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It’s a truism that, if you’re over 30, then no matter where or when you live, you likely think your country is on a slow side into decay and ruin. The younger generation just doesn’t work as hard or show the same respect that your generation did and, really, they should just get off your damn lawn.
People in Japan aren’t immune to this sort of misplaced nostalgia. But a recent interview with a corporate trainer about his “monster new employees” had many in Japan scratching their heads wondering exactly what sort of yesteryear the man was pining for.
The Legal Department Gets Involved
The article from LiveDoor interviews a man named Nobuo (pseudonym), a 38-year-old manager who supervises training for new employees at a Japanese company. All employees at his company undergo two months of training – a long stretch that would test the patience of even the most eager newbie.
One day, during a 15 minute break, four employees mixed-gender went to a convenience store, bought some ice cream, and ate it in the training room during the break. This was, apparently, too much of a break with decorum for Nobuo, who felt he had to say something. “Of course, I don’t mind what people do within their allotted time,” Nobuo said. “But them wanting to eat ice cream took me back.” Maybe he was hoping the employees would eat a more traditional Japanese snack...?
So he gave them a stern warning.
しかし、“休憩中におやつって駄目なんですか？”と反抗されてしまう。
「おやつを食べることは構わない、だがアイスは少し違うんじゃないかな？ 普通はチョコレートとかじゃないか？」と伝えると、新入社員たちは不満そうな顔をしながらアイスを急いで食べたという。
The employees shot back, “What’s wrong with snacking during break?”
When Nobuo told them, “I don’t mind snacking, but…ice cream? Isn’t chocolate or something more usual?”, they quickly finished the ice cream with scowls on their faces.
But that wasn’t the end of the issue. One or more of the employees apparently filed a confidential complaint with the company’s legal department. Legal staff mildly reprimanded Nobuo and asked him to be more gentle with new employees. “It’ll be a loss to the company if they’re made to quit.”
“I Don’t Get It”
The LiveDoor article has been shared tens of thousands of times on Twitter, where Japanese commenters are having a hard time figuring out what all the fuss is about. In a tweet shared some 40,000 times, user GinNeko quotes the part about Nobuo warning employees about the ice cream and writes, “Huh? Huh? Huh? I don’t understand this sentence.”
GinNeko even attached a poll to the thread asking if people thought it was okay for employees to eat ice cream. With over 200,000 respondents, the answer was clear: almost 98% of respondents said, “Who Cares?” (Note: In the vote text below, “NG” is short for the English phrase “No Good” – a common Japanese term for things that are regarded as socially beyond the pale.)
An employee with Sogensha, a publisher based in Tokyo, said, “we not only don’t get warned about eating ice cream – our CEO bakes bread for us to eat. Oh and the other day when I was thinking to myself, ‘This would be great with some honey,’ I noticed there was honey right in front of me.”
And the user Childish Teacher argued that there are far better things to admonish employees about:
I want to hear from this manager who warned new employees over ice cream why it’s fine to smoke during break but ice cream is off limits. Ice cream is better for your health than tobacco and causes less trouble for those around you. If you’re going to reprimand people for eating ice cream, you should reprimand people multiple times a day for smoking during their breaks.
From a noise standpoint, ice cream is very low-interference as well. If the employees had been snacking loudly on Baby Star Ramen, for example, I could see cause for annoyance.
In the end, it’s a good thing Nobuo decided to remain anonymous for the article. On the plus side, at least Japanese employees can rest easy knowing that their ice cream habit likely won’t be frowned upon by their colleagues. (Just avoid working wherever Nobuo works.)
