Submitted by: D. Eyerman – Shiga, Japan
I knew, before I arrived in Japan, that Japanese culture is more rigid and exact than what I’m used to in America, and extremely more so than life in the Czech Republic. But I had no idea quite how anal things are.
For example, at the company I work for, we have to punch in and punch out with time cards. Which caught me off-guard initially, simply because we are not paid by the hour. But what struck me as bordering on the ridiculous, we are asked to fill out a sheet of paper explaining why we’re late. On spec, that’s understandable, because if someone is 10, 15, or 30 minutes late, that affects preparation and arriving on time for lessons.
But, we’re asked to fill out a sheet if we punch in at 9:31, and our time is 9:30. Even in situations when you arrive in the office at 9:25, but spend 6 minutes putting bags down and talking to coworkers (even if the conversation is work-related). Even in situations when, as you reach for your timecard, the clock reads 9:30, but in the 5 seconds it takes to grab the card and put it in the machine, the clock ticks one more minute. An explanation is required.
Imagine a morning where you have to go to the bathroom. Badly. I mean really badly. I’m talking about painfully trying, with all your might, to prevent making a mess in your pants badly. You arrive at work at 9:28. You head right to the bathroom to prevent any undue embarrassment, and relieve all outstanding pressure in your lower abdomen. Walking out of the bathroom, you see the clock is now 9:32. An explanation is required.
I have been very tempted to write something along the lines of “I had the runs” (in part because I know no one in the office – outside of the one other American there – speaks good enough English to understand that). Instead, when I’ve been handed the forms (by coworkers, not by the boss), I’ve said thank you and turned and dropped them in the garbage can. I’ve been hoping for my boss to say something to me, as I’m not going to explain one-minute (5 second) lateness until prompted to by a higher power. That conversation finally happened two nights ago.
I calmly explained why I think the 1-minute late form-filling out is rediculous, and listed several examples where it’s just plain silly. My boss, who is very down-to-earth and very open to discussing issues like these, explained that when she asked people to come in at 9:30, she said that we should arrive at 9:25 and begin working at 9:30. It made me think of Office Space – “If you want me to wear 37 pieces of flair, like your pretty-boy Brian over there, then why don’t you make the minimum 37 pieces of flair?”
I mentioned how I felt it was disrespectful to us as employees, as it demonstrates a lack of trust that we will get our work done in a professional manner, and in a way that evenly distributed work amongst all employees. I explained how the issue of utmost import is that the students receive a good education. Second to that is the reputation of STE to clients (parents, teachers, schools with which we contract). Being one minute late does not affect any of those things. In addition, we don’t get “extra credit” for punching in 2 minutes early, or staying 7 minutes late. On days when I punch in 1 minute late, and punch out 14 minutes after my designated end time, I still have to explain why I short-changed the company.
But as I said, my boss is really cool, and thankfully she agreed that I don’t have to fill out those forms for being 1 or 2 minutes late.