My Japanese is nothing even closely resembling perfect. Because of this, sometimes when I order at food establishments the clerk second-guesses what I say. Yes, I really want two cheeseburgers. I said “two” as I held up two fingers, so yes, I really did want two cheeseburgers, not one. Yes, I really meant that I want to eat inside when I say I want to eat inside and point down at the ground. And for those that don’t get it, even when I do say stuff I have a tendancy to point or gesture at what I want anyway yet, miscommunication (or perceived miscommunication) does sometimes happen.

So with that in mind, let’s visit this morning.

Every Sunday I take the bus from the station to my Japanese lessons, and almost every Sunday I stop by a particular coffee shop to grab one of their excellent bagels for breakfast. Today I went in there as usual and ordered a bagel (a smoked chicken bagel if you’re curious). I just threw a 1,000 yen bill on the counter and didn’t really pay attention to how much she said it was. She handed me back my change, and before I mindlessly threw it in my pocket without counting, I glanced at it and thought that I should have gotten more back. She then handed me my receipt. That’s when things got tricky.

She had charged me for a coffee. I had mentioned nor shown any semblance whatsoever of me wanting a coffee, but there it was, and I had paid for it. I decided that she had probably pushed the button on accident, but I figured that hell, I might as well have something to drink. It’s no biggie.

I wait for my food, and she hands it to me. A bag. No coffee. I look in the bag in the really odd chance that she put a coffee in the bag. No dice.

I walk back up to the counter and say that I was charged for a coffee. She kinda shrugs with an “oh” kinda look, reaches to the register and gives me back the excess money I was originally charged. I never showed her my receipt or gave her any more info than just a coffee, yet she knew how much she owed me and gave it back to me without even an apology.

And while it’s hard to describe here, I really got the jist that she knew exactly what had happened–that she had charged me for something I didn’t purchase and didn’t receive–and then went about like nothing at all had happened. I’m a foreigner. I obviously don’t speak Japanese anywhere close to fluently. I can’t read receipts and thus won’t complain that the bitch just tried to cheat me out of money then didn’t even apologize when I told her.

Had this been in the US there definitely would have been some heated discussion going on. But this is Japan, and in Japan I simply let things slide because, after all, I am a foreigner, and I’d really have quite a bit of trouble being angry in the language.

I got my money back, became angry at her obvious knowledge of what had gone on, got on my bus, started playing DS, and cooled down after a few minutes.

In conclusion, I’m not eating there again. Pity, their bagels taste so good.

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