“People are watching you.”
The Japanese word, “Saiaku” means “the worst”. A Japanese Teacher of English told me this phrase and gave the example of “You are leaving school and as soon as you get down the street, it begins to rain and you don’t have an umbrella.” A good example considering how much it rains in Japan. I later heard this word when my sister-in-law told my wife and I of her recent business trip from Japan to Italy that required a transfer at Paris’s Charles de Gaul (misspelled but since it is French…). She was so frustrated because she would use the common language of English, not her native tongue of Japanese or the language of French or Italian, and the locals would not help her.
Before living in Japan, I worked for a Japanese importer and distributor of Japanese food and beverage products. I’ve touched on this period in my professional career and thought about those days while watching CNN recently. They were discussing the latest trend in “Paid Time Off”. While at my Japanese employer, in the People’s Republic of California, guess how many days I had off in 14 months? Aside from the American national holidays which are a fraction of what there is in Japan, and the office closure the last three days in December and three days in January, I took three days off without pay. One day was for my graduation from college and another was the day before my graduation entertaining family and friends visiting from out-of-town and one was a sick day to attend an interview which became my employer after the Japanese employer. After five months with the American company that followed the Japanese company, I accrued three days off which allowed enough time for my wife and I to return to South Carolina for Christmas.
Also, while at this Japanese employer, I experienced my first taste of “Hito no Me” (in the eyes of others). My boss was the president’s daughter and was more like a Junior High teacher who felt the need to tell me things as if I were a child and would spring into action when others were around us and out of nowhere would start correcting me and this sort of thing. I picked up on it and realized that she was putting on a show for the others. Her flunky was a Japanese man about eight years older than me and also an undergrad degree holder from a college in the US. He had only been with the company six months longer than me. If I asked him questions he couldn’t tell me because he didn’t know himself. But, he would pick up where my boss would leave off and would tell me silly things like, “People are watching you.” It was really hard not to laugh at this sort of thing and he opened himself up to a lot of negative thoughts by coming into work late, hung-over and speaking English with a really thick accent. The manager of a fancy hotel on the Sunset Strip called me into his office when I was making my Friday sales calls to help him understand a message that my colleague left for him. I was so embarrassed. One other time, an account was past due and the guy in charge of accounting wouldn’t cooperate with my colleague on settling the bill and I had to step in and was so furious with my colleague for not having the ability to do his job. Anyway, back on point, early on with this job, I would come in early. The Los Angelese morning traffic didn`t suck as bad. I’m talking about 5:30AM just to help this knucklehead with one of his accounts when I had to manage the company’s largest account along with new business with the military without any help or guidance from anyone else. At one particular morning, we were so early that we had to wait in the parking lot for the VP to come in with the key. When the VP finally showed up, He told me in Japanese, “Hayai desu ne!” with a big grin on his face. My colleague saw that and immediately bursted into action, “Daniel do this, Daniel do that!” Prior to that, he was sleeping in his car. For the next hour, he kept saying, “We were early today.”, as if we accomplished something. Since I came in early, did I get to leave work early? Overtime? The Japanese are like the Navy when it comes to getting blood from a beet. I never told others about how "Saiaku”and sorry this guy was as a worker until now, but as worthless as he may have been, I bet he is considered an asset to the company since he would stay in the office and sit at his desk and basically "Jack off" until 9PM.
The Japanese word, “Saiaku” means “the worst”. A Japanese Teacher of English told me this phrase and gave the example of “You are leaving school and as soon as you get down the street, it begins to rain and you don’t have an umbrella.” A good example considering how much it rains in Japan. I later heard this word when my sister-in-law told my wife and I of her recent business trip from Japan to Italy that required a transfer at Paris’s Charles de Gaul (misspelled but since it is French…). She was so frustrated because she would use the common language of English, not her native tongue of Japanese or the language of French or Italian, and the locals would not help her.
Before living in Japan, I worked for a Japanese importer and distributor of Japanese food and beverage products. I’ve touched on this period in my professional career and thought about those days while watching CNN recently. They were discussing the latest trend in “Paid Time Off”. While at my Japanese employer, in the People’s Republic of California, guess how many days I had off in 14 months? Aside from the American national holidays which are a fraction of what there is in Japan, and the office closure the last three days in December and three days in January, I took three days off without pay. One day was for my graduation from college and another was the day before my graduation entertaining family and friends visiting from out-of-town and one was a sick day to attend an interview which became my employer after the Japanese employer. After five months with the American company that followed the Japanese company, I accrued three days off which allowed enough time for my wife and I to return to South Carolina for Christmas.
Also, while at this Japanese employer, I experienced my first taste of “Hito no Me” (in the eyes of others). My boss was the president’s daughter and was more like a Junior High teacher who felt the need to tell me things as if I were a child and would spring into action when others were around us and out of nowhere would start correcting me and this sort of thing. I picked up on it and realized that she was putting on a show for the others. Her flunky was a Japanese man about eight years older than me and also an undergrad degree holder from a college in the US. He had only been with the company six months longer than me. If I asked him questions he couldn’t tell me because he didn’t know himself. But, he would pick up where my boss would leave off and would tell me silly things like, “People are watching you.” It was really hard not to laugh at this sort of thing and he opened himself up to a lot of negative thoughts by coming into work late, hung-over and speaking English with a really thick accent. The manager of a fancy hotel on the Sunset Strip called me into his office when I was making my Friday sales calls to help him understand a message that my colleague left for him. I was so embarrassed. One other time, an account was past due and the guy in charge of accounting wouldn’t cooperate with my colleague on settling the bill and I had to step in and was so furious with my colleague for not having the ability to do his job. Anyway, back on point, early on with this job, I would come in early. The Los Angelese morning traffic didn`t suck as bad. I’m talking about 5:30AM just to help this knucklehead with one of his accounts when I had to manage the company’s largest account along with new business with the military without any help or guidance from anyone else. At one particular morning, we were so early that we had to wait in the parking lot for the VP to come in with the key. When the VP finally showed up, He told me in Japanese, “Hayai desu ne!” with a big grin on his face. My colleague saw that and immediately bursted into action, “Daniel do this, Daniel do that!” Prior to that, he was sleeping in his car. For the next hour, he kept saying, “We were early today.”, as if we accomplished something. Since I came in early, did I get to leave work early? Overtime? The Japanese are like the Navy when it comes to getting blood from a beet. I never told others about how "Saiaku”and sorry this guy was as a worker until now, but as worthless as he may have been, I bet he is considered an asset to the company since he would stay in the office and sit at his desk and basically "Jack off" until 9PM.
Picture- courtesy of "Meet the Parents". I am watching you. I am watching your every move.
The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10
No comments:
Post a Comment