I will be moving out of my apartment in Anjo in about 37.5 hours. In that time, I still need to finish packing, finish cleaning, get the key from the Leopalace office in Nagoya, call the gas company, run a few personal errands, order new furnature, and try to find a couple of hours of sleep. Wish me luck.
Since moving, I’ve been wanting to start my own garden. However, I don’t yet know much about my work status past September, so I hesitate to accumulate yet more stuff. I still have my cactus Saboten (bought when I still worked in Tajimi), which I brought with me to Anjo. It was a pain to bring, even though I hired a moving truck, so imagine if I do get more plants. Also, I never really had a green-thumb, so to speak. Saboten is looking quite worse for wear, despite my best efforts. I will have to think more about this.
For many years I worked various retails job and I thing I noticed was the avoidance of the word sorry. I don’t mean that it was never said, but it always seemed so carefully phrased to brush off any blame on the company’s part. At a few jobs, we were actively discouraged or outright told never to apologize to a customer, as it was seen as the company acknowledging a mistake. The only phrase that I clearly remember being solidly okay to say was something along the lines of, “I’m sorry you feel that way, but…”
That isn’t to say I never apologized to people, but I did get chewed out more than once for doing so. However, here in Japan, it is the total opposite. We are expected to say sorry a lot, actually.
What made me think of this is something a coworker said. She said that I spoke in a round about way, but hardly ever said the word “sorry”. She said I tended to say, “ok” instead. For example, if I was reprimanded for having done something incorrectly or not quickly enough, my answer would be “Ok, I’m on it,” or “Ok, I’ll do that next time,” when most people would expect me to say sorry.
I don’t think she meant it in a negative way, to be honest. I think she’s worried about my relationships with my coworkers, since these new coworkers I have may be the ones who decide what becomes of me in another three months.
So it got me thinking. I used to say sorry a ton to my friends and family, but it seems like in the business world, it has fallen out of my vocabulary. That said, I’m working on it.
Has anyone else noticed this trend in US corporate culture, especially in the retail segment? Maybe I just lucked out and worked for some black companies or something?
We might be miles apart, but we’re always under the same sky, connected by the flow of the great oceans, and will never stop thinking about each other. I wish you all the happiness in the world.
Am I the only one who wants to roll around in the greenery? Yeah? Well, this isn’t the first time.
We’re getting an abnormal amount of typhoons this fall.
Today I’m going on a trip to the amusement park with my mom. I’ve been looking forward to this all week. She mentioned it a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been counting down the days since.
