Being understood in Japan… Episode II

I recently wrote about an episode that happened to me at the supermarket. I thought communicating was difficult in Japan even though you are fluent but there’s always worse.

This happened a couple of days after the supermarket incident. This time it was at Excelsior Cafe near my office. I don’t particularly like that place but it’s the only one that is on my way to work that has decent coffee and food I can eat for breakfast. However, the service is just horrible. I think the main reason is because they only hire young students who are looking for a part time job, therefore resulting in poor service where they do everything by the book. This isn’t that uncommon in Japan but it creates serious problems when it comes to flexibility and handling less common situations (like the supermarket incident) and customer service.

This said, this wasn’t the problem this time. Actually, I still haven’t figured what the problem was, and again, it was not a language problem, I assure you.

Let me tell you the story.

As always, I got to the counter and there stands a girl with a nice smile who just finished taking the previous customer’s order.

- “Would you like to take out sir?”

As usual, I order the same thing the exact same way.

- “Yes, I would like the Morning Set with Darjeeling tea please.”

- “Of course. And what would you like to drink?”

I’m a little surprised thinking “didn’t I just tell you???”

- “Uuuh Darjeeling tea please.”

- “Excuse me sir, I didn’t get that.”

(Maybe it’s noisy in here)

- “Oh Darjeeling tea please.”

She looks at me puzzled, so I figured maybe Darjeeling tea doesn’t come with the set anymore. I look down at the menu and start looking for anything else that is included in the set and see that they still have it.

I point at the choices of tea and ask:

- “Doesn’t tea come with the sandwich anymore?”

- “Yes it does.”

- “Oh good. All right. I would like a cup of tea… DARJEELING please.”

- “Of course.”

I finally succeed ordering my breakfast and she tells me to wait on the side. While I was waiting, a lot of things went through my mind. “this was the second time in one week and in two different places that people didn’t understand what I was saying”, “did I say it wrong?, “is she new?”,  “is it that noisy in here?”, “maybe I shouldn’t wear my earphones when I order” etc.

I watch what she is doing and it seems that she is panicking a little. She is talking to her manager asking for guidance.

I have a bad feeling.

After a couple of minutes, she comes to me and asks:

- “I’m sorry sir, what kind of tea would you like?”

(There it is!)

- “I would like DARJEELING tea, please”, I answer patiently.

Her expression still says “I don’t get it”.

- “We have three kinds of tea. Darjeeling, Earl Grey and Assam.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I try to stay calm and asked one more time.

- ” I would like DARJEELING tea please.”

She finally looks like she got it and prepares it.

Few seconds later she comes back and asks:

- ” Sir, would you like me to put the tea bag in the hot water?”

(Do I really look like I give a rat’s ass?)

- ” Sure, whatever. As long as I can drink it.”

I still have a bad feeling. You know, the one that tells you it’s not over yet?

She comes back with the bag and hands it to me, her hands shaking.

(Am I that scary? Did I put too much pressure on her like a French guy?)

- “Here you go sir. The Morning Set with Darjeeling tea. Thank you for your patience.”

- “Thank YOU.”

As I leave the cafe, that bad feeling goes down my spine again.

I check inside the bag to find out that the sandwich is missing. I run back into the cafe to ask for my sandwich. Another staff hands it to me apologizing.

I go back to my office thinking that was quite impressive even for Japan.

I sit down, take off the little sticker they put on the lid and take a sip, but nothing goes down my throat. I look again at the lid. The girl accidently put TWO lids on it. I also usually take out the tea bag before it gets too strong but she dumped the whole thing in the cup and forgot to leave the little string hang out.

In total I must have said “Darjeeling tea” at least 10 times that morning. I’m actually tired of writing it.

All of this just to tell you once again, that communication is NOT something Japanese are good at regardless of the language and how well you speak it.