The Bottom of a Large Company Does a Good Job - Chapter 53



Only Noblemtl

Episode 53. Emergency (3)

Taesung Technica’s in-house restaurant business location.

The head office manager who was dispatched there did not react well even though it was his first time seeing me.

It was a part that made me guess how much the people from headquarters had harassed me.

You’ve come to the right place.

Well then, it’s time to do as your father says.

I stood up and greeted the man.

“Are you the manager of Taesung Technica branch?”

“yes.”

He came running and stopped dead in his tracks when he came face to face with me, panting for breath.

And he looked me up and down.

When he first came, he came running out of breath, but then suddenly his gaze changed as soon as he saw me.

Is it because I look young? Or because I came alone?

He showed his displeasure openly.

It seemed like he thought I was in cahoots with the head office staff who had been harassing him all this time.

And then they complain because I look easy.

I was on edge and tense.

You have to speak well here.

I don’t know who he thinks I am from headquarters, but I have to act like it.

In order to speak plausibly and not get caught, you had to avoid exact words or expressions.

I clearly said earlier that you come often.

Then let me answer like this.

“I’m sorry. Do I come here too often?”

The store manager was right, I agreed.

“Yes. Please tell the people above. We are really going to die. We are all trying to eat well and live well, so if you take it too far… … .”

You’re taking it?

The store manager shut his mouth for a moment as I opened my eyes.

No matter how difficult he looked, the person from headquarters thought he had spoken too harshly.

He must open his mouth.

I spoke to him in a low voice, watching him closely.

“Shall we go out?”

“Yes, let’s go.”

He was about to take me out when he suddenly gave me a suspicious look.

“But this is the first time I’ve seen you. Are you from the Wellness Headquarters?”

“Yes. It hasn’t been long since I joined the company. There was a Taesung open recruitment a while ago, right? I joined then. I’m the youngest, so I do all the odd jobs.”

I do have my doubts.

It was the reaction of a dishonest person.

I took out my Taesung Wellbeing employee ID card that was in my suit pocket and showed it to him.

He nodded, since it wasn’t written what team it was.

It seemed like the excuse of being the youngest worked.

His face turned salty.

“You must be having a hard time. No matter what, you should have contacted us in advance. Oh, was it because it was your first time? Please contact us next time. We have work to do, too.”

Maybe it was because I was the youngest, but he seemed to be slightly picking on me.

It’s better this way.

He would let his guard down, knowing that I am not that tall.

If you do that, you’ll probably start dropping hints in the conversation.

He guided me to the back of the restaurant without any suspicion.

Judging from the cigarette butts scattered on the floor, it seemed to be a smoking area.

I frowned slightly.

“You don’t smoke when you go to restaurants, do you?”

I said this because I was reminded of a story I often heard from my mother who works at a restaurant.

Cooks are not allowed to smoke, and they are not allowed to wear accessories or do nail art.

Then the store manager jumped up.

He had an expression on his face like, “Here we go again.”

“Oh, no. It’s the office workers who smoke, not the restaurant. We asked them not to smoke here, but they wouldn’t listen, so we’re going to die.”

“okay.”

“You said something about this last time you came… Please be gentle with it.”

He looked at me half-restlessly.

He looked a bit uneasy.

I kept my mouth shut for a moment and thought about it.

I feel like I get hit quite often.

Did you come out of the headquarters and start a fight about this…?

Considering what the sanitation team does, it’s possible.

If there are cigarette butts near the restaurant, hygiene points will be deducted.

So what did you gain by picking a fight over that?

I don’t think they would have wanted to be a store manager sent to a workplace just to satisfy their pride.

I need to dig a little deeper.

I was wondering what method to use and decided to try to create a sense of empathy.

This is because people originally feel a sense of intimacy when they see someone similar to themselves.

“Hey, why are you so nervous? What can I say about something like this? My mother also works at a restaurant. I know how hard it must be for her, but I don’t pick a fight over something that isn’t her fault.”

It’s an implicit signal that you can be more comfortable with each other because we’re in similar situations.

Indeed, the store manager’s face relaxed.

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, of course. It’s been almost 20 years. You started out as a dishwasher, then went through the pre-processing, rice cookers, side dishes, and now you’re a chef.”

When telling a lie, you must mix it with the truth.

My mother’s history was real.

“Oh my, you’re so talented. Korean, Chinese, or Western food? Which one do you cook?”

“It’s similar to this. It’s a corporate group meal. It’s on the public sector side.”

“Group meals? You’re really from the same industry. Where have I met you before? This industry is small.”

Even if the industry is small, they are in different regions and companies, so you probably haven’t met them before.

It’s a sign that you want to have a more open conversation.

He knows me as part of the hygiene management team, so he’ll want to get through it at least a little better.

He also shows his intimacy with me as I do.

I nodded readily.

“That could be true. I often went out to help with catering.”

“Oh, I see you also worked for a catering company.”

“Yes. In the past. It was so hard that now they have settled down in one place.”

“You did a great job. The store manager and nutritionist there must be great. If you’re in charge of catering, you’re a capable person who can run everything on your own. Wow, how rare it is to have someone like that in this industry. Young people don’t want to do this kind of work.”

“thank you.”

He lightened the mood by laughing without saying a word.

I know it’s just useless information overload.

This guy will know too.

What’s important is what comes after this.

It was a time when both he and I were slowly weighing what to say to each other.

“Are you worried that I’ll go to headquarters and report this?”

I asked a little directly.

I said that because he looked noticeably anxious after the topic of cigarettes came up.

Did I speak too bluntly? The store manager flinched.

“Oh, if you say so… … .”

“It’s okay. Feel free to talk. I grew up watching my mother work hard. Would I really go to the head office and complain about this?”

The store manager looked around again and smiled awkwardly.

I smiled softly and whispered to myself over and over again.

There was something that bothered you.

I set the stage for you. You have something to say.

The person in front of you is a new employee.

You tried to ignore it as soon as you saw it.

Tell me all the stories that have piled up. Your mouth is itching.

As if he had heard my true feelings, the store manager opened his mouth with a strange exclamation of “Oh my.”

“That’s right. I thought you were trying to enforce discipline again.”

“Discipline?”

“Yes. Whenever the hygiene management team comes, they always find fault with something… … .”

Hygiene team! I opened my eyes wide.

Perhaps because of that, the store manager quickly stopped talking and looked around again.

He had an expression on his face like he was saying “oh no” after saying that.

I rolled my head right away.

I thought back to my father’s advice and gave it a subtle nudge.

“I knew it to some extent. When I came out, I saw that my seniors were giving me some kind of tip. I wondered what they were talking about… … Now that I look at it, I understand.”

Establish discipline, in fact, I felt it the moment I heard that.

I was skeptical, but one thing was certain now.

The head office is making unnecessary complaints and abusing its power under the pretext of hygiene management.

I can guess what you get out of it.

“But I’m a newbie… … and I feel uncomfortable with this kind of thing, so I don’t want to do it myself.”

“Oh my, thank you. I guess they teach internally. They really talk nonsense, it’s killing me. If you look here, there are cigarette butts lying around. I pointed this out last time I was here. But since it’s real office workers smoking, we can’t say anything. They know all about it, but they’re lowering the hygiene score.”

I was about to ask if there was anything wrong with a low hygiene score, but I barely managed to swallow the question.

He thinks I’m from the sanitation team, so asking him something like that would make him suspicious.

“Have you suffered any disadvantages?”

The store manager sighed deeply.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You know, you know… … .”

The store manager looked around for no reason and lowered his voice.

“When your team asked us, we initially refused. Then they said that the ingredients would be strange and that the delivery would be late. I’ve bought things like sauces out of my own pocket more than once or twice.”

Request? My mouth was itching to ask what it was about.

It didn’t seem like the sanitation team was just being harassing people for the sake of it.

So what did they receive in return?

performance?

“That, that request… … When I came, there was no instruction on what to do.”

I desperately tried to piece together something plausible.

Fortunately, the store manager seemed to understand that I was just talking indirectly because I couldn’t say it out loud.

He nodded.

“It would be weird to entrust cash to a newbie. I think they sent only one person to make us nervous. Sometimes, this happens. When I don’t want to come in person but feel like I have to poke around, lower-ranking people come and go.”

I felt like a lightning bolt struck my head.

cash!

So you’re saying that he demanded money by threatening to cause disadvantage while being abusive?

While I was left speechless in shock, the store manager continued to grumble.

“You must have had a hard time too. Since you came all this way… … I should treat you to something, but I’m busy with the distribution soon, so lunch won’t be possible. Would you like to have dinner with me?”

I was surprised that they were even trying to treat a low-level new employee to a meal.

It probably has a bribery connotation.

I guess he wants me to go back and speak nicely to the other members of the sanitation team.

I waved it off because I’m not a member of the sanitation team and I don’t want to take money from hard-working front-line workers.

“No. I have another place to go this afternoon.”

The store manager’s expression turned sour.

“Ah… … You must have had a hard time. I should give you some money for tea… … .”

Even though I said I was new, they still tried to give me a few pennies.

Even though I just lightly poked it like my father said, it ended up like this.

I felt like I knew how much the hygiene management team had been exploiting and torturing me.

“No, I’m really fine.”

“You came all the way here, so I’m sorry… … .”

When I refused to accept it, the store manager seemed at a loss.

There was something else I was curious about.

“Manager, I have a question. Can I ask you something? I’m new so I’m sure you don’t know much.”

“What are you curious about?”

“When our team members come out, you give them something… right? You don’t pay for it all out of your own pocket, do you? Then it must be too much of a burden. How much is the salary at our company?”

“ah.”

The store manager took a deep breath.

“I see you didn’t take it because you were considerate. Thank you for your consideration. But I can’t not give it to you. Not only is the food delivery delayed, but I’m also getting a low hygiene score, so I’m getting a pay cut.”

“A pay cut?”

“Yes. If we touch the salaries of nutritionists and cooks, there will be an uproar saying they won’t work right away, so we can’t do that, so we’re cutting my salary. Last time, we really made up our minds and did it cleanly. Even if the Ministry of Health and Welfare came directly, we would definitely give it a perfect score! It was so clean.”

If they brought up the Ministry of Health and Welfare, not to mention the public health center, they must have been quite angry at the bribery demand.

“So they just left that day. I thought it was okay because there was nothing to find fault with, but then they found out that the hygiene score was a mess. I guess it doesn’t matter what the actual hygiene status is. Who would check what they graded?”

Even if you come out later and re-inspect, it’s okay if you say it was dirty at the time.

And who would come here and double-check?

There is already a sanitation team dedicated to this type of work.

“But you don’t have to worry too much. It’s true that I’m spending my own money, but there are times when I need the ingredients urgently, not the ones that come from the head office. That’s why there’s something called an emergency fund.”

The delivery was wrong, the order was wrong, or the food arrived properly but the employees ate more than expected.

This is what I was using my emergency fund for when I urgently needed more materials.

“Small-scale places often buy food with their own money and claim expenses later, but here, they set aside some emergency funds. So I’m using that. I think it’s money from the company anyway and goes to the sanitation team. Fortunately, or maybe because of that, they recognized the money I returned as an expense without a receipt.”

The information I wanted just flowed out.

It was a huge gain just to get information that the sanitation team was demanding bribes under the pretext of sanitation scores, but I also got a hint as to how they were playing around with emergency funds.

At this point, I can sufficiently investigate the rest and gather evidence.

I looked at the store manager with a sad heart.

How much have you suffered from unfair instructions?

The situation is probably the same in other workplaces.

They extort money that the company has set aside for each business location and abuse their power.

I looked away and saw the cooks stirring the hot soup diligently.

My mother appeared before me and I felt a surge of anger.

So I decided.

Let’s thoroughly shake up the hygiene management team.

And apart from that, something important happened to me right now.

“Store manager.”

“yes?”

When I spoke seriously, the store manager was startled and answered.

“I’d like to get a bite to eat. I’m so hungry after changing buses so many times. I think stir-fried pork would be delicious.”

The store manager, who had been blankly looking at me, nodded roughly.

“Of course! Of course! But are you okay with restaurant food? If it doesn’t suit your taste, you can go downtown… … .”

“No, I like stir-fried pork. You might scold me for eating too much.”

“Because it’s a factory, we always prepare plenty. Don’t worry and eat a lot. We’ll be grateful if you enjoy it.”

It wasn’t a dramatic thought like paying for this one meal with the sanitation team or something, but the smell of meat that had been wafting in the air since earlier made my stomach vibrate.

It just won’t work.

“Our cooks are incredibly good at cooking.”

It hadn’t been long since we’d met, but it was the first time I’d seen his genuine smile.