Why do I need to clean the magic toilet?
“Why are there so many rules just to use the toilet?” Toshi complained.
[Restroom is for customer use only.]
Rules:
- Time spent while in the restroom will be deducted from shopping time. Please plan accordingly.
- Restroom usage is limited to only customers with registered Wanma Digital Wallets.
- Please keep the restroom in a clean state for other customers.
- Do not remove toilet paper from the restroom.
- If customer leaves the store after using restroom without making a purchase, a 100-yen charge will be automatically applied as a service charge.
The long list of details on the door to the restroom was indeed intimidating.
“Think about it. What do ya think happens if ya are in the middle of doing your business when the clock runs out? Ming, don’t let anyone use this without explaining those rules, got it?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
This thing is going to be so much more trouble than it is worth.
“Still, it’s going to make you so popular. Honestly, I’m getting kind of emotional now. I’m so happy I could cry.”
Mrs. Higa swatted her husband on his back at his confession.
“But honey, did you look inside? It’s a washlet toilet. We didn’t even have one of those at home… Ming, I’m moving in here, okay?”
“Yay!” The two girls started to cheer and jump up and down.
“We get to live in the store!”
Mr. Higa got yet another smack, and I think his arm was starting to get sore from the abuse he had been taking from his wife.
“Now look what you started. No girls, we can’t live in the store. But we can visit Ming every day, alright?”
The girls started to protest, so the Higas moved over to have a family discussion.
Ken emerged from the restroom with a big grin on his face. The door to the toilet was inside a small alcove that contained a large sink and a mirror. I noticed that the sink had a dual faucet, a short one for washing hands, and a tall one that looked like it could easily accommodate a large water bottle.
You really thought of everything, didn’t you? You crazy dog.
Toshi pushed past Ken to get inside the small room and slammed the door shut behind him.
It was getting near the time limit, so Wataru, Ken, and the Higas moved toward the entrance.
“Are you going to reset?” I asked.
“No, it’s getting late. We should take the kids home for now.” Mrs. Higa said as she was pushing the protesting girls toward the door.
“That was your plan, wasn’t it? Setting this up at the end of the day?” Wataru asked, not in a judgmental way, but it still stung a bit.
Damn this kid is too sharp.
I simply nodded.
“I wanted to get some time alone to check out all the new changes before anyone else showed up.”
I nodded my head at the building across the street where the Co-op had set up a permanent satellite command and distribution center.
“You can bet they will be here tomorrow morning. There’s no way people aren’t going to notice the changes to the store now.”
“What does it look like outside?”
“Bigger.” Mrs. Higa answered.
“It’s longer, and goes back deeper, but the funny thing is, I can’t really tell what exactly changed. It still fits onto the property like it has always been like this. No sign of construction or anything.” Wataru added, thoughtfully.
Just like the back room.
When it had expanded during the last upgrade, even the paint on the walls had the same amount of aging, as though it had always been like that.
Toshi burst out of the bathroom and rushed past me out into the street.
“Hey! Did ya wash your hands?” Mrs. Higa scolded.
“I didn’t want to get thrown out!”
“I think you still have a few minutes left. Go ahead.” I said with a smile.
Toshi rolled his eyes, then went back in, then came back out a minute later, rubbing his hands together.
“I’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning. There are a few things we should discuss.” Mr. Higa said, then he looked at his wife, who nodded her agreement.
As they left, I turned around to look at the changed store. It was a strange feeling. It had only been a few months since I had started working here, and just over two months since the disaster, but it was becoming hard to even remember what life was like before.
As I looked at the store, it was like someone had moved everything in my house around without telling me. The space appeared similar, but almost everything had been changed in some way.
First, the main store area was larger by about 50%. Part of that was the alcove containing the bathroom on one side of the building, but the biggest change was the glass-enclosed space behind the register.
The update list mentioned a new hot food section, and it was clear that these changes were related to the new space. The narrow room behind the glass contained what looked like a small kitchen area. Inside, there was what appeared to be a large industrial freezer, a sink and counter area, and what I could only imagine was a large oven.
The entire area was easy to see inside from anywhere in the store, so I assumed that my new duties would include preparing the new food offerings while I worked. Beside the register counter was a new set of metal cabinets. It was all rather confusing, but I was sure there would be detailed explanations in the store systems.
I took a moment to walk through the aisles of products, and it appeared that there was more space here as well. Some of the shelves were empty, and I would need to update myself on the new product layout.
I was actually looking forward to the night shift for the first time in a while. It would be quiet, and I would be able to try out all the new equipment and explore the changes to the store. The only thing that was bothering me about it was the increased amount of cleaning I would need to do.
Is all this AI automation only good for tasks not related to cleaning? What about a toilet cleaning robot?
I was prepared this time when I went into the back room to see more changes. The update mentioned upgrades to the staff area as well as the delivery receiving dock, and I was eager to see what new enhancements had been added.
I was not disappointed.
“Woah…”
Again, the back room had been completely changed. At first glance, it didn’t look any larger than before, but that was just at first glance.
At one end of the long room, the manager’s desk now sat in an enclosed office. There was a glass door, and the upper half of the wall was also glass, similar to the kitchen space outside. It was easy to see that the space was created simply by putting up a partition-type wall. The same store manager’s desk sat inside, with the same cheap office chair.
Unfortunately, the computer was useless to me, but lately I had been using the desk to write out messages for the Co-op and the governor, and for keeping my notes. I noticed that all my notebooks were now on a shelf attached to the wall in the office.
The update was interesting, but it didn’t really change anything. A nicer chair would have been appreciated, but I didn’t spend much time with paperwork anyway.
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The staff area was along the inside wall, and was similar to the original setup. Lockers were now next to the new office, with the break table and the new sofa now in the center of the room, instead of at the end. This was annoying, and I was already plotting to move it back when I noticed the other changes.
Opposite the new office was where the toilet room and washer were located. I peeked inside the toilet room, and let out a small sigh. It was exactly the same.
I guess only customers can use the godly robot washlet toilet.
The washer/dryer was still the same as it had been, as was the large sink I used to fill water bottles and to wash up each morning. That was where the similarities stopped, however.
Instead of the space with a curtain I had been using as a bedroom, there was now a solid wall with a sliding door.
“I love you, Wanma!”
The joy I felt when I opened the door was indescribable. As joyous as I had been with the arrival of the couch, it paled in comparison to the reaction I had when I saw the small shower room.
Finally!
I had imagined, and prayed, but never let myself hope too much for something so selfish. It had taken a while to get used to washing myself under a sink, but I, at least, had hot, running water. The idea of standing under a stream of hot water was possibly the greatest unspoken desire in my head right now.
Despite feeling guilty about all the secrets I had kept from my friends and allies in this new reality, I immediately swore to never tell a soul about my newest employee perk. This news could easily turn friends into enemies.
With difficulty, I closed the door. I still had to check out the rest of the changes. I kept an hour between the evening and night shifts open, and was looking forward to a relaxing dinner after a long, hot shower. I might even splurge on a cold beer. I wasn’t much of a drinker, and had even given up soft drinks to save on expenses, but tonight I thought I might as well celebrate.
After all, I made it this far. I deserve at least some of the credit, right?
The outside wall originally was a solid brick wall that only held the rear employee entrance. After the first upgrade, that door was replaced with the delivery receiving dock. The security door became heavy double doors that opened to reveal the refrigerated room where supplies appeared and trash vanished.
The new upgrade had added more doors. A lot more doors.
First, from the far wall by the office, there was one set of double doors, and toward the middle was a second set of identical doors. Next, there was a single security door, not unlike the original exit that was positioned opposite from the entrance to the store. Finally, a regular-looking wooden door was next to the wall that held the shower room.
Which one should I pick?
On a whim, I went for the single, metal security door. I didn’t think it was an exit, as it swung in like the delivery doors instead of swinging out like the old exit. Still, it seemed like the most likely to lead to something interesting. I pulled it open to see… the old dumpster that had been located behind the store.
Okay, I guess I shouldn’t be disappointed. They can’t all be showers.
This made sense, though I couldn’t say I wasn’t let down a little bit. Trash management had been a bit tricky, since I had to use the same space as the delivery dock. The changes from the updates all seemed to be structured around needs that customers, and myself, as the lone employee, had wanted or explicitly asked for.
Closing the trash door, I looked at the remaining three doors. I decided to check on the double doors next. The message had said the delivery dock had been enhanced, so I was interested to see how.
Opening the doors next to the trash room, I felt the familiar wave of cold air rush out of the room. At first glance, it looked just like before. It was even full of boxes and crates, even though the last regular delivery for the day had passed.
Must be the new products for the empty shelves.
Nothing else appeared to be different, so I closed the door and moved to the new set of double doors at the far end of the room.
Before opening it, I noticed a small black panel beside the door that was unlike anything I had seen in the store before. It looked similar to the security screens in high-end apartment buildings. At the bottom was a row of buttons, and after I pressed the large one in the center, a screen lit up on the top part of the panel.
It was hard to tell what I was looking at. There were no distinct shapes, or recognizable objects of any kind, and after a few seconds, the screen faded back to blackness.
Then I tried the doors. They opened with no problem, but this time, no cold air came out. I peeked inside, and it was similar to the other receiving dock, but there were a few differences.
First, the room seemed larger. About 30% wider. There were also shelves along one wall and the back. These were heavy-duty metal shelves and were quite deep. There was nothing in the room for now, so I wondered if it was supposed to be some kind of storage room. The only other strange thing was that the one wall without shelves was built differently. There was a thin reinforced column in the middle that had been split in two halves, looking almost like a door, but when I tried to pull on both sides, and they felt completely solid.
This room was a complete mystery, so I left it behind to check out the last door. The small wooden door next to the shower room. After the somewhat underwhelming impression I had felt from the other three doors, I wasn’t expecting much. That made the impact of the last door even more shocking.
I opened the door to find a small room. It was about the same size as the trash room, only about half the size of the receiving dock. It was set up unlike any of the other spaces in the store.
The four walls were painted white, and the floor was covered with a soft carpet. The room was long and narrow, and on one side, a large television screen was attached to the wall. At the end was a small desk chair. To the left of the entrance was a floor-to-ceiling cabinet, and occupying the rest of the space of the tiny room was a bed. A real, honest-to-goodness, long twin bed. The room looked like a cheap business hotel room, or a higher-end capsule hotel. The furnishings were plain and basic, nothing looked extravagant, but to my eyes, it might as well have been a luxury five-star hotel.
There was even an air conditioner. The kind that can blow both hot and cold air. I would finally be able to control the temperature while I slept.
I slipped off my shoes and stepped on the carpet. It felt glorious under my feet. I opened the cabinet to find a wardrobe with hangers, and a small set of drawers. The bed even had sheets and a light blue duvet, made of cotton. It was a humble room, but it far surpassed anything I could have dreamed of renting while I had been a student.
The only thing it was missing was a window. That wasn’t surprising, as the entire rear of the building was originally covered in brick cladding. I had no complaints, however. None at all. This was perfect.
While the rest of the world had been sent into the dark ages, I was set up with the most modern and comfortable apartment in the world, as far as I knew. I sat on the bed and took a deep breath.
I looked at the desk and noticed that on top of it sat a small plastic device connected to a wire that went behind the desk and disappeared into the carpet.
I picked it up and realized that it looked exactly like the tablet dock that was under the counter in the store.
I quickly ran back outside, almost forgetting to put on my shoes again, grabbed the tablet, and quickly returned.
I’m going to have to order some slippers for the carpet.
Just as I thought, the tablet slid into the dock perfectly. As soon as it did, the TV screen lit up with the tablet interface.
This was another nice perk. I pulled up the security camera feed and sat back, and watched the cinematic view of the store. I could switch to external cameras, and change the angle of view freely. I could also pull up the store employee interface and get a view of documents and inventory tables that didn’t threaten to kill my eyesight.
Then I had another idea. I unplugged the tablet, and plugged in my personal phone, which conveniently used the same charging interface. I smiled when the TV lit up again, this time mirroring my phone’s screen.
Too bad I don’t have any movies downloaded. Or even any video games.
I scrolled through my phone, then stopped on the photo application. I opened it up, and the entire TV screen filled up with an archive of the pictures stored on my phone.
There were a lot of photos of food, pictures of whiteboards from lectures, and shots of documents I needed scans of. I stopped at a picture of my roommates and me eating at a cheap restaurant near my old apartment when I graduated. I could hardly remember their faces, but seeing them again brought a strange feeling of nostalgia.
I kept scrolling. There were very few pictures of people, a couple of snapshots of a few of my classmates, and a picture of a nice sunset. I had taken.
I opened the picture to full screen, then sat back on the bed, resting against the wall. It wasn’t a window, but it was at least better than the view of the street in front of the store.
I have to check my whole library and make a slideshow of any decent shots.
I scrolled through more pictures until I hit a picture with three people standing in front of a lake. My heart felt like it stopped cold in my chest.
The picture must have been taken in winter. There was an old couple, beside an even older woman, standing next to them as they looked at the camera with smiling faces.
They emailed me this picture taken at a nearby park, shortly after the lunar new year. I had forgotten I even had it in my phone.
On the big screen, my mother seemed older than the image of her I had in my mind. My dad looked tired, maybe because it was so cold out. He always complained about the cold. Grandma looked the same as ever, grinning at the camera. Seeing her now, I could hear her voice.
“Little Ming, come here. How could you get so tall? Taller than your dad even.”
I hadn’t gone home for New Year’s this year. I needed to finish school and was busy with interviews. I hadn’t gone back last year either. I told them I was too busy with school. I was interning in a tiny office near campus. They still sent me a box full of my favorite snacks, even though I told them it was more expensive to ship things than to just buy something here, but they kept sending boxes. They kept sending me pictures, and messages, even though I never sent anything back. I couldn’t even remember the last time I called them.
My teeth were grinding, and my eyes burned. My chest hurt as though I had inhaled something toxic, and I couldn’t breathe until I ripped the phone out of the dock, and the TV went dark.
I stared at the screen, now a black void on the wall, and waited until my breathing returned to normal and I could breathe and see clearly again.
I sat there until I heard a small beep emitting from the tablet.
Oh shit! The store.
I had been in the back for too long, and the AI was probably upset with me taking an unscheduled break. I slotted the tablet into the dock again
The store management interface reappeared, and I checked the notifications. I quickly scanned all the open windows, but thankfully, there was no warning about how long I had been away from the store.
Instead, the noise seemed to be related to a series of flashing notification messages at the top of the screen.
[EXCEPTION: Store #11,512 is non-compliant. Store #11,512 is operating without an acceptable attendee.]
[EXCEPTION: Store #11,512 will lose Safe Zone status unless operations are returned to a compliant status.]
[Warning: Store #11,512 will close in 00:10:55:21]
What the hell?
I watched as the timer spun down like a stopwatch. It said I had ten minutes to fix whatever problem had appeared. Otherwise, the Safe Zone would be dissolved and the store would shut down.
“Wanma, what’s going on? Why is the store out of compliance?”
I was shouting as I had entered a state of panic.
[Store #11,512 is out of compliance due to the lack of a suitable attendee.]
No. No. No! This isn’t happening!
“What? Wanma! I am the attendee, right? Wanma! I am the attendee! Me, Ming.”
[Employee: Huang, Ming is not qualified to act as attendee for Store #11,512. Employee status is insufficient.]
[Warning: Store #11,512 will close in 00:10:21:84]