Waiter doesn’t come to a restaurant in Paris...Tokyo Olympic medalist receives a “baptism” that is “a common thing in France” and “I thought it was discrimination, but maybe it’s a cultural difference.”
Posted on 8/12 (Mon) 18:35 Takato Naohisa, the gold medalist in the men’s 60kg judo category at the Tokyo Olympics, posted a photo of his visit to a restaurant in Paris, France on his own account on the 12th. Takato, who was on-site as a reporter, posted a photo on the 9th with the caption, “The store staff in Paris haven’t come yet so my skills are reaching their limit so here you go.” Takato is standing in a restaurant with his index finger pointed, his right hand raised high and a frown on his face. I’ve been calling for a store clerk, but it seems like he’s taking a long time to come. He continued, explaining the situation, “When I’m overseas, I try not to call store clerks, but I was short on time and had no choice but to call a store clerk.” Comments online include, “I experience this every time I go to France,” “This is a common occurrence in France,” “I thought it was discrimination, but maybe it’s a cultural difference,” and “If you close the menu, they’ll come!” Related thread: The waiter at a restaurant in Paris didn’t come to take my order… “My skills are reaching their limit,” a post by Tokyo Olympic judo gold medalist Takato Naohisa is a hot topic.
I also called out to the waiter because he hadn’t arrived, and he said, “Wait a minute, I’m in charge here, so I’ll come when I can.” I really felt the greatness of Japanese customer service (´・ω・`).
If they raised their hands to call out to the waiter, a waiter would normally come, even in France. It must have been a store that really didn’t like Asians.
Generally speaking, customer service in Europe is condescending, as the staff are made up of the baby boomer generation, which would be the equivalent in Japan.
If you go abroad, remember that Japanese people are never allowed to sit by the window. Apparently the reason is that other customers will not be allowed to come in. Most of the time you will be forced to sit next to the toilet, so prepare yourself for that beforehand.
When I went to a restaurant abroad for the first time, I didn’t know that each waitress was assigned a specific seat, so no matter how many times I called, they just said “no” and I thought “are they making fun of Japanese people?”
Not just in France but in Europe in particular, there are designated seating areas where customers are never seated outside of those areas and the floor staff don’t even tell the other staff there, or they have a policy of never taking orders if the menu is open, or they don’t take orders at all because they’re not in the mood to do so, and I remember it was exhausting because it was all so unthinkable in Japan.
When Gackt was seated together with Chinese and Korean people at a hotel buffet in France, he seemed to understand that it was inevitable that people with bad manners would be separated.
Even famous restaurants in Hawaii have a lot of discrimination. Even at Wolfgang’s, they tell people to “forget your homework and stay in the hallway” and seat only Japanese people. Even when you go inside, you’re likely to be ushered into some kind of “Japanese room” or “Asian room.”
During the bubble period, Japanese people would indiscriminately ask women things like “How much do you like it?” It’s probably because of this that waitresses don’t want to serve Japanese people.
Comments