Toilets and tantrums can't faze ticket master in Chengdu

Qi Jun is an ordinary middle-age man, working an ordinary job at the ticket office in Chengdu Railway Station, Sichuan province.

But the dedication the 58-year-old brings to his work and the calm he shows when dealing with anxious and angry travelers make him a star performer among his colleagues.

Every day people bombard him with questions such as: where to print tickets they have purchased online? How they can purchase tickets without their identification cards? which window they can visit to get a refund? or how to download China's official ticket booking app, 12306?

Sometimes telling a person where the toilets are can be the most important information the passenger hears that day.

From Sichuan province, Qi joined the military in the early 1980s and taught soldiers how to paint before being discharged in 1984. He worked as a designer for an advertising company associated with the Chengdu Railway Administration before it ceased operations. He started work in the ticket office 20 years ago.

His work hours are 8 am to 5:30 pm, and he talks to about 1,000 people on a normal day. Even with fewer passengers in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, he deals with 400 to 500 passengers a day.

Chengdu Railway Station has no bullet trains and relies on regular ones. Most of the passengers are from low-income families or remote areas.

The job requires patience, and one new employee left the information desk after only a day. However, Qi is an even-tempered character who can deal with clients, said his colleague Zhang Yanhong.

He's good at reading faces and can help passengers before they open their mouths. A perplexed expression is read as a problem with a ticket, a hand over the stomach indicates the person urgently needs to use the toilet, Zhang said.

"Once a woman with a hand covering her stomach came to the office. Qi showed her the way to the toilet before she opened her mouth. The woman nodded in appreciation for his understanding and ran toward the toilet," Zhang said.

The ticket office, which is nearly 2,000 square meters, is always packed and some passengers can get excited or enraged if they think they're not getting enough attention.

"They may complain, curse and hit the desk with their fists," Qi said.

But he has the interpersonal skills to calm them down.

Once a man in his 60s banged on Qi's desk as he could not buy a ticket. Qi said: "Pal, we seem to have dined together. Do you remember me?"

The man doubted this, but calmed down enough for Qi to tell him about the time he couldn't buy a ticket for his own mother because he hadn't booked in advance.

"After he understood that even people in the ticket office sometimes can't get tickets, just like ordinary people, he calmed down and left," Qi said.