I would like to dedicate this article to the countless overtime workers who work silently in the ceramics industry who.
——Inscription
01
There are only 45 minutes left before the off-duty time of 17:45, and Li Bo's heart is filled with the joy of victory.
But when he saw Huang Tianliang's figure appearing at the door of the design studio, he sneezed for no reason, and an ominous premonition that the New Year's Day holiday would be ruined immediately came to his mind.
"Apo, I'm afraid you won't be able to take the New Year's Day holiday. In the meeting just now, Mr. Liu asked you to work overtime in the past few days to drive Mr. Hu's store out of Nanjing. "Huang Tianliang walked towards Li Bo, talking as he walked, with a loud voice and almost no expression on his face.
"Manager Huang, I have four consecutive days off from the 1st to the 4th of January. I have already asked for leave from you and Mr. Liu. Have you forgotten?" Li Bo suppressed the depression in his heart and tried to speak calmly.
"How can we forget, this is not a special situation. Mr. Hu from Nanjing is a big customer, and his store is the first standardized modern light luxury style store in our brand. In the store, new products such as modern antique bricks and large slabs will be fully integrated, which is of milestone significance. Can it be timely and fashionable?Whether his performance next year and even the performance of the brand can be successfully completed. Understand. ”
"I can understand, but...but I have said a long time ago that I will take four consecutive days off on New Year's Day. For this vacation, I did not have a month off in December. Take a day off. Moreover, I also told you that I am going to meet my future mother-in-law this time, which is very important to me——"
"Li Bo, you are an old employee. You must have a sense of the overall situation," Huang Tianliang interrupted Li Bo, "I am not here to discuss with you, but to directly discuss with you. You assigned the task."
At this point, he raised his voice and said loudly: "Others, listen up, the brand's performance this month is good, which means that this year the brand has exceeded its annual performance. , everyone will receive a substantial bonus before the New Year. Think about it, is it worth working overtime? I hope you will not relax during the New Year's Day holiday. "
After saying that, Huang Tianliang left the design room expressionlessly, leaving a depressed Li Bo there in a daze.
Yu Dabao, a colleague in the same department, let go of the mouse, stretched, walked up to Li Bo, and said in a moderate voice: "Brother Bo, don't be depressed. , compared to me who almost didn’t take a vacation after getting married last year, what do you think this is?”
"I am not allowed to take leave when I get married, and I am not allowed to take leave to meet my mother-in-law... Damn it, what kind of bad company is this? What kind of bad department is this?"
"Some leaders are like this: you followWhen he talks about salary and remuneration, he talks to you about career development; when you talk about career development to him, he tells you about the current situation of the industry; when you talk about the current situation of the industry to him, he talks about life feelings to you... You ask him for leave, and he tells you to ask for leave. Have a sense of the big picture and a spirit of dedication. But once something happens to him, he will run faster than anyone else! ”
……
Li Bo was originally very angry, but after listening to the complaints from several colleagues, he became a little more mentally balanced; but the result of being slightly mentally balanced was that he quickly became angry. It’s gone, I feel like working overtime.
"What a bastard!" He cursed himself hard in his heart, then ordered a fast food on Meituan and prepared to work overtime at night. .
02
A small number of buildings in the Huaxia Ceramics Expo City seemed a little lonely when the lights were on; most of the buildings were pitch black, submerged in the dark night.
A lonely figure stood on the roof of the Xinjia Tile headquarters. That was Li Bo. He took a few steps, raised his phone in front of his eyes, and was about to call his girlfriend, but he didn't know what to do.
"The sea of suffering stirs up love and hate. In this world, it is difficult to escape fate..." While he was hesitating, his cell phone rang. That was the ending theme of Stephen Chow's movie Journey to the West, "The Love of My Life."
"Hey, who are you?" Li Bo asked.
"Li Bo! Apo! Brother Bo! Can't you even hear my voice?" said the other end of the phone.
"Liang Shuang? Brother Shuang?"
"Yes, I have been separated for so many years. I just added you on WeChat a few days ago. I didn't have time to chat at that time. Now I call you specifically to chat."< /span>
"Brother Shuang, I'm sorry. I'm busy right now. Can I call you when I'm done? Or if you have something urgent, you can hurry up and tell me now. "" Li Bo said and looked at his phone anxiously - it was almost eight o'clock in the evening. After saying this, he had a bad feeling.
"Brother Bo, are you short on money? I want to borrow ten thousand or twenty thousand yuan from you to help you turn around." Liang Shuang's voice gradually became louder.
Hearing these words, Li Bo remained silent because he didn't know what to say.
"Brother Bo, don't worry, it only takes one month, two months at most, and I will return it to you on time."
"Brother Shuang, I'm so sorry. I'm even more short of money than you are now. I just bought a house at the end of October. The monthly mortgage payment is more than 4,000, and I also borrowed money for the down payment. Come on, I still have eight months to repay the car loan..." After a few seconds of silence, Li Bo finally said what he didn't want to say but had to say.
There was also silence over there.
"Okay, Brother Bo, I won't disturb you anymore." After saying that, Liang Shuang hung up the phone.
After the call ended, Li Bo felt a little sorry at first, but he felt relieved within a few seconds.
Returned to the state of preparing to call his girlfriend. When he was about to call again, another call came in.
"Hey. Brother Hao, what's the matter?"
"Brother Bo, the tiles you bought me last time were not enough. There are more than ten pieces missing."
"Didn't you contact the salesperson I introduced to you? Just tell him directly."
"He said that my budget was a little low at the time and I did not take into account the damage during transportation and paving. Now, this batch of tiles is temporarily out of stock."
"That's it. Let me take a look at it for you and get back to you tomorrow."
"Thanks, brother. Waiting for your reply."
"Okay, hung up."
After hanging up the phone, Li Bo took a breath. Buying ceramic tiles for an acquaintance is really something you can't do, it's thankless, time-consuming and labor-intensive, and you owe him a favor. You didn't make him a penny, but he thought you made a lot of money.
"The sea of suffering stirs up love and hate. In this world, it is difficult to escape fate..." When Li Bo was in a daze, his cell phone rang again.
"Xiaobo, when are you going to meet Yao Yao's mother? Can you make a marriage appointment in January..."
"Hey, Mom, don't rush me, I know what I know. I promise to get married next year! I will try to let you have a grandson the year after that! Don't say anything anymore, Yao Yao The call is coming, hang up now, just wait for the good news!”
Li Bo hung up his mother's phone and answered the call of his girlfriend Yao Yao.
"What are you doing? Your phone is busy. You haven't come home so late. You haven't bought anything to see my mother tomorrow..." Yao Yao said on the other end of the phone said angrily.
"Yao Yao, have you had dinner?" Li Bo said nonchalantly, trying to start with the most common greetings of Chinese people.
"I have already eaten. I will starve to death when you come back to cook! When can you go home today?"
"Not sure yet.Let me tell you another thing first. The time to see your mother may have to be postponed——"
"What? Postponing it again? Li Bo, do you still want to get married?!"
"Yao Yao, don't be angry, listen to me first. This is a special situation..."
"I don’t want to hear your explanation anymore. You said you would take me on a trip, but it has been almost a year and I still haven’t fulfilled my promise. Every time, I am not available... Today I Just ask you, do you want to marry me?"
"Think!"
"Then quickly ask for leave from your leader! Set off to my house early tomorrow morning!"
"But..."
"Li Bo, you don't want to marry me at all. Just marry your job, marry your leader!" After saying that, Yao Yao Hang up the phone.
"Yao Yao, listen -" Li Bo desperately added these four words even though he knew that his girlfriend had hung up the phone.
After calming down, he dialed his girlfriend's phone number.
Beep beep... "Sorry, the user you dialed is currently on a call." Yao Yao directly rejected Li Bo's call.
Called again, but refused to answer again; called again, and refused to answer again...
Faced with rejection again and again, Li Bo's heart shrank and he couldn't help but shudder. Although he doesn't think the weather in Foshan is cold.
03
"Brother Bo, where have you been? The leader just came to check on your position, and your phone line has been busy."
When Li Bo returned to the office from the top of the building with a look of frustration and helplessness, he heard this sentence. He suddenly quickened his pace and walked towards Yu Dabao who said this.
"Check my post? Who will check my post?" Li Bo asked Yu Dabao loudly, suddenly becoming very excited.
Yu Dabao was startled and replied weakly: "Mr. Chen of the Southwest Region and Manager Huang of the Marketing Department..."
"Why do you want to check my position?" Li Bo asked louder.
"Tell me...have you...worked...overtime." Yu Dabao hesitated.
"Who said that?" Li Bo's voice became louder.
Yu Dabao wanted to stop but said: "The main thing is...Mr. Chen."
"That's Chen Hongzhi." Li Bo lowered his voice, but his tone became firmer, "Then what did Huang Tianliang say?"
"This... Manager Huang said to see if you can open Mr. Hu's store in Nanjing again. He also said that Mr. Liu attaches great importance to this store and must not delay it, no matter what. We also have to work overtime to produce the design drawings in time.”
"Okay, very good. I want to see how they check my position."
After saying that, Li Bo sneered a few times and took out his mobile phone.
Several designers working overtime looked at Li Bo in shock. They really couldn't figure out why Li Bo, who had always been kind and honest, suddenly became so aggressive.
While they were still wondering, Li Bo had already called Chen Hongzhi.
"Dear Mr. Chen, why did you come to see me just now?"
"Apo, how is Mr. Liao's store in Zunyi doing?"
"I heard that you just came to check my position."
"What did you say?"
"Have you come to check my position? Is it working time now?"
"Apo, what do you mean?"
"What do you mean? I want to ask you what you mean? First of all, at yesterday's morning meeting, Mr. Liu said that stores with an area of more than 500 square meters should be given priority. Mr. Liao's in Zunyi Is the store only over 300 square meters?”
"This..."
"Secondly, although our brand has now adjusted its organizational structure, although the training, event specialists and space designers of the marketing department have been placed under the jurisdiction of each major region, I will be under the jurisdiction of each region in the future. You are in charge, but let me ask you, what did Mr. Liu say? Will it be implemented from January 1, 2018? Is it still December 31, 2017? What do you want me to do in such a hurry? ?”
"Li Bo, you..."
"Chen Hongzhi, you areDon’t you think you have the power? You thought wrong, can I quit? ! ”
After making this call, Li Bo felt very happy, unprecedentedly happy.
"You can't tell, Brother Bo, you are so awesome!" Colleague Xiong Bin gave a thumbs up and said, "I support you, I don't want to do it anymore."< /span>
"That's right, I work overtime every day. I don't know how high the salary is in Xin's company. I have put my face towel, toothpaste and toothbrush in the company. If we continue like this, we will Don’t do it anymore!”
"Who was I worried about when I saw it? It's so hard to find designers now."
"I heard that Shunju ceramic tile designers are well paid and are a big brand. I will submit a resume tomorrow."
"Which brand would be like ours, where they work overtime every day and earn only 10,000 yuan a month. Space designers return to the market The department manager, that guy has a sullen face all day long. He never strives for any benefits for us, but only exploits us."
"Even so, it has been put under the control of the regional managers, and he is still holding on to the power, including this year's assessment and the distribution of year-end bonuses. Are you holding it in someone’s hand? ”
……
As soon as Xiong Bin expressed his stance, the entire design office colleagues became excited. Everyone joined in the complaint one after another, as if everyone had a sworn hatred against Xinjia Ceramics.
With the encouragement of his colleagues, Li Bo's emotions reached their peak.
He slapped his desk hard with his right hand and said, "I won't work overtime these days. When I need to take a vacation, I'll take it. If I have the guts, I'll take it. I wish I could be fired!"
"I am the first to support. Brothers, why do you have to work overtime? Add a ball! Why don't you go have supper and drink now? Brother Bo and I are treating you to Nanzhuang No. 1 ! How about it, Brother Bo?"
"Okay, I'm afraid of you!" Although Li Bo didn't want to go, he couldn't say no. He never knew how to say no.
In this way, leaving the design director and a female colleague behind, eight male designers rushed to Nanzhuang No. 1 Pig Offal Porridge and Late Night Supper Restaurant.
In fact, they know that the head of the design office will definitely report these situations to the marketing manager Huang Tianliang and the brand general manager Liu Changqing, but they are not afraid at all; they think , even if the design director was invited, he would not go, so they simply did not invite him. As for the female colleague, she was a university alumnus of the design director, so there was no need to invite her.
In less than half an hour, eight male designers from Xinjia Ceramics were already sitting at No. 1 Nanzhuang Pork Offal Porridge, eating and drinking.
Most of them don't drink much. After a few glasses of beer, a few people's faces have turned red.
"Brother Bo, one of us will go. To be honest, we usually underestimate you. Not only are you one of the best in our department in terms of design, but you are also very capable at critical moments and dare to do what you do!" ”
"Yes, Brother Bo, good job. He breathed a sigh of relief for us tonight and expressed the voice of our designers. Here's to you!"
span>
……
After three rounds of wine and five tastes of food, everyone was a little tipsy.
"The sea of suffering stirs up love and hate. In this world, it is difficult to escape fate..." While he was drinking vigorously, Li Bo's cell phone rang. In his drunken state of mind, he realized that the call was actually from Liu Changqing, and he immediately sobered up.
"Mr. Liu, hello... um... ok... um... ok... ok... ok... um... um... it's okay Don't worry." After the call, Li Bo basically said nothing and kept nodding his head where Liu Changqing couldn't see it.
"Brother Bo, is this a call from Mr. Liu?"
"Yes."
"What did you say?"
"After learning about the situation, I severely criticized Chen Hongzhi and Huang Tianliang, criticizing them for not knowing how to manage and not understanding that talent is the brand's greatest resource. . He also said that I should overcome the difficulties and work overtime to produce the design drawings of Mr. Hu’s store in Nanjing. I would be given four days of compensatory rest. He also said that the bonus at the end of this year would be appropriately tilted towards me... no, towards the entire design department. . He also said that Chen Hongzhi and Huang Tianliang would also apologize to us and treat everyone to dinner, and they would communicate more with the designers in the future. ”
When Li Bo said this, the phone rang again. When he saw it, it was really Chen Hongzhi calling.
04
The male designers at Xinjia Ceramics were in such high spirits the night before, especially after receiving apology calls from Chen Hongzhi and Huang Tianliang, that they drank At twelve o'clock at night. Li Bo didn't want to drink until so late, but he couldn't stop everyone's enthusiastic encouragement to drink. Finally, he was so drunk that he was carried by two colleagues to the house they shared.
When the New Year's sunshine shone on Li Bo's face, it was already past nine in the morning. He looked at his phone, sat up, quickly put on his clothes and socks and got out of bed, wiped his face randomly, rinsed his mouth, and drove home.
Li Bo lives in Nanzhuang Vanke City, a large community where it is said that 60 to 70% of the residents are ceramic people, and is nicknamed the "Ceramic People Dormitory". He just bought the house in Vanke City at the end of October. It was second-hand and he moved in as soon as he bought it. He usually lives alone, but his girlfriend who works in Guicheng, Nanhai will come over to live with him on weekends and holidays. Last night, his girlfriend and He had a conflict and definitely didn't come today.
Li Bo thought to himself, quickly took a shower, changed clothes, rushed to the company to work overtime, and took some time to call and explain to his girlfriend. "Husband and wife don't have an overnight feud." Today, my girlfriend's anger should have dissipated long ago.
Taking the elevator to the 18th floor, Li Bo found that the door to his home was open.
Is there a thief at home?
Li Bo hid at the door and took a look. It didn't matter. He saw a familiar back and a familiar face——
The familiar figure on the back is his girlfriend, wearing the familiar winter skirt; the familiar face is his boss, marketing manager Huang Tianliang. The two are kissing.
Li Bo never imagined that he would encounter such a scene. He couldn't bear the blow, and his first reaction was to escape. The elevator was not on the 18th floor, so he chose to take the stairs. After running to the 10th floor in one breath, he came back to his senses, "Why should I escape? I should go back and beat that bastard up!"
Thinking of this, Li Bo immediately turned around and went upstairs, panting to the 18th floor. When he walked into the house, he saw Huang Tianliang sitting on the sofa watching TV alone. His girlfriend didn't know where she was.
"Huang Tianliang, you bastard!"
"Li Bo? Why are you here——"
Before Huang Tianliang could finish speaking, Li Bo had already punched him several times on the face and body, and a good show of an adulterer being beaten was played out passionately.
……
Ten minutes later, the result of the matter was that Li Bo's girlfriend Yao Yao wanted to break up with him, resolutely. The reason was that Li Bo had completely wronged her and dared not believe her.
It turned out that the woman wearing the same skirt as him was Yao Yao's best friend, and her figure was very similar to hers. And her best friend is Huang Tianliang’s girlfriend—a girlfriend other than his wife. Because she didn't know much about Li Bo's work and had never been to Li Bo's company, she had no idea that her best friend's boyfriend was actually Li Bo's boss Huang Tianliang. After she and Li Bo quarreled on the phone last night, the more she thought about it, the more she felt that she was being a little unreasonable. Then she remembered that January 1st was Li Bo's birthday, so she wanted to prepare quietly and give him a birthday surprise. Since she didn't have many friends here, she invited her best friend and her boyfriend to help out. Just now, she went down to buy things by herself, leaving her best friend and boyfriend at home. She didn't expect that this kind of thing would happen...
In fact, Yao Yao sent Li Bo a WeChat message before she got up early in the morning, telling Li Bo that she would come to spend the New Year with her, but she didn’t know that Vanke City There is a communication tower demolition incident going on recently. One resident made an unreasonable complaint to the relevant departments, saying that the signal tower installed on the roof of their building had affected their health. The children had colds and fevers, the adults were losing their hair, and their sexual performance was reduced... In view of this situation, the communication tower has been cut off. It's been a few days. Therefore, her message to Li Bo was not sent, and of course Li Bo did not know that she had arrived at home.
I can withstand the overtime work day and night, but I can't withstand the disaster caused by no signal.
Faced with his girlfriend’s ruthless confession of breakup, Li Bo wanted to cry but couldn’t, and instead squeezed out a tear on his face.A wry smile.
What should I do if I hit my boss? How to recover from a breakup with your girlfriend? ...Li Bo didn't want to think about anything.
Perhaps, only working overtime can temporarily relieve him from the pain; only work can support his material life. The reality is so cruel.
"What a bastard!" Li Bo cursed himself again in his heart.
(This story is purely fictitious, any similarities are purely coincidental)
