Chapter 215 Strange Key
Waiting until 2 o'clock in the afternoon, a customer finally poked his head into the experience store.
Today is June 19th, a Thursday. Because it is not a weekend, there is not a lot of traffic. In addition, this three-story experience store is a shop along the street, not in a shopping mall, so although the transportation is convenient and people come and go, everyone is in a hurry to go to work, and not many people enter the store.
What's more, when the experience store opened, there was no publicity. It was just a few small words on the inconspicuous signboard at the door. It was not easy to attract customers.
This customer looked like a college student, very young. After pushing open the glass door of the store, he asked hesitantly: "Is this... a console game experience store?"
Seeing the guests coming, Sui Tao wanted to greet them and said, "Hello, we are a Nitiantian game experience store here, so we can only experience games produced by Nitiantian."
The customer was stunned: "Ah? What kind of company is Nitiantian?"
How to explain Sui Tao's speechlessness?
Obviously, although Nitiantian Games has made some achievements in the domestic game market, it has not yet become a household name. The customer who came today has obviously never heard of this name.
Sui Tao hurriedly said: "Look at this display board. It lists all the works of Nitiantian Game. Maybe you have played some of them."
The customer looked at the display board and said, "Oh? "Ascension"? "The Fire Thief"? It seems to have some impression. Although I haven't played it, I heard it mentioned by others.
"Are you sure this is an experience store specializing in Nitiantian Games? Isn't it selling someone else's meat?
"Why is there no one in the store?"
Customers are questioning their souls again.
This time he no longer questioned Nitiantian Games, but instead questioned the experience store itself.
Obviously, if this is really an experience store of a pretty good game company, how could it be so deserted?
Just like those big brand mobile phone stores, they must be full every day, right?
And those stores that display the brands of these mobile phones but actually don’t have many customers are basically third-party cooperative merchants, selling dog meat at the expense of others.
At this time, the situation of this experience store is very similar to this kind of third-party merchant.
Sui Tao was speechless for a moment: "This...how should I explain to you..."
Obviously, even he was still confused by this issue, because Gu Fan had never explained to him the true relationship between this experience store and Nitiantian Games.
At this time, it was Gu Fan's turn to take action.
"Hello, our experience store is indeed the only directly-operated store of Nitiantian Games. I am the store manager of Nitiantian Games, and I am also the president of Nitiantian Games."
Gu Fan introduced himself in a very low-key manner, but the customer's mouth twitched slightly, and he said uncontrollably: "This store manager is very humorous, okay, let me experience it.
"Huh? Do you have a driving simulation game here?"
Obviously, this customer thought Gu Fan was telling him some cold joke.
The president of Nitiantian Games will personally serve as the manager of the experience store?
Why does the emperor guard the country?
If he were really the president, shouldn't he be in charge of Nitiantian's game business? What's more, there are also a series of things such as company management, personnel recruitment, and the formulation of the company's strategic direction. I must be very busy. How can I have such free time to come and visit the store?
humor!
However, this unique sense of humor brought the two parties closer, and the customer decided to stay in the store to experience it a little bit.
Sui Tao was very happy. Anyway, the first customer finally came to the door. It was not easy!
Gotta cherish it!
However, just as he was about to go over to serve, he was stopped by Gu Fan.
"Ahem, Xiao Sui, your service method is a bit wrong."
Gu Fan lowered his voice slightly so that the customers wouldn't hear.
Sui Tao was puzzled: "My service method is wrong? You didn't tell me what service method I should use..."
He has worked in several mobile phone stores before, and he still understands the general service process. Although he didn't know much about Nitiantian's game, the customer who came this time had never played it before, so Sui Tao thought it would be okay to give him some guidance.
But it was obvious that Mr. Gu had his own ideas.
Gu Fan coughed twice and continued to whisper: "This shows that your understanding is not high enough. Didn't I already hint clearly?"
Sui Tao was shocked: "Manager, I'm a dull person. I really didn't see where you hinted..."
Gu Fan explained: "Didn't you realize that there are only two of us in this store so far? You are the only clerk who actually works. Isn't this an obvious hint?"
Sui Tao was even more shocked: "Huh? But haven't you already issued a recruitment notice?"
Gu Fan nodded: "Yes, but how many people have I recruited?"
Sui Tao couldn't hold himself any longer: "Three."
Gu Fan: "That's right! There are only three clerks in total, plus I, the store manager, who doesn't do much, do you think it can be busy with your service attitude? You know, the three of you have to work in shifts. , normal rest time and weekend time must be taken into account!”
Sui Tao somewhat understood what the problem was.
There simply aren’t enough manpower!
You know, the business hours of this experience store are from 9 am to 22 pm, divided into a day shift and a night shift, and you have to work normally on weekends. During the recruitment process, it was clearly stated that there would be an eight-hour working day + two weekends off.
The extra time must be completed through shifts and a small amount of overtime.
But in this way, during normal business hours, there is a high probability that there will only be one clerk present in the store.
How is it possible to provide every customer with meticulous service?
It would be great if this clerk could hold his own counter.
Although the recruitment notice stated that it would consider recruiting more clerks in the future and increase manpower based on actual needs, it can be seen from Gu Fan's words that "streamlining manpower" has been the purpose of this store from the beginning. No matter how we increase the manpower, it is impossible to increase it to the level of a general mobile phone store.
In other words... Store Manager Gu Fan has no intention of serving customers well!
Gu Fan chuckled: "So, the service method of our store adheres to the principle of "governing by doing nothing", allowing customers to manage themselves. After all, experience stores mainly focus on customers' own experience. If you want to teach everything, then this The store should not be called an experience store, but a "guidance store." The store staff will specifically guide customers on how to play the game Against Heaven.
"That is obviously not the original intention of our company to create this experience store."
Sui Tao was shocked. What he said was so reasonable that it made people speechless!
However, I always feel that there are still some problems...
The two of them were talking quietly here, and the customer was a little nervous.
[Hou Ji’s negative emotions +5! 】
Stop chatting there, come and tell me how to play!
Hou Ji was speechless. He was indeed a student at a nearby university and had no classes today, so he came out to hang out on a whim. He found a new store that looked like a console video game experience store, so he wanted to come and experience it.
As a result, I met such a strange pair of shop assistants.
Customers don't come to serve them when they come, they just whisper and chat there. I have never seen a store with such a poor service attitude!
Forget it, since no one is here, don't blame me for doing blind research!
Hou Ji is also impatient. What he usually hates most is waiting. All the equipment in the experience store has been turned on, so study it yourself!
Of course, before he officially started playing, he didn't forget to ask: "How do you charge here? How much does it cost per hour?"
Gu Fan looked at Sui Tao. Sui Tao knew that this kind of question could be answered.
He hurriedly explained: "Hello, our charging standards are clearly written on the display board on the wall. There is no charge for the 1-hour trial, and 15 yuan per hour thereafter. The charging standards for all equipment are the same."
Hou Ji was stunned for a moment: "Huh? It's quite cheap."
Although he doesn't go to console game stores much, he knows the approximate prices.
For console game experience stores like this, even in second-tier cities, the price per hour is almost over 20 yuan. If it is in a popular area like the Imperial City, the price can be 30 or even 50 yuan per hour.
This price is certainly very expensive compared to Internet cafes.
Not to mention the small Internet cafes that cost 2 or 3 yuan an hour many years ago, even the more popular high-end Internet cafes now charge only about 10 yuan an hour.
But console game stores and Internet cafes are different after all.
Because the market groups who like to play console games are different, this group of customers is different from Internet cafe players. Most of them are not short of money. Either because of various reasons, they cannot buy a console at home or do not have a corresponding gaming environment, or they are looking for a line. social atmosphere.
Many console game stores are very popular even if they set the price to 20, 30 or even 50 yuan, and even during holidays, you have to make a reservation in advance.
Of course, this is also inseparable from the fact that console games are niche categories. The more niche the product, the higher the cost and greater the risk of opening a store. Correspondingly, the unit price will naturally increase.
Considering that this store is in the Imperial Capital and is considered a relatively central area, renting such a large three-story building would cost a lot of money.
With the current charging standards, Hou Ji is quite doubtful whether this store can recover its costs.
There is a high probability that it cannot be taken back.
What's more, there is a one-hour free trial rule, which I have never heard of in other stores.
Thinking of this, Hou Ji felt better, so let's try it for free for one hour first!
Seeing that the customer was ready to experience it, Sui Tao, at Gu Fan's signal, took out a small USB key from the counter and sent it over.
"Hello, this is the key and your identity credential for playing."
Hou Ji reached out to take it and found that it was a delicate and compact USB flash drive, but it had a number "001" on it.
He was a little confused. There was no need to get a special key, right?
There are obviously many other ways to accomplish this kind of thing, so why do we have to use the slightly ancient method of USB flash drive?
But Hou Ji didn't think much about it. He lowered his head to find the place to insert the USB flash drive on the device.
But there was nothing there as far as the eye could see.
There is just a small sign and arrow in the corner that says: "Insert key below ↓".
Hou Ji was speechless, what the hell!
The place where the key is inserted is a very special-looking device. It is something like a small box with a USB socket on it, but its position is very strange. It is not within easy reach, but underneath. The side stands upright.
In other words, if the customer wants to insert the key, they have to bend down slightly and reach to the side to blindly insert it.
If you want to watch the insertion, you have to lower your head below the height of the table, which is very inconvenient.
Hou Ji had no choice but to reach out and touch it.
Well, the first insertion really failed and didn’t go in.
He roughly fumbled around with his hands, then turned the key USB disk around and tried again from a different angle.
Huh? Still not inserted!
Hou Ji was confused. He fumbled for his position again, and then tried from another angle.
Still not inserted!
Hou Ji was stunned. He scratched his head, unable to understand what happened.
What's going on? What's going on?