Warehouse “Walk-and-Talk” Diaries

Every day after lunch, the three of us from the office go for a walk in the warehouse.

The warehouse used to be 1,400 square meters, and it felt fairly spacious. Earlier this year, we even joked about asking our male colleagues to rearrange the equipment so we could clear a spot to play badminton. But after just two days of walking, we noticed a few more pieces of equipment. After two months, it was dozens more. Now, when we count again—wow—the warehouse has over a hundred pieces of equipment. In some places, we have to turn sideways just to get through. Let's put the weight gain aside for now; simply walking through is exhausting enough.

But that's not even the main point.

The main point is that batches of equipment keep coming onto the market, and our boss always feels that if he doesn't grab them, he's missing out. Who understands this feeling: anxious when there's no stock, anxious when there is; the warehouse is packed full, yet more equipment keeps appearing on the market—and not buying makes him even more anxious. Payments for sold equipment are hard to collect. Sometimes it's not that customers genuinely don't want to pay—it's that they really don't have the money. But when we go out to buy equipment, we have to pay in full, in real cash.

The key thing is, our boss is extremely honest and loyal. When others owe him money—three months, six months—he says they might be going through hard times. But when others ask him for payment, sometimes he can't even wait until our fixed monthly payment date. He tells the accountant to pay them right away. He always says, "There's money in the account, so why keep others waiting?" The accountant says, "Others get three-month payment terms—can't we at least get one month?" But in the end, she can only grumble and comply. After all, he's the boss.

Still, this kind of boss has one huge virtue: he absolutely pays employee salaries on time, never delays them—otherwise he wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

We hope that when our boss reads this article, he'll slow down a bit on buying equipment. There are still dozens of units out on rent. If he buys any more, we really won't be able to keep up.