Chapter 166 Can I take a vacation too? Of course I should take a vacation! ...
After officially opening for business, takeout services resumed, adding another layer of busyness to the already hectic atmosphere of dine-in.
Fortunately, now that there is a physical restaurant, it is relatively easier to recruit service staff. In addition, since the restaurant is a self-built building, there is no need to pay rent, and the operating costs are much lower than other restaurants. Therefore, the wages that can be paid to employees are higher than those of other restaurants. Soon, the restaurant recruited two women in their fifties, one responsible for cleaning and the other responsible for washing dishes.
The two aunties were very hardworking. After they arrived, the restaurant was cleaned up almost as soon as it closed. The auntie who washed dishes even cleaned the kitchen stove. After the guests left, there was no need to do a lot of cleanup work, which made everyone's life much easier.
However, after working for more than ten consecutive days, everyone discovered a new problem.
Ji Qingqing: "Boss? Don't we have weekends off anymore?"
An Fusheng was about to have a meal with everyone, sharing the leftover ingredients from the restaurant that day.
Seeing An Fusheng's bewildered expression, Ji Qingqing emphasized, "Rest time is essential."
An Fusheng did not intend to cancel everyone's rest time. Not to mention that the two-day weekend is stipulated by the state, even oxen that plow the fields every day will get tired if they are not given rest. How can people just work without rest?
"No," An Fusheng said. "I was so busy I forgot. I'll have Niannian schedule the shifts tomorrow. For those who didn't get a day off last week, let's see if we should just give them 1.5 times their regular pay or make up for it with time off."
"Money, money, money!"
An Fusheng hadn't even had a chance to ask for opinions before everyone made their choice.
"Okay, I'll talk to Niannian tomorrow."
Aunt Zhang smiled and said, "The boss is really nice."
Ji Qingqing said smugly, "Don't you know who our boss is? Our boss is a top law student, so he has to abide by the law. Besides, we trained our own boss, so how could he not be to our liking?"
Everyone expressed their strong agreement.
An Fusheng scratched his head awkwardly.
Leaving aside his status as a top law student, he still feels a little embarrassed whenever people call him "boss." From Xingchen Canteen to Xiaoxingchen Canteen, everyone has been running the business together with him. He has a low level of education and limited experience, and when problems arose in running the restaurant, everyone helped him find solutions. He only felt that everyone was a partner in starting a business together and never considered himself a boss.
...
Xu Sannian held multiple positions, but his work efficiency remained high. He arranged everyone's holiday time after get off work on the second day. However, they were all weekdays. Working in the catering industry is the busiest time when others are resting, which is unavoidable. However, An Fusheng actually got a day off!
"I can take a vacation too?" An Fusheng asked incredulously.
“You’re not made of iron, of course you need to take a vacation! You think one day a month is too much?” Xu Sannian said.
An Fusheng: "No, that's not it. Right now, I'm the only head chef. If I take a break, who will cook? Yueyue and Qingqing together can only cook thirteen dishes. Zhaolin's only dish, tomato and egg, hasn't even met the assessment standard yet."
Zhaolin coughed and said, "Well... although I learn slowly, I give up quickly. My grandma said that the most important thing is to know your own limitations. I have decided not to go into the kitchen anymore and to focus on being my lobby manager."
Wen Yue raised her hand: "Big brother, if you lower your standards a bit, I can cook any dish."
Ji Qingqing: "Me too."
An Fusheng: "I don't have very high standards. I just feel that if I can't guarantee that the cooking time will be just right every time, I can't give the guests a good dining experience."
Ji Qingqing: "But the dishes you said weren't cooked properly, everyone thought they tasted pretty good. They were only a little bit off from being cooked properly, which is because we eat your cooking every day and have become experienced. Others just can't tell the difference."
An Fusheng: "No, nowadays many customers have eaten all over the world and are very knowledgeable about food. They can tell if a dish is not cooked well in one bite, but they just won't say it. They won't come back next time."
An Fusheng also wants to say that he doesn't know any business skills, so he can only attract and retain customers by making good food. Although he is now the boss, he still likes to cook and enjoys seeing customers come back again and again to taste his cooking.
"Maybe I shouldn't rest?" An Fusheng said.
Xu Sannian: "No, you have to face the fact that you are the boss now. You can't just stay in the kitchen cooking. You have to go out and see how other people run restaurants, how other restaurants attract customers, how other people's dishes taste, what makes them better than ours, and what makes them worse. If you come across a good chef, you have to find a way to poach him to our restaurant."
An Fusheng thought Xu Sannian's words made sense after a lot of the previous ones, but he was really excited about the last one: "What about the kitchen? How about the restaurant closes for one day a month? But that would be on a weekday when there are fewer people eating out."
Xu Sannian: "Why would we close down? Have you forgotten that the company now has dozens of employees? What will they do if we don't deliver food? We can't expect dozens of people to order takeout themselves, can we?"
“That is indeed a problem,” An Fusheng said.
“However, I already have a solution! How can an employee raise a problem to the boss without providing a solution?” Xu Sannian raised an eyebrow and handed a solution to An Fusheng.
The others were also curious about Xu San Nian's method, so they all crowded around behind An Fusheng to try and see, but An Fusheng was too tall, and apart from Zhao Lin, the others couldn't see him even with their legs cramping.
"Boss, sit down and watch. It'll be more comfortable if you sit down." A Yuan quickly brought over a stool.
Seeing that everyone was very interested, An Fusheng said, "Let's go to the main hall to see."
Hotel lobby.
Everyone sat around a round table and passed around Xu Sannian's plan.
Xu Sannian's proposal was just a preliminary idea, written very simply, only one page long, printed double-sided.
"I think it's possible!" Ji Qingqing exclaimed excitedly, "Niannian, you're a genius!"
Xu Sannian humbly replied, "No, no, it just so happens that when I was arranging my day off today, my mom called and said that her company was going on a team building trip to a mountain resort for a picnic, and that's when I thought of that."
Ji Qingqing: "That's amazing. Everyone knows about picnics, but who would have thought of applying it to a restaurant?"
Awen was also very excited: "I thought buffets were like hot pot or you could just take as much food as the chef had prepared. I didn't expect that you could also cook your own food, and if you don't know how, the chef will teach you. I want to try it."
An Fusheng thought for a moment and said, "Although our kitchen is big, it's still not enough to let all the guests in. The kitchen will get chaotic. What if something goes wrong when the guests are cooking?"
Xu Sannian: "Letting the guests cook in the kitchen themselves is definitely not enough. Oh dear, I didn't write in such detail because of the time constraints. My idea is this: Wen Yue and Qing Qing can cook more than a dozen dishes now, so we can serve those dozen dishes that day. Guests who want those dishes can order as usual. In addition, you can research a few dishes with simpler cooking methods, and buy a batch of small pots and stoves. We will prepare the ingredients and seasonings so that the guests can cook at the table, similar to barbecue or hot pot, but with our restaurant's specialties. Do you think this is feasible?"
An Fusheng ran through the dishes he could cook at the restaurant in his mind. Almost all of them required stir-frying, which was definitely not feasible. The whole restaurant would be filled with fumes, which would seriously affect other customers. However, Xu Sannian's idea was still quite good. An Fusheng said, "I can't think of any dishes that can be cooked at the restaurant without fumes. Let me think of something."
Xu Sannian: "Okay, then you can take your leave whenever the operation starts?"
An Fusheng: "..."
I hadn't planned on taking a vacation, but after Xu Sannian said that, I really wanted to. Now I'm telling myself I can't take one... I might as well just hire a chef to save trouble.
No, finding a chef is not easy at all; there's simply no way to find one!
...
Another consequence of not having holidays is that you still have to work late at night after getting home from get off work.
The corn at home was planted early, and it was only July in the lunar calendar when it was already fully ripe. Recently, Ji Fengnian has been leading a group of little kids to pick corn every day. First, they pick the corn from the field and bring it home, and then they peel the corn cobs into kernels.
An Fusheng got home at nine o'clock after get off work. The lights on the ground floor were still on. He went to the ground floor and sure enough, he saw Ji Fengnian sitting among a pile of corn cobs, peeling corn.
Ji Fengnian greeted An Fusheng, "Brother, you're off work?"
"Hmm," An Fusheng said, "Why are you still peeling corn so late at night? Why don't you do it during the day?"
“They come and bother me as soon as I start peeling corn during the day. It’s more peaceful at night, and it’s cooler then,” Ji Fengnian said. “The sooner I finish peeling, the better so you can make sauerkraut.”
An Fusheng: "There's no rush. If they're causing trouble, we'll just take our time."
Ji Fengnian: "No, school starts in a few days. After school starts, I will start training and do homework. Then I won't have time to peel corn. I have to finish peeling before school starts."
An Fusheng suddenly felt that Ji Fengnian's way of talking while working sounded a lot like his grandmother.
"Doesn't it hurt to keep peeling?" An Fusheng sat down and picked up an ear of corn to start peeling.
Ji Fengnian said, "How much is this? I used to husk all the corn from my uncle's several acres of land." Thinking of this, Ji Fengnian couldn't help but get angry: "I only ate at their house, but as soon as I got off school, I helped them with all kinds of work, farm work, housework, and so on. During the busy farming season, I would even pretend to be sick to ask for leave to help them with their work. They actually said that I was eating for free and wanted me to use my parents' house as collateral. When I didn't fall for it, they started robbing me. How can there be such relatives?"
An Fusheng: "Relatives are never determined by blood ties. Don't think about the past. Now you just need to study hard and find a way out for your future. You don't have to do the housework if you don't want to."
“I’m working here voluntarily. I like how my family is working hard to make a living now.” Ji Fengnian paused and said, “Thank you, brother.”
An Fusheng was taken aback for a moment, "Why are you thanking me? It's all thanks to Aunt Wen's efforts that you were able to stay."
After a pause, An Fusheng continued, "Actually, I'm just like you. If Aunt Wen hadn't taken me in, I would be a homeless person too."
Ji Fengnian: "How could that be? You're so capable, you could live a better life anywhere else than here, but you still chose to stay. You've given the family so much warmth and hope."
"Are they all asleep?" An Fusheng changed the subject.
Ji Fengnian: "They all chased me away to take a bath by Aunt Lou and Aunt Wen. All day long, I was either rolling around in the vegetable garden or fighting in the corn pile. My body was covered in mud. Aunt Lou said that when the loofahs are old, she would make a loofah sponge for them to peel."
An Fusheng chuckled softly.
...
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