Miwa in Kyoto

おはようございます！(Ohayogozaimasu)
いらっしゃいませ！(Irasshaimase)
Good morning!
Welcome to our store! (with high pitch voice)

My days start with this robot-like greeting at my department store. I call this ‘robot-like’ because I say this again and again bowing every time somebody goes past near me for 7 minutes. What is more, NOBODY greet back to me, mostly they don’t even look me. This clearly shows the status of customers and department store. Customer stands much more higher than sales clarks.

I have heard that crews who work at Tokyo Disney Land say こんにちは(Konnichiwa/Hello!) instead of いらっしゃいませ (Irasshaimase) to sound more friendly to customers. It works because people can greet back saying hello.However I can not think of words to say back to いらっしゃいませ(Irasshaimase/welcome).

By the way, when I finish work and I get changed from my uniform and go to my department store for shopping, I suddenly become a customer and everybody greets me very politely. Even those who know I am an employee, they serve me as a customer. I think it is funny.

Posted on January 19th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized