But pressure doesn't only come from managers. Xiao Long claims that when he first came to Subway, his fellow workers established seniority by mistreating him. "Now things are better," he said, "but when I first came, they were very unwelcoming."

Conversely unaffected by the tension of big business, another Heilongjiang native Zhu Zi works at a small family-style in North Beijing. Flipping through a tabloid during her interview, she says that, while the job is often hectic, the lack of order her restaurant allows her enough free time to twiddle her thumbs: "There's no manager here. And the boss is alright," she said,"When I'm not working, I have a lot of free time to read magazines and chat with coworkers." Zhu's boss agrees that China's small restaurants, his own included, are traditionally less strict about discipling workers or enforcing rules about polite customer service than international chains. Subway manager Yuan Yuan says that her employees must constantly provide the speedy service expected of fast-food restaurants. But for Zhu Zi, there's no rivalry, no tension, and no rush.

The Support Network at Work

The social networks among service workers also distinguish Beijing's small restaurants from fast-food giants. The difference starts at home-- small restaurant wait-staff often have communal living arranged by the restaurant owner, which contrasts sharply against the solitary independence of the fast-food chain waiter's apartment.

Most Subway and McDonalds workers live in their own pingfang or high-rise apartments. Yuan Yuan claims that Subway offers employee apartments, but her employee Xiao Feng claims he was never offered any housing. McDonalds worker Xiao Xie and the anonymous Pizza Hut waitress also rent their own homes.

Unlike her big business counterparts, Zhang Miao, a small restaurant waitress in Beijing's Doncheng district, lives with her coworkers in a typical small restaurant dormitory. Zhang's fellow waitresses are all childhood friends from the same Xian suburb. She claims that her workers are like sisters who share every aspect of their daily routine and offer each other council. "If one of us leaves, we all leave," Zhang said. She claims that working with friends often helps her cope with city living and a stressful job.

The difference is manifested on the job. While Yuan Yuan claimed that all her Subway employees are friends, Xiao Feng, disagrees, "they are only coworkers" and says that his only friend in Beijing is his fiancee.

Xiao Long also says that his coworkers are nothing more. His only friend in Beijing, a 17-year-old-roommate and former Subway coworker, returned to his home province a few weeks prior, leaving a note saying that he could no longer bear life in Beijing. Accepting an interview after 11pm at night, and agreeing to walk for 15 minutes to a meeting space, he admitted that he was "lonely and looking for some company." He said, "I just didn't want to be staring at the walls of my room alone again." Xiao Long said that his lacking social network, paired with the drudgery of everyday life at his job, has resulted in deep depression.