A waitress prepares my meal in Japan, January 2005.
Originally written on March 15, 2007
Part 1: The Japanese Way
Prior to my recent trip to the US, my wife and I had a discussion about the things that we will miss about Japan. One of those things was customer service.
Back in 2005, my wife and I returned to California and after dining at our favorite seafood restaurant on the Redondo Beach Pier, we left without leaving a tip. In Japan, there is no tipping.
Later that year, my wife, mother-in-law and I flew from Japan to South Carolina for Christmas with a transfer in Chicago. To make a long story short, we missed our connection flight to South Carolina due to weather. Prior to finding this out, we checked our luggage to be picked up upon arrival in SC. After about six hours waiting to learn our fate, we checked in to a nearby hotel and called it a night. The following morning, we checked-in for our connection flight which was an indirect flight thru Philadelphia. Upon our arrival into South Carolina, we discovered that we were separated from our checked luggage. My wife had a fit. After settling down and explaining this to her mother, my mother-in-law was speechless. My wife asked how we would managed and the United Airlines agent told us with 100% confidence a blatant lie. "Spend up to $50 per person and keep your receipts and the airline will reimburse you." Being extremely pressed for time, we did this and drove four hours to meet my sister and her family in historic Charleston.
A few days later, in the process of leaving Charleston, I called to find out the status of our bags. The agent on the other end told me with 100% confidence that my baggage was waiting for me at the airport we flew into which is 20 minutes from my parent's house. I had my brother-in-law make a special trip to the airport only to find out that my bags were scheduled to arrive from Washington DC via truck the following morning. I told the airline of the phone call and even gave a name explaining why I came today. The airline didn't have anything further to say. The following morning, I made another trip to the airport wearing the $50 voucher clothes for about the third day. United Airlines still didn't have it together and tried to give me the runaround but I was fed up and told the agent to find my bags. He did with a scowl on his face. I ended up with the scowl on my face. My mother-in-laws bag had one of the wheels knocked off. It was a loaner bag from my sister-in-law who is very territorial over her belongings. I complained later on while we were in Atlanta and finally my mother-in-law insisted to speak to someone in Japanese. After all, United Airlines is operating in Japan and needs to make things right. We got a Japanese-American agent on the line from Hawaii. It satisfied my mother-in-law but there was no recourse or compensation. The cute little story about buying up to $50 was nothing more than a lie. Upon our return to Japan, my wife and mother-in-law left a week before I did. Their departure from South Carolina was very chaotic and the perfect ending to a miserable customer service experience. My wife and mother-in-law had to speed walk at the Chicago airport in order to make the flight to Japan. A week later, after calling to confirm my early morning flight was on schedule with an agent located at a call center in India, I arrive to the airport only to find out that the flight was delayed due to crew rest. I managed to make my connection flight to Japan by sprinting through the airport like OJ Simpson. I recalled finding my seat, dropping my stuff off and making a bee line to the airplane toilet to relieve myself since this was not possible at the airport due to the delay out of South Carolina.
Six months later, we managed to get reimbursed but it was from United's Japanese office since the American office didn't feel the need. I continue to fly on any other airline but United.
In March 2007, I spent my first night at a hotel in the Atlanta area. The place was not so easy to find and called from my dad's cellphone since mine was a Japanese cellphone (keitai) to get directions. I was puzzled since I was thinking that it would be off of the 285 freeway but found out that it was off the 75 freeway. That was all the hotel front desk could tell me and when I asked her if I crossed or went away from the freeway, she replied, "I'm from New York and am not good with directions." and repeated herself with the name of the freeway and its exit number. I then drove past the hotel twice due to it being behind some buildings and no sign on the road pointing me in its direction. I then called back and was told that it was behind a Waffle House (WH) restaurant. Waffle Houses at freeway exits in the southeast US are like McDonalds next to train stations in Japan. I found one WH with a parking lot behind it and had to go inside to find out if there was another WH in the area. Lucky for me I speak English but found the ordeal frustrating none the less. Once I got to the hotel, the New Yorker confirmed that she had been in Atlanta for nine years which would suggest that you have been in town long enough to get someone from the freeway to your hotel without the runaround.
A few days later, I was in SC I went to the same Arby's that my dad would take me to after basketball games as a kid. I ordered some Beef n' Cheddar sandwiches to take home and after paying for them and filling my large to go cup with sweet tea I returned to the counter and was able to watch the kid make my order. Once he finished the order and bagged it, he took it to another counter about 5 feet in front of the main counter where I stood. For about two minutes I stood and watched my order get cold while the same kid made the next order which was a order for the drive thru. The cashier began taking the next customer's order while another kid prepared the curly fries. Another two minutes pass and the cashier gets finished with the order and sees me standing there and asks, "Have you received your order?" I nod "NO" and he rushes over to the order and sees that kid who was making the curly fries just standing there and looks at him as if he wanted to say, "Give the man his order!" I ended up warming up the sandwiches in the microwave and was still satisfied with the meal despite the wait.
Lastly, I went to the nearby Wal-Mart and did a grocery run on some provisions that we can not get in Japan unless we make the trek to the nearby Costco Wholesale about 90 minutes away by train. After getting everything that was on the list, we went to the checkout line. To my surprise, there were only two cashiers open and the other seven lines were closed. My mom and I pick the line with the least amount of people and waited. Waited some more. Then waited some more. It wasn't the cashier's fault so much but more of the customer's fault. This young girl had an American size cart filled to the tip with all kinds of snack foods, ice cream, sugared cereal, Twinkies, etc. When it came time to pay the bill, she had to use three different cards to pay for it. It finally got done by having the young girl remove a few items from her order after the girl's older sister with two young children and pregnant with other saying what to leave out. I had forgotten, but later realized that we could have done the self-check and pay with a debit/credit card but my mother was against it.
The Divine Wind Vault
http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com
(C)2006-09
