Friday, January 17, 2020

You Know You're In Japan 02

We live in this tiny monthly condo and have nothing, I mean nothing. So we have become good customers at Don Quijote. Donki, as it is more familiarly referred to in Japan, is a discount store that is packed with almost anything and everything you might need at a discount price. Coffee, hair drier, extension cord, pillow, fry pan, etc. Some things really are cheap but most are similar to US prices.
 But, omigod, what stands out is the service.
 There is an expression in Japan: The customer is god. お客様は神様. So at Donki, I have M's hair drier in hand and am looking for a cash register. I find it but see that there is no customer there and the cashier was about to leave her station to do some other task. In the US, I'm sure most cashiers would continue on with the new task, whether or not they saw me. But this cashier, as she is about to step out from behind the counter, deliberately looks around to confirm that there are no customers approaching, but when she catches my eyes, she pauses, smiles and says,
 "Are you ready to purchase?"
 I nod happily and make payment satisfied that she took care of the customer before any other task.
 I then go downstairs to the 1st floor to purchase food stuff--coffee, snacks, y'know, the important stuff.
 "That comes to ¥1,037", the young cashier tells me.
 My coin purse is heavy with coins so I want to get rid of some of it and fumble to find 37 yen as I apologize for my slowness. As I juggle a handful of coins, one falls from my palm and lands in the wastebasket (it's mostly for customers to throw away receipts and other bits of trash). "Crap" I think as I manage to sort out the 37 yen. Well, the cashier says, "Oh no!", leans over the counter to quickly rummage through the trash and picks out a 50 yen coin.
 "はい!" (here you go), she smiles and hands it to me.
 I almost lost 50 yen just to lighten my pocket by 37 yen, but thanks to this helpful and customer-oriented cashier, I didn't. I'm not sure if I ever said this but, I love Japan.

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