Chapter 50: The Clash Between Two

When Yao Jia heard Lu Jingyi say that Mr. Li, the customer, had bought a fake refrigerator, she was momentarily stunned. They had just dealt with a refurbished machine incident, which still hadn’t been resolved, and now there was a counterfeit refrigerator issue.

She felt overwhelmed, as if one problem hadn’t been solved before another arose.

Yao Jia suddenly understood why her father was always so busy. As a low-level customer service representative, she had to handle so many situations. Yao Bingkun, as the company’s leader, had to oversee every aspect—production, operations, research and development, marketing, management. Every link constantly faced unexpected obstacles.

From a work perspective, she found herself able to forgive a little—understanding why Yao Bingkun hadn’t spent as much time with her as other parents might.

But from a daughter’s perspective, she still felt a sense of unresolved grievance.

Mr. Li, still on the phone with Lu Jingyi, asked what he should do next. He was shocked to have bought a fake refrigerator from a major mall’s specialty store, and he sounded a bit bewildered.

Yao Jia suggested he report it to the police.

Lu Jingyi said, “When I detected the refrigerator was fake at Mr. Li’s home, he had already called the police. We also called the specialty store, but the number was no longer in service. We contacted the mall, and the property management said the store’s lease had expired at the end of last month. They had a month-long clearance sale before closing. According to the mall, the store had a good reputation and had never received complaints about selling fake goods until recently. However, the store has moved, so nothing came of those complaints.”

Yao Jia was increasingly surprised. This “specialty store” must have been selling genuine Kunyu products before, but it hadn’t been authorized by Kunyu as a distributor, operating illegally. As its lease ended, it mixed genuine and fake products for a quick profit before leaving with the money.

The innocent customers were truly unfortunate, and Kunyu Electric, the brand being counterfeited, was unfairly blamed.

After Mr. Li recovered from his shock, he discussed a solution with Yao Jia over the phone. “Honestly, I bought this refrigerator because of the Kunyu brand. You can’t just ignore me! I know it would be difficult for you to refund me since it’s not your product, and you have no reason to cover this. But could you, considering I bought the fake because of your brand—if I had bought a Jiangfeng Electric refrigerator, I wouldn’t have been scammed—could you offer me free repairs? Including part replacements…”

Yao Jia felt that compared to other customers who made unreasonable demands, Mr. Li was quite reasonable. Emotionally, she was inclined to agree with his suggestion.

However, rationally, she knew she couldn’t make a hasty decision. This involved Kunyu refrigerators being counterfeited, and she needed to report to Lin Qian before making any further decisions.

She reassured Mr. Li to wait while she reported the matter to her superiors and promised to get back to him.

After hanging up, Yao Jia called Lin Qian.

Lin Qian immediately came over, asking what was going on.

It happened to be the afternoon break. Tian Huasheng bounced over from the other side of the corridor, wanting to invite Yao Jia and Meng Xingzhe to the break room for some fun.

Seeing Lin Qian present, he stood quietly aside, observing the situation.

Yao Jia recounted the incident to Lin Qian and concluded, “In short, someone is using our Kunyu Electric brand to sell fake refrigerators for profit!”

Lin Qian listened, frowning slightly with a serious expression, much like when she first heard about the refurbished machine incident.

Yao Jia realized that the counterfeit Kunyu refrigerator issue was not a small matter.

Sure enough, Lin Qian said, “I need to discuss this with Manager Li.”

Yao Jia, reminded of the refurbished machine incident, casually asked Lin Qian, “Team Leader, how’s the investigation on the refurbished machines going? Any updates?”

Lin Qian told her, “As Customer Service Representatives, it’s our duty to report special issues promptly. How these issues are resolved and the follow-up actions are handled by the relevant departments, which is beyond our job scope. We’re just low-level customer service reps; it’s not our place to worry about high-level positions. Once the matter is resolved, the responsible department will provide us with the results.”

Yao Jia processed this and realized Lin Qian was indicating that there were no updates on the refurbished machine incident yet. They didn’t need to probe further, as their role was too minor. They should focus on their own tasks and not concern themselves with matters beyond their control.

Yao Jia sighed inwardly. She really wanted to suggest to her father that he should pay more attention to the Customer Service Department. It shouldn’t be at the bottom of the workplace hierarchy, nor should it be the scapegoat for all departments. Whenever there’s an issue with production, operations, logistics, or technology, it always ends up being blamed on customer service.

Customers won’t argue with the tech staff; instead, they vent their frustrations on customer service: “Look at this junk you developed, it’s so unreliable. Compensate me immediately.”

They won’t confront the warehouse or logistics staff either; they just express dissatisfaction to customer service: “Why is your shipping so slow? What kind of efficiency is this? I’m going to file a complaint!”

Externally, customers direct all their grievances at the Customer Service Department. Internally, other departments also dislike it. The entry barrier is low, anyone can join, and they often use “customer demands” as an excuse to randomly file complaints against other departments. They’re seen as uncultured and annoying.

The Customer Service Department is constantly caught in the middle.

Yet, this department deals directly with the most negative customer emotions every day, processing direct feedback and vast amounts of information, which they then organize into data to provide to the Product and R&D Departments to help improve and upgrade products.

For a company, isn’t the most fundamental and important thing to produce products that customers love? The role of the Customer Service Department in product updates and upgrades is crucial, and the representatives endure a lot.

So why can’t the Customer Service Department receive more respect and attention?

Yao Jia pushed down her swirling thoughts. She needed to help Mr. Li with his immediate issue first.

She conveyed Mr. Li’s request for free repair service from the After-sales Department to Lin Qian and shared her own view: “Team Leader, I think this customer isn’t wrong. He bought the fake refrigerator because of Kunyu’s brand name. From a humanitarian perspective, his request for free repair service doesn’t seem excessive.”

Before Lin Qian could respond, Meng Xingzhe turned around.

He interjected without being asked, “That request is utterly ridiculous. As an employee, you should first consider the company’s perspective.” His tone suggested he found the situation amusingly absurd.

Yao Jia’s attention was successfully diverted. “Why is it ridiculous?” She found his tone irritating, as if he were a company leader above everyone else.

Meng Xingzhe raised an eyebrow, saying, “This buyer didn’t verify whether the store was an authorized dealer or check the product’s authenticity. He bought it carelessly and ended up with a counterfeit. This outcome is due to his own negligence. Why should the company pay for his mistake? Free repairs sound easy, but when you start replacing parts, whose budget does that come from? The company’s.”

Yao Jia felt like they’d debated this before. “No matter how you calculate it, the company can handle financial risks better than an individual. The repair cost might be negligible for the company, but for an individual, it could be the last straw, especially since he already paid for a genuine refrigerator but got a fake one!”

Meng Xingzhe tapped the table with his fist as if lecturing employees at a company meeting. “You think a company has more money than an individual? You say that because you’ve never been a boss! Do you know what a company’s owner sees every morning? The massive costs. And what do they consider next? How to improve the company’s efficiency. Only when profits cover costs can they keep the business running and support employees like you. So understand this: the fundamental purpose of running a business is to make it profitable. A good boss first considers how to reduce company costs!”

Yao Jia was almost speechless after Meng Xingzhe’s explanation. She admitted he was theoretically correct, but in life, when is everything purely theoretical? Emotions always balance the scale.

“Fine, let’s say a business’s main goal is profit, but shouldn’t it also have some ideals? It can’t just be about money, right? Otherwise, it’s just profit-driven!”

Meng Xingzhe smirked slightly, a hint of sarcasm in his smile. “Tell me, what determined last year’s rankings in the home appliance industry? Was it company profits or the boss’s ideals?”

Yao Jia was at a loss again. She thought for a moment and said, “But company rankings also consider reputation! Which big company isn’t thinking about doing charity and giving back to society? Just making money, even if the company is profitable, isn’t that heartless?”

Meng Xingzhe smirked again, tapping the table. “Charity and giving back to society—tell me, which company does these things without first being profitable? Without profits, how would they do any good?”

Yao Jia couldn’t help but slap the table and say, “I don’t believe a boss who only chases profit without any original intention or sentiment can keep a company profitable in the long run! There must be a sense of responsibility and passion, which builds a reputation and leads to lasting benefits!”

Meng Xingzhe raised an eyebrow and retorted, “You can never earn your first pot of gold with just passion. It requires decisiveness, swift action, and precise cost forecasting!”

Yao Jia, becoming a bit agitated in the debate, argued, “In the end, you’re still talking about money. Are you afraid of being poor?”

Meng Xingzhe replied, “You never seem to care about money. Do you have a gold mine at home?”

In her heart, Yao Jia thought, it’s almost like having a mine, just a coincidence that there’s a family business, which happens to be where you work. But whether there’s a mine or not, she believed people shouldn’t take money too seriously. Having more or less money leads to different lifestyles, but one shouldn’t lose the most precious empathy in human nature in the pursuit of more money.

“People can’t live with only money in their eyes, right? They need empathy for others! For example, can you guarantee that every time you buy a sandwich from the supermarket downstairs, you check the production date? Probably not! Because you trust the national chain store downstairs to be responsible and reliable, so you assume the sandwiches you buy there are of guaranteed quality and not expired. That’s a common mindset! Mr. Li had the same thought when he bought a refrigerator. He trusted the Kunyu brand, so he bought a fake refrigerator, didn’t he?”

Meng Xingzhe laughed, “Your example doesn’t convince me because I never eat such junk food as sandwiches. They don’t deserve my stomach.”

Yao Jia was almost speechless. So the guy she saw buying breakfast at the supermarket this morning was a ghost?

She reached under Meng Xingzhe’s desk, pulled out a half-eaten sandwich, and tossed it onto his desk, hitting him in the face with the evidence. “So what is this? An alien put it there?”

Meng Xingzhe, unfazed, said, “I suppose that’s not entirely impossible.”

“…” Yao Jia really wanted to catch some ants and put them in front of Meng Xingzhe to see if he could still maintain his aloof demeanor.

Tian Huasheng, who had been listening to the heated debate, slowly raised a large hand to express his stance. “After hearing the whole story, I feel that if I were in that situation, having bought something under the Kunyu brand from a legitimate store and then being scammed, I would feel uncomfortable if the repair costs weren’t somewhat covered. I’d feel like my trust was misplaced… After all, if I had bought another brand, this wouldn’t have happened.”

He paused, looked at Meng Xingzhe, Yao Jia, and then Lin Qian, and said, “So this time, I’m siding with Jia.”

******

Lin Qian went to report the fake refrigerator incident to Li Wangli.

When she came out of Li Wangli’s office, she brought a response regarding the repair costs for Yao Jia.

“Good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?” Lin Qian asked.

Yao Jia eagerly said, “The good news!”

Lin Qian told her, “Regarding the repair costs, I just submitted an application to Manager Li for you. Coincidentally, the Chairman called Manager Li, and after Manager Li reported the fake refrigerator incident, he mentioned the repair costs. The result is that the Chairman approved the repair costs—there’s a special policy for the next year that will cover the repair costs for Mr. Li, who bought the wrong refrigerator.”

Yao Jia couldn’t help but clap her hands. For the first time, she felt a bit proud of her blood connection with Yao Bingkun. Her father might be hot-tempered, but he’s not a businessman with only money in his eyes.

She couldn’t resist turning to Meng Xingzhe with a raised eyebrow and said, “See, I was right! A boss can’t only focus on profit; there must be some human concern, so the people who trust our Kunyu brand don’t feel let down!”

Meng Xingzhe curled his lips slightly, showing a hint of mild sarcasm at the Chairman’s somewhat benevolent approach.

Yao Jia turned to Lin Qian again and asked, “So what’s the bad news?”

Lin Qian raised an eyebrow slightly, “The bad news is, the repair costs can’t be completely waived; they can be discounted by fifty percent.”

“…” Yao Jia thought, well, that’s still pretty good, equivalent to giving Mr. Li a fifty percent discount on repairs for a year.

But Meng Xingzhe, excited, tapped her desk and said, “See, your point isn’t entirely correct either. Human concern can’t be completely free.”

Yao Jia rolled her eyes at him, not wanting to engage.

Meng Xingzhe continued, “This Chairman really has a way about him. You and I argued until we were blue in the face without a clear winner, and yet Yao Bingkun made a decision that both considered the customer’s feelings and the company’s costs. I must say, he’s quite the old fox.”

“…”

At this moment, Yao Jia’s feelings were incredibly complex. On one hand, she wanted to agree with what Meng Xingzhe had said, acknowledging that her father was quite the old fox. On the other hand, she felt the urge to slam the table and shout, “Can’t you show a little more respect for my father?”