I have heard all shops would be closed on Christmas day, so I went to check them.
Wow! All shops are closed. No one came to this shopping mall today.
Movie theatres are closed. There are no buses, no trams, either.
Even the train station is closed.
It shows no train service today, a greeting message instead.
This looks delicious, doesn’t it? I opened this and tried eating the pop corn. My friend was surprised and stopped me eating it. Yes, it tasted like soap….
A man came to the supermarket where I work. He told me he needed some change for buying petrol. He told me he was a delivery person for the shop and came to everyday. I didn’t have the right to give him money from the till at the shop. However, he said he would return it tomorrow and left his name and phone number. He just asked for 3 pounds (660yen). I put his name and phone number next to the till and handed him 3 pounds. At that time, there were no others at the shop. I left message to my boss about him.
On my way back from work, I got a call from my boss. He arrived at the shop 10 minutes before my leaving. He told me “did you use YOUR 3 pounds for the petrol?” I said “he told me he was a delivery person for the shop. So, I handed him 3 pounds from the till.” My boss told me I was cheated. CHEATED? Just for 3 pounds? He handed the phone to his partner and she told me “You NEVER EVER NEVER give any money to anyone.” She continued, “Do you give money if people ask you for 10 pounds for buying drugs?” “Buying petrol or drugs, they are the same. He will never come back.” She kept yelling with her hysteric voice. After she finished complaining, my boss was on the phone again, “Next time he comes back to the shop, he will ask you for 100 pounds.” Finally, he told me, “I’m disappointed in you.” After this long yelling, blaming, and complaining, my boss said, “I’m sorry, but this is your fault and I ask you to pay three pounds.” At that time, I told him “OK, I will. I’m sorry.” However, I AM disappointed in him from the bottom of my heart.
Is it really all my responsibility? I couldn’t imagine that people could cheat a person for 3 pounds. In Japan, the boss tells me what to do. If I didn’t know about appropriate procedures and if it’s the first time, the boss would cover the mistake which I made. This is why the boss gets better wages. The person who has authority also has to have responsibility. What my boss was doing was leaving his responsibility and letting me down.
I couldn’t keep my emotion to myself and I called my friend. She said “it’s out of order.” “Did he yell at you and make you pay three pounds? What a small person he is!”
On the next day, unfortunately it was my working day and my boss smiled at me and said “Good morning”. It was 12 noon. He may have wanted me to say, “It’s good afternoon.” Or anything other than just a greeting, however, I didn’t want to speak with him and just said “Hello.” After my leaving he asked my friend, “How was Eriko?” She pretended she didn’t hear about this story from me and just told him, “I don’t know why, but she doesn’t look herself.” My boss started to explain the story. Still he told my friend “If Eriko used her own money, it would have been OK.” We knew he was stingy, but we couldn’t even imagine this much. And he would never notice he lost a priceless thing just for three pounds.
On the following day, thanks to my small boss, everybody knew that I was cheated. Surprisingly, nobody blamed my boss. Everybody except my Japanese colleagues said I should pay for it. One of my colleagues spoke face-to-face with me “I can’t believe anyone would pay money from the till.” The other one followed up, “I could understand Eriko’s feeling. It’s difficult to distinguish who says the right thing or lies to you,” and he told some of his stories about being cheated before. After the story, the former guy told him, “It’s your money. Whether you’re cheated or not it’s your responsibility. You are working and three pounds is small money. But in this case, Eriko used money from the till.” I said, “So, I paid it back.” The guy said, “Of course you should pay it back.” I got a huge shock from his words. Maybe I was spoiled in Japan.
This is the reality here. Even if I worked a part time job I should have taken responsibility for what I did.
When I walk with a local friend, a charity person or an Insurance company person speaks to us. My friend knows what it’s like, so he says “no thank you” before they start to explain.
This happens when I walk with my American friend, Belle. A lady comes to us and says “I’m not selling anything to you. Please just let me know your age”. It’s a strange question. Belle answers her age, but I don’t. Then the lady asked me “are you a student?” I just tell her “I’m not a student” and leave her. I’m usually ignored by them when I walk alone. So it’s easy for me not answering her question and leaving there.
After 3minutes, another guy speaks to us. He is a charity person. He tries to interrupt our conversation. He may think he should say something interesting. He says “Are you sisters?” Belle enjoys his question and answers “Yes, we are.” He says “yes, I can tell you two look alike.” Ha haha, ridiculous. Belle continues “I tipped you last week. Do you remember?” He says “Of course I remember you.”
All my experience speaking with these people on the road is awful.
I try not to ignore people who speak to me on the road. At first a lady recommends that I buy a special package for my hair. Once I pay 45 pounds (around 10,000yen) I can get any hair arrangement, including a hair cut, perm and massages for three months. She says “you can have your hair done every weekend!” I’m not interested in the package, however, I’m not good at saying “No, thank you” so it took a long time to escape from her.
Next, the second guy speaks to me very gently. He invites me to come to his church. Sorry but I’m not religious person.
The third case is terrible. Two ladies ask me to give them some change. After half an hour, I see them again by chance and they are choosing from a menu at a restaurant.
Gradually I feel it’s a better choice for me to ignore people who speak to me on the road.
There is a newcomer at my work place. Her name is Eri. When I’m with her, a Philippine colleague calls “Erika” to us. So, we say “We are Eri and Eriko”. Then she says, “OK, girls”.
My Yoga teacher at the fitness club likes Japanese food. She sometimes comes to my work place for shopping. She is a very nice person and tries to remember everybody’s name. At first she recognized my name as Erika. I don’t care how people call me, but if she asked me, “your name is Erika?” I answer “My name is Eriko.” Even if I don’t care, it’s stupid to say “you can call me Erika, but my name is Eriko.” I can’t tell a lie about my name. She calls me “Eri” when she is not sure. Good choice!
A few weeks later, she suddenly recognizes my name as Eriko and now she always calls me Eriko.
Since I arrived in Manchester, I have been thinking about becoming a Japanese-language teacher. I’m a native Japanese, however I have no idea how to teach Japanese. There is a correspondence course and I can take it here.
One day a Japanese lady came to my shop. She was a Japanese-language teacher in Bolton. I heard her story with interest. Some Japanese companies had their factories in Bolton and Japanese-language was a compulsory subject in schools. I thought that was wonderful however, she had to teach Japanese for students who weren’t interested in Japan. I could easily imagine it being hard. Learning other languages was just like learning their cultures. If they weren’t interested in Japan, it would be difficult to keep up their will for studying. After one year of the compulsory subject, they could choose continuation of the Japanese-language study. Just a few students chose it. It’s disappointing.
