The 56th Episode : This is the very American!
[July, 1991 Hawaii]
The dinner on the first day in Hawaii at a restaurant in our staying hotel with the brach manager of LA branch and his staff and Japanese staff approx. 15 people in total. I forgot what was that but we had something to do after dinner, so we minded time. Each ordered what we wanted and waited. 5 minutes, 10 minutes… time passed but nothing was served on the big table.
When approx. 15 minutes passed we began to clatter due to the late service indeed. The branch manager got used to call a waiter to complain. The waiter said “we are sorry, will bring your orders soon” and left our table. However nothing happened even after approx. another 10 minutes passed. The branch manager got angry to call the restaurant manager! At this time 30 minutes had already passed since we ordered. The restaurant manager came and said “We are very sorry. I’ll have the staff bring them soon. We’ll accept your payment half in apology.” We offered nothing about the payment from us though.
After a while meal began to be served one by one. People who finished eating got out in order. The branch manager intended to pay all the payment from the beginning not because it became half. My dish was served rather early, so I had it and left the restaurant. Of course I didn’t forget to say thank you very much to the branch manager.
And later I was surprised with the result that was heard from my younger staff. After all it had passed more than one hour before all the dishes were served. When everybody finished, the branch manager called the restaurant manager and said “you said to accept the payment half. I’ll pay with this.” He was going to hand on his credit card. “No, no, we are sorry for the inconvenience. You don’t need to pay.”, the restaurant manager said. About 15 people, if US$15 per each, US$225 in total was not billed.
It was a famous hotel near Waikiki. He might fear the attracting very few customers with our bad rumour. I am not sure if he calculated it was more profitable or not with the loss of US$225 than losing customers, but this is the very American! Never done in Japan.
