"Sumimasen" What to Do in Japan if a Customer Complains

"Sumimasen" in Japanese means "sorry" or "excuse me." Sometimes, depending on context, it can mean "thank you" (if someone is, say, kind to you or does you a favor).

MAC DAVIS - IT'S HARD TO BE HUMBLE

If you ever come to Japan and you only learn one word, "Sumimasen" is it. It is so versatile. Some of the big lessons of Japan and living in this country is that Japanese will teach you patience. It will will also teach you to be humble. It will also teach you to say, "Sorry"... Well, specifically, "Sumimasen".

In Japan the customer is "God!"

Foreigners who do not learn these things quickly don't do well here. They don't last. For nearly three decades I've seen foreigners come and go and the ones who go the fastest fail to learn the simple lesson of "Sumimasen".


In a previous post I spoke about how, in Japan, the customer is god. That's right. In this country, even when the customer is wrong, the customer is still the customer and is god.


If you are ever here working for a Japanese company or with the Japanese and there's some sort of problem - even if it is not your fault - the first thing out of your mouth should always be "Sumimasen".


Sumimasen and a sincere attitude and bowing of ones head shows that you know your place in society and that you respect people.


I've seen many cases where there was some sort of problem at work. I can't remember exactly what those problems were or whose fault they were. It doesn't matter. But when the foreign staff were summoned by the Japanese management or the Japanese client or customer, I told that foreigner, "No matter what, the first thing you do when you walk into that room is to bow your head and say, 'Sumimasen'." I've even pleaded with some foreign staff to do this. Most wouldn't have it. They wouldn't listen.


"I'm not going to apologize, Mike. I didn't do anything wrong."


"No one is saying you did anything wrong. You must must say 'sumimasen' to show that you are sorry for this regrettable situation." 


They wouldn't do it. Fools. Why wouldn't you say 'sorry'? When, for example, you friend's mom or dad passes away, you say 'I'm sorry' even though you had nothing to do with it, right? Why can't you say 'sorry' in this case?


They wouldn't do it. They had a attitude of superiority. They didn't bow their heads.


They lost their jobs. 


They thought they were God's gift to the business world, but they got their butts out of a job. It happened every time. 


Once again, in Japan, the customer is god. The person paying the money is lord. If that person who is paying the money - be they a customer or your boss - wants to complain or has a claim against you or your company, even if it isn't your fault, you must do these things:


1) Say "Sumimasen" repeatedly.
2) Bow your head and repeat #1.
3) You better show a sincere attitude that you are listening and not just acting like you are listening.
4) This is an important one! No matter how upset the client, customer or your boss gets, no matter how much they shout or raise their voice, you had better damn well not talk back. Talking back to the person who is paying the money is a cardinal sin. Talking back is called "iikaeshi" and that is absolutely verboten! No matter how upset they get, you follow rule #2.


Recently, I was at a meeting where a customer got very hot under the collar and began to raise their voice. It was a difficult situation. It got even worse when the person who was the receiver of monies from this customer committed iikaeshi and talked back. That employee said, "Don't shout at me!"


No! No! No! That only escalated the situation and made a situation whereby that employee had just put their neck out asking to get terminated.


Never! But never talk back to an angry customer in Japan. That is behavior that is not tolerated in this country. That kind of behavior is asking to get fired.


When the customer is mad and yelling, the proper reaction is to respond in a quiet voice, "Sumimasen! Sumimasen!" This response will diffuse the situation and then the customer must be allowed to blow off steam. A demur attitude and a repetition of 'sumimasen' (along with a ton of bowing and a humble and sincere attitude) will show professionalism and it will show that customer that here is a person who respects the customer and, in return, deserves to be respected.


Any other response besides the above shows the customer an amateurish and low level employee that is not deserving of higher pay nor a higher position. If that employee commits such a sin repeatedly, that employee only deserves a pink slip.


"Sumimasen" not only means, "Excuse me," "I'm sorry" and "Thank you" it is also a word that works like just like magic.


UPDATE: "Boo" Has commented below about this funny parody about apologizing. As Boo has commented, it has just enough truth in it to be hilarious. Watch!

This comes from an entire series of funny skits made by younger Japanese people that make a mockery of ancient Japanese traditions and culture that was featured on a very famous Japanese TV show. (PS: At least some people can see the humor of their situation. A commentator below writes, "So the implication here is that in order for one to get ahead, he or she must grovel in humiliation. What exactly does this suggest about the culture?" Isn't that a scream also? I'll bet you a donut that this foolish remark comes from a conceited American who never once stops to thinks, "Gee? Mine is that a culture of fighting and insisting on always being right (or going to court for spilling McDonald's coffee on one's lap), or constant war and killing millions of people around the world....What exactly does this suggest about the culture?" You would never see on American TV a parody along these lines being critical of the way Americans swagger and act. Americans wouldn't tolerate it.


なぜですか？アメリカ人のけつの穴はちっちゃいから　;)


Too funny.

    

Businesses Should Never Break Promises. Customers Should Never Accept Broken Promises!

"A promise made should be a promise kept" - Steve Forbes


As a business or as a customer, you must demand that promises made are promises kept. If you are a business and you don't keep promises, expect to be out of business. If you are a customer and you allow promises to be broken, expect to always be treated poorly and to get second-rate goods and services. That's the way it is. History proves it. Just look at the old Soviet Union or Socialist Britain for evidence of that.

PROMISES, PROMISES

Keeping a promise is important morally, spiritually and in business. In the west, they say that, "The customer is always right." But you wouldn't know that by the poor attitude of many people working in customer service or at cash registers all over the west and in North America. Many people seem like they are pissed off at the world and just hate their jobs.


I've always found this sort of person not just annoying, but quite curious. If they hate their jobs so much, then why don't they just quit? Or, as my Punk Rock friends would say back in the late 1970's, "If you hate your job so much, why don't you just kill yourself and do us all a favor?"   

In Japan, reverence for the customer is even more extreme than the west. I reckon that also might explain why service in Japan is always so excellent. In Japan, we don't say that the customer is always right, we say that, "The customer is god."


I suppose that being god does trump being right all the time, doesn't it? I guess I'd rather be god than a nagging housewife who insists that she is right all the time.


But I digress....


Sometimes, though, the Japanese can have a bizarre attitude about this. In some cases, the Japanese, even when they are god (paying money) will be more concerned with getting along than with getting what they paid for.


I can give you several good examples: When my daughter was 1 1/2 years old, she came down with a rare form of children's cancer. The doctors gave her two months to live. My then-wife was very concerned with getting along with and "communicating" with the doctors. I would have none of that. I was only concerned with my daughter's recovery. I fired those doctors (they didn't believe that she had a chance to recover) and I hired the best doctors in Japan who did believe that there was a chance.


The result? My daughter recovered and is now 18 years old and a very happy and popular high school student. My then-wife and I divorced (the price that had to be paid for my daughter's recovery I told myself). And my attitude on demanding the best from people; insisting that the people I work with believe in what they do; and insisting that people do what they say they are going to do was set in stone forever.

It was also one of the most difficult to understand lessons for me in how the Japanese think. I was floored that my wife put so much emphasis on getting along with the doctors over results.


I believe that the end result of this affair showed that I was right about being demanding.


Another weird example of the Japanese who are the people paying the money - the "Gods" here - yet are being so compliant is happening right now around me.


Recently, the neighborhood school completely cancelled summer school even though in all prior documentation from the school it is plainly written that "Due to poor enrollment, courses may be cancelled on May 11." Not to nit-pick but it says "courses" not "summer school."


I am upset about this. Some parents don't seem to care. I am astounded that they don't seem to care. Customers get poor service and broken promises and they don't seem to care? 


What has the world come to when a business (in this case, a school) can just arbitrarily cancel promises made on paper and the clients (in this case, the parents) go down and don't complain and demand that the business does what it said it was going to do?


Some parents seem worried that this business (school) is going to lose money. I find that ridiculous. Not that the school is going to lose money, that the parents would be concerned with that. You'd think they'd be more worried about their child's education. 


I wonder if, every time these people go into, say, a restaurant, are they concerned that the restaurant makes enough money on their purchase?  

Promises. That is the point here in this second example. Not money. Not business finances. Promises. A bond of trust between clients (children & parents) and the business (school). 

Mad Magazine. Remember that? Oh, yeah. 

What was this article about? Broken promises! That's it!

What lessons are are people teaching their kids when they allow people to break promises so easily? 

I can tell you that if I sent out documentation to my clients promising some service and then I cancelled it arbitrarily before the deadline date, because my company would lose money, then I'd rightly have a bunch of angry ex-clients. If some company management made such a critical mistake, that person should be fired. 

The point of this post is very simple. I always ask that organizations that I do business with keep their promises. Or, if they can't, then they make sincere efforts to do something to rectify the situation. My organization will always keep its promises. That's the only way businesses can survive into the future.

Yeah, I know asking people to keep their promises is old-fashioned, but I'm that kind of guy. 

Smart clients shop around when the places they do business with do not keep their promises. I can promise you that I always do. That's just common sense and smart business. I hope your business keep all its promises - or just do not make any if you can't keep them. If you can't keep them, then expect to lose business or be out if it soon.

If you are a client, on the other hand, then you must demand that businesses do as they say they are going to do otherwise the goods and services we all receive drop in quality and that does no one any good.

I will go even more demanding than Steve Forbes' quote at the top of this post when I quote famous US statesman Alexander Hamilton, "A promise made must never be broken."

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PS: If your child ever gets cancer (I pray not) and you want some practical advice from someone who has now helped 4 people recover from cancer, write to me. I am not a doctor, but I can tell you some common sense things about what is going on and how you can do something to actually help your loved one greatly.