The incident is from China. 18 employees were sitting in a bank and counting coins. It took him 8 hours to count all the coins. So many coins were given to the bank by a person on whom the court had imposed a heavy fine. The condition of the bankers had worsened. This story of 2013 is quite interesting, which is remembered till today. The story starts with a woman, whose name was Wu. The woman had gone to eat at a small noodle restaurant in Kunming. He had an argument with the shop owner regarding the quality of the food. The argument escalated so much that the owner got angry and beat Wu. He suffered injuries and had to go to the hospital. The woman complained to the police and the matter reached the court.
The investigation took place and the court ruled in Wu’s favor and ordered the restaurant owner to pay a fine of about 68,000 yuan, or about 11,000 US dollars. This amount was to be given as compensation for treatment, mental anguish and loss of income. The owner followed the court’s order, but his manner was such that he became headlines. There was no limit to people’s surprise.
Image – Grok
It was difficult to even pick up the coins filled in the sack.
He first paid about 58,000 yuan normally, but decided to pay the remaining 10,000 yuan in small coins. He filled eight large sacks and gave 50,000 one-jiao coins (which are 0.1 yuan) to the bank. The sacks had become so heavy that a trolley was needed to lift them. The restaurant owner said, “I have paid the entire amount, not even a penny is less. The hassle of counting is the bank’s.”
This day was no less than a punishment for the bank employees. 18 employees kept counting coins for full 8 hours. There were piles of coins on the tables. All the coins had to be counted one by one, so that there was no mistake. This scene inside the bank looked like a film scene.
The manager of the bank later told the media that thousands of yuan of hard work had gone into this mess. But according to the law, the owner had not committed any mistake, because the coins are also considered legal tender in China. Therefore no additional action was taken against him.
There was a lot of debate on social media
This incident spread like wildfire on social media. From Weibo (Chinese Twitter) to Reddit, people everywhere started discussing this “protest against coins”. Someone said, “This is real legal revenge – slow, shiny and precise.” So someone jokingly wrote, “18 bank employees vs one stubborn shopkeeper – the bank paid the real fine.”
This incident became a symbol for people in China troubled by bureaucracy and fines. It shows that sometimes a person can express his protest in a very creative and sarcastic way while still staying within the law. Today, when most payments in China are done digitally, this story is reminiscent of the “patience protest” of yesteryear, where an ordinary shopkeeper, in his own way, blocked the system for a day.
