National Tide 1980.

Chapter 1315 Turning the tables

It is true that life is not a smooth journey.

No matter who you are or which path you take, no one can guarantee that everything will go smoothly.

In life, people always encounter various difficulties and setbacks.

Because that's how life is, there are gains and losses.

The same goes for Ning Weimin. Although he has the protection of time travel plug-in, he can anticipate many things in advance.

But he is just a time traveler, not a god. He has not yet reached the level of making his words come true, nor has he achieved everything he wants.

Some things are bound to go wrong and they will go wrong. They cannot be avoided or circumvented.

Just like the "Hui Min Reading Club" that he and Zhang Shihui invested money to set up, it has now expanded to three branches.

In addition to the main store opposite Rongbaozhai on Liulichang Ancient Cultural Street, there are two branches.

In order to facilitate management, Zhang Shihui set up a branch next to the Huimin Tobacco Hotel on Huanghuamen Street in the north of Jingshan District.

Another branch was chosen to be located near Liu Weijing’s mother’s home, Guangqumen Anhua Building.

It cost them nearly 40,000 yuan just to open these three stores, and now only the main store's income and expenditure are basically balanced.

The other two branches have to receive a subsidy of 2,000 yuan per month from them to keep going.

This money is entirely supported by the income from Huimin Tobacco and Liquor Store.

This move won them a good social reputation and made the reading club well received.

But invisibly, it also established their reading club as a moral benchmark and stood them up.

If nothing goes wrong, it's fine. But if something goes wrong, the store will have to bear much greater pressure than an ordinary bookstore.

This is like an athlete who has won the world championship. The Chinese people will not even allow him to make mistakes on the field and win the silver medal.

This was confirmed in June.

It was really bad luck that in the month when Ning Weimin returned to Beijing, some objectionable reading materials were found among the books for loan at the Guangqumen branch of the reading club.

Moreover, these two books titled "Rose Dream" were borrowed by a high school student from Huiwen Middle School. The people who discovered the problem with the books were precisely the student's parents.

  Will they let it go?

You have to know that these days, students who take the college entrance examination have to compete against each other for a single place, even for key high schools.

Nowadays, parents of students are only concerned about their children getting into college, which will bring honor to the family and provide a future.

Therefore, parents and schools do not want students to distract their attention by reading extracurricular books, let alone those that their own children read secretly, and the books are such disgusting things.

So the parents were so angry that not only did they beat their son up at home, the father also ran to the bookstore to argue and demanded an explanation from the bookstore.

But the bookstore employees were young and hot-tempered. They couldn't get along after all the talk. They felt that the responsibility did not lie with just one party and that the parent was making a big fuss. They even started arguing with the parent.

In this way, what could have been a minor issue further intensified the conflict.

As a result, even if the parent originally had no intention of making a big deal out of it, he or she will now do so.

Because of this, people not only went to the police station to report it, but also called a reporter from the Beijing Evening News to expose it.

Just like that, the mess got bigger.

Just the next day, the incident was reported in the newspapers by reporters because there was sufficient evidence, which immediately caused an uproar in public opinion.

No one expected that the Huimin Reading Club, which always claimed that it wanted to "make books affordable for book lovers" and "did not aim to make money", would make such a mistake.

If this is the case, who would dare to let their children go to a reading club to read?

However, Zhang Shihui, the head of the reading club, did not pay enough attention to this matter.

Even though this matter was reported in the newspaper, he didn't take it seriously at all because it was just a small article.

I didn't think about apologizing to the parents, nor did I think about making any public statement.

He even felt aggrieved. The reading club was not a publishing house, and he thought this was an unavoidable problem.

Moreover, he relied on his close relationship with the police station to get cheap cigarettes and alcohol for them, so it was not a big deal for him.

I think as long as the incident is downplayed, it will be fine in a few days, and as long as Ning Weimin doesn't know about it.

But what he feared came true.

It was also a coincidence that in May this year, Beijing had just cleaned up the book market and investigated harmful reading materials, and "Rose Dream" was a representative of the banned books.

Now, while reporting on its law enforcement achievements, Huimin Reading Club has unexpectedly run into trouble, which has exposed the blind spots in law enforcement.

  How can the relevant departments save face after seeing this?

The police station is involved and cannot withstand such pressure.

Grandma!

  If I don’t investigate you, who else should I investigate?

So, to Zhang Shihui's complete surprise, just one night later, the three stores of the reading club were subjected to surprise inspections.

This time, it was an almost comprehensive investigation, and a total of four types of unhealthy tabloids, eleven copies, and thirty-seven volumes of harmful books and periodicals were found in the three stores of the reading club.

Then the law enforcement department took away all the banned books and left a message: wait for the consequences.

Just like that, Huimin Reading Club became a fish on the chopping board, with the knife at its neck.

That’s not all. The next day, the Beijing Evening News followed up on the incident, this time with half of the page devoted to society, and the public response was almost entirely negative.

Because the more outstanding the student is, the more despicable it is if he or she cheats in the exam!

At the same time, there are people who take advantage of others' misfortune.

For example, the public library that was once questioned by the public because of its popular reading clubs.

And those stingy bookstores that don't allow customers to read books for free and will kick people out if they find out.

At this time, they were all happy to see Huimin Reading Club in trouble and couldn't help but make public remarks to add fuel to the fire.

Some people say that they are harboring evil and have betrayed the trust of the people.

Some people also say that such reading clubs are just using gimmicks to attract people, but in fact they have no sense of social responsibility at all.

Some people also say that school-age children should not be allowed to read extracurricular books. Not to mention reading bad materials, even ordinary extracurricular books can distract children and affect their academic performance.

Such reading clubs should have been banned and closed down long ago, which would be more beneficial to society.

These remarks further stimulated the people, and their doubts about the reading club continued to increase.

It even caused panic among the members, who were worried that if the bookstore banned it, their membership fees would be wasted, and many people wanted a refund.

At this point, the reading club was not only in danger, but also almost became a rat crossing the street.

It was no use for Zhang Shihui to go to the police station again, and he really felt panicked.

He had no ability to deal with the aftermath, and he knew he could not hide it from Ning Weimin, so he had to put aside his pride and ask for help.

At that time, Ning Weimin was discussing orders with various industrial and fine arts manufacturers. He was very angry after knowing the details.

He was not angry about anything else, except that he was angry that Zhang Shihui did not correctly recognize the seriousness of the matter from the beginning and failed to deal with it in time, which led to the situation getting worse.

What's more infuriating is that even though things have come to this point, this guy is still hoping for luck, hoping that he can use his connections with the authorities and the media to suppress the matter.

  Is this something that can be suppressed and muddled through?

It has caused public outrage.

If we don't do something to restore our reputation, we're doomed.

So Ning Weimin didn't say anything and directly scolded Zhang Shihui, asking him to learn well and cooperate unconditionally with his crisis public relations measures.

Then the first thing Ning Weimin did was to quickly write a notice and have someone post it on the doors of the three book clubs. The notice was divided into several parts.

In the first part, the cause and process of the incident are first stated, and the problems that occurred in Huimin Reading Club are truthfully described.

The second part describes the current investigation results of law enforcement agencies, which does not avoid the seriousness of the mistakes made by Huimin Reading Club.

The third part is problem analysis.

In this section, Ning Weimin complained a little and explained that there were uncontrollable factors in the source of the books, because they were all purchased second-hand books and there was no dedicated person responsible for reviewing the content of these books.

But Ning Weimin still did not evade responsibility. He put the main responsibility on himself and Zhang Shihui, the two persons in charge, believing that it was because of their inadequate management and lack of careful consideration of the issues.

The employee who quarreled with the customer just had a bad service attitude and only needed to bear the corresponding responsibility.

This is quite surprising because in the impression of ordinary people, leaders are all evasive, good at grabbing credit and even better at shifting responsibility.

It is always the subordinates who are taken as scapegoats, and few people are so responsible.

When seeing this, many people have already felt the sincerity of the admission of mistakes in this announcement, and their anger towards "Hui Min Reading Club" began to subside.

Some people may even think about this issue from the perspective of a reading club, believing that reading clubs also have their own difficulties.

But the most surprising are the last two parts, the rectification plan and the handling results written by Ning Weimin.

This immediately changed most people's views on reading clubs, and they began to have a positive attitude towards them again.

Because Ning Weimin's words were real and not fake at all.

First of all, in terms of rectification methods, he needs to improve the management system, strengthen employee training and the management of book sources.

specific measure:

The first is to set up a complaint phone number and suggestion book, and put the phone number and suggestion book in a conspicuous place in each store to ensure that whenever there is a complaint, as long as the customer leaves contact information, we will give feedback.

The second is to set up a special review department, and from then on there will be someone responsible for reviewing the content of books.

Third, for middle school students, the borrowing time has been changed. Taking the actual situation into consideration, book borrowing will only be provided during winter and summer vacations in the future.

However, correspondingly, membership fees will no longer be charged, only a deposit will be collected, and the original payment will be fully refunded after the membership expires.

The processing result is:

First, although the superiors have not yet issued their opinions on the handling, Huimin Book Club fully accepts the punishment and handling opinions of the law enforcement unit. If fines are imposed, they will be imposed; if business is suspended, it will be suspended for study. We will conduct a comprehensive self-examination to ensure that similar situations will not occur again.

Second, the customer's parents who helped them discover the harmful book and the journalists who reported the incident will be given a cash reward of 500 yuan each, and the two persons in charge of the book club will apologize to the customer and his parents in person for the incident.

3. We welcome the public to continue to supervise. If anyone finds similar bad reading materials in our company again, please report it to us. Once confirmed, we will give a cash reward of 500 yuan in accordance with the same category.

Fourth, for customers who no longer trust our company and want to withdraw from membership due to this incident, we sincerely apologize and will provide a full refund.

5. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to those customers who are still willing to trust the reading club and retain their membership.

And make corresponding compensation in advance for the impact that the possible closure of the reading club may cause to everyone.

Regardless of the final outcome, all customers who continue to remain members will have their membership extended for six months free of charge.

6. Employees who have quarrels with customers will have ten yuan of their monthly bonus deducted, and the employee will apologize to the customer in person before receiving internal criticism and education.

My goodness! It's all about spending money!

A one-year membership card is only 12 yuan! How much can we earn back?

Hey, the whistleblower made a lot of money! He earned half a year's salary for just one book! How fitting!

These thoughts are the most direct feelings of those who have read the entire announcement.

Everyone knows that for a public welfare reading club, this is more than just a small expense.

Everyone was shocked by the announcement from Huimin Reading Club, whose boldness was unprecedented.

Including bonuses and membership extensions, the huge investment of tens of thousands of yuan was withdrawn at any time.

That resolute courage is astonishing.

What is even more amazing is that they can act quickly and implement the plan without any carelessness. No one can match their courage and execution ability.

It turned out that after the announcement was posted, Ning Weimin was not idle. His next step was to call the Beijing Evening News and contact the reporter who wrote this report.

In addition to informing Huimin Reading Club of the content of the announcement, let them supervise themselves to fulfill the above commitments.

Just like that, under the witness of reporters that day, Ning Weimin found the parents of the high school student, Zhang Shihui and the employee who had quarreled, apologized on the spot one by one, and gave cash rewards to the other party and the reporters in full.

They have no choice but to do so. Ning Weimin's reasoning is very powerful - I know you are not doing this for money, but we still have many shortcomings and need supervision from the whole society. Only if we have the courage to take responsibility and actively improve can we truly reassure the society and achieve progress.

Just like that, the photos of this scene and Ning Weimin's attitude were once again published as social news in the Beijing Evening News, this time covering almost three-quarters of the page.

Even in today's environment where media and information are not very developed, Huimin Reading Club has caused heated discussions in society for its generous move, and public opinion has instantly boiled over because no company has ever done anything similar.

More and more people are paying attention and expressing their amazement at Huimin Reading Club's decisive handling of the incident and its apology.

Someone talked about the benefits of the reading club, "Hui Min Reading Club has really benefited me a lot. I am afraid that the reading club will fail, and people like us will no longer have such a convenient place to borrow books."

Someone else said, "Everyone has made mistakes. Just correct them and it's fine. To be fair, Huimin Book Club was not sincere, but was just negligent. Such mistakes are inevitable in any bookstore. On the contrary, look at those places that deliberately sold these books and periodicals in May. Why didn't anyone apologize to the society like Huimin Book Club did? It was just that the books were copied, so they just pretended that nothing happened. Who is more hateful? There is really no need to hold Huimin Book Club to account and condemn it."

There are also intellectuals who love books as their life and commented that "Money-driven actions do not reflect the true intentions. But Huimin Book Club is indeed needed by the people. It is outstanding and unique in management, far surpassing its peers. In particular, this positive attitude of facing and correcting mistakes is just like a rare white jade, pure and flawless, revealing its inner elegance and purity. I hope that the relevant authorities will fully consider the actual needs of the people and give Huimin Book Club a chance."

Even the high school student's father expressed his opinion in the evening paper.

"Look at what this incident has caused. We originally just wanted an explanation and didn't expect to cause such a big commotion. I regret it now and thought I made a fuss out of nothing. This reading club is good and we are satisfied with their apology. Besides, they are not doing this for money, they really want to do good things. If this incident really causes the reading club to close down and everyone has no place to read, I will not be able to bear it. To be honest, I have no problem with Huimin. As long as my son is admitted to university, I will let him borrow books from Huimin."

The Chinese people are really so lovely.

The majority of people are reasonable, and they are also kind and empathetic.

As long as you do your job well, no one will really care.

Such public opinion is of great help to Huimin Reading Club, and it also makes law enforcement easier.

The final punishment was not serious - the business was suspended for three days and fined 30,000 yuan.

But what is even more surprising is that this matter did not end there, but made Huimin Reading Club a model in the industry.

After the reopening, the crowds were huge and the energy was high.

After this incident, not only did almost no one quit, but the number of members increased, and many people came to apply for membership.

Ning Weimin, who knew the traffic password and benefits, was not idle. He took the opportunity to set up special counters inside and outside the book club store, selling the soundtrack of the movie "Li Xianglan" by giving members a free movie poster.

This not only promoted the sales of tapes, but also rapidly increased the number of members, greatly spreading the operating costs.

That’s not all. Many people came to donate books. Many people believed that Huimin Reading Club was poorly managed and had suffered considerable economic losses from this turmoil. They were all willing to donate their useless books for free and do their part for the reading club.

As a result, these scenes were reported by the Beijing Evening News and became part of the social news.

Now, those people who were originally laughing at the joke were all dumbfounded, and finally realized that they were the ones who were the joke.

Zhang Shihui, who originally felt a little bit hurt, finally changed his mind.

I feel that "suffering small losses to gain big profits" is indeed the right way to go. I have made considerable progress in my business philosophy and have benefited a lot.

He had to admire Ning Weimin's unique strategy and foresight, and his ability to turn bad things into good things.

Their unexpectedly successful reverse marketing this time was simply a great harvest for Ning Weimin who turned the tide with his business acumen!