Give up the day job: Chinese woman’s plan to do 100 jobs, each for a day, including firefighter, opera singer attracts 6 million fans online
- She resigns from full-time work as repetitive routine making her less curious about world
- After 30 jobs, she gains appreciation of hardships endured in each
A Chinese woman has attracted 6 million followers on social media for her ambitious plan to try 100 different jobs – for just a day each.
The woman, in her 20s, identified herself as Chizao on social media, from Sichuan province, southwestern China, has so far tried 30 jobs, including firefighter, opera singer, delivery rider, and waiting tables in a teahouse.
Chizao resigned from her full-time job at a media company where she had been working for years since graduating because she felt her dull, repetitive routine had made her less curious about the world.
Unsure what to do next, she decided to experience 100 jobs, each for one day, to gain an insight into a range of professions.
Unsurprisingly, Chizao found many employers reluctant to employ somebody for only a day while also filming the entire process. After countless rejections, she was eventually taken on as an assistant in a pet shop.
Despite owning a dog, she said she found the workload exhausting as it included walking five dogs at a time and giving a shower to the famously hyperactive Shiba Inu dog.
Jobs followed as a facilitator of ju ben sha, or scripted homicide – murder mystery games, working on a pig farm, a nanny, waist drum dancer, and beauty counter assistant in a store.
After several jobs and gaining more followers online, Chizao said it became easier to find others, even receiving an invitation from the Chengdu fire and rescue department to have a go at firefighter training for a day.
The experience turned out to be her most challenging so far. Chizao said she woke up at 5am and started training at 6.30am with a 3km run.
The professional firefighter training included rope-climbing and running in the scorching summer heat carrying two fire hose pipes that weighed 40kg.
The young woman said she seriously considered stopping about halfway through the day but ploughed on, motivated by the thought that real firefighters do not simply give up when they are saving lives.
In her next job as a traditional Chinese teahouse server, Chizao met a fellow employee named, Lao Qi, a middle-aged man who became intellectually disabled after an illness when he was young and had worked at the teahouse for a decade.
Chizao was touched by Lao’s innocence and diligence. She admired his character, which she saw as authentic and devoid of the desire to conform to societal expectations.
Chizao has earned 6 million followers on multiple social media platforms, including 2 million on Douyin, the mainland equivalent of TikTok.
She said the purpose of her plan is to share with others the ways in which different professions are equally beautiful and deserve respect.
After experiencing a wide range of jobs and meeting people who devote their lives to them, she says she has gained an appreciation of the hardships endured in each occupation.
