The middle-aged man thought that if he showed aggression, Lin Fan, this delivery person, would back down.
Little did he know heâd run into a hard nut today; Lin Fan was completely unfazed and stood his ground!
This middle-aged man wasnât the owner of the mall, just a leader from the management office, who happened to be inspecting the mall today. When he encountered the conflict between Lin Fan and the security guard and saw Lin Fan daring to not cooperate with the securityâs job, he immediately became furious and shouted at Lin Fan.
"Get out!"
That shout seemed like the middle-aged manâs anger, but at its root, it was his contempt for Lin Fan, a delivery person daring to act out hereâit was simply outrageous!
So, when Lin Fan, whom he underestimated, actually stood his ground against him, he became even more furious.
"You miserable delivery guy, dare to act tough in front of me? You really think I wonât dare to do anything to you?" the middle-aged man sneered.
Lin Fan calmly replied, "Iâm standing right here, come over and try me. I was supposed to rush a delivery, but I donât have time to dawdle with you today. Even if I donât work today, Iâm ready to confront you. Dare to touch me, and Iâll immediately call the police."
Lin Fan pulled out his phone.
Everyone around was watching the drama, including the security guards. The middle-aged man was angry; he didnât want the police involved, which could negatively impact the mall, making it hard for him to explain to the boss.
But for him to swallow this anger was unacceptable. He looked down on a mere delivery person; how could he concede just like that?
After weighing the pros and cons, the middle-aged man ultimately did not take action and coldly snorted, "You think Iâm afraid of you calling the police? Even if the police come, the rules are on my side. Youâre the one violating the mall regulations first!"
Lin Fan laughed, "What rules?"
The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and said, "You brat, stop playing dumb with me. Our mall has rules that you delivery people can only enter through the side door, not the main entrance. You just entered through the main entrance, violating the rules; the security has the right to ask you to leave and re-enter through the side door. What you need to do is obey!"
Lin Fan replied, "May I ask why delivery people have to enter through the side door?"
The middle-aged man said, "Isnât it simple? Because you delivery people, if you enter through the main entrance, would obstruct the customers. Our mall aims to provide the best shopping experience for them."
Lin Fan said, "How do we delivery people obstruct the customers? Are we blocking the entrance, preventing customers from entering, or are we verbally or physically harassing them? Absolutely not. Weâre merely entering the mall to pick up orders. The only difference between us and the customers is that we wear this delivery uniform."
The middle-aged man sneered, "Thereâs certainly a difference. Customers come to shop and spend money; you delivery people do not!"
Lin Fan made a sound of understanding, "What you mean is, âmoney talks,â right? Because customers spend money here, they can enter through the main entrance, while we cannot."
The middle-aged man said, "You can think of it that way, who told you that you arenât the ones spending money!"
Lin Fan asked, "What if Iâm wearing this delivery uniform and decide to shop, can I enter through the main entrance then?"
The middle-aged man said, "Sorry, no, we donât have the capacity to individually determine if youâre coming to shop or to deliver food, so anyone wearing a delivery uniform is prohibited from entering through the main entrance!"
Lin Fan said, "Earlier, you mentioned not letting delivery people enter through the main entrance to avoid obstructing customers, yet whether through the main or side entrance, we all end up in the same space. Once inside, we still move among customers. By your logic, weâd still obstruct customers, so why not simply ban us from entering altogether?"
"..." The middle-aged man was momentarily caught off guard.
Indeed, if the concern was delivery people obstructing customers, they could obstruct them either at the entrance or inside the mall!
The middle-aged man thought for a moment, then said with a snort, "Itâs not difficult to understand. Besides catering to customers, we must also cater to merchants. Merchants need to do delivery business, so we reluctantly allow delivery people in solely to pick up orders!"
Lin Fan chuckled, "Meaning you wouldnât want delivery people in at all, but due to merchant business considerations, you have no choice but to let us pick up orders."
The middle-aged man said, "Exactly, I wonât hesitate to tell you, weâve internally discussed ways to resolve the issue of delivery order pickups, proposing several solutions. One solution was to set up a unified pickup point outside the mall, where staff could deliver orders to the point, and delivery people could collect them there. In this way, delivery people wouldnât need to enter the mall, affecting the shopping experience. Personally, I support this plan since it avoids letting you in, but most merchants oppose it, rendering the plan unimplementable."
This plan would definitely face opposition from merchants, as having staff deliver orders to a pickup point would waste their time and increase labor costs. Given these stakes, merchants wouldnât agree.
With unanimous opposition from merchants, this plan had to be scrapped, leaving no choice but to allow delivery people into the mall to pick up orders. Letting delivery people handle this task instead of staff saves the latter from running around.
Actually, picking up orders inside a mall is quite a tiring task for delivery people. Malls are generally large, and merchants scattered about; sometimes, finding a merchant can be challenging, wasting a lot of time as walking around can be exhausting.
Delivery people would definitely support a unified pickup point plan since it saves time and effort, yet merchants donât agree, leaving delivery people to handle the legwork.
The mall, on one hand, doesnât want delivery people entering, yet on the other hand, needs to cater to merchants, resulting in reluctantly allowing delivery people in.
Yet still dissatisfied, they impose various restrictions on delivery people, such as banning entry through the main entrance, only allowing side entrance access.
Lin Fan sneered, "After all said and done, Iâve come to a conclusion: your mall needs delivery people to come in. Am I wrong? If we didnât come in, merchants would have to deliver to the entrance, so this is quite muddled. You need us yet should facilitate our access, not only do you fail to do that, you impose such absurd rules to trouble usâdo you still think youâre in the right?"
The middle-aged man: "..."
Damn!
Lin Fan spoke so logically; he was momentarily rendered speechless, with no grounds to refute.
Lin Fan continued, "Ultimately, you look down on delivery people, this is outright discrimination! The rule that we can only enter through the side door is solid evidence of this discrimination, because deep down, you discriminate against delivery people, hence separating us from customers. You need us inside yet dread us coming in. Isnât that simply despicable?"
"With such blatant discriminatory actions, I believe the public can clearly see. Shall I call the police for justice, or even contact the media to judge your mall for discriminating against delivery people?"
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man broke out in a cold sweat.