The Story of the Nail Cutter

［Photo］China Nail Cutter Centre Shanghai Boyou No. 626

What is so special about the nail cutter in the photo above that deserves it a valuable space on Chojiro’s Creative Forum? While it is an ordinary nail cutter, the process of purchasing it was far from simple and actually quite funny. It is therefore not your everyday nail cutter.

Chojiro was on a long distance bus tour with his family last week. On the way, a splinter had grown in his left index finger. Chojiro was very annoyed by the splinter during the long bus ride. Since he did not have a nail cutter with him, he tried to pull the splinter out with his right hand. He made his left index finger bleed but still the splinter was there. Finally the bus arrived the city of Qingyuan (清遠) and the tour group was accommodated in a hotel. As there were no pre-arranged activities for the evening, Chojiro and his family members spent their time walking around in a large supermarket near the hotel.

After spending some time in the supermarket and having bought some snacks, Chojiro suddenly remembered he needed a nail cutter. He took a long time but could not find nail cutter in the rows for cosmetics and bathroom supplies and had to ask the staff about it. One staff told Chojiro to look for it at the stationery section. Chojiro was a bit puzzled. What has nail cutter got to do with stationery? Why would they be selling nail cutter at the stationery section? Even though he had doubts, Chojiro went looking for nail cutter at the stationery section.

Chojiro could not find any nail cutter at the stationery section and had to ask another staff about it. It turned out that various nail cutters were displayed in a large glass cabinet near the stationery section. The staff struggled with the lock and eventually managed to open the cabinet door. Chojiro picked the cheapest Boyou nail cutter, which was priced at RMB3.00 (US$0.43).

The staff locked the glass cabinet again and took the nail cutter to the counter. She printed out a sales memo in duplicate, the top one in white and the bottom one in pink. She asked Chojiro to take the sales memo and go to the cashier for payment. Chojiro lined up for a while, then presented the sales memo with RMB3.00 to the cashier lady who, after collecting the money, wrote down some codes on the white and pink copies of the sales memo and stored them separately. The sales lady then printed a receipt from the cash registrar. Chojiro collected the nail cutter from the counter with the receipt.

Cutting the splinter with the nail cutter, Chojiro walked toward the exit. As he was about to leave, he was stopped by the security officer who pointed at the nail cutter and requested to see a receipt. Without hesitation, Chojiro pulled the receipt from his pocket, showed it to the security officer and left.

In hindsight, the cumbersome procedure was probably due to the fact that the nail cutter was sold on consignment at the supermarket. While this was a minor incident, it nevertheless was an interesting episode for the journey.