In a dark Yoshinoya
The Sudden Blackout
I was at Yoshinoya the other day. While I was eating gyudon, there was suddenly a blackout. All the lights, the TV, the self-order tablets, and the air conditioner went off, leaving us literally in the dark. There were several customers in the store, but to my surprise, no one reacted to the abrupt blackout. They didn’t seem to take it seriously and just continued eating their meals or looking at their phones.
The two staff members, who seemed to be non-Japanese, just stood there, not knowing what to do. The silence was so overwhelming that I couldn’t bring myself to speak up. But eventually, I could no longer keep pretending nothing was happening like the others, so I asked one of the staff, “Where’s the store manager?” She replied, “He’s not here.”
Calm in a Crisis
Around that time, one customer complained to her, saying, “I’m going to cancel my additional order,” and left. Another man followed, angrily saying, “This is not what I ordered,” and left as well. I thought to myself, Is that what we should care about now?
I looked around, but the rest of the people just sat quietly, minding their own business. Still, the silence filled the place. It was bizarre to see people going about their own things in the pitch-dark Yoshinoya.
I wondered why we Japanese can be so indifferent even in a situation like that. At the same time, I was left wondering what I should have done.
I just wanted to do something for the helpless staff. They couldn’t speak Japanese well enough to handle the situation, like making an announcement to reassure the customers. They must have been very worried. I even called the headquarters to ask for help on their behalf, because I felt somewhat responsible for helping them deal with the situation as someone who could speak Japanese.
It was already night, so I couldn’t get through to the head office. I know it wasn’t my responsibility, but this blackout made me think about the current situation in Japan, where we have to rely on foreign workers because of the labor shortage.
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