Car rental company employees in China crawl on street after weak sales

In what some netizens are calling "morally wrong" and even "criminal", more than ten employees from a car rental company in China crawled on all fours on a street after failing to meet their sales target.

According to Shanghaiist, the employees from a car rental company in Jilin, China, "volunteered" to grovel on the street after finding out that their "dear old" boss was going to "take responsibility by lowering himself to crawling through the streets like a baby". 

The incident which occurred on April 7 around 2pm, involved the employees crawling on the street behind a man carrying a red flag, while by-standers stood around taking pictures of the spectacle.

Shanghaiist also reported that the incident triggered outrage online, with many lambasting the firm for its "brainwashing" tactics and how it reduced the employees to "beasts of burden". 

Others commented that it was not just a moral line the company had crossed, but a criminal one as well. 

Ironically, the more skeptical commenters remarked that the event was probably just a publicity stunt meant to drum up sales.

In response to online criticism, the boss said that he did not know that the incident would gather this much steam online and that he had simply sought to set "a good example for his employees to follow". 

In Singapore, a couple from China also reportedly knelt in the middle of Bendemeer Road holding A4-sized placards, which stated their complaints in Mandarin, on Aug 24 last year.

Yang Xuemei, 28 and her husband Bao Weilong, 29, had knelt on the road after the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) told them that it could only help the couple get a $3,000 "refund for the $6,000 (Yang) had paid an agent in China before coming to Singapore for work".

According to a report by The Straits Times, after the meeting with MOM, the couple had also knelt in front of the foyer at the centre and held up their placards.

The couple were subsequently jailed for five weeks each. 

prabukm@sph.com.sg