Job Discussion Forums

[shmooj]

[guest of Japan]

Thanks Shmooj. It's nice to see you back wandering these boards.

[Nagoyaguy]

The point is not my crap Japanese, although IMHO the situation would have dictated obviously what I wanted. The problem was not language comprehension, it was thinking outside of the box. The waitress understood what I wanted, just couldnt fathom how to go about making it happen.

Okyakusama ha kamisama.

Right.

Service people are trained in flow chart thinking. Go from A to B to C. Customers in turn are also expected to follow the model. Moving outside the model creates consternation. It happens back 'home' as well in fast food places- "want fries with that?". It is rare in real restaurants, though.

I have found that even simple requests which require little in the way of thinking, and nothing in the way of effort, are baffling. Asking for a hamburger to be served withOUT ketchup on top, for example (my son doesnt like ketchup) required a committee meeting.

I guess the culture comes out in the food. In Japan "good service" means taking the stress of choice away from the customer. Hence all the teishoku menus and so on. Either no choice, or a limited one. Subway sandwich shop is one of the few exceptions. Back in gaikoku, "good service" is about empowering the customer to get exactly what they want, and the restaurant staff doing whatever it takes to make the customer happy.

[6810]

yeah, well it is a fast food franchise and this is what it's all about... the flowchart to produce consistency, accuracy and reproducible mediocrity.

As a vegetarian in Japan myself, I have had no consternation or trouble when ordering or modifying orders... but maybe that's to do with the calibre of restaurant I go to?

[shmooj]

Nagoyaguy you are absolutely right there. This can also be seen hosting guests at home. In the west you offer your guest a choice of drinks or simply ask what they'd like. In Japan, you give your guest a drink.

Some of the things that caused total breakdown in restaurant situations in Japan in my experience have been:
asking for a larger glass of water
asking for more than one sachet of ketchup
asking for a spare side plate
asking to pay the bill for another table, not your own
asking for a doggie bag
asking for something included in the dish to be left out of it
asking for the staff to bring your main dishes all at the same time
and, as I mentioned above,
asking for something ten mins before you close

after a while, you either kill yourself or capitulate to the status quo, middle ground is a rocky road if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor

[Nismo]

Well, we have been mentioning all of the downsides to the Japanese restaurant culture, but what about the good points? It teaches tolerance. Americans tend to be a VERY picky bunch (I've noticed an increase relative to the amount of money in a customer's possession). Having worked in the restaurant industry, I can tell you this - requests that you make are a pain to deal with. The tolerance in America falls on the servers, whereas the tolerance in Japan falls on the customers. Also, you don't tip in Japan, yet they still cater to you.

[BradS]

[Eric]

What amazes me about dining in Japan is how good the service is in spite of the fact that no one tips. I recently ate at Odaiba and for the first time the service wasn:t so good and in a way I was happy.

The place was packed and only three waitresses were literally running around like crazy. The Japaneese waitress was nice to everyone in spite of the difficulty of her job, but the Mexican resteraunt who served myself and my date was obviously not liking her situation and letting it show. I told my date that back home a waitress or waiter in this kind of place would pull at least ichi man or more for a shift like this or they would leave there job for a better on immediately. My date told me that the server should be happy to do their job for about 100 yen an hour.

I was glad to be served a little bit disdainfully, and I understand my waitresses feeling completely. Who wants to work hard for nothing, and why shouldn:t people tip.

My thoughts anyway,

[shuize]

So tip.

[Nismo]

[BradS]

What does everyone think of the hygene in Japanese restaurants and stores? Last week at an AM PM I bought some food and the checkout chick, who had come to work with a cold sneazed all over my food! She didn't even comprehend what she had done, she simply told me how much I had to pay. This was point blank sneezing.

Another thing that gets me is my local pastry shop cleans their tongs with windex spray! Just a quick "spray spray" and back on the racks. What's more is they clean them next to the food which is uncovered and get's consequentially covered in windex as well.

Don't get me started on waiters that don't wash their hands after going to the toilet.

[king kakipi]

[ntropy]

So my lady friend (another gaijin) and I walk into a restaurant at lunchtime. The owner rushes over to hand us oshibori and then does a double take worthy of Jim Carey (sp?) when she gets a closer look at us, followed with a loud "Gheee!". What throws her is not the fact that we're non-Japanese, but that my friend has a real nose. Not a huge honking honker, just a real nose, slightly sharp. Frankly, I never considered her nose anything special til that moment. The owner loudly yells to the kitchen for everyone to come and take a look, not being shy to expound on its size. Within minutes everyone contrives to come out and take a look and marvel at its size in Japanese.

My friend, fortunately, did not understand Japanese and I never told her what was going on til after we left. The meal was very nice.

[Big John Stud]

The strangest restaurant experience I ever had happened to me last night. I was eating with my wife and son at a very nice and expensive restaurant. We were clebrating my new job.

The table next to mine was an overweight guijin. He was extremely over weight. Sitting across from him was a young beautiful Japan woman who couldn't be much older than 22 years old. Even my wife notice how beautiful she looked.

We couldn't believe how much the guy ate! He must of ordered 5 dinners and we lost count of how many side dishes.
Since he ordered so much right before we did, it took some time before the waiter brought how meals. The waiter was polite and spoke English very well.

I was about the when the waiter went up to the over weight guy and asked: "How was everything sir?" The guy stood up and said, "Better! Better get me a bucket I am going to throw up!"
And he did all over the place! All over that fine looking young women when some fell on our food. Both my wife and son threw up too. The expensive restaurant became gross in a matter of seconds!

[PAULH]