*This article is from an oral account by a respondent:
I took calls from more than a hundred strangers a day: an otaku who didn't want meat and vegetables but only a box of instant noodles, an old lady who had to cure constipation with bananas, an old smoker who raised the price of Red Double Happiness to soft China, a girl who almost collapsed for a data line.
My name is Wang Zhongkui, I am 41 years old, and I am the manager of the RT-Mart Nanhui store in Shanghai. I and 105 employees have been guarding the store for 32 days.
Because of a small oolong, my personal phone number was sent out as a material emergency hotline. Then I might have become the hottest person in the town.
At 6:00 a.m. on April 1, a material support notice with my phone number was sent. I started getting calls at 7 o'clock, and I didn't realize what was going on. After all, I am in charge of a large supermarket, and at this time, it is quite normal for a strange phone to ask for supplies.
As a result, as soon as one phone was put down, another phone call came in, one after another, and more than 100 calls were connected.
At the end of the day, my head was dizzy.
Wang Zhongkui's call list
As soon as the end of the phone opened, it was the name of the dish, some wanted meat, eggs and milk, some wanted vegetables, some wanted to diaper, all kinds of things, eager to order our goods over and over again.
I have been working in the business supermarket for 17 years, and I have experienced a lot of new year goods and promotions every year, and I have also done material support work during the epidemic. But this time it's not the same.
When there is no epidemic, as long as you can buy anything with money, it seems that there is no difference between buying a chicken or a duck.
But under the epidemic situation, because I inexplicably became the operator of the material hotline, I learned what different people wanted to buy the most, and saw what was the most urgent thing in people's hearts in the sealed environment.
Later I reacted that it was actually a oolong.
Since RT-Mart was listed as a material supply enterprise, because many local communities have been sealed, our main docking is the centralized order of the community neighborhood committee, who uniformly purchases rice flour oil, meat, eggs and milk and vegetables here, and then sends volunteers to pick up the goods, and the neighborhood committee arranges for people to distribute them to the household.
So we basically couldn't serve individual customers later, because under the epidemic, this did not meet the epidemic prevention regulations, and the risk was also very high.
In fact, the notice should have left the phone number of our docking staff, not my private number. Maybe the situation was more urgent at that time, so it was put on. As a result, whether it is the community or individual customers, as long as there is a lack of things in the family, they all come to me.
There are some phone calls, and they are really urgent needs. Saying that it is a need may be a little inappropriate, but it is more like asking for help.
For example, a mother called, saying that the child in the family was just 20 days old, she did not have breast milk, the milk powder at home was also eaten, and wanted to buy some milk powder and diapers.
Now that I think back to that mother's voice, my nose will be sore, the baby's cry on the phone is urgent and sharp, she pulled her throat to make the needs clear, and said more than a dozen thanks before hanging up the phone.
I have a ten-year-old son in Changzhou, and if there is no epidemic, I will go home once a week. I understand how anxious a mother is when her child is hungry.
Infant milk powder has become an urgently needed material under the control.
Someone else called for help, saying that there were only two potatoes left in the house, and they were all sprouting. Later, I saw on the Internet that someone really asked a serious question: Can sprouted potatoes be eaten?
There are also people who answer improperly below: potatoes sprouted in Shanghai can be eaten, don't eat them elsewhere.
It's a little bit funny.
Some of the reasons for asking for help, I have not experienced it and really can't think of it. Most people may want meat, eggs, milk and vegetables, but meat and vegetables are not valuable to everyone.
Some young people after 00 or just working told me on the phone that because they usually have no cooking habits, there is no pot at home, and meat and vegetables have no meaning to him. He wanted instant noodle biscuits and some fruit.
I can't help but wonder, does he have a lot of sprouted potatoes in his house?
For young people who can't cook, potatoes on the ground are not worth a bag of instant noodles.
I wondered for half a day if this counted as an emergency? Later, I thought, can't let people starve to death with a bunch of vegetables and meat? This is also too sad. That's no way, we can only arrange some instant noodles for him.
The old man also asked for help a lot, once we delivered bananas to an old lady, because she would be constipated if she didn't eat bananas.
Honestly, I was a little hesitant at the time, because our main solution was the problem of eating, although people can't let that die, but they are always anxious but hungry, right?
When I answered the phone, a female employee heard it and told me that her father had the same problem, that the constipation of the elderly was very painful, and that excessive defecation could also cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems, and I realized how urgent this need was.
Another urgent need I didn't expect was a data cable, especially an Apple line.
After the community is sealed, the mobile phone is the only channel for many people to contact the outside world, and the data line cannot be charged by a bad mobile phone, which is equivalent to completely breaking contact with the world.
I was most impressed by a little girl, who said that her mobile phone had less than 10% of the electricity left, almost with a crying voice asked me how long it would take to deliver, she had to turn off the phone immediately, estimated the time to turn on the phone to answer the phone.
There is no way, these are not in the plan, but when you encounter this situation, you can only send it.
These days, the most unexpected and urgently needed item for me is adult diapers.
I usually don't ask about this situation, I guess it is likely to be a bedridden elderly person or partner at home, and I know that as a relative, I must be in a hurry.
Although adult diapers are actually not the basic necessities we say, can we say that this is not urgent?
Both diapers and adult diapers may become much needed items in sealing.
Although my main job is management, I can't refuse to receive such a particularly anxious phone call, such as those involving infants, widows and the elderly.
In a particularly urgent situation, I will go to the distribution by myself, help them go through the order process, and then pack the box and mark it, and arrange for someone to send it over.
In fact, our capacity is very tight.
We only had two delivery cars, one of which was our own, with the rear seat removed and space freed up for loading. The other car was one of my friends' and we both called him Black Brother.
He is not our employee, he is a small boss of a local enterprise, a native of Huinan, and his living standard is very good. Unlike me, he is a very cheerful and enthusiastic person.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, he took the initiative to tell us that he would stay here and become a volunteer to help us deliver the goods.
The mother who was anxious to buy milk powder late at night was the black brother who delivered the milk powder the next morning.
When she received something, she called and said a lot of words of thanks, and asked me if I could push me to other moms.
I just learned that there are many mothers who are so anxious. So I asked the people in the mother and baby department to go and solve it with them.
Even for the most special and urgent needs, our two vehicles were fully lined up from morning to night.
At the busiest time, the black brother got up at 4 o'clock in the morning to deliver the goods, drove his own minivan, ran four or five hundred kilometers a day, and returned at eleven or twelve o'clock in the evening.
Because the place where the delivery goes, there are many communities with positive cases, and the black brother wears a mask almost all day and wears protective clothing to drive, which is very stuffy and uncomfortable.
The temperature outside was only seven or eight degrees, but he only wore short sleeves inside, because it was very hot inside the protective clothing when moving and unloading goods.
Black Brother and his wife work together to deliver supplies to the lockdown community
So our transportation capacity can only meet the most urgent needs, as for how to be urgent, in addition to the most basic materials such as oil, rice noodles, meat, eggs and milk to eat every day, other things are not urgent, I can only judge by myself.
Some things may seem trivial to outsiders, but they are urgent things for specific people.
For example, I think for a bedridden old man, adult diapers are a very urgent thing. For a young man who can't cook, instant noodles are an urgent thing.
Of course, there are some cases that are too urgent for the parties, but we will certainly not send them.
Many people may not think, in fact, there are many people who call to ask for cigarettes, and there are people who want alcohol, which is also very "urgent" in their own view.
How anxious is it? The words "add money or not send" that I heard were basically spoken from the mouths of people who bought cigarettes, and the most powerful one was willing to buy red double happiness at the price of buying soft China.
There was also a customer who was very funny, asking us to send a lighter, which was also on fire. I listened to him silently, and finally asked him: Sir, don't you have a stove in your house? He hung up in seconds.
We can't satisfy them by asking for help like buying cigarettes, because we first have to ensure the supply of civilian goods.
The demand for tobacco and alcohol in lockdown may be greater than one might think
Now, in some special cases, we will still send people to deliver, such as more urgent needs for the elderly, or baby food.
There are also some communities, because there are positive cases, volunteers can not come out, this kind of we will also send. There are also nursing homes, and the supply of several nursing homes nearby is solved by our store.
We have also gradually explored some doorways, such as we will find a way to merge some needs, suggest some personal needs that are not particularly anxious in our view, go directly to the neighborhood committee to ask for demand, and then let volunteers pick up the goods.
Both capacity and manpower are tight. We normally have 260 employees, but now because of the epidemic and lockdown, there are only more than 80 people on the job, and more than half of them have to process and produce supplies to the sealing and control community.
So many times, some urgent needs in the hotline, I go to the distribution by myself.
RT-Mart workers are sorting and packing goods
Unconsciously, my employees and I have been in the supermarket for 32 days, experienced 48 hours of sealing, and at most, together with shopping guides, service personnel and merchants, a total of more than 640 people have been sealed in RT-Mart.
It was hard back then. I asked everyone to use all the resources in the store, and some colleagues slept in the parking lot.
Because there are all kinds of fresh ingredients in the supermarket, our staff who cook baking and cooked food are also there, and we cook our own food. Of course it's a big pot of rice, and we have a big pot of cooked rice in our deli area. The amount of labor required to cook a meal is still very large.
The cauldron that cooked rice for 640 people
At the beginning, I was a little anxious, the most worrying thing was the problem of epidemic prevention, Omi kerong spread too quickly, as long as we have one case of infection, soon there will be many positive cases in the store.
Keeping them safe is my most important job. I put a sprayer in the receiving area, and every car that went in had to be killed, and at this point, I was very strict with them.
Later, after two nucleic acids, no positives were found, and we temporarily unsealed them.
After another half a month, we had a staff meeting. At that time, many employees were already sealed in their own communities.
I told the rest that in order to keep the store running, some people needed to stay at RT-Mart. Next, because of the sealing, because of static management, you may not be able to go home.
This is a difficult time, whether it is RT-Mart or society, we need to bail out. But you also have to consider your family, there are really difficulties, then you go back. This is voluntary, we do not insist on it. After all, employees also have families, and there are elderly people and children in the family.
In the end, 105 people stayed.
Our employees are very simple, there are not too many complicated ideas, that is, they feel that someone needs him at this time, and his family is fine, so they stay.
My employees and I made floors in the supermarket, and at night, when the moisture-proof mat was laid, the office became a bedroom, and during the day, it was put away and changed back to the office. As far as possible, you can only walk to the outdoor shipping area or parking lot.
My life is relatively simple, and I only brought some change of clothes and daily necessities when I came. Just get two washbasins and go to the bathroom to get some water.
Employee floor shops in the RT-Mart appliance area.
During the day, the staff is very motivated. Even some things may not be within the scope of his position, but they will take the initiative to do it.
Because they can receive a lot of feedback from the community group, their own community, their relatives and friends are also buying supplies at RT-Mart.
Although they have been here for a long time, they can see the impact of what they do every day on the outside world. It's less depressing.
The younger employees would buy some beer in the evening and go to the parking lot for a drink. When I patrol, I go and see them. Look at the young people who are gone, and I go to them may be a little nervous and will disturb them.
In the gap between the deliveries outside, the black brother would tell me some of his own observations. For example, some girls have not seen vegetables for four or five days, and when he sends them over, they all cry.
Some residents, no matter how late, would wait for him across the guardrail. When he arrived, he carried the goods to the front of the small window and slowly handed them in one by one.
In the sealed control community, the fruit is very precious, and the residents themselves do not have much, but they will also take it out to him.
His minivan is pasted with the words "RT-Mart Civilian Biological Resources Supply Special Vehicle", and the residents in the sealed control community feel kind when they see it from a distance.
Black Brother's minivan is loading
When unloading goods across the guardrail of the community, residents sometimes asked the black brother about the news outside. He is like a three-way fork in information, one end is a closed community, one end is our closed supermarket, and the other end is the outside world.
I asked Brother Hei, you are a small boss with surplus grain, what do you want to do as a volunteer?
He said that you are supplying supplies to the people, and if your own people go to send things and get infected, then the whole store will be closed, and the supply of materials will inevitably be affected.
He said that you are a line of defense for the town of Huinan. So of course he wanted to come to us to help. I have said that he is a native of Huinan.
Community volunteers receive supplies.
I am a relatively simple person, and I am also more boring after work. Won't think too much. When I answered those calls for help, I didn't even think about this layer. In the epidemic, how important is a store to a small town?
Then I think about the day of March 29, when we received a notice asking us to get our supplies ready at 8 p.m. At that time, most of the communities in Huinan Town were sealed off. Many residents have no reserves, and they have to set aside 4 hours that day for everyone to come out and buy food for the next few days.
Time was tight, and there were no signs before. We will urgently count the personnel, let the cashiers all go to the cashier line, and the fresh goods are sorted out in advance, and they are placed on the main channel of the store, waiting for residents to purchase.
Since 8 o'clock, many residents have come, and the scene is a bit like buying New Year goods. Those 4 hours, very busy. All the vegetables, fruits, fish and meat were sold out that night, and even the next day's goods were sold out.
At that time, I looked at the empty shelves and felt that at this time, happiness is meat and vegetables.
Thinking about it now, I think it's impossible to protect the whole town with just one shop, but even if it's just a few streets around it, so that people who live on these streets can eat meat and vegetables, it's good.
The most important thing is to let people in the neighborhood know that there is such a shop that has been guarding them, and there are people who will help them, and they are much more at ease.
That oolong hotline, later I was really too busy to come, so I reflected on the announcement to replace the phone on the notice with our customer service manager's, and as a result, his phone was also broken in the past two days.
Still, someone will call me as a supply hotline. I'll still help them figure it out.
A few days ago, I also received a call from the police, saying that they wanted to help residents buy milk powder. Because many times the neighborhood committee and volunteers are too busy to come, people with children have no milk powder at home, some people will be anxious to call the police, and as a result, there are really police people calling us to buy milk powder.
In fact, after listening to so many phone calls, I am not at all surprised by this kind of thing.
In the end, what is urgent, in these emergency calls, of course, most of them are the degree of food and clothing at home. But there are still many people who need to ask for help, not for themselves, but for their children, parents, families, and even their villages and neighbors.
I don't know how many more days I'll have to stay in the store, or how many more emergency hotlines I'll receive.
Every night, I video with my family. I would ask my son how he was doing his homework, and I would ask him to play the piano for me in the video.
That's my own emergency hotline.