| Match Girl | |
December 26, 2015
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| She was ordered to sell matches by her company. Her company wanted her to quit. The company had assigned troublesome tasks to the workers on its restructuring list and all of them quit except her. One of the executives suggested the idea, "December reminds me of the story of 'The Little Match Girl' by Andersen. How about making her sell matches? Nobody can sell matches nowadays, and she would feel humiliated." Another said, "It's a good idea. I haven't used matches for years. Smokers use lighters. Even in church services and Buddhism services they don't use matches." They decided to carry it out. She was given hundreds of match boxes on Monday and ordered to report her sales on Friday. If she couldn't sell well, they were going to ask her to resign. The first Friday came and she reported that she sold all of the match boxes. The executives were surprised and thought that she sold the matches to her family, relatives, and friends, and soon she would give up. The second Friday came and she also reported her sales of all her matches sold. The executives were amazed to think that she had so many friends to help her. But she reported her sales of all the matches the next week, and the following
He soon returned and reported to the executives, "She was really selling the matches!" According to his report, she went to XXX city and sold her matches to strangers. "But how?" all the executives asked. The worker showed the video from his smartphone. It was in front of the station. A woman wearing a costume like 'The Little Mach Girl' was shouting, "Does anybody need matches? Does anybody need matches?" It looked like a scene from a commercial. One of the executives said, "I didn't know she was this cute." The others mocked him. Another worker brought the resume of the woman and explained that she belonged to the drama club in high school. One executive said, "She is smart. People who bought her matches can boast that they bought matches from a match girl and saved her life." "But, did she make this costume? It looks expensive," one of the executives asked. The employee paused the video and showed a frame of the video. In the background, there were two business men. He said, "They are executives at a match company. They said that she asked them to cooperate, and they are supporting her. I asked them." One executive asked, "Isn't she a dull worker?" Nobody replied because they didn't know about her well. They just made a restructuring list by the section bosses' recommendation. The woman and the executives of the match company didn't stop with selling on the street. They planned events. In one event, a male would go to their favorite girl in the room and would speak his message while his match was burning. It was thrilling and exciting because sometimes the match would go out soon, and the man would suddenly become speechless; or, the man was too earnest in speaking and wouldn't realize that his finger was burning, and the woman would feel guilty but couldn't help from laughing. The team named the event 'Match Match Game'. It was introduced on TV. Thanks to the good naming and the season, the game became in fashion with couples and at year-end parties, and matches sold very well. The team's last promotion of the year started. The match company made long matches which would keep burning for a minute. They named the match 'Wish Match'. They announced that if you prayed while the match was burning, your prayer would come true. They sold three different colored matches in a pack: a red one with a red flame, it was for your own wish; the yellow one for your family; and, a green one for the world. They promised to donate half of their profit to people who needed help. They sold well. On this day, she and the workers of the match company were selling the 'Wish Matches'. She was in the 'Little Match Girl' costume. They were demonstrating the lit matches. They were burning red, yellow, and green beautifully. The gentle colorful flames attracted people who were passing by to go home and they stopped for a while and were staring at the flames. After receiving the workers' explanation, they happily bought them. One of the match company executives came up to her and said, "Recently our business has been in a difficult situation but it was not the real problem. The real problem was that we were losing our pride to make matches. You made us remember it. Thank you. You are an angel." He offered her his hand and she firmly shook it. Their eyes were shining in the light of the flames of the matches. |
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*resign :to officially tell your employer that you are leaving your job (C)
*mock :to laugh at someone or something in an unkind way (C)
*prayer :the words you say to a god (C)