#1 Being Told What To Do
Interestingly enough Japanese people love to be told what to do. Being told what to do and having strict guidelines on how one must conduct their daily activities is essential to a Japanese person’s existence. Whether the rules are dictating how a certain job or task is performed or adhering to society and social norms there must be a procedure in place. When there is a grey area let’s say in the workplace this can turn an otherwise mundane day into a highly stressful situation for the employee in question. It is not uncommon for a customer to have a question that the desk clerk drone doesn’t have an answer for. Thorough training would point to consulting the coveted Company Guide Book. In the event the problem at had is not easily remedied, the company guide book leaves the employee in a sense of bewilderment and leads to a chain reaction of incompetence. This will no doubt lead to the initial employee asking their superior who after sucking his teeth and looking in the same guide book that was devoid of answers before to consult the store manager who will robotically repeat the same behavior. The store manager will now demonstrate his superior management skills and will get on the phone to the district/area office to nip the pesky problem in the bud. This will no doubt lead to the district manager to consult the same guidebook as Employee #1, the supervisor, and store manager and after coming up with no answers will simply reply “It can not be done” Common sense, reasoning, and rational thinking cannot be demonstrated in the handbook so none of these come into play during the handling of the crisis. In Japanese society said “crisis” can happen from the slightest problem or question that the customer poses.
Social Rules: Japanese people also love having rules for how they spend their time outside the office (for some this is a tiny window of time) For the most part Japanese live in harmony with one another and despite whacky fashions or eccentric tastes they rarely deviate from what is expected of them.
The Japanese also really enjoy traveling and this poses a problem because when in other countries or surrounded by foreigners the Japanese forget how to act. The youtube video provided below is just one example of such behavior.
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