A day in the life: traffic police, food couriers swap jobs

It can be easy to take your work for granted, but what about trying a completely different job? Recently in Changsha city of Hunan province, three traffic police and three food couriers swapped jobs for half a day to get a better understanding of each other's work.

At 10 am on a muggy Tuesday morning, three food deliverymen for Meituan "stand guard" at their new position. "I usually get nervous when I meet traffic police, but I didn't expect I would feel more nervous being one of them," said Chen Piaoyou, one of the deliverymen.

Zhou Yonghuan was one of three traffic police officers who exchanged roles with three food couriers.

A traffic police officer helps a deliveryman put on a vest.

Delivery couriers wearing police vests stand guard at a street in Changshai, Hunan province.

A deliveryman acting as a traffic police officer stopped one of his peers who violated the traffic rules, reminding him to put safety first.

At around 11 am, peak hours for food delivery service, the deliverymen showed the traffic police how to take online orders.

Zhong Yonghuan, one of three traffic police on his way to deliver food to customers.

A police officer instructs delivery couriers about how to direct traffic.

At around 12:33 pm, the food was delivered to the customer. Zhou explained he was delayed by traffic and hoped the customer could understand.

Photo by Zhang Yi for chinadaily.com.cn