The Monologue of a Washed-Up Middle-Aged Man: Past Chapter [059] New Store Opening! Edition
By this time, this middle-aged guy had
managed to produce results as a store manager quite normally,
and was able to run the store quite normally as well.
With sales averaging 6 million yen,
I was at the point where I was getting cocky enough to think,
"Wait, could it be that I'm actually cut out to be a store manager?"
Then one day, I got a call from someone at headquarters.
"I have a bit of a consultation, or rather a report; a good property opened up nearby, so we've decided to open a new store."
"Oh, whereabouts is it?"
"About a 5-minute walk from your store."
"What!? What are you talking about?"
No, no, no.
That's way too close.
That's not opening a new store, that's basically picking a fight.
Then the person from headquarters continued as if there were no problem at all.
"Well, your current store is in a back alley, right?
The new store is along the main street, a really great location.
It has about 30 seats, and I'm sure it'll easily hit 12 million yen in sales!"
"I understand that, but...
what do you think will happen to my sales here?"
Of course I'd be worried.
Because they were telling me they were going to open a new store with better conditions
right near the store I had worked so hard to build up.
Then, this was the response I got.
"No, it'll work out, right?
Actually, we're going to open it with a completely different concept, so it'll be fine!
The name is the same, though."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Your current store focuses on tsukemen and soy sauce tonkotsu, right?
The new store will have lots of new menu items,
and the concept will be a place where you can eat ramen from all over, from Hokkaido to Kyushu. So, we won't be doing things like tsukemen."
"I see... then that's fine!"
"The president is well aware of that too!
There's no way he'd do anything to crush you!
Besides, it's called the 'dominant effect,'
and by opening a store nearby, we can even expect a synergistic increase in sales!"
"I see, understood."
Thinking back now,
this "I see"
is the kind of "I see" said by someone who isn't convinced at all.
But back then, this middle-aged guy
still trusted the company a little bit.
"Alright, talk to you later!"
That was how the conversation ended,
and the new store opened as planned.
And one month later—.
To tell you the result,
the sales of my store, which I had been worried about,
didn't drop significantly at all.
If anything, they actually went up to 6.5 million (lol).
"Huh? It's totally fine."
The problem was the new store.
Honestly, I don't know the exact sales figures.
But,the reputation was extremely bad (lol).
Reports came in one after another from customers who came to my store.
"I went over there, but it wasn't good at all."
"Compared to here, the manager there is kind of unpleasant."
"That place is no good. I think it'll go under soon."
...I was hearing it all.
Well, they were my regulars,
so I think there was some bias toward my store.
But even setting that aside,
there was a vibe that "that place is just different"
that was really prevalent.
And of all people, the manager was that guy.
The idiot whose only life is his pride,
Takuya-kun (lol).
I did, before the opening,
"Wouldn't it be better not to do that?"
advise him against it.
But well, it was decided by headquarters,
so I had no choice but to watch and see what would happen.
And the result was—
well, just as I thought.
That's it (lol).
In the midst of all this, the most shocking thing I heard from a customer was this.
"Is that store okay?
It looks super empty,
and the person who looks like the manager
was feeding pigeons in front of the store..."...No, that's not right (lol).
A restaurant manager
shouldn't be socializing with pigeons in front of the store.
Study your ramen.
Re-evaluate your customer service.
At least clean the place.
What's the point of building a relationship of trust with pigeons (lol).
I figured their sales must be terrible.
Feeling worried, this middle-aged guy
contacted the president just in case.
"Are the sales at the new store okay?My customers are saying a lot of bad rumors about Takuya."
Then the president lowered his tone a bit and said this.
"Oh, thanks. Actually, it's not going well...
I'm thinking about various measures right now.""Oh, I see.If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know anytime!
I'll cooperate as much as I can!"
"Oh, thanks! I'm counting on you!"
"Yes!"
The [measures] the president was talking about at this time,
it would be a little later that I realized they were outrageous measures.
To be continued
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