Worker's Daily: Every voice related to workers is meaningful, and university teachers share their experiences of delivering takeout to attract attention
Xing Bin is a university teacher who recently gained attention because he worked as a food delivery worker in Linyi, Shandong for a month last winter. He wrote this experience as an article titled "In the Winter of 2022, I Delivered takeout in Linyi City". The article has rapidly spread online recently, and his experience has also been hotly discussed by everyone.
Most people appreciate Xing Bin's behavior of "rooting down" as a professor in the college of literature, while others do not agree with some of the information and viewpoints he conveys in the article. Anyway, it is not a bad thing for the professor to experience the life of ordinary workers solidly and record this experience with his unique sensitive and delicate brushstrokes, so that society can turn its attention to the familiar and unfamiliar group of food delivery workers.
At present, there are over 84 million new forms of employment in China, and food delivery workers are one of the common groups of new forms of employment in daily life. However, just like other new forms of employment such as drivers, truck drivers, ride hailing drivers, and couriers, although people often enjoy the convenience brought by their labor, they have only a partial understanding of their life and work status.
In the article, Xing Bin summarized his work as a delivery man for a month: on average, he rides a motorcycle for 210 kilometers, walks 32000 steps, and climbs 110 floors every day. He also has specific statistics: earning an average of 3.5 yuan per order, having to pick up and deliver goods two to three kilometers, waiting for an average of 5 minutes for pickup, riding a bike for 8 minutes, and delivering goods to your doorstep for an average of 7 minutes, totaling 20 minutes.
In addition to his basic situation of delivering takeout, the article also involves personal experience and observation, the cost of survival for ordinary people, and so on. The content of the article has not been fully acknowledged. For example, some people believe that individual experience cannot represent all truth, and not all delivery drivers are as "distressed" as the author portrays; Some people also believe that the article's description of the industry is too emotional, making it look like a "picky job".
If viewed from a rigorous perspective, Xing Bin's experience and article cannot be considered a scientific investigation and research. He also had no intention of doing so. Speaking of his original intention, he said, "The circle of life for university teachers is relatively closed, and over time, they will lose their sensitivity to reality. I think I need to 'restore' myself to a normal person through this month's similar experience."
Xing Bin's article is more like a personalized writing. But it is precisely because of this that the article presents some aspects of the work and life of food delivery workers in a detailed way, arousing people's attention and resonance with the author's emotions and experiences, and putting food delivery workers in the spotlight of society to be seen.
Not every delivery person has the knowledge and writing skills of a professor from the School of Literature. They immerse themselves in life and work every day and are a relatively silent group. From this perspective, it is meaningful for someone to speak out in their capacity, regardless of whether their content is comprehensive or their viewpoint is accurate. There is a specialization in the field of literature, and we cannot expect a literary professor to objectively, comprehensively, and accurately understand everything, display everything, and answer everything. In fact, we cannot blame anyone for everything. Real life is extremely rich, and the practical problems faced by ordinary workers, such as safeguarding their rights and interests and developing industries, can only be seen and improved through repeated demonstrations and discussions.
