pjbooks Chapter 17: [Let's Have a Normal Person]
Chapter 17: [Let's Have a Normal Person]
"Boss, look at me! I can eat!"
"Money doesn't matter, I mainly want to learn how to make pancakes to attract girls."
"There must be lots of pretty girls at the night market, right?"
Why don't they recruit high school students?!
"My cousin is in his third year of vocational school and can't find a job. Would any employer even consider him? He's a culinary major, but he wants a place that can provide him with an internship certificate..."
The moment the job posting was released, the already lively group chat erupted in excitement.
The scroll bar kept expanding, and before Liu Zhuohao knew it, more than a dozen messages had already been scrolled past.
He didn't rush; he waited until the initial excitement wore off and the scrolling speed slowed down before typing a line:
"@All members, stop chatting and get down to business."
After those words were spoken, the group chat immediately quieted down.
Everyone was waiting for "Boss Liu" to speak.
"We're serious about hiring, and the work is really tiring. If you want to give it a try, follow my rules below."
"As for those of you who are looking for boyfriends or girlfriends, you don't have to apply for the job. You can still have a chance by supporting my business."
Then, he posted the official announcement with his email address and exam questions: "Interested parties please send an email to my address, including your name, age, available working hours, relevant experience, and a completed answer sheet. Valid until 8 p.m. tomorrow."
If you only have one day to apply, people who are really short of money and want to make money will definitely come.
Those who didn't come were simply not meant to be.
The so-called answer sheet was actually three test questions he made up on the spot. (A real-world example is needed.)
1. Please conduct a practical analysis of the customer profile of a roadside stall (whether for breakfast, snacks, etc.), including but not limited to age, gender, income group, hobbies, occupation, etc.
2. Please conduct a practical analysis of the customer profile of a brand store (whether it's milk tea, fast food, fried chicken, etc.)...
3. Are you familiar with current internet video and live streaming platforms?
All three test questions were made up by Liu Zhuohao on the spot.
The exam questions were designed to address the path the student envisioned for the future.
In the future era of big data, these three questions should be the most basic work skills required to find a job.
Yes, he wasn't simply recruiting a summer worker.
Liu Zhuohao is ambitious. Having been reborn, he can't just stay at a small roadside stall in front of the bookstore. He definitely wants to look towards a wider world from his small hometown.
As his first "employee," he hoped that he would not only do odd jobs but also be treated as a "normal person."
A person who can think and knows how to think.
"Holy crap, you have to answer questions to interview a waiter?"
"Doing exercises at school is tiring enough, why do I have to do them after leaving school?"
"These questions are easy, but what do they have to do with the waiters? Is it for better customer service?"
"Is it okay to just write 'understand' for the third question?"
"I guess the target audience for milk tea is mostly people who have entered the workforce and have some spare cash, right? I certainly can't afford it..."
Soon, the people in the group were drawn to the three questions.
Liu Zhuohao didn't pay much attention to their news.
In his past life, he did many different jobs.
Even for jobs like entering a factory, working as a customer service representative, or as a waiter/salesperson, as long as it's a legitimate factory, brand store, or company, you have to answer questions.
He didn't quite understand the concept of having to answer questions during an interview before.
Especially the factory-related questions, some of which involve addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and the picture shows a triangle or a cube... These kinds of questions are even from first or second grade elementary school students.
But later, after some things happened at his hot pot restaurant, Liu Zhuohao gradually came to understand.
These simple questions can filter out the "abnormal" people.
For example, my aunt's niece spent a lot of money to hire a disgraced online celebrity who does boxing to promote the store. As a result, once the news spread, the store's customer traffic dropped by half.
To be honest, didn't Liu Zhuohao know about these things?
He knew it.
Anyone who succeeds in business knows that they must accurately identify their customer base and deliver results that satisfy them.
However, those who haven't done business, those who are outsiders, don't understand.
That's how it is with my own relatives.
Liu Zhuohao did not object. Having several well-known relatives by his side was, in principle, a great thing, as it has always been.
However, he underestimated these people's abilities and took what he considered "common sense" for granted.
Not everyone understands the importance of being worthy of their customers.
Not everyone realizes that hiring someone whose image is completely incompatible with the brand to promote it is a marketing trap.
Not everyone is able to take care of themselves!
Some people, although they seem quite normal on the surface.
In reality, my brain circuits are not working properly, and I often do inexplicably stupid things.
"It's okay now, I can keep an eye on things all the time, but when things get bigger, I won't be able to keep an eye on everything by myself, especially if there are more incompetent people than capable ones in the team..."
Liu Zhuohao's forehead throbbed whenever he thought about it.
At that time, I was busy with brand-related matters.
Because the hot pot restaurants I own are doing well, I plan to create a chain brand instead of simply calling it "Chaoshan Beef Hot Pot".
The results of it?
If someone doesn't pay attention to their store, forget about building a chain; they almost ruined the store!
The funniest thing was that I was laughing at a liquor brand for hiring a boxer as its spokesperson. I was chatting and laughing with other bosses at the dinner table, and I was laughing at the liquor brand's boss for being clueless and wasting the brand's long-standing reputation, not even knowing who his customers were.
Shortly after, his base was raided.
But if we're talking about how popular they are, they are definitely quite popular.
The promotional video was posted less than three days ago, and it immediately went viral in Huacheng, with the comments section full of people mocking me for being blind.
Furthermore, some people feel that eating at their restaurant is like being put on a wall of shame!
They have a lot of popularity, but their traffic is all generated by creating conflict!
Looking at the growing pile of emails in his inbox, Liu Zhuohao muttered to himself, "I hope a normal person comes in..."
……
……
"No, boss, this isn't my first time coming to your store to look at goods. Who in this market doesn't know me, 'Boss Liu'?" Liu Zhuohao casually pulled up a plastic chair, lit a cigarette, and dragged the ashtray covered in a thick layer of ash from the table to his side.
The cigarettes are Double Happiness, cheap, but they're frequently sold out.
After the food truck entered the factory, Liu Zhuohao had some free time and wandered into the wholesale market.
On his day off, he strolled through the stalls and found many small business owners like himself. The air was filled with the fishy smell of seafood, the chill of frozen goods, and the smell of cigarette smoke from acquaintances arguing amongst themselves.
Although we've roughly confirmed the source of the steaks for our street-side stalls, we still occasionally chat with the various wholesalers.
I had just politely seen off a barbecue stall owner when I turned around and my face fell.
He plopped back down in his bamboo chair, which creaked under the weight.
"You come every day, every day! Are you here to clock in or work for me?" The boss ignored the cigarette offered, instead pulling one from behind his ear and putting it in his mouth, glancing at him sideways. "The price is already at rock bottom. If I lower it any further, what's the point of me making a profit? I might as well pay you for the shipping!"
He struck a famous match, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and his words burst forth from the smoke:
"Let me be frank with you, in this market, the only ones who can offer you this price, besides me, Old Zhao, are those few unlicensed stalls near the North Gate that specialize in 'reservoir goods'."
"They can offer lower prices, but would you dare buy them? Just from your very first question—whether you could provide a 'factory inspection report'—I knew you definitely wouldn't consider those grey market goods!"
Liu Zhuohao chuckled and carefully tucked the cigarette he hadn't given away behind his ear, his movements as practiced as if he'd been doing it for twenty years.
"I'm just thinking that we have a long road ahead of us to cooperate."
He replied cheerfully, "Once my steak stand becomes popular, won't I need dozens of kilograms of your meat every day? At that time, you will be my exclusive supplier, and we'll make a fortune together."
"We'll talk about the future later."
Old Zhao chuckled and teased, pointing at him with his finger, "You've only been making pancakes for a little over a month, right? And now you're already thinking about steak?"
"Besides, who among those with money wouldn't sit in the restaurant and show off a bit if they could afford steak? Those without money, no matter how low the price, will still think it's 'mixed meat' and won't dare to eat it!"
"People are so shrewd these days; even the slightest rumor online can cause an uproar!"
He exhaled a long puff of smoke, his tone softening somewhat, but his concern was more genuine: "It's not that I don't think highly of you, it's just that these days... the atmosphere is wrong."
"If you're kind enough to sell cheaply, people will think you're using cheap, low-quality goods. If you sell it for a higher price, they'll just call you a street vendor pretending to be something you're not, and you'll be caught in the middle!"
"Hey, just you wait and see."
Liu Zhuohao said happily, "I have a plan for this, it's not an idea that just popped into my head. What I'm selling is—'the first steak for young people'!"
"A meal at the restaurant costs one or two hundred yuan, it hurts my wallet."
"Here, for just a few dozen yuan, you get a complete set of cutlery, pasta, and fried eggs. It's all about the experience, the novelty, the 'I can try it too' attitude. My customer base is completely different from the people in other restaurants!"
After listening, Old Zhao didn't reply immediately, but just squinted at him, the cigarette in his hand almost burning down to the filter.
After a long while, he threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out.
"You little rascal...you've got a bit of something crooked in your head."
He stood up, as if to see the guest out, but his tone remained firm. "But ideas are one thing, business is another. The atmosphere isn't good lately, so I can't give it to you. Let's wait and see. If it really works out, I'll try to negotiate a lower price for you."
After talking about the prevailing trend for so long, what exactly is this trend?
Gutter oil!
And it's not just gutter oil.
In recent years, starting with the "big-headed baby" incident, news about food safety issues such as clenbuterol, toxic ginger, rat meat being passed off as mutton, and duck meat being made into fake beef has frequently made headlines and has been reported on by both satellite TV and local news outlets.
Under such circumstances, it's difficult to run a roadside stall.
Families with children, in particular, prefer to spend more time cooking for themselves rather than eat at roadside stalls!