By Roadshop

The Bag Keepers at the Embassy

By Roadshop

It is a place of absurdity. At the entrance of the visa of fice at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, people queued patiently in long and slow-moving lines towards security check points, their eyes filled with timidity and uncertainty, as if waiting for the call of fate. Before coming here, they could be beautiful ladies carrying designer bags, commanding bosses of corporations, or poor students who’d taken the TOFEL five times. But once they are here, they only look like illegal immigrants in the eyes of visa of ficers.

But the real suspicious illegal workers are literally just steps away from the fence that separates the long queues. They are in fisherman hats and sports shoes. Their skins burnt in the sun, they shout out,“Electrical watches, USBs, and lighters are not allowed in. Not allowed in!”

The U.S. Embassy bans personal effects from being brought in for safety concerns, and limited by space and staff, lockers are not provided. A new trade—bag keeping—was thus born, figured out by those living in the bottom of the society. They do their illegal business outside of the U.S. Embassy, and yet they become the first security checking specialists of the embassy.

It is RMB 30 for keeping a normal bag and more expensive for luggage. Their monthly income can exceed RMB 7000.

美国驻华大使馆签证处的入口，可算是北京的一个荒诞之地。背着名牌包的美女，公司里呼风唤雨的老总，考了5次托福的穷学生，都得乖乖加入安检口外龟速挪动的长队，惴惴不安地等待命运的裁决。在签证官眼里，他们大约都长了一张移民打黑工的脸。

然而，形迹可疑打“黑工”的明明是队伍栅栏外那帮人。他们头戴渔夫帽，脚踩旅游鞋，皮肤黝黑粗糙，口头禅整齐划一：“电子表、U盘、打火机统统带不进去，带不进去啊。”

为了安全，美使馆签证处列出一系列禁止携带入内的物品，而且限于场地和人力，签证处内不提供存包点。这经中国底层百姓一琢磨，就创造出了一个新行当——看包人。他们在美使馆外打着“黑工”，却成了签证处当之无愧的第一道安检员。

普通物品30元寄存一件，大件行李再贵些，看一个月包能收入7000元以上。

不过，一些潜在客户心存疑虑。毕竟32G的U盘里存着资料，手机更是不能让别人接近，要把它们一个传一个像接力火种般托付给栅栏外的陌生人，这种破釜沉舟的勇气不是每个人都有的。

但看包人有办法，他们对用户痛点的把握，值得不少广告人学习。对于第一次办签证的人，资料不全、信息填错简直是阿喀琉斯之踵。没错，这项超值咨询服务，看包人就能提供。

这不，一个刚下出租车、拎着大包小包的秃顶大哥，在不到1分钟时间里，就把身份证、营业执照、驾驶执照、存款证明甚至全家福一股脑倒了出来，接受看包大姐的检阅。

看包人有时还会附赠拍照服务，如果发现你的照片不合格，不出5分钟，拍照、修图、打印，在看包人神奇的车后座小作坊里，一张绝对符合要求的照片就诞生了，比你之前的任何一张证件照都精致。

签证处出口也有看包人的生意。一个青年沮丧地从出口出来，立刻引来一个看包人，向他递上写有“拒签分析”的名片。“拒签了吧？没事儿，打这个电话，我们帮你分析分析。”青年还没缓过劲儿，眼里写满不甘和狐疑，摆摆手，停在半空的小卡片最终没接过来。

这种拒绝不算什么，赖账的才让人傻眼。一个小伙在给一个大妈看了两个半小时包后，签证到手的大妈一改之前的楚楚可怜，大喊道：“我凭什么给你钱？”夺过包腿脚利索百米飞人似的跑了。望着大妈绝尘而去的背影，小伙的表情就像坐了过山车一样：“都要出国的人了，连30块钱也不愿付？”

此外，每天开着警车在周边巡逻的警官也飘浮在每个看包人的眼前。还有站岗的便衣武警，他们不常说话，但凌厉的眼神和笔直的身板令看包人战战兢兢，生怕手里的小卡片掉在地上，影响了市容。

看包人像老瓦房墙根里的苦菜籽，在夹缝中难见阳光却蓬勃生长。这是一门因“不方便”而产生的生意，就像小时候上学路上卖红领巾的小贩，能让你免于惩罚顺利入校。这些中国底层百姓独有的生存智慧，拍着脑袋只管禁不管存的老外是很难读懂的。

（摘自《国家人文历史》2017年第8期）

However, clients worry. Least of all, a 32G USB is full of personal information, let alone mobiles.Passing them off to a stranger through the fence and seeing them passed off, hand after hand, like a relay—it requires courage no less than fighting with one’s life without any backing. Not everyone can do that.

But the bag keepers have their own way.Advertisement professionals could take a lesson from how they accurately identify the pain points of their clients. For those who apply for the first time, the lack of required documents or mistakes in filling in the form is like Achilles’ heel for their application. Bingo! This is where bag keepers throw in their value-added consulting services.

Look! Now this bald guy with both luggage and a bag has surrendered all of his documents including ID, business certificate, driver’s license,savings certificate, and photos of family for the bag keeping woman’s scrutiny within one minute after he got off a taxi.

They also provide photography services. Once they screen a disqualified photo, a 100% qualified photo can be produced in five minutes, during which, taking the photo, retouching the photo,and printing have all happened. The new photo can be the best passport photo the client ever gets.

Their business also expands to exits of the visa of fice. A young man walks out with his head hanging to his chest, from whom a bag keeper immediately smells business and comes up holding out a business card with “visa rejection analysis” printed on it. “Rejected? Don’t you worry. Call this number and we will analyze the reasons for you.” The young man is still bewildered with mixed feelings of doubt and anger. He eventually waves his hand and left the card hanging there.

Rejection of service offers is common but it is astonishing to see people refusing to pay. A young man kept the bag for an old woman for two and a half hours. The woman was given the visa and quickly changed her attitude from timidity to shouting, “Why should I pay you?”With this, she snatched her bag and sprinted off.Looking at her dashing off, the young man’s face showed disgust as if he had just drunk sour milk,“Having the money to travel internationally and can’t afford RMB 30?”

The patrolling police officers are the other people who appear daily in the area with the bag keepers, as well as undercover policemen standing their shifts outside. They rarely talk, but their sharp looks and straight backs cast their authority on the bag keepers, who behave and mind not to ever drop their cards on the street to stain the city’s image.

The bag keepers are like the seeds of bitter herbs finding their soil at the root of old thick walls and despite in the shade most of the time,they grow lavishly. It is a business originated from small “inconveniences”, like in old times the vendors on the way to primary schools selling red scarves, when it was a punishable act if you didn’t wear one on campus. People at the bottom of society are wise in their own way for making a living, although it is not easy for the foreigners who made the forbidding but no locker rule to understand.

(From National Humanity History, Issue 8,2017. Translation: Zhang Lei)

使馆门前看包人

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