Bai Xiao pondered; at that time, the slogan of "Work-study" did not yet exist. Many students, especially those from impoverished areas, really had to split every penny in two to spend, possibly earned through the blood and sweat of their families laboring under the scorching sun.
Under circumstances where one has the ability, one should indeed do something. It’s not about showing off one’s existence but for those students who could change their destinies, that they don’t suffer so harshly just to survive.
The billions that one has could just sit there, or one could start operating a project or venture that brings blessings to others.
Xiaozhang of course knew that a restaurant wouldn’t employ students like them who could graduate and leave at any time.
Isn’t the difficulty of finding a job because of this? Once people hear they are university students, it’s like a label of transience is stuck on them and no one likes employing them.
They could handle odd jobs, but any formal organization was simply not keen on them.
This taste of rejection was not new to them; amidst the heartache was helplessness, but they never complained. The reasons of others were valid; they couldn’t demand others to take such risks with open arms.
"Wait a moment. I have an idea, you can also consider it."
Bai Xiao knew how desperately hard the bad days were to endure, and how despairing the cold winters could be. Perhaps a bit of warmth could help these people go further.
Xiaozhang turned around.
"Boss Bai, they can’t possibly work in our kind of restaurant once they graduate. By then, we would need to hire a lot of people, it’s more economical for us to recruit directly," the floor manager fretted that his boss might make a problematic decision in a moment of soft-heartedness.
"Don’t worry, I have thought about this. Even if this batch graduates needing work-study, don’t we have new students every year? There will always be fresh blood, and there will always be people who need such jobs! We might as well create a dedicated work-study program, recruit students who want work-study, and as the old students graduate, new ones can replace them, an endless supply. It solves both our labor issues and the students’ problems, a win-win situation!"
Bai Xiao knew how difficult it was for these students.
Upon hearing this, Xiaozhang nearly jumped up with excitement, and the other students couldn’t help but spring up too. Yes, each year the school has many new students, and many of them need work-study—it’s a continuous force indeed.
The term "work-study" was well-used.
Wang Sanxi also agreed, coming from a rural background he understood the hardships of these rural students.
"Boss Bai, you really are amazing, on behalf of the thousands and thousands of impoverished students, I thank you."
Xiaozhang was so moved he was nearly in tears, while the others deeply bowed to Bai Xiao, who wouldn’t yearn for a stable income.
"Don’t get too excited yet. If we are going to do this, we must have a complete system in place, we need to perfect the rules and regulations, for instance, if someone needs to take leave, they would need to find someone else to cover their shift, we can’t allow business at the restaurant to be affected. When you have classes, we can’t just leave the place unstaffed. A lot of things require meticulous consideration; Manager Wang, you and the floor manager can discuss this with Xiaozhang and others after work. Come up with a proposal."
Wang Sanxi scratched his head, "Bai Xiao, I can’t read a single character!"
Everyone laughed.
Xiaozhang volunteered boldly, "I will write it, and provide you with a detailed proposal." If we university students can’t manage that, we might as well not study at all.