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When the setting sun shines on the toll booth on the side of the highway, the air is instantly energized. Li Ming, a veteran toll collector who sticks to this position, has spent five years here. As a conscientious toll collector, he had to spend up to eight hours a day in cramped toll booths, including five and a half hours of which required him to maintain a high level of vigilance to ensure that every vehicle passed in an orderly manner. Although the job may seem boring, the responsibilities are enormous.
Li Ming suddenly felt a tumultuous tumble in his abdomen, as if the sumptuous lunch at noon had not yet been fully digested. He couldn't help but clench his legs hard, trying to endure the indescribable feeling of urgency. For highway toll collectors, the problem of toileting is undoubtedly a major problem in their work.
"Hey, Li Ming, are you going to stay up late and work overtime again tonight?" The colleague next to him teased kindly. Li Ming could only smile helplessly and nodded lightly. Whenever night falls, he can always feel a deep tiredness, but more importantly, he is dedicated and passionate about this job. He said in a calm tone: "This is also something that cannot be helped, we must stick to our posts around the clock." ”
Indeed, as the "nerve center" of the expressway, the responsibility of these toll collectors is as heavy as Taishan. The chaotic traffic on the highway requires them to be vigilant and maintain order, and the slightest negligence can lead to serious consequences.
In fact, when designing the toll booth, the engineers have fully considered the human factor. On one side of the toll booth, a toilet is specially equipped for employees so that they can address their personal needs at any time; On the other side is the staff dormitory building, which has bathroom facilities, a dining room and a rest area.
In fact, it is only a short five- to ten-minute walk from the toll booth to the staff dormitory. Whether it's commuting to or from work, or going to the toilet halfway, the facilities are quite convenient. Employees can rest and eat in the dormitory, and they can also use the restrooms at any time.
However, while ideals are beautiful, the reality is often more brutal than the blueprint. Although the engineers were well prepared at the time of design, the toll collectors still faced many difficulties in their actual work. The huge traffic makes it difficult for them to leave their posts and go to the bathroom; Even if you can find time to go to the bathroom, it takes a while to travel back and forth, and you will inevitably miss some unexpected situations during this time.
When it comes to holidays or peak travel seasons, the situation will undoubtedly worsen to unimaginable proportions! The number of vehicles has swelled dramatically, and there are often queues of hundreds of meters in front of the toll booths, leaving the toll collectors with little time to breathe, let alone a break, or even the opportunity to go to the bathroom.
As a highway toll collector, Li Ming's basic salary is not wealthy, limited to more than 2,000 yuan per month. The good news, however, is that companies are quite sympathetic to their compensation policies – they also have the opportunity to earn a generous commission on top of their base salary, which typically accounts for 5% of the total toll amount.
"And guess what? Last month, my income soared to more than 8,000 yuan! Wang Wei, Li Ming's colleague, is showing his impressive achievements to everyone with a spring breeze on his face at this moment.
It turned out that during the National Day holiday last month, the traffic volume on the expressway showed an alarming growth trend, so the commissions of toll collectors also increased significantly. In the relatively dull season, such as the daily working days outside the winter and summer vacations, Wang Wei's monthly income may only be maintained at about 4,000 yuan.
Although the income of toll collectors has shown a significant "polarization" phenomenon at different times, on the whole, combined with the company's free staff dormitory, training and travel and other employee benefits, the profession is still excellent.
However, Li Ming only raised the corners of his mouth slightly, he has always remained calm and rational about money matters. Rather than focusing on the amount of banknotes, he is more concerned with how to do his job efficiently and how to properly solve the most difficult toilet problem as a toll collector.
Solving toilet problems is always a major challenge for toll collectors during a five-and-a-half-hour working day. Given the sheer volume of traffic, any negligence can lead to serious consequences, so they can't easily leave their posts to go to the bathroom.
"When we can't help it, we can only endure it." "Therefore, before starting work, some people even choose to take anti-urine drugs or diuretics to relieve their physical discomfort.
However, long-term dependence on these drugs is bound to take a toll on the body. Moreover, if the situation is indeed abnormal, patience alone is not the best strategy. In the event of an accident, the consequences will be unimaginable.
As a result, toll collectors have to look for other strategies to alleviate their immediate dilemma: for example, using an internal communication device to ask a colleague to temporarily take over their duties and take a short break to go to the bathroom. However, most of the time, colleagues are also in a busy state and cannot take time to help.
"Once, I was about to go to the convenience when a large truck sped by, and I had to bite the bullet and finish the business at hand first, and when I got back to the sentry box, my abdomen hurt like an explosion!" Li Ming recalled that thrilling adventure, but it was still difficult to calm the fear in his heart. In view of the frequent occurrence of such embarrassing scenes, some toll collectors simply prepared some portable "emergency equipment", such as urinals, urine bags, etc., in case of emergency.
However, this has also led to new problems – in addition to hygiene and privacy concerns, it is also inconvenient to clean up the residue after use. Some people even try to use diapers, but who wants to be wrapped in this filth all day long? What's more, the absorption capacity of diapers is limited after all. In the face of such a serious challenge, the toll booths are going all out to find effective solutions. "The first thing we need to do is to improve the system.
"For example, reasonable arrangements for personnel to take turns on duty to ensure that every employee can get enough toilet time; At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen emergency plans and training, so that everyone can learn how to respond appropriately in emergency situations. "In addition, the toll booth will also start from the infrastructure construction, such as increasing the number and quality of toilets in the station to shorten the distance between employees and the commute." Looking ahead, we plan to introduce cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence to automate or even unmanned the toll collection system to reduce the workload of our employees.
Lao Zhou added. However, Li Ming has a different view on this. "We toll collectors are the 'nerve center' on the highway, and if we rely entirely on artificial intelligence, wouldn't it be a disaster if we make a mistake?" "I think the future toll collection system may be dominated by artificial intelligence, but the final decision-making power should still be firmly in our hands," he said.
After learning of this opinion, Mr. Zhou nodded deeply, revealing a feeling of approval similar to Li Ming. Indeed, in such an important and sensitive position, over-reliance on machinery and equipment cannot avoid its potential risks, so the clever integration of artificial intelligence and human intervention is particularly necessary.
In addition, Mr. Zhou also hopes that by deepening the transformation at the technical level, the whole society will be widely concerned about the special occupational group of toll collectors. As the "backbone" of the expressway, they deserve our respect and understanding when they stick to their posts in obscurity.