience stores in Taiwan. From cities to townships and even outlying islands, the iconic signs of 711 and FamilyMart can be seen everywhere. People can not only buy food at convenience stores, but also use printers, get license plates, show tickets, and send and receive couriers. The fast food of convenience stores has even become the first choice for many office workers to eat.
In the eyes of ordinary customers, convenience store employees are all vague. They take the minimum wage and do boring work that mainstream society considers worthless. Taiwanese novelist Huang Liqun once described their lives this way: "He changed into the same T-shirt and shorts as yesterday, and prepared to take over at the convenience store, taking the scrapped bread and milk in the store for breakfast." He picked up the key, pulled out some change in his pocket, and walked out the door, completely forgetting that today was his 32nd birthday. ”
When Zhang lixiang was in college, he worked part-time as a clerk at a convenience store in Taipei, and the master of sociology also used convenience stores as the subject of his thesis. In May 2021, he published Universal Clerk: My Convenience, Your Overwork, the Social Cost of Over-Business. In the book, Zhang Lixiang describes many details of the work of convenience stores: you must memorize the location of three or four thousand kinds of goods, understand how to make hot dogs, oden, sweet potatoes, coffee, ice cream, provide thousands of payment services, and remember the preferences of guests...
However, he has been trained in sociology and has more deep reflection. As a clerk, he would be troubled by the annoyance of customers and the tediousness of work; and inspired by sociology, he found that clerks were actually oppressed at other levels, or trapped in a meticulous system of SOPs (standard operating procedures). How to talk, how to tally, how to make food, all follow the process. In addition to serving customers, the clerk is more like a person who watches over and obeys the orders of the machine. The extremely simplified interpersonal interaction in convenience stores, while facilitating life, may also cause irreversible social drawbacks.
The following is Zhang Lixiang's dictation of the world through the eyes of a convenience store clerk.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > a person who can't say no</h1>
Once, a guest pointed at me and she said dismissively: Why should I do it? This is what you should do.
I was very busy at the time, so I said it first, but I couldn't handle it myself. This incident, this tone, I still can't forget. She does point out the essence of the problem: the different classes of clerks and customers. We don't have room to discuss with customers, you just have to do it. That moment really made you feel that you were inferior to her. Today, people still have this stereotype of a hyper-store clerk: a person who has no decision- and cannot say no.
When I was in college in Taipei, I chose to work part-time at a convenience store. In fact, even for working students, living expenses are also paid by parents. Few of the students who go to work go to work go to convenience stores part-time like me, and most of them will go to tutoring. In retrospect, I also kind of regret that I didn't do tutoring. Tutors can earn more than NT$500 per hour, which is about five times higher than convenience stores.
My calculation at that time was that although the tutor paid a high salary, it was necessary to find out who needed tutors on the Internet and run several families. If there are several different students, they still have to stagger the time and spend effort to review the homework of the country and high school. After a period of time, one of them may say that they don't need it, and suddenly they will lose this income. I think the convenience store is still relatively stable, at least no one will suddenly tell you that I don't need you anymore. My personality is introverted and doesn't like to communicate with people very much. Convenience store schedules can be arranged by themselves, making people feel more free.
My job at the convenience store lasted five or six years until I graduated from graduate school.
Most of the clerks in convenience stores are between the ages of 20 and 40, with a half-time and half-time employee ratio, and the mobility of part-time employees is high. In addition to students, many part-time jobs have their own jobs or opt for flexible work. Some people will work at a convenience store for six or seven hours during the day, and other times they can deliver to make more money. They also don't consider being a clerk for a lifetime. In contrast, full-time clerks work for a long time, often for six or seven years, or even more than a decade. Compared with part-time work, he has no flexible work arrangement, and when there is a shortage of people, he has to obey the manager to fill it. The salary of convenience stores is basically in line with the statutory minimum wage standard. Now it is a monthly salary of 24,000 yuan and an hourly salary of 160 yuan. In terms of life in Taipei, there is a statistic that the minimum personal consumption is about 17,000, but the per capita consumption is 30,000 yuan. Being a convenience store clerk will not be as generous as the average person.
Most of the full-time shop assistants are locals who choose to work at a convenience store near their home. Saving money is another advantage, convenience stores will definitely have food to be scrapped, I basically eat in the store, relying on this to save a lot of money.
Convenience stores have a low entry threshold. Regardless of the level of education, whether there is professional skills, even if you have no consumer experience, as long as you apply, look decent, clean, good attitude, many people are still willing to admit you as a convenience store clerk. Construction sites generally need to be physically fit. As for other industries, the requirements will only be higher.
In any case, the clerk who has been doing it for a long time is also full of enthusiasm for the affairs of the convenience store, and has a high status in the store and will guide the new person to work. But customers, or his relatives and friends, feel that convenience stores are a place that receives hourly wages and part-time jobs, and is not a profession at all.
So, they have a sense of contrast: they may be respected by their colleagues in the store, but society does not expect much from you.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" > mystery guest watching you</h1>
Convenience stores are actually a link in community relations.
In Taiwan, there are many foreign workers in Vietnam and Indonesia, who may not be familiar with Chinese, and sometimes come to convenience stores to help household owners send things, or they want to send money home. After the clerk sees it, he will take the initiative to help, help fill in the address on the form, etc. Some visually impaired people will tell us what we need, or recharge our mobile phones, and the clerk will take the initiative to help when they are free.
Each store should also be operated locally. For example, in stores close to schools, the store manager should know when the nearby high school and university are on holiday, and at what point in time will hold large-scale activities such as sports meetings, school celebrations, and examinations. He would go to the official websites of these schools and check the corresponding orders. In the vicinity of the business district, look at their Facebook, line dynamics, you can also know the latest activities, and then do the manual shift.
A lot of the information also comes from nearby clerks and regular customers. Some guests will run to say that it is about to be Purdue, which is a community worship activity for ghosts and gods. When guests are familiar with it, they sometimes send the keys to the store and tell you who is going to come and get it. Or when he went to the market to buy vegetables, he would say that he would borrow the refrigerator to ice the dishes, and he would have to go to other places to run errands. Such convenience stores are more humane and will be supported by neighbors.
Convenience stores welcome everyone, even those who are economically disadvantaged. Office workers will make some purchases during the meal time, and they can eat breakfast, Lunch, coffee and other fast foods immediately. Students have less spending power and come to buy cheap snacks after class. In the evening, some women will come to do family shopping, buy vegetables, shiitake mushrooms, chicken, and some frozen food, and go back to cooking. Most of the elderly just come to buy a drink, want to sit down, rub a cold. He probably needs the space to buy a cigarette, read a newspaper, and take a walk.
The clerks like the customers who leave immediately after buying something. The longer you stay, the more you ask for help finding things, ask for help finding things at checkout, help him pack things in, what's in the middle, what's next to it... Such guests are the least likeable. If you just stay in the lounge area for a long time, quiet, even if you don't consume, many stores don't feel how to do it, anyway, this is also a public space open to guests.
What we fear most is actually the mystery. They are staff pretending to be customers, doing some difficult and few things to see if the clerks can provide better service. It's a monitor and test, and it's a source of stress for stores. If your rating is low, you may be deducted from the bonus or criticized by the headquarters.
When there are many guests, we also have to pay attention to the mystery guests, which is too tired. Just by appearance, we can't tell who is the mystery guest, and the people who come every time are different, it may be a staff sent by the headquarters, it may be a third-party company entrusted, and some magazines will hold service industry evaluation surveys.
At this time, the stores in the region will cooperate with each other. Which shop finds the mystery customer, will photograph him and pass it on in the line group, reminding the nearby store to pay more attention. At this time, we are all vigilant, treat each guest well, and then return to the daily service level after the mystery guest leaves.
How do I take a picture? Generally using CCTV (surveillance probe), some convenience stores will have single-sided mirrors. The outside can't see the inside, the inside can see the outside, just use the mobile phone to shoot this person. It is likely that the headquarters is also aware of this cooperation between stores, sharing intelligence to deal with secret surveillance. But they can't interfere much, they control too much, and the protests in each store are louder.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="31" > machine is also urging you</h1>
Convenience stores have a low threshold, but it is difficult to do well. The first week I went, the cash register was busy, giving each customer only a few seconds. I accidentally took the wrong receipt and gave it to the next customer. The previous customer became impatient and said that he had given his personal information to a stranger. It was a telecommunications bill receipt with three barcodes on it, one of which would show the account number name. In theory, there will be no impact, but the guests are very concerned. We went to the police station together and were delayed for several hours.
We will avoid disputes with our guests, especially when it comes to money. Some guests do not need invoices, and you have to destroy them in front of him. Because invoices can be redeemed, if you stay and save up to redeem them together, you are suspected of stealing the assets of customers. There have been many related complaint cases in Taiwan. Whether it is an invoice or a point of interest, it is the asset of the guest, he just does not want it, it does not mean that it is given to you.
At convenience stores, headquarters doesn't let store clerks act creatively because it means uncontrollable. The manager doesn't want the clerk to invent something demonic, such as sweet potatoes that taste better if cooked raw, or add new spices that are more delicious. He would ask everything to follow the steps. This kind of technical work is contradictory to people's creativity, basically every step will be specified, very concise and clear, to avoid the clerk to show creativity.
Even if you chat with guests, if you talk too long, even if you are not busy at the time, many store managers will be very angry. He needs you to make good use of your time to do some cleaning or tidy up the environment of the store. Of course, some store managers don't care much. In general, most management styles tend to suppress people's initiative.
Every lunch and dinner time, the clerks still go to dinner. The manga says that it will be eaten in a few minutes, which is a more exaggerated situation. But once there are more customers, the clerk will have to interrupt his lunch to cope with the busyness of the store. From the hourly wage system, the time to eat is included, and it will not be said that a certain time is not money. Clerks with a strong sense of morality will be embarrassed to rest for too long, and the pressure will be heavy.
I am reluctant to describe the work of a clerk as overworked, after all, there are limits to working hours, and the biggest problem I face in my work is mental stress. In addition to the large number of customers, some people have more requirements, and the clerks are often in a state of fatigue because their work is interrupted. In addition to the service to the guests, the clerk also needs to replenish the goods, tidy up the storefront, and handle a lot of machines.
We would continue to cash in while we were working on coffee while the microwave was turning another customer's rice ball. At this time, there may be a guest in the distance asking you to help find something. Sometimes, when a guest reminds you that the rice balls have not been taken out, you will remember them. The machine will also urge you to heat the water of the tea egg machine before it dries up. Milk from the coffee machine to replenish. When the sweet potato machine makes a "forcing" sound, it is urging you to take it out quickly...
Many times, when you leave work, there is no overlap in time with colleagues who come to work. If there happens to be a large influx of customers, or a large number of goods have arrived at the store, you will have to leave work late. Of course this is a special case. If your goods are not replenished, or some work is not completed, you must complete the work before you can leave.
It's like, clock-in system, off-work responsibility. Or, to put it in the hands of the clerk, the uncontrollable cost. The meaning of the manager is that whether or not he leaves work on time is related to the quality and skills of the clerk. If you have to stay after work to finish, prove that your ability is a little worse than others.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" > people who are no longer prepared and prepared</h1>
My Master's thesis in Sociology focused on convenience stores. When I was a clerk before, I just thought, why are customers so annoying? Why should I do so many things? I've been irritable. But with a sociological perspective, I think that maybe it's not that the guests are annoying, but that I'm oppressed on other levels.
I began studying sociology in college, and during this time I have been working in supermarkets and making some related reports. By the beginning of my junior year, I slowly discovered problems with convenience stores themselves. I no longer focus only on personal suffering, but think about how personal suffering is formed.
Sociology can help us understand our situation. In Taiwan, many people complain that their working hours are too long, but they will feel that they are not working fast enough, complaining that the skills of a colleague are too poor; instead of accusing the company itself of being bad, its system, organization, or the social structural problems behind it, and rarely thinking about why they fell into a bad environment.
I am vaguely aware that people generally have a sense of deprivation of time, so they have to use money to buy other people's time. The rise of convenience stores in Taiwan also happened after the 1980s, which was the era of economic take-off. After everyone earns more, they think about whether it is time to go to supermarket consumption, rather than go to the market to bargain. Now, even myself, I am willing to buy more expensive and exquisite food, and ask the delivery staff to send it over.
In the global working hour ranking, Taiwan ranks very high. The whole society has the expectation of working eight to ten hours. The boss also wants employees to work more overtime, which cannot be changed in a short period of time. Working hours is actually a direct deprivation. Employees in small companies are more likely to receive messages from supervisors after work and explain work on the line. People will also discuss, after work standby, is it counted as working hours? But if you don't go back to line, you may be fired, or hated and punished by your supervisor. This shows that in Taiwan, the importance of work is much higher than in the field of private life.
Society as a whole has also become "super-commercialized", and in the past we still said "McDonald's". McDonald's is using standardized methods to make food faster. At convenience stores, we sell not only food, but also various daily necessities, including transportation, tickets, and other services. Before, we just felt that eating needed to be accelerated. Now, we want all other aspects of life to save time and be in line with the principle of efficiency.
Guests also expect that the clerks will serve themselves faster, and the wait of a few minutes will become long. I wrote the book "The Universal Clerk" in the hope that the reader will realize that the clerk is not as idle as you think, he has a lot of tasks. We need to learn to respect and cooperate with each other, for example, the speed of checkout is not determined by the clerk alone. Guests should not wait until they reach the counter to remember to take out the change in their wallets. For store clerks with bad attitudes, people may complain or post on the Internet to complain. But at the same time, people are also reflecting on and reviewing the Aok culture (Aoke is a direct transliteration of the Taiwanese language, which means to make excessive demands or impolite guests).
In Taiwan, digitalization is also underway, and you can now use your mobile phone to buy tickets and performance tickets. At first, I also didn't understand, booking tickets, paying fees, these things, why do they have to come to the supermarket? Later, I understood that in fact, people go to supermarket, not only to complete certain needs, but also to get the feeling of interpersonal interaction. Buying tickets, mobile phones can also be used, but I still want to get physical tickets, which can be held in my hand and can be used as a souvenir. I came to the convenience store to buy something because I wanted to see what was on the shelves, rather than choosing it on my phone and waiting for someone to send it over.
The cost of being highly digital is that it will wear some of its humanity out. I only care about the results achieved, not the process of achieving them. We also need an actual consumer experience, rather than an empty sense of consumption and acquisition on the desk. Therefore, as far as the invasion of digitalization is concerned, the prosperity of convenience stores is also a good thing to some extent.
In the future, even if the overall working hours are reduced, after the habit of convenience culture is formed, people will not go back. Convenience stores will surely become more and more prosperous, and the disadvantages it brings will be difficult to solve.
To get something, it's faster and more convenient, you don't need to make it up front, you don't have to figure out what's behind it. When we enjoy this culture of convenience, we will become more and more dependent on the outside world, and our own energy motivation will become lower and lower. Whether it's cooking something yourself or doing something by hand, these senses of accomplishment and fun are wiped out. Eventually, modern man becomes a man who is no longer prepared and prepared.
Universal Shopkeeper: My Convenience, Your Overwork, The Social Cost of Supermarkets, Lixiang Zhang, Guerrilla Culture, 2021-5, ISBN: 9789869934794
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Title image source: People's Vision
The author, Zhao Jingyi, is a novel lover who has been traveling in Beijing for a long time. Concerned with changing things and the specific situation of different people in their time.