*Published on 8/25 (Sun) 10:23 Your Shizuoka Shimbun Increasing cases of customer harassment (kasuhara) have become a social problem. The constant harassment is causing an increasing number of workers to quit or take leave from work, forcing some stores to close, and is becoming an obstacle to the productivity of domestic companies. As the famous phrase goes, “the customer is God,” Japanese service has always been supported by the high level of employee awareness. On the other hand, Japan’s legal framework for customer harassment lags behind international standards, and mechanisms for deterrence and relief are insufficient. Is “the customer is God”?
Lack of legal provisions for prevention and relief
A ramen shop in Ibaraki Prefecture has been subjected to harassment by certain customers since 2022 and has been forced to close, and the owner’s social media post describing the situation has attracted nationwide attention. The harassment escalated after the man asked the customer to refrain from making repeated additional orders, and continued with other actions that frightened store staff, such as sprinkling a large number of toothpicks around products before leaving. About 10 years ago, a series of videos were posted on social media in which customers made convenience store and entertainment facility staff kneel down and beg for long periods of time because they were dissatisfied with the service they received, highlighting the dangers of customer harassment. Although there have been cases where customers have subsequently faced criminal penalties, this shows how difficult it is for the store to stop customer harassment from escalating through its own efforts. According to the results of a survey on workplace harassment published by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in May, 27% of companies responded that their employees had experienced harassment in the past three years, and 23% responded that this had “increased.” Various surveys by labor unions and companies also show a clear trend of increasing victimization. “God” walks alone. Read more below.
Because of the use of words like “God,” there were too many stupid Japanese people who misunderstood the relationship between store and customer to be that of slave and master.
The service industry is tough. I work in manufacturing and it’s a 50:50 split with customers. You don’t have to sell to someone who skips even a little bit. It’s easy.
>>20 That’s fine. Just as customers can choose their stores, stores and store clerks can choose their customers. Store clerks are not slaves to customers.
It’s called customer harassment, but sometimes the employees are trash. There are also cases where a complaint starts out as a legitimate one, but the employee adds fuel to the fire with unnecessary comments and actions.
>>21 Even if the staff’s attitude is crap, normal customers wouldn’t make them kneel down or harass them. Even if they are treated rudely, it’s not a good reason to let out their anger, so wouldn’t it be normal to call the person in charge or file a complaint with headquarters?
>>25 There are more of those in Tokyo. They don’t have to be polite, but I wouldn’t turn away if the staff was tidying the shelves and customers couldn’t get through.
Is the store trying to say that they treat customers differently depending on whether they are terrible or decent? I wonder if there are any capable people who can handle such situations as they work as store clerks?
The talk about the customer being God is in relation to the arts, and I act as if God is the customer, so wasn’t the point made to say that the audience in front of me is not God? I think I’ll learn Japanese.
These days, phrases like “the customer is God” and “the customer is not God” have become like a false excuse for store clerks to be as rude, disrespectful, and irresponsible as they want to customers and do their job half-heartedly. The customer is not God, but the store clerk is not God or a believer either, so don’t misinterpret the meaning of equality.
Japan is an extreme country. If you know about the former national railway, you should be treated like a god. There’s also a shortage of staff in the customer service industry, and more and more people are unable to provide normal service.
Comments