The lift stopped on the eighth floor and a stranger walked in. As I held the door open for her, she smiled and nodded at me as she entered, and did the same again when she has reached her floor. It wasn't just the courtesy. It was more like the acknowledgement that a fellow being was in the proximity, and respecting his/her existence that blew me away. These acts of appreciation were repeated over and over again in my short 7 days in Japan. This is the story of Japan.
The Japanese take their craft and profession very seriously. Walk into a department store like Daimaru or Takashimaya and you will find that the food hall is filled with thousands of irresistible Japanese sweet desserts, all beautifully packaged and impeccably presented. One won't be blamed for thinking that the food probably looked better than it tasted! What was even more amazing was how real the mock-ups were. The displays look so yummy I almost took a munch at some of them.
Service standards in Japan ought to belong to the league of legends. I’ve not seen a single staff in stores or restaurants I have frequented frown at all. These angels look into your every detail, being extremely proactive to meet your every need, providing bag covers for you to prevent stains in the restaurants, packing your purchase and seeing you to the door. One of the staff at the sushi place even noticed that there were two left-handers in my group, and quickly told the sushi chef, who then promptly arranged their sushi at a slash (/) angle so that it was easier for them to pick up the pieces with their chopsticks (the rest of us had ours arranged at a backslash (\) angle). Isn’t that quite something?
What lies behind this excellence, I believe, is a respect reciprocated by the customers themselves to the staff. As staff at the ramen shop thanked guests leaving the restaurant, the customers heartily thanked the staff for a job well done and a great meal (and a beautifully presented one too, if I may add). And this was your average (almost fast-food-like) ramen shop! But it is exactly that simple appreciation and acknowledgement rendered that reinforces this culture of excellence in the Japanese over the years. Because the Japanese honor each other, they also respect your time. This is why trains in Japan run like clock work. You know the exact minute when each train pulls into your station, not a minute late, not a minute early. Just on time.
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| Pretty Sashimi |
We have so much to learn from the Japanese. We always think that the customer is king. But we forget that those serving us are honing a craft too. Appreciation service staff leads to higher service standards in the long run. When was the last time you genuinely thanked a service staff for his/her efforts?
More than just appreciating staff, we need to learn to respect others around us, and yes, that includes strangers. When was the last time you looked at a fellow lift-passenger in the eye and smiled, acknowledging their existence, appreciating their holding of the door for you in those mad rush hour dashes?
I remembered Christine Pringle once praised a cleaner for sweeping the floor at the Australian airport. “You’re doing a great job!” With eyes softened with gratitude, the lady replied “That’s the first time anyone said that to me, dear.”
Perhaps we can be the first this week to make somebody’s day. Let’s have a revolution. A revolution of kindness. And I wanna appreciate you for reading this.
Cheers!
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