The meaning of Teachers’ Day had changed.
Many people had said this. This day was supposed to be a day to thank and respect the teachers. This date was set for this ancient profession and to improve the teachers’ life and work. But now, it became a day to give teachers gifts.
The parents also start to compare with each other. They might not give some gifts that were more expensive than others, but they will never give anything lesser than others. All the teachers will be receiving large amounts of gifts on this day.
The teachers’ days in the past few years, the teachers will receive some cigarettes or tea leaves. Maybe some will receive chicken or ducks. Most of these gifts were useless. But this year was different for the teachers. Especially those teachers in some cities. They received Tai Hua Supermarket Shopping cards.
It was not sure if the parents had discussed beforehand. The value of the shopping cards was about the same. The head of departments received the most.
The teachers tried to keep these cards a secret. Although everyone knew what was happening, no one would flaunt about the total amount they received. After all, this was not something they were proud of.
But after work, the teachers bumped into each other in Tai Hua Supermarket.
The first thing the teachers did after receiving the shopping cards were to visit Tai Hua Supermarket with their wives or husbands. These cards were only valid for a limited period.
When the teachers bumped into their colleagues, they smiled embarrassedly. But this was Tai Hua Supermarket and not their school. Furthermore, almost all the teachers from the school were there, and their shopping cart was filled with big-ticket items like VCD players. This means that other teachers had also received a lot of shopping cards.
Since everyone was the same, what’s there to be embarrassed about? They can shop together.
“Teacher Niu, there is a good rice cooker for sale over there. Want to take a look together?”
“Ok. Oh, is this VCD player you pick good? I am also thinking of getting a VCD player.”
“Of course. This is Wind and Rain brand. A world-renowned brand! Their advertisements state that they are Often imitated, but NEVER exceeded!”
“Where are the VCD players? I want to get one.”
Teacher Niu frowned. Seems that this Teacher Sun had received a lot of shopping cards today. But Teacher Sun was a form teacher, and those parents will try their best to please him.
“It’s over there. Let’s look at the rice cooker first, and I will bring you to the VCD player section.”
During payments, they saw lots of familiar faces. Some were their colleagues from the same school, and some were teachers from other schools. They even saw some leaders from the education department.
This proves that everyone had received a lot of gifts during this Teachers’ Day.
……
Xiao Li was a cashier in Tai Hua Supermarket. She was overjoyed when she got this job. Although her work was tough, her salary was much higher than her parents.
Today, she noticed something different. Many of the customers making payments knew each other. The was a big city. Although it might not be as big as Beijing or Shanghai, the population was a few million. Was this really a coincident?
Hmmm…… Maybe it’s because this was Tai Hua Supermarket and these people were here because of the advertisements.
But these people addressed each other as teachers. Most of these people were teachers? Tai Hua Supermarket had become the number one choice for teachers today?
When making payments, Xiao Li was shocked. Shopping cards. Shopping cards again. Everyone was paying with shopping cards.
What? The value of the shopping card is not enough? Never mind. Use all the value in it. I still have one more card with me. Not enough? It’s fine. I still have another shopping card.
More than half the shoppers paid with shopping cards, and most of them had more than one shopping card.
The smallest denomination of the shopping card Xiao Li saw was 500 RMB, and the highest value was 5,000 RMB shopping cars. Most of these people were teachers.
What school was this? How come their benefits were so good? All the teachers received shopping cards from the school on Teachers’ Days? The school should have given out a large amount. The average monthly salary of a teacher was less than 500 RMB. Those teachers in university might be getting slightly more, but it should also be about 500 RMB. The professors will get more.
But how can there be so many professors here? Where did they get their shopping cards from? How come each of them had more than one card?
Xiao Li do not understand and was very curious. But during training, she was told that customer service was the most important and she must not chat with the customers. Many customers do not like to talk with cashiers or cashiers asking them about their income.
Xiao Li kept quiet and carry on working. She kept swiping the cards and let the customers about the balance value in their cards. This was repeated over and over again.
Today was more tiring than any other days. It was not a weekend, but the crowd was bigger than weekends. Also, most of the items that were bought were big-ticket items. Even if the customers bought alcohol and cigarettes, alcohol and cigarettes were all expensive brands. It feels like there was a sudden increase of wealthy people in the city.
Xiao Li had worked in Tai Hua Supermarket for more than 1 month. Even on the opening day, she had not seen so many people buying so many expensive items. Imported Philips color TV that’s worth a few thousand RMB, imported refrigerators were flying off the shelves.
The delivery staffs of Tai Hua Supermarket were going crazy. Their deliveries today was more than the total for last week.
But these delivery staffs were smiling. It was because of the more deliveries they made, the more they earn. Tai Hua Supermarket had not implemented free deliveries yet. They charged for deliveries. Although the charges were not high, most shoppers could not bring those big items back themselves. They need a vehicle to carry those items.
Tai Hua Supermarket delivery charges were cheaper than those tri motorcycles outside, and installations were included. If there were any damages to the items during delivery, Tai Hua Supermarket will take responsibility and compensate the shopper.
No one wants anything to happen to their purchases, which were worth a few thousand RMB. Although the shoppers will feel the pinch to pay for the deliveries, if their items got damaged when they try to carry it home themselves, they would be heartbroken.
……
“Manager, we have tabulated the total sales today. 85% of the shoppers today used shopping cards to pay for their purchases. The total amount is more than the total for last week!”
The Supermarket manager nodded. “Manager Feng’s idea is really wonderful. There are no new promotions, but the sales are much higher than during promotions. But this is only the first day. There will be more people tomorrow.”
The manager understands that those with shopping cards might not visit Tai Hua Supermarket today. They might visit the supermarket tomorrow or the day after that. But it does not matter. The shopping cards have an expiry date, and shoppers must finish using them before the date.
Feng Yu had wanted to set a 3 months validity for the shopping cards, but Fu Guangzheng and the rest felt 1-month validity was sufficient. Other than Teachers’ Day, there are still many other festivals in the same month. There were 3 festivals in the same month, and there was no way these people could not finish using the values in their cards.
Feng Yu agreed. The shoppers had behaved as they had expected. These shoppers had no qualms when they use shopping cards to pay.
It’s time for Tai Hua Supermarket to print another batch of shopping cards.
