The relationship between Japanese cashier and customer might be one of the most noticeable differences between here and home. Of course, the philosophy of both of our capitalisms (?) is to put the customer first, but here the language and mannerisms are completely different; "O honorary customer, it is our greatest pleasure to accomodate you in this establishment" is basically what they are saying over and over.
It's creepy.
I never have any idea what they are rambling about to me, but they are trained to use a certain voice and intonation that drives me absolutely crazy. They will rarely step out of this character, except the select few who struggle through their English to make me understand what they're asking. It is hard to believe that their Japanese cashier voice and Novice English voice can belong to only one human.
The funniest is when I'm treated to fast, quality service at a KFC, i.e., and am sent away with a bow and ultra polite form of "Thank you" from a slim, attractive Japanese college student. Now imagine an American KFC worker. See? Funny. I apologize for stereotyping fast food workers in America, but if you allow yourself to do so as well, it's funny.
5 comments:
Andrea,
Are they trained to ask, "Do you want fries with that?"
Mom
FAT Americans...
Nice. Kind of crazy though.
the comments section of your blog is like family pizza night and i never feel invited
i'm like 'heh i'll make a joke' but then it's all this cute, heartfelt stuff from like your mom and i can't compete
:]
Will, you're always invited to pizza night. Bring the ice cream, though.
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