Todays story is different. Two customers who came to the registration desk provoked this thought. Before I forget, I note that he is eager to jump into our conversations and help. I both appreciate and not appreciate this attitude.
One customer was a young-looking shakaijin. Should be in his first year at work. When he came, my director was at work. Somehow this made my conversation free as I like it. Then he came over. His break time was over. It happened that I had made a mistake while conversing with the young man. While he meant to ask if he could carry the form home and post by himself, I understood that he was inquiring if he could use post office bank account to register. So I rushed him to the registration procedures. As we are preparing to register, a conversation began between him and the director. Soon things take a complete U-turn. The guy is sharp headed. He studied at Waseda. Something to admire. I guess he just doesn’t want to sign up. He rather want to do a thorough research before registration. Makes sense to me. He is rigid.
The scene ends up by him not signing up the forms. And the director gets mad after he is gone. He convinces me that the guy is a time waster. He has studied too much, he thinks he can save the world by having too much knowledge. I don’t have enough words to express my feelings. So I play double standards. He shouts at him, though he can hardly hear him. This is embarrassing to me. But I get over it.
It takes a while for the next client to show up. There is matsuri taking place just near the station. So there are many Japanese dressed with beautiful yukata up for the hanami taikai. Businessmen as usual know how to do their catch. They are all over the place. They don’t seem to have been licensed, only taking advantage of the crowds. Makes sense to me. This drives my director crazy. I can overhear him shout them down. I want to tell him to stop but I’m mindful of a peaceful tomorrow. He makes frantic calls to the head office only for them to tell him to let them go on. A thought he expresses to me and shows dissatisfaction about.
It’s during all this that a lady approaches me. She is accompanied by a kid. We make a welcome laughter to make her feel comfortable. Her intention, she makes it known from the word go. She tells me,”please teach my son about the United Nations”I laugh to relax myself. I know going through all the details with a kid is a completely different scenario compared to older ones. The director looks at me a feels like I can’t do it. And he makes me nervous that I give in and let him go through it. He was really good with the kid. He made me smile. The explanation took a while. And it was real good.
Them the last part came. I will conclude that he wasn’t interested in the kid. But he wanted to do his work. Get the mama to register. He does everything to convince her. A situation that makes her very apologetic. I sympathise with her as she tries to let herself go off the trap. She expresses her will, “I only came coz my son wanted to inquire”. The guy offers her to do the least. I keep thinking that it is not necessary. Finally she manages to go. The guy turns to me as we usually do. “she is a time waster”. I say yes. Though I don’t think so. He makes another shout, and it’s disgusting this time. Lucky he says it in English, “we are not volunteers!” thank God barely a handful of people can grasp the English meaning.
My biggest question, is why can’t he appreciate the passion of the kid. The kid got the future. I get moved to see such. Future is better than today.
I-Connect 