Story By: Buli Liang, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This Chinese tollbooth collector has been attacked by internet trolls after a video of him flashing a toothy smile as he hands a driver a receipt went viral with over 8 million views in just two days.
The video was recorded by a driver in the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province in east China as they were paying the toll on a motorway.
It is a common rule for toll collectors in China to smile at every driver they serve to make them feel welcome.
Pictures Credit: AsiaWire
The viral is reportedly outraged at claims that his smile is fake as he tries hard to be friendly to customers.
In the video, the tollbooth collector, who has not been named in reports, can be seen handing the driver a receipt and he bows his head as he does so. The worker then produces a toothy grin towards the driver before turning back to his desk.
The video has now gone viral with over 8 million views on Chinese social media platform Weibo in just two days.
Some netizens were reportedly quick to label the smile as “fake”.
The head of the toll station, who has not been named in reports, spoke to local media as the worker in the video refused to give any interviews. The chief said: “He is very upset to see people saying he is fake smiling. He is trying hard to be friendly but people still criticise him.”
Netizen ‘Shanfeng’ commented: “This uncle looks so cute! He indeed is trying hard to smile.”
And ‘Zhou Gongzi’ added: “He is very very professional. I used to be a toll collector and faced hundreds and thousands of cars every day. Most people don’t know the difficulty behind the smile.”
‘Baobao’ wrote: “I don’t know why they have to smile all the time? That’s fake and creepy…”
While ‘Daidai’ commented: “It’s such a useless rule to require toll collectors to smile all day long. There are so many cars running in China every minute. I don’t want them to force themselves to smile.”
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