Street coffee shops and enforcement risk

A milk tea shop in Daqing, Heilongjiang was sealed and ordered to close on November 10 after a staff member greeted an entering customer with "Welcome" before asking them to scan a QR code. The whole exchange lasted under a minute, and the customer turned out to be a market supervision bureau officer. An official notice later found the enforcement officers abused their power.

The officers involved have apologized and been disciplined, and the case drew wide public attention once surveillance footage surfaced. For street coffee and tea businesses, the incident highlights how quickly epidemic-prevention enforcement can escalate. It also shows why owners should document interactions and know the formal complaint channels available when they believe a closure order is unfair.

A milk tea shop was sealed on the spot by market supervision bureau personnel and ordered to close simply because the staff first said "Welcome" instead of immediately asking customers to scan a QR code. The whole process took less than a minute. After the incident was exposed, it sparked widespread attention. An official notice determined that the law enforcement officers abused their power and deliberately made things difficult. The personnel involved have apologized and been disciplined. While following this incident, this issue of Coffee News also reminds coffee practitioners to pay attention to the boundaries of law enforcement in epidemic prevention and control, and continues to bring coffee lovers professional coffee knowledge and Front Street Coffee product recommendations.

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A shop can be shut down for many reasons — product quality problems, disrupting market order, and so on — but have you ever heard of a shop being closed just because of a single "Welcome"? If surveillance footage had not recorded the whole process, it would be hard to imagine such an absurd thing happening in real life.

On November 10, in Daqing, Heilongjiang, a staff member at a milk tea shop welcomed in a "customer" and said, "Welcome." About two seconds later, this "customer" asked about drink prices. The staff member did not answer directly, but instead reminded the person to scan the QR code first. Unexpectedly, this move drew criticism instead, with the other party saying, "You said it too late, you should have required scanning the code in your first sentence." The "customer" then revealed his identity, claiming to be a staff member of the market supervision bureau, and immediately afterward two more people entered the shop. One of them held a seal and, without giving the still-stunned staff member any time to react, determined that the milk tea shop had failed to properly implement epidemic prevention, had not required scanning or checked the code, and directly affixed the seal and ordered the shop to close.

According to Owl Video, from the moment the first man entered the frame to when he said "Close today" in a commanding tone, only 48 seconds passed. The entire "law enforcement" process took less than two minutes, yet it completely halted the shop's business for the day. For the milk tea shop, this sudden situation was undoubtedly considerable trouble and loss.

On the afternoon of November 11, Owl Video called the milk tea shop and learned that the shop had already been unsealed. Staff at the shop said that when it was sealed on the morning of the 10th, they were told it had to remain closed for 24 hours. Once that time had passed, the shop resumed business on its own.

Another merchant near the scene told a Jimu News reporter that their own shop had also been closed after an undercover inspection before. Once, because the electronic thermometer gun in the shop was out of battery, staff required them to close for a day. The next day she went to the market supervision bureau to submit an application, and only then did the shop resume operation. Apart from being closed for one day, there was no fine or other punishment.

"I saw that video online too. It really was too strict," the merchant said. She said she did not resist undercover inspections themselves, and her own shop being closed that time was not unjustified, but this time the milk tea shop employee was shut down merely for saying "Welcome" first, which really seemed unreasonable.

At 9 p.m. on November 11, the official website of the Zhaozhou County People's Government issued a notice stating that Wang某某 of the county market supervision bureau had apologized to the milk tea shop operator and obtained forgiveness. The notice determined that Wang某某 and others had enforced the law improperly during the inspection, using simple and crude methods and a harsh attitude, deliberately making things difficult on the grounds that the merchant had not required scanning the QR code in the first instance, and abusing power under the guise of inspection, causing serious negative social impact.

The notice showed that the county discipline inspection commission and supervisory commission gave Wang某某 an administrative demerit and suggested transferring him out of the law enforcement team; gave staff members Jin某某 and Zhao某某 criticism and education; gave Kang某某, the deputy director in charge of the county market supervision bureau, a supervisory谈话; and issued a notice of criticism against the county market supervision bureau, ordering it to make a profound self-examination.

In addition, the notice also pointed out that the online claim that "other staff members of the county market supervision bureau came to the milk tea shop and said the incident was a misunderstanding, and that the law enforcement officers in the video were fake" was untrue after verification with the milk tea shop owner and store manager.

This matter attracted a great deal of attention online. Some netizens said: "As law enforcement personnel, they did not take the initiative to scan the code themselves. Breaking the law while enforcing it deserves a heavier punishment." Others joked by analogy: "The son comes home from school and says, 'I'm hungry, Mom,' and the mother angrily replies, 'You called me Mom too late. You should have called me Mom first. No dinner for you.'" "What's the difference between this and the meme about being fired for stepping into the company with your left leg first?" "Please calculate the area of the employee's psychological trauma." It really leaves people not knowing what to say.

Friends who follow the news should know that just yesterday, the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism issued the Notice on Further Optimizing the COVID-19 Epidemic Prevention and Control Measures and Doing a Scientific and Precise Job in Prevention and Control. Article 16 clearly stipulates that all kinds of layered overreach are strictly prohibited, such as arbitrarily sealing off schools and suspending classes, stopping work and production, blocking traffic without approval, arbitrarily adopting "silent" management, arbitrarily locking down areas, failing to lift restrictions for a long time, and arbitrarily suspending outpatient services.

Image source: Internet

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.