Chapter 109: It’s easy to invite a god, but hard to send him away

Cheng Yang left, but life has to go on.

Shi Xiaoai returned to the tea stall and prepared to discuss the recruitment plan with Wang Xiaofeng and others.

"I'm going to the office to write a job posting, so I'm here to discuss it with you guys first. I'll write two copies, one for the bulletin board next to the office, and one outside our shed.

In addition, I plan to set up the recruitment location next to our tea stall and set the interview time from 2:30 to 4:30 every afternoon.

We can set up a table here and continue business after the interview. What do you think?"

Shi Xiaoai asked for the opinions of the other two people.

"No problem, that's fine. But sister-in-law, who's in charge of recruiting these workers?"

Cheng Lin listened with great interest and looked very happy.

He had never seen such a scene before!

"Let Xiaofeng be responsible for the interview, and I will be in charge of the final selection of candidates." Shi Xiaoai continued.

"I'm here for an interview?" Wang Xiaofeng was surprised.

She had never thought that this would happen to her, and she shook her head frantically, "No, no, I can't do this. Sister, you have to be the one to recruit people. If that doesn't work, you can ask Director Yu or one of the others to come and help. Anyway, I definitely can't do this."

Shi Xiaoai was originally talking to them while writing a draft of the recruitment notice on a piece of paper. When she heard her say this, she raised her head.

"Why can't you? You've been following us since we started the tea stall. What's the situation that you don't understand?

You usually spend more time here than I do, and you are involved in all the processes.

Don't you know what kind of person you need and who is most suitable? Why can't you choose the person?"

Wang Xiaofeng still shook her head: "No, I really can't. Sister, I can't do this."

As Wang Xiaofeng spoke, she couldn't help but imagine the scene of her sitting here selecting workers. She felt her head buzzing and her face turned red instantly.

The more she thought about it, the more embarrassed she felt, and she refused even more resolutely: "Sister, don't scare me, I really don't want to!"

Seeing how anxious she was, Shi Xiaoai was helpless.

But she knew that some things could not be forced. Even if she wanted to train someone, she had to train them slowly.

She could only compromise and said, "Okay, then I'll teach you first. You can learn from me for two days and then do it."

Wang Xiaofeng wanted to refuse, but Shi Xiaoai glared at her and said, "There are only three of us now. Cheng Lin and I are both from outside the area and we are not familiar with the people in this neighborhood at all.

You were born and raised here. Don't you know more about each person's family situation and personality than us?

Even if you don't know, it's more convenient for you to find out than us.

Xiaofeng, you are the most suitable for this job no matter how I look at it. Please stop pushing it away or I will get angry."

After hearing Xiao Ai's words, Wang Xiaofeng naturally couldn't refuse anymore.

She now understood that Sister Xiao Ai did not want to hand over the right to recruit workers to the office, so she would not let people there help.

But this is normal.

If we really ask Director Yu and others to recommend people or help with interviews, not to mention whether the people selected are suitable for working in the tea stall, there will be a lot of trouble later just because they are involved.

For example - what if it is not suitable and is dismissed?

Should I greet them in advance?

Will it make them feel that you are not giving them face?

Wang Xiaofeng immediately regretted asking Director Yu to help.

Now it seems that Xiao Ai doesn't respond to this conversation at all, so naturally she won't say anything more.

Thinking of this, she gritted her teeth and said, "Sister, I'll listen to you. But I can only be your advisor, and you'll be the one who makes the final decision."

Shi Xiaoai nodded: "Of course."

After listening to the two of them discuss who to interview, Cheng Yang interrupted and said, "Sister-in-law, how many people are we going to recruit this time?"

At this point he chuckled and said: "You don't know, these past few days every time I go in and out of the alley, someone will stop me and ask when I will be hiring.

Why don't you tell me the truth, so that I can explain it to anyone who asks me next time."

"What's the point of revealing anything? The job posting will be posted soon."

"As for how many people to recruit," Shi Xiaoai thought for a moment, "Let's tentatively set it at fifteen. We can recruit a few more if we find someone who's particularly suitable."

"So many!" Cheng Lin and Wang Xiaofeng were both shocked.

Their tea stall business is already very good, but until now, there are only three of them working seriously.

They both thought that even if they were recruiting workers, they would only be able to recruit three or two people at most, and four or five at best.

Unexpectedly, Shi Xiaoai asked for fifteen and said it could be more.

Wang Xiaofeng couldn't help but question it immediately: "Sister, do we need to hire so many people? How much work do we have? Just add one more person to make pancakes, and then have two people to help clean up. That's all.

If we recruit more than a dozen people at once, how much will the monthly salary cost?

Besides, we only have such a small place, how can we accommodate it?"

Thinking back to when Shi Daxi brought ten people at once, they often called him a spendthrift behind his back.

Shi Xiaoai looked at her helplessly, then pointed to the back of the shed and said, "Am I hiring for this shed? The yard behind is going to be renovated in the next few days. Just imagine how big that yard is!"

Wang Xiaofeng was completely silent now.

Okay, she has forgotten about Courtyard No. 1.

The main reason was that Sister Xiao Ai's steps were too big, and she couldn't keep up for a while.

Seeing that she was silent, Shi Xiaoai explained, "To be honest, our current tea stall is just a makeshift one. With just this shed, I can't expand the business even if I want to.

But the future will definitely be different from now.

I plan to make full use of Courtyard No. 1 and convert all three street-facing areas into shops. Our snack bar will be called a snack bar, but in reality, it will be no smaller than the state-owned restaurants on the street. It's likely even larger than many of them.

The place is big, so it would not be appropriate if we sell too few varieties. We will have to increase the variety later.

Besides increasing the variety, we also need to expand our business hours. Didn't Cheng Lin mention yesterday that business is good at night? So let's add a night market.

Think about it, which of these added projects does not require people to do it?

Fifteen people is the basic requirement, but in reality, fifteen people are definitely not enough. After all, I plan to split the work into two or three shifts after the opening, which will require even more people.

Don’t worry if it’s not enough. We can slowly recruit more people while we continue to operate. We’ll decide the final number of people based on the situation.”

Shi Xiaoai was talking to the two people about her initial ideas, but in fact she still had many ideas that she had not yet shared with them.

The main reason is that I’m afraid if I say too much, they won’t be able to accept it.

Previously, Shi Xiaomei and her brother opened a snack shop opposite their tea stall to compete with them, although Shi Xiaoai always acted as if he didn't care.

But in fact, this incident touched her deeply and made her think a lot.

Especially the other party's behavior of copying their species and chasing them and beating them is really disgusting.

Shi Xiaoai thought that her personality was not very strong, but she was unwilling to suffer such humiliation.

But she also knew very well that unless she became bigger and stronger, and made others look up to her and no one could catch up with her, such a situation would inevitably happen again in the future.

After all, the threshold for entering the catering industry is really too low.

Even if you have a secret recipe and good skills, who can really tell the taste?

You say what you cook is delicious, but maybe the other person cooks the same thing just as well?

It was as if Shi Xiaoai herself had to admit that when it came to cooking skills, Shi Xiaomei was not much worse than herself.

If she didn't have Uncle Liu's support and was not able to buy more and more suitable ingredients, it would be hard to say who is better in cooking skills between her and Shi Xiaomei.

In this case, she has to work harder and seize every opportunity to reach the top as soon as possible.

Shi Xiaoai knew that these years were the best opportunities for her.

When others are unable to take action, she can take advantage of the office to do a lot of things.

Shi Xiaoai did want to hide her incompetence in the past, mainly because the pressure was not great. She always wanted to keep a low profile and get through the next few years first, and then do her work properly after the policies became clear.

But now she doesn't think so. Since she has already started so much earlier than others, it would be too embarrassing if she fell behind because of laziness or hesitation.

Thinking of this, Shi Xiaoai couldn't help but clench his fists, and his eyes became more determined.

Shi Xiaoai originally thought that she had prepared herself mentally, but the number of people who showed up at once on the recruitment day was beyond her expectations.

Because the recruiters were mainly educated youth returning to the city and unemployed young people, she did not set such high recruitment requirements this time, and the age limit was relaxed to 35 years old, with no restrictions on gender.

Requirements such as good looks and eloquence are something that almost everyone can meet.

As soon as this job recruitment notice was posted, almost the entire neighborhood was in an uproar, and everyone who saw it was talking about it.

After all, which family nowadays doesn’t have one or two children who stay at home and can’t find a job?

Even if there is no one in your own family, there are many young men and women who meet the requirements in your relatives' families.

So the next morning, before it was even light, the tea stall was surrounded by people who came to request an early interview and to inquire about the situation as soon as it opened.

The interview time listed on the job notice was clearly 2:30 p.m.

Such a scene shocked Shi Xiaoai and the others.

As a result, Shi Xiaoai had to immediately decide to change the plan and temporarily moved the interview venue that was originally planned to be held next to the tea stall to Courtyard No. 1, which had not yet been cleaned up.

Otherwise it would be too noisy, and if it doesn’t end by 5:30, we won’t be able to do business in the afternoon.

After Shi Xiaoai and Wang Xiaofeng finished their lunch business, they didn't even have time to clean up their stall and rushed over early to prepare for opening. When they arrived, it was just past 1:30.

But at this time, the entrance of Yunhe Lane was almost blocked by people.

There were about one or two hundred people who came to register and their accompanying family members. They all gathered at the gate of Courtyard No. 1, sitting and leaning.

Some people were even holding steamed buns and pickles in their hands and slowly munching on them. It looked like they hadn't even had lunch before coming here to wait.

Seeing so many people, Wang Xiaofeng became even more nervous.

She leaned over and held Shi Xiaoai's hand, and asked nervously, "Sister, why are there so many people here? Where are they from? Why are there so many people in our neighborhood?"

Shi Xiaoai also felt something was wrong.

Before writing the job advertisement, she asked Director Yu about the situation and also looked at the list of unemployed young people in their neighborhood.

It was only after she looked at the roster that she lowered the recruitment age to 35.

At that time, they had calculated that there should be about fifty people who met the requirements in the entire block, and not all of these fifty people were idle. Some of them were working as temporary workers elsewhere.

Therefore, Shi Xiaoai had even prepared for the possibility of not being able to recruit all fifteen people at once!

But now - just a quick glance, there are no less than a hundred young people guarding the door!

Being stared at with hopeful eyes by so many people, as if they regarded her as hope, Shi Xiaoai felt sympathy but also felt a huge pressure.

With her current abilities, she really can't solve the work problems for so many people!

"Hurry up and find Director Yu and ask them to bring the roster over." Shi Xiaoai whispered to Wang Xiaofeng.

Wang Xiaofeng agreed and turned around and ran away.

Shi Xiaoai stood there and didn't dare to open the door immediately.

She knew very well that it was easy to invite gods but difficult to send them away.

She had almost figured it out by now. Most of the people gathered here were probably not from her neighborhood.

I guess the news of the recruitment spread too quickly, and everyone who heard about it came here today.

She sighed in her heart, thinking that people nowadays have it so hard and there are so few opportunities; at the same time, she had to be vigilant, fearing that she would not be able to maintain order and something might go wrong.

Her new store hasn't opened yet, so she can't afford to make any mistakes.

Seeing that she was standing at the door motionless and had no intention of opening it, the people who had been waiting there in advance became angry.

Everyone gathered around.

In particular, some nearby residents who knew her or were familiar with her started to chat her up: "Xiao Xiao, when does the interview start?"

"We don't have to wait until 2:30, right? We can be more flexible. We can start earlier and finish earlier."

"That's right, otherwise there will be more people and the road will be blocked."

Shi Xiaoai listened with a smile and did not explain much to anyone.

If you ask too many questions, they will just say: "We are a subordinate unit of the office. Important matters such as recruiting must wait for the office leaders to arrive before we can start. Everyone please wait a moment."

Although some people showed visibly anxious expressions, what she said was impeccable and for a moment no one could do anything about her.

Fortunately, someone from the office arrived quickly.

In addition to Director Yu, the other people who came were Aunt Liu and Aunt Liang.

The three old ladies were running panting. It was obvious that Wang Xiaofeng had just explained the whole matter to them, and they also realized the seriousness of the matter.

But even so, when they saw so many people gathered at the gate of the yard, the three old men showed surprised expressions at the same time.

Director Yu was the first to calm down.

She held up the roster in her hand and said loudly, "Today's recruitment is mainly for the returned educated youth and unemployed youth in the neighborhoods under our Yunhe Office.

This is clearly stated in the recruitment notice, and we also have the roster.

Those who meet the requirements can stay and sign up, but those who are not from our neighborhood or do not meet the requirements can leave now!"

As soon as she said this, the scene exploded!