Hotpot Restaurant Treats Sanitation Workers To Lunch

A hotpot restaurant in Chengdu, China, treated nearly 200 sanitation workers to a free lunch this week to thank them for working so hard to keep the city clean.

According to Shanghaiist, sanitation workers have some of the longest hours and harshest working conditions and lowest pay of any workers in China. Some sanitation workers reportedly start work at 3 a.m. and work for nine hours and can expect to take home 1,600 yuan, or $260 a month. As a way of saying thank you, and drumming up some positive publicity, one Sichuan hotpot restaurant treated 180 sanitation workers to a free lunch on Thursday of last week. The restaurant remained closed during the event, and the workers were encouraged to order whatever they wanted, including alcohol.

"Their jobs are really tough. We hope to bring warmth to them during the cold weather," the event's organizer said.

In addition to thanking the workers, the restaurant said it was holding the lunch in part to make up for handing out an excess of fliers when it opened earlier this year. Apparently the restaurant distributed more than 100,000 promotional pamphlets, most of which wound up in the streets for the workers to clean up.

"We also want to apologize for that through this free lunch," the organizer said.