Job Discussion Forums

[Yawarakaijin]

Let me share with you an experience I had last weekend at my local eye doctors.

I live in a pretty small town in central Nagano. Not too many foreigners around but enough that we are not a total abberation. Well, I needed to get some new contacts so I had to make a trip to my local optometrist.

I walk in the little clinic and immediately I hear it. OH MY! a gaikokujin is in our clinic, followed by numerous little giggles. I guess I look kinda funny, I don't know.

So I saunter on up to the front desk and in perfectly good Japanese I state that I would like to have an eye test done because I want to buy some new contacts. More giggles ensued at the fact I was speaking in their tongue but its to be expected I guess.


Then a strange look falls over the faces of the two ladies as they realize they may have to ask me a slightly uncomfortable question.

Do you have insurance? they say very quietly.

"Actually, I don't" I replied.

Oh the look on their faces!

This leads to the ladies chatting back and forth for about 10 minutes. " Oh, whatever shall we do?" They immediately started rummaging through papers and files, I guess there is something written down somewhere on what to do if someone doesn't have proper insurance.

All the while I am writing down my personal information on their patient information card. You know, things like my address, my job, my telephone number. Finally one of the ladies collects my personal information and we have a little chat about whether or not I was currently wearing my lenses and if I remembered my previous prescription. All of this went very swimmingly and she sends me back to the ladies at the front desk.


And then it comes. The BIG question. The answer of which will determine my ability to obtain my hightly sought after contact lenses or not.


"Do you have any money?"








DAMN YOU NOVAAAAAA!

[markle]

Hmm a sterling effort of making a mountain out of a molehill.

[Yawarakaijin]

Perhaps my numerous snickers and sarcastic "damn you nova" led you to believe that I was actually upset at such harsh treatment from the awful, awful ,japanese nurses who treated me so cruely.

Just to make sure......


Why is it that people, with neither the will or inclination to understand where an op is coming from, find it necessary to post such useless comments. Do you have no sense sir?

The nurses in question did not merely reply that, having no insurance, I would have to pay in cash. After 15 minutes of wondering how to proceed, they asked me "do you have 5,000 yen?" I took it all in good nature, joked about having saved up for a while, and produced the 5,000 yen.

How often do ask for a service or an item back home and then find yourself being asked if you actually HAVE 45$ on you? Perhaps that is a loaded question. Perhaps it happens to you quite often and therefore you deemed me to be making mountains out of molehills. A freshly ironed shirt and a shave may do you wonders.

[gaijin4life]

[Hoser]

Actually I don't think I have insurance either now that Nova has kicked the bucket-I hope these sniffles don't turn into something more serious!

[Yawarakaijin]

I imagine that most people here in Japan are in a somewhat delicate situation when it comes to insurance. I image most of us are not on the national health insurance program as it can be bloody expensive and most employers, NOVA or otherwise, don't enroll their employees.

I'm in with an Australian company that provides pretty good coverage but in the event on an emergency I have to pay cash up front while in Japan only to be reimbursed later. Not an ideal situation.

It's kind of ironic but those short termers from nova, if they had purchased travellers insurance from back home, are probably better off than most of us here who are kind of stuck between two worlds.

[markle]

I guess that it comes to down to assumptions, keeping in mind that assumptions are the mother of all fkups.

You make the assumpution that staff faced with a person without insurance would assume that they had the money to pay. They could make that assumtion (and risk a fkup) or they could just ask a straightforward question and assume you won't get your knickers in a knot. You then get affonted when they don't make that assumption, or you assume that they make another assumption that maybe you don't have any money.

What puzzles me is that I'm sure (I'm assuming) that you knew that not having insurance would cause some confusion, so why didn't you offer the information? I'm assuming that its because that telling the staff you had enough money wouldn't have made such an interesting anectode that you could post on the board here about you sending Japanese people into a spin by not having insurance. Granted it is kind of cringeworthy in a juvenile sort of way, but it hardly reflects on you as a stand up guy asit were.

You made a joke of the situation and assume that the staff though it was funny but what if they just thought you were an as s hat?

[Yawarakaijin]

Let us just assume, seeing as I was there and you were not, that the situation went down as described. No enemies were made, a little giggle was had (by both parties) and that it was a little silly to ask if a man of 33 years if he actually had the 45$ necessary to pay for an eye exam.

[Apsara]

It's definitely a ridiculous question to ask. I have been to doctors and dentists in the Tokyo and Kanagawa areas, and although they always ask what kind of insurance I have, they don't then follow up by asking if I have the money to pay for the treatment- as one resposible adult to the other they assume correctly that I do.

At the Nagano clinic they basically thought it possible that the foreigner could be clueless enough to think he could come in for an eye exam without having to pay for it.

That's like being asked at a clothing store when you take the goods to the counter whether you have the money to pay for them, or being asked if you can pay for your dinner before you sit down at a restaurant.

I actually think the OP has been very good-natured about it, I could have felt quite insulted, but I'm sure no malice was meant, it's just a typical example of how some people's brains seem to disengage when faced with a foreigner.

[slodziak]

[ironopolis]

[AndyH]

Reminds me of when I was on my way to work, without much time to spare, and decided to stop at my bank to pay a bill of some sort.
Even though I told the teller that I was in a big hurry, she spent almost ten minutes conferring with co-workers how to tell me there would be something like a 50 yen surcharge, when she could have just mentioned it to me in Japanese.

I was annoyed at the time, but in hindsite, is just one of those quirky things about living in Japan.

[alexcase]

If the idea was just to tell an amusing story, plenty of people seem to have found it so, and that's fine. Having a rant and venting is also okay, if you realise that is what you are doing. However, what is best to avoid and is sure to antagonise long termers is any hint of "Japan is a .... place, just look at what happened to me!" I think your story could be taken that way, in the sense that no one would bother telling a story if a receptionist asked you "Do you have the cash on you?" back home, so making the assumption that it is supposed to say something general about Japan is understandable. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't, but before you try to generalise, thinking about why it might have happened might be worth the tome and effort, e.g. maybe there was the option to pay later if you didn't have the cash on you.

[southofreality]

[markle]