Recently there was news online saying that some shop owners on Taobao sent funeral clothes to customers because the customers gave them bad reviews. Many people think this is a horrible thing, but in fact it is nothing. I have seen even more horrible things sent by express delivery because I am a courier.
My name is Ji Wen. I am 21 years old and my hometown is Chongzhou, Sichuan. When I graduated from high school, I failed to get into university, so I had no choice but to go out to work and eventually came to Zhongwei, Ningxia, a little-known city.
When I first entered society, I felt that everything was so simple. Even if I had no academic qualifications, as long as I was willing to work hard, I would become rich sooner or later. However, after working in society for a few years, I finally understood that the dream of getting rich was not something that a young person like me with no academic qualifications, no money, and no background could achieve. After traveling to several cities, I finally chose to be a courier in Zhongwei City.
To be honest, a courier can work anywhere, and I can also go back to my hometown to work, which can reduce expenses. But I didn't do that because when I left my hometown, I was full of energy and ambition. Although I didn't turn my back to my friends and say, "I won't come back if I don't make it," I would still feel extremely awkward and uncomfortable if my friends and family knew that I was a courier.
Because of this, even when I work away from home, I still feel a sense of inexplicable peace in my heart. When my family and friends ask me about it, I usually say that I am a worker in a factory with good salary and benefits. It’s just that through the phone, they can’t see my self-deprecating smile.
I work at the North Street branch of XX Express. The boss of this branch is Zhang Peng, a skinny middle-aged man in his thirties. He is usually not in the store. He is either out meeting clients or playing mahjong. His wife is usually the only one looking after the store. Over time, his wife has become very resentful. Almost every time I see the boss in the store, he is arguing with his wife.
They quarreled, and I usually didn't get involved. I would finish my work and go home. Sometimes I envied the boss Zhang Peng, and thought if I had a courier store like this, would I be able to be as free as him
In fact, my daily work is not particularly tiring. I arrive at the store at 8:30 in the morning, ride an electric tricycle to the headquarters to unload and sort the goods. I find all the goods belonging to our area, scan and load them, and then start delivering them one by one. Although our area is not too large, there are many residential areas, so the delivery is a bit troublesome. When I first started working, I was not familiar with Zhongwei City, and I had to deliver more than a hundred express deliveries every day until eight or nine o'clock in the evening. My boss almost fired me, but eventually I got familiar with it, and I finished delivering all the deliveries by three o'clock in the afternoon at the latest, and then I would go home to sleep or play LOL or something.
I get paid one yuan for each courier I deliver, so I can earn three to four thousand yuan a month, which is a pretty good income. The only bad thing is that I can't take leave easily. Every time I need to ask for leave, my boss gets a long face, because once I take leave, the delivery job falls on him.
I have been working here for more than a year and have saved more than 20,000 yuan. If I continue like this, in two years, I can borrow some money from my family and contract my own express delivery branch here. Then, I can say that all the hard work has paid off.
I got up on time at eight o'clock this morning, hurriedly ate some leftovers from last night and went to work. The place where I live is not far from where I work, about five minutes away. This rental house has one bedroom and one living room with a toilet. The annual rent is six thousand yuan, which is quite satisfactory for me. The only drawback is the appearance of the building. The surface has turned black a long time ago, and it looks as if it was built before liberation. It seems that it will collapse at any time. There is no light in the corridor. If I come back late at night, I will be scared to death when going upstairs.
When I arrived at the store, the boss lady had already opened the door. I put on my work clothes, loaded the express deliveries and batteries that the store had received yesterday afternoon into the car, and then set off for the main store.
The head office was a little far away. We arrived at the head office about ten minutes later. The large truck coming from the superior station in Yinchuan City was already waiting there, and several couriers from other branches had already started distributing the goods.
"Ji Wen, you're a little late today."
The person who spoke to me was Xiao Wang, a courier from the West Street branch. Standing next to him was his colleague Xiao Li. I don't know their names, but they were both about my age. I usually only chatted with them in the morning when they were delivering the goods, and we never interacted with each other again.
This express company has five branches in Zhongwei City in addition to the head office. The couriers from the other three branches are all newcomers and I can't even remember their names. I walked up to Xiao Wang and Xiao Li and chatted with them while they were distributing the goods.
I was familiar with the route and I could tell whether it was my goods just by taking a glance at the express delivery slip on the goods. Soon the whole truckload of express deliveries was divided up by the couriers from our several branches. I piled the goods one by one into my electric tricycle according to my delivery route like building blocks. Suddenly, a piece of express delivery caught my attention.
This is a courier that is about the size of a shoe box, and is wrapped in a paper box of the same size. It seems to be quite large, but it feels light in the hand, as if it is just an empty package.
I'm used to this kind of empty package. Nowadays, in order to improve their reputation, e-commerce companies on Taobao often send this kind of "fake order" express. I didn't think much about it at the time. I loaded the package into the car, said goodbye to Xiao Wang and Xiao Li, and started to deliver it.
The sun in the north is very strong, unlike in Sichuan where it is rare to see the sun. Even with the scorching sun, I managed to finish half of my deliveries before 12:30. I found a noodle restaurant to eat some lunch, and then continued my deliveries.
It was soon delivered to my last stop, the Great Wall Community. Looking at the only six or seven express packages left in the carriage, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was about to call the owners of these packages one by one when I suddenly saw the 'empty package' that I saw in the morning. I picked it up and took a closer look and found that there was no information about the sender on it, but the delivery address and recipient made me frown.
To be honest, in the more than one year that I have been a courier, I have met many different kinds of people. Some of them are really nice to us couriers. When we get to know each other, they will even let me in to have a drink of water or eat some fruit. But these people are a minority after all. Most people look down on the profession of courier.
Perhaps this also proves the saying that if you don't work hard when you are young, you will be a slouch when you grow up.
As it happens, the empty bag in hand belongs to a difficult customer.
This person is called Yang Xiaoxia, a woman in her thirties. She is so ugly with all the fat on her body. I remember the first time I delivered a courier to Yang Xiaoxia, I called her politely to inform her, but she started cursing at me on the phone.
"Does your courier company always have people go downstairs to pick up the parcels? Then why do you keep all these couriers like this? Deliver it to me within one minute, or I will complain to you!"
This kind of person is the most annoying. What can't be said in a nice way? Even if you don't have time to come out and let me deliver it, I will definitely deliver it. But this woman is like I owe her a lot of money. I grit my teeth when I hear this. Sometimes when I meet this kind of person, I really don't want to continue working with you. I earn one dollar from you for one order, but you still have to endure such humiliation.
Although I was angry, I didn't dare to talk back to her on the phone. After all, if I received a complaint from a customer, it would mean that I had worked for two days in vain.
I sighed slightly, and after delivering the express packages for other customers, I took the empty package and walked towards Yang Xiaoxia's home. It would be a waste of time to make a phone call anyway, so it would be more convenient to deliver it to her directly.
Yang Xiaoxia lives on the sixth floor. I went to her door and knocked gently.
After five or six seconds, an impatient woman's voice was heard from inside.
"Who is it? Why are you knocking on the door at this time?"
I was puzzled for a moment and thought to myself, it was only a little after two o'clock, what was wrong with knocking on the door
After a while, footsteps were heard in the room. The door opened and I saw Yang Xiaoxia, who was fat and wearing a very flashy floral dress, standing at the door in disarray. When I looked down, I saw that she was wearing a pair of men's leather shoes.
Seeing this scene, I guessed it out. It turned out that she was having sex with someone in the room. No wonder it took me a long time to knock on the door before it was opened.
"Hello, this is your express delivery, please sign for it."
I reached out to hand the express and pen to Yang Xiaoxia, but turned my head away. I really didn't want to look at this person any more.
Unexpectedly, when Yang Xiaoxia saw that it was me knocking on the door, she immediately became furious and asked, "How do you deliver a package? Why don't you call me before delivering it? Don't you know that knocking on someone else's door is very rude?"
I was furious when I heard that, but I suppressed my anger and said, "But the last time I called you, didn't you ask me to deliver it myself?"
"How dare you talk back to me? Which courier company are you from? I want to complain about you! Uneducated couriers like you deserve a few complaints!"
When I heard this, my head started buzzing and my hands started shaking. I almost couldn't help but beat up this fat woman on the spot.
"I don't know who is so ignorant. You can take the things if you want. If you want to complain, feel free to do so. I have tolerated you for a long time, you fat bitch!"
Perhaps Yang Xiaoxia didn't expect that I would suddenly turn hostile, and she was still a little dazed. I tore off the delivery slip from the package and threw it into her room. As I walked downstairs, I said, "Fat woman, I won't deliver your package next time. I'll leave it at the gate of your community. Whoever wants to deliver it will take it!"
After saying that, I had already gone down to the fifth floor, and from upstairs I could hear Yang Xiaoxia's angry curses full of foul language, and I could also vaguely hear a man's dissuasion.
After delivering the items, I rode my bike to the store, signed for the order in my hand, and prepared to go home to rest. Although I might lose a few hundred dollars today because of a complaint, I felt extremely comfortable in my heart. People who don't treat others as human beings will naturally not be treated as human beings by others. I believe that I am not the only one who has been angered by her.
After returning home, I played a few ranked games in a good mood. Just as I was about to reach gold level, I heard a knock on the door.
I hurriedly got up and opened the door, only to find two uniformed policemen standing at the door.
This was the first time in my life that a policeman knocked on my door. He asked curiously, "Who are you looking for?"
One of the policemen smiled slightly and asked kindly, "Excuse me, are you Ji Wen?"
"Yeah? Police comrade, what do you want to see me about?"
"It's like this. At three o'clock this afternoon, a couple from a family in the Great Wall Community fell to their deaths. It is said that you delivered a package to this family before and had an argument with them. We came here just to understand the situation."