Early the next morning, Cao Zhiqiang got dressed early and went to work at Hongguang Machinery Factory in high spirits.
Originally, he didn't have to go to the factory to work today, or in other words, he shouldn't have to go to the factory to work.
Because as mentioned before, the Hongguang World Magazine Department of Hongguang Machinery Factory is in a special situation. As a new editor, Cao Zhiqiang theoretically has to wait until the old man finishes his shift and everyone gets back together to line up a new shift. , Chaos will disrupt the order, and everyone will be dissatisfied.
Of course, Cao Zhiqiang can also insist on going to work every day. This is his right and it should be said.
But if he really wants to do this, it will break the original balance and rules.
Everyone only gets together to do the work at the end of the month, and it is already an unspoken rule that they usually take turns on duty to go about their day.
You, a newcomer, go to the office on duty every day, and are so diligent and competent. What do the old people think, and what do the leaders who are used to these rules think?
What if the leader thinks that new people, new things, and new styles should make everyone imitate Cao Zhiqiang and come to work every day?
Even if you are sitting in an office and there is nothing to do, it is still a limitation. It is not as comfortable as being at home.
This kind of behavior is obviously breaking the rules and destroying the collective.
Therefore, for the sake of collective harmony, before the new duty schedule was drawn up, Sister Niu had already warned Cao Zhiqiang that within the next three days, he would not have to go to work until the end of the previous round of duty.
To be more precise, if Cao Zhiqiang doesn't go to work, he respects everyone, and everyone will respect him. But if he goes to work every day, he is looking for trouble. Don't blame everyone for being unkind.
Sister Niu’s words have been taken to that level. If Cao Zhiqiang still goes to work every day, he will not give face to his seniors.
Although Cao Zhiqiang is a newcomer and very young, he also understands the principle of doing as the Romans do.
In fact, when he went to work in the factory early this morning, he did not go to the magazine department to sit in the office and chat with the old man on duty today.
He didn't enter his office at all, but went directly to Section Chief Sun of the Propaganda Department.
The reason is that he wants to take leave and ask Section Chief Sun to give him a letter of introduction to buy plane tickets so that he can buy plane tickets and bring his sister and brother-in-law back for medical treatment.
Cao Zhiqiang had the plan to take his sister back, but there were too many things going on recently and he didn't have time to deal with it.
But now that I have a letter from my sister, especially my brother-in-law’s medical records, it’s time to move forward.
Asking for leave is not difficult.
In fact, Section Chief Sun also said that you don't need to ask for leave at all. After all, given the situation in your department, it is better to ask for leave than not to ask for leave, because there is no difference between working and off-duty.
Theoretically, Cao Zhiqiang only needs to say hello to Sister Niu and the others and explain the situation. He does not need to ask for leave and can stay off work all day.
On the contrary, if you seriously ask for leave, your salary will be deducted, which is not cost-effective.
But the problem is that Cao Zhiqiang wants to go to Guiyang, and he needs a letter of introduction for air tickets from his employer so that he can buy air tickets, so he needs to go through the normal procedures.
Section Chief Sun is a good old man. He told Cao Zhiqiang directly that if he wanted to buy a train ticket, it would be easy for him to issue a letter of introduction, but if he wanted to buy a plane ticket, he could not issue a letter of introduction. He did not have a letter of introduction for the plane ticket. If you don’t believe me, then you have to go to the factory director.
Because the letter of introduction for train tickets and the letter of introduction for air tickets are different and have different names.
Only the factory director has the authority to provide a letter of introduction for purchasing air tickets.
Ever since, Cao Zhiqiang went to Factory Manager Li again to explain his situation.
Factory Director Li takes it very seriously. After all, Cao Zhiqiang is now considered a key figure of the factory leaders.
After listening to Cao Zhiqiang's appeal, Director Li wrote a letter of introduction to Cao Zhiqiang to buy a plane ticket from Peking to Guiyang.
But the problem is that Director Li can only issue one-way air tickets from Peking to Guiyang, but not return air tickets. A local unit in Guiyang must issue a letter of introduction.
Cao Zhiqiang wanted to bring his sister and brother-in-law to Peking for treatment. The best way was to fly.
However, this is a private matter and cannot be stated publicly, even for surgery.
After all, during this period, flying was not completely liberalized, and the old rules were still followed. Most people were traveling for business. To buy a plane ticket, you need to provide a work certificate and a letter of introduction from the employer. Without these two things, you cannot buy a plane ticket.
For example, if you are a self-employed person, even if you have money, you still can't buy a plane ticket because you don't have an employer or a letter of introduction, unless you find an employer to affiliate you with. However, self-employed people now have to find an employer to affiliate with them to buy air tickets, which makes it basically difficult for them to fly.
Because opening a letter of introduction requires the signature and seal of the leader, it is itself a kind of leadership guarantee. In today's state-owned enterprises, few unit leaders are willing to take this responsibility for self-employed individuals.
In fact, it is not difficult to get a return ticket, there are many ways. Gu Rong
Factory Director Li's method, which is the most common method, is to write a letter of introduction to a local brother factory in Guiyang and a friend with whom he once had dinner.
There is no need to explain the reason in this letter of introduction. I just need to explain that Comrade Cao Zhiqiang, an employee of our factory, will be going to your place on business in the near future. When he returns to Beijing, he hopes that your factory will issue a few letters of introduction to purchase air tickets.
It is enough to have this letter of introduction. There is no need to specify what you want to do. This is a rule among factory leaders.
Just like the factory in Guiyang, if the factory here asks for a letter of introduction or sends someone over to ask for a letter of introduction for air tickets, the factory here will not refuse.
In short, with these two letters of introduction, Cao Zhiqiang can buy air tickets with confidence and boldness.
Of course, your employer cannot pay for the air tickets, so you have to pay for it yourself. After all, you are not really on a business trip.
This is actually enough. After all, Cao Zhiqiang is not short of money, but he only needs a letter of introduction to buy a plane ticket.
In fact, many self-employed people can now afford air tickets and are willing to take a plane to try the feeling of flying. However, these self-employed people who can afford air tickets and are willing to fly are not qualified to buy air tickets.
As for the many cadres and employees of the units who can get letters of recommendation for purchasing air tickets, most of them are living on salary and don’t have much money. Most of them are reluctant to buy air tickets unless the unit really reimburses the expenses, but this kind of reimbursement of air tickets The situation is rare.
So this creates a dilemma, and this dilemma is also the fundamental reason why throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, the attendance rate of my country's civil aviation industry was extremely low, and the entire civil aviation industry was in recession.
In the mid-to-late 1980s, reforms continued to deepen, especially with the emergence of the first-generation ID cards. Restrictions were relaxed for many ordinary people to buy air tickets, and work certificates and work introduction letters were no longer required. This situation became fundamental. With the improvement, the domestic civil aviation industry will usher in spring.
From this perspective, flying in this period is really not just about having money.
In short, after receiving the letter of introduction and work certificate, Cao Zhiqiang didn't waste any time and left the factory immediately. He took a taxi without any distress and went straight to the Capital Airport.
Originally, he thought that it would be difficult to buy a plane ticket at this time. He would have to queue up like buying a train ticket, and he might even have to buy tickets from scalpers.
When he went there, he discovered that there were almost no people at the ticket purchase point. As soon as he went there, he could buy tickets immediately, including everything from economy class to first class.
After asking the conductor, I found out that very few people buy airplane tickets and fly these days.
In addition to requiring proof of employment and a letter of introduction to buy air tickets, the most critical factor is that air tickets are too expensive and people are generally reluctant to buy them.
At this time, a plane ticket from Peking to Shanghai in economy class costs 65 yuan, and there is no discount. This is basically the income of an ordinary employee for two months, and most people are not willing to buy it.
As for the air tickets from Peking to Guiyang, they are even more expensive. First class tickets cost 180 yuan, and economy class tickets cost 150 yuan!
This kind of price is indeed not affordable for ordinary people.
If you think about it carefully, it takes more than two months of income to buy a plane ticket and fly once, which is really something that most people can't bear to do.
If he had that kind of money, wouldn't it be nice to buy a digital watch or a tape recorder?
Of course, this price was not a problem for Cao Zhiqiang, so he decisively booked the nearest first-class ticket.
There are very few flights now, especially fewer long-haul flights.
The nearest flight from Peking to Guiyang has to be early the day after tomorrow, so we can't take the flight today.
But this is much faster than sending a letter.
You know, although there are airmails in China now, due to cost, technology and other reasons, airmails are not delivered every day. Instead, airmails are accumulated for two to three days or even three to five days. When the number of envelopes accumulated is almost the same, they will only use the plane once. Shipping time, so the speed of airmail is not that much.
Therefore, even if Cao Zhiqiang mailed an airmail letter to his sister early this morning, and when Cao Zhiqiang flew to his sister's house the day after tomorrow, the airmail letter he wrote would probably still be in the capital and not yet shipped.
In addition, in the 1980s, flying across mountains and rivers to meet his sister gave him a big surprise, which was exciting just thinking about it.
Just treat it as travel.
After buying the plane ticket, he realized that it was still very early, so Cao Zhiqiang planned to go to the publishing house and settle the payment with the publishing house.
After all, Cao Zhiqiang has been spending a lot of money recently, and now he doesn't have much money on hand.
The total amount of liquid cash he can use now is only more than 10,000 yuan. With such a small amount of money, he really feels a little panicked.
As for those with a household worth ten thousand yuan, in Cao Zhiqiang's heart, that is synonymous with poverty.
It would be better to go to the publisher early and ask for money.
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