Two executives of a cosmetic company in China recently drew praise
for an unusual way of thanking their staff for their loyalty and hard
work – getting on their feet and washing the feet of their most
hard-working employees.
Chinese bosses are notorious for subjecting their employees to
arduous and horrific punishments for not reaching company sales goals –
like making them crawl on all fours in public or eat cockroaches
– but the heads of an unnamed cosmetics company in Jinan, China’s
Shandong Province, recently proved that they are capable of exceptional
display of gratitude. In a viral video that has been doming the rounds
online this week, the two female executives can be seen getting down on
their needs and washing employees’ feet.
The unusual ceremony reportedly took place on November 2nd, at the
headquarters of a company that specializes in selling cosmetic products.
In the short video, the two executives can be seen walking down an
aisle, putting their hands together and bowing towards a stage, where
eight employees are seated, behind small basins of water. They then
proceed to move towards the stage, get down on their knees, remove the
shoes from their employees’ feet and wash them by hand.
The act of washing the feet of their best performing employees was
reportedly meant to show management’s gratitude for their hard work, but
also boost employee morale. However, while some people commended the
display of gratitude, other dismissed it as fake or just disgusting.
“The boss is so cunning. Washing feet for employees means they cannot
ask for financial rewards,” one person wrote on Weibo, China’s version
of Twitter.
“Who invented such a low-class stunt that is to wash the other’s feet
in broad daylight? And who would find it interesting?” another one
commented.
This isn’t the first time that Chinese bosses chose to wash their
employees’ feet in public to show their gratitude. Three years ago, bosses in Shenzen did the same thing during an annual meeting.