HK5 Japan: Chapter 6 “Heading Out and the Soup Nazi”

Today we are leaving on the train and heading to Nagoya for another special surprise for the kids this time. Overall we love Tokyo and we loved how friendly ad nice almost every person we came in contact with. We powered through the language barrier as best we could and honestly dealt with no real attitudes with our attempts to speak Japanese or respect and possibly flub a custom here or there. It’s truly amazing to see how Japan as a society is such a strong model for getting along ad live in such tight quarters. 

We just happen to be here during their big election and we saw several candidates out on the streets with their campaign vans, shouting out slogans and speeches on speakers. I think we were most impressed with level the civility on the streets and on TV. It’s sad America can’t find this level of respect for others. Being here and watching Shinzo Abe’s party regain power and how the news coverage isn’t this crazy ranting machine of lies and gaslighting is amazing. Don’t get me wrong, all politics is corrupt on some level, no matter where you are. The fact is we have to function for the sake of making sure we all lift each other up when we need it. 

Now about that Soup Nazi. I found the soup nazi of Japan. She works at a Wendy’s. After 3+ hours inside TeamLAB, the only immediate food we found was the Wendy’s sitting right out front. We ordered our meal with a very friendly young woman who spoke good English. But as we were ordering we noticed the woman who was expediting the orders was loud, abrasive towards her team and extremely unorganized. Twice I watched guests pick something of their tray and motion that it didn’t belong to them. That should have been signal to me that when I picked up our two trays, I should count everything. 

Sadly that is not what happened, once at the table I noticed we were short Clem’s chicken sandwich. I checked the receipt and it was listed. I approached the expeditor and I swear to you, what followed was literally like being in an episode of Seinfeld. I told the expeditor (who spoke some English) that we were missing a sandwich and pointed to it on the receipt. She grabbed the receipt glanced at it and said “You 4 burgers” and handed the receipt back. And I again repeated that we were missing the chicken sandwich, she interrupted me mid sentence, and said “You 4 burgers” the swings her arm straight out to point at my seat and says “You sit, 4 burgers”.

The cashier who took the order was standing right next to her was overhearing the whole conversation and asked for my receipt, the expeditor yanked the receipt out of her hand, yelled something in Japanese at her and then again yells at me to sit down! The poor cashier was so humiliated she hung her head and the guests in line all hung their heads down. And just like in a Seinfeld episode, I walked away with my tail between my legs, out $4 for a chicken sandwich. My advice, avoid the Burger Nazi at Wendy’s next to TeamLAB. Later we actually found there was a mall on the other side of the Toyota building with better food. OH WELL. We were too rushed and tired to focus. There was only one other incident so far in Japan, in Kyoto at our hotel. Overall the staff was all A+ level service, I am chopping her up to language barrier and not slighting the rest of the amazing staff.