I’m Really Unnerved In Tokyo

Arakawa District, 71 convenience store.

"My dear Sosuke Araki, is a man who aspires to be the general manager of the 71 convenience store in the Kanto area! The first day of joining the job, please give me more advice."

Sousuke Araki, wearing a peaked cap and a green long-sleeved uniform with a big "7" printed on his chest, was bowing ninety degrees to the other two men who were also wearing clerk uniforms.

Having failed interviews for several days in a row, he resolutely started "Plan B" in the face of an empty wallet.

He joined the 71 convenience store and started his "convenience store career".

Since high school, he has often been working and studying in 71 convenience stores, and has about 5 years of part-time experience.

A few days ago, I heard that he was about to graduate, and a senior who worked in a convenience store asked if he needed to recommend him to apply for the position of "reserve store manager".

However, Sosuke Araki was devoted to the "communication business" at that time, so he naturally looked down on his job in a convenience store, and kept saying "consider it".

"That...welcome welcome... Araki-kun, it's really too timely to recommend someone like you to come here. I don't know what to do with the recent shortage of manpower."

One of the middle-aged Mediterranean men with a short stature and a good-looking appearance is the franchise manager of this convenience store, Kento Misaka.

In the face of Sousuke Araki's self-introduction, which was obviously too forceful, he was a little dumbfounded, rubbing his hands in front of him.

However, according to his resume, Sosuke Araki, although he looks like a gangster, is actually not only a college graduate, but also has more than five years of experience as an hourly worker in a 71 convenience store, so he can be said to be the best helper right now.

"Yes, yes, it's great that you can come. After Sano resigned, I've been on the night shift for three consecutive days..."

Another male clerk named Oida Yuan also immediately echoed the words resentfully.

Hearing what he said, the store manager glared at him immediately.

After the introduction, Sousuke Araki began to officially enter the working state.

As a "golden hourly worker" in a convenience store, loading goods, arranging shelves, inventorying, cleaning, cashiering and living services are all familiar to Sousuke Araki.

There are a large number of convenience stores like 71 in Japan. There is one about every 500 meters. Most of them are open 24 hours a day. In addition to providing various food, daily necessities, and magazines, they also cover ATM, photocopying, and payment of water and electricity bills. , handle all kinds of cards, take ID photos, send and receive express delivery and many other businesses.

The manager of Misaka just checked Sousuke Araki's work status a little, and left with satisfaction, leaving only Sosuke Araki and Moto Oida.

In the afternoon, the store was near the industrial area, and there was an endless stream of customers coming to the convenience store. The two of them were busy until eight o'clock in the evening before they went out for a lunch.

Taking advantage of his free time, Sousuke Araki's eyes began to scan the shelves and freezers.

The hourly salary of a convenience store is not high, and the reason why he can insist on working here is naturally because the convenience store job has many "hidden benefits".

With the deepening of industrialization, 71 convenience stores provide more and more various fresh food, sushi, salad, fried food, oden, various microwave-heated instant noodles and rice.

And most of the fresh food enjoys 1-3 days.

For expired food, according to the regulations of convenience stores, it must be disposed of.

However, in practice, in line with the principle of not wasting food and avoiding the trouble of garbage sorting, most franchised store owners will allow store staff to buy back the "just expired" food at a very low price.

Sousuke Araki, who just went to college, was so poor that he couldn't even afford the meals in the school cafeteria, so he worked in a convenience store to get three meals a day.

After taking a look around, Araki Sousuke returned to the cashier with satisfaction after placing a few items of food that he liked but was about to expire in the bottom left corner of the shelf.

Most of the customers are right-handed and will give priority to the products on the upper right, so the products placed in the lower left corner are the easiest to "expire". This is his valuable experience summed up over the years.

Seeing that Sosuke Araki had finished patrolling the shelves and there were no customers in the store, Oida Moto invited him out for a cigarette.

"Is it really okay for Araki-kun to have two consecutive sessions?"

After the two lit each other's cigarettes, Oida Moto asked worriedly.

"Of course there is no problem. Back then, at the best business in Shibuya, I had a record three consecutive shifts."

Sousuke Araki exhaled a puff of smoke, revealing a bright melting.

Unlike others, he prefers late-night work.

The work in the late night hours is not too busy, and the hourly wages will be more than other hours. More importantly, those delicacies that have just passed the "tasting period" can be recycled as soon as possible.

"Yeah, it would be great if everyone was as energetic as Araki-kun. Recently, many convenience stores have changed to 18-hour format because they can't find people on duty late at night. This store is also, especially the one that came out. After that..."

Oida Yuan sighed with emotion.

The late-night period is often the one with the most shortage of people among the five working hours of convenience stores.

"That thing?" Sousuke Araki immediately asked curiously.

"Eh? Araki-kun, didn't you hear about it before you came? I thought you came here on the premise of knowing..."

Oida Yuan immediately lowered his voice, UU reading www.uukanshu.com leaned over to Arakir with a gossip face and said, "In the past month, the store often found that the money in the cash box did not match up during the morning shift. Instead, there are strange things like leaves and broken copper coins... They all said that it was a ghost from a nearby cemetery who came to buy things... The day before yesterday, I heard the store manager Misaka calling someone to come over to exterminate the spirit. "

"Oh, so it is." Sousuke Araki replied with a perfunctory expression.

In his opinion, most of the clerks used this as a cover, and their hands and feet were not clean.

"Don't believe it, Araki-kun, not far behind this shop is the recently popular 'shared cemetery'. It is said that a grave can hold the ashes of six people..."

"Huh? Shared cemetery?"

Japan's aging population and land area restrictions have caused the price of cemeteries to rise year by year, resulting in the "shared cemetery".

However, for the poor with limited economic ability, or the single elderly, this kind of cemetery is also an option.

"Sano, who recently resigned, is said to have forgotten to put chopsticks for the guests' oden. When he chased him out, he saw something terrible... After that, he was unlucky for more than ten days."

At this moment, more than a dozen boys wearing high school uniforms and wearing the same jets as Araki Sosuke walked into the store jokingly.

The two immediately put out the cigarettes in their hands and returned to the cashier counter.

After a while, Oida Yuan, who was up in time, put on his jacket and prepared to leave.

"These are students from the industrial department of a nearby high school. Occasionally, their hands and feet are dirty. As long as it's not too much, you can just turn a blind eye and don't conflict with them."

After saying this, Oidamoto said goodbye and got off work.

​​