Ever get mad at your local?

[Lallans]

Came upon a former long term resident of Tokyo, aquaintance of mine, a Westerner, and she states that the sort of booking practice described is SOP there.

[Jack Daw]

The wife certainly misspoke by contending with a customer. That's Service Sales 101!

[Lallans]

I've had a few brushes with Japanese culture, through martial arts and tea ceremony and things, and while they don't expect a westerner to behave as they do to each other (which is basically so subtle as to be virtually impossible if one is not born into it), they don't much care to change the ways they do things to accomodate 'us' either. So if as my friend believes the owner's behaviour is what has always been done, that's perhaps pretty much it. And, I've read accounts by westerners who have learned and practiced Japanese social mores who say they encounter a lot of hostility when they use them, since their Japanese friends themselves enjoy being able to interact with them in a relaxed western manner. So... the barkeep's wife was likely doing just that, only perhaps a shade too much so. When you get into this stuff, my experience is that everyone is a winner and a loser at the same time- just like in just about any long term social interaction anywhere.

[Sidenote: it is also possible that the wife was speaking as she did in order for CDN to be able to receive the suggestion without losing 'face' - to quote Ebeneezer Scrooge: 'I'll retire to Bedlam!']

[Jack Daw]

I've dealt with Japanese businessmen (notice I said '...men', because there aren't any businesswomen that I have ever met) off and on for over 20 years (this is in banking). It's true, the Japanese have their own way of doing things, but their business practices have been a mimic of western to some extent. Being rude to a customer is not acceptable, and neither is a superior attitude toward others of a different race or sex regardless of culture.

[Coinneach]

My local in CA p****d me off just once, which resulted in my never going there if it was after 8 p.m. I saved quite a bit by entertaining myself at home.

My local here in GA occasionally has private parties for which it closes the entire pub to anyone else. It's usually not a surprise because they put up signs in the rest rooms and on the door a few weeks ahead of time that on this date the pub will be closed for a private party. That has always been enough. It seems that it is not that difficult to communicate with customers, especially regulars. After all, it seems to me, the regulars WANT the local to survive.

[CDNSushi]

An interesting discussion happening here to be sure, gents. But perhaps I should have clarified one point regarding this pub... Even though we are all here in Japan, the pub owner is 100% Iranian (from Tehran) even though he's lived in Japan for many, many years and his Japanese is pretty decent. His wife is local.

To quickly just comment on a couple of things that were said since I last logged in...

For Tobus: I completely agree. And believe me, it wouldn't cross my mind to tell this guy that he's a greedy opportunist. I really was only considering telling him that his current tack might hurt him in the long run and would recommend he consider making use of the downstairs disco...

For those who commented about the purpose of a business being to make the biggest profit: of course it is. I wouldn't be studying to get my MBA if I felt otherwise. But oftentimes there is a rift between business owners and customers.

OWNER HAT ON:
"My goal is to make the most amount of money -- and unless you're paying for all my bills, I'm going to do whatever it takes to make ends meet. And if that means booking private parties to the point where that's all I do, then so be it. I don't owe you anything."

CUSTOMER HAT ON:
"I don't give a toss about your profit or your stinkin' private parties. All I want is my old pub back so I can go and enjoy some pints with friends without worrying when I'll get turned away."

Somewhere between the two views lies the solution... It would have gone a LONG ways if the owner's wife had just stayed out of it and not made her silly comment, and it would have gone a much LONGER ways if the owner had at least simply apologized that I, a regular customer for 8 years had to be turned away a number of times, and offered a way to make it up to me, or at least invited me to give him some ideas on how to make my friends and I feel welcome to keep coming while still allowing him to pursue his other business interests.

But seriously, I really don't give a toss about his business ventures outside of being available to serve me beer & food. I can say that I understand where he's coming from (and I do). He needs his buck but I need my pint. But just understanding where we are both coming from doesn't get him his buck and it sure as heck doesn't get me my pint.

I will continue to try and think up an acceptable solution to this. I'm not going to just up and leave after 8 years of going there... yet.