In many Japanese family restaurants, there is something called a drink bar. After paying one price for the drink bar, the customer is entitled to get as many refills as they want from its various vending machines, usually with dozens of juices and sodas. Amazingly, since water (free for all patrons, including those who did not pay for the drink bar) is also located at the drink bar and is taken with the same plastic cups, technically restaurant staff cannot who paid for drink bar at all.
In a busy restaurant with some thirty to forty tables full of customers, it becomes impossible for the few servers working to mentally track who paid for the drink bar and who did not. Hence, it is extremely easy for dishonest people to simply not pay for the drink bar and yet help themselves with its different juices and sodas. If they act naturally enough, no one would really suspect, or even notice that they are doing what they are not supposed to be doing.
Having this exact conversation with his Japanese girlfriend, the author was simply told that the operation of the system requires customers to have some level of 良心 ("ryo-shin" in Japanese, "liang-shin" in Chinese, both roughly meaning "a proper understanding of right and wrong"). In other words, restaurants have to assume that most patrons are "good" people who would not risk their personal reputations in exchange for some free drinks.
The system can work to a certain extent. After all, the slight chance of being caught stealing drinks is certainly not worth the possibility of legal prosecution. Considering drink bar is only about $3 per person, buying it and having like two or three drinks is enough to make the money back for the customer. The cost and benefit analysis here would favor the customer buying the drink bar rather than not.
But not all instance of relying on 良心 is that definite in costs being so low. One phenomenon noted by Japanese business newspapers recently is a high percentage of no-shows for restaurant, hotel, and other reservations. Given the strong belief in 良心 among Japanese establishments, few ask for deposits or credit card numbers when making reservations. The cost of not showing up to reservations is literally zero, with no legal consequences.
And supposed costs of damages in social reputation is completely absent among foreign tourists who either not knowledgeable of local social norms or simply do not see the point of maintaining good personal image in a place that will be once visited once. For them, the convenience of being able to change plans flexibly as a benefit greatly trumps any supposed social costs of not fulfilling obligations of going through with prior appointments.
At the end, the business establishments are the ones who suffer from their blind belief in presence of 良心 among all potential customers. Whether it is family restaurants losing money on drink bars or hotels with unplanned vacancies, unexpected uptick in people not adhering a moral code that they perceive to be universal is affecting the bottom line of those business establishments as profit-seeking enterprises.
Yet, resolving the problem is equally simple, albeit perhaps a bit off-putting from the customer's point of view. Refundable deposits can be made for all reservations, while drink bars should be accessed with different sections and different cups. Instead of blindly trusting that customers should do what is morally right, business establishments should simply assume that all customers would steal and convince themselves if they see no cost in doing so.
In the Japanese context, such low view of customers may go against the concept of "omotenashi," where customer service is inherently based on respecting the client and assuming the client is always right. Presupposing the customer to be morally unscrupulous will take a substantial change in overall service mentality, but as a matter of minimizing unnecessary costs for business establishments, such a move may become more and more sensible in the near future.
In a busy restaurant with some thirty to forty tables full of customers, it becomes impossible for the few servers working to mentally track who paid for the drink bar and who did not. Hence, it is extremely easy for dishonest people to simply not pay for the drink bar and yet help themselves with its different juices and sodas. If they act naturally enough, no one would really suspect, or even notice that they are doing what they are not supposed to be doing.
Having this exact conversation with his Japanese girlfriend, the author was simply told that the operation of the system requires customers to have some level of 良心 ("ryo-shin" in Japanese, "liang-shin" in Chinese, both roughly meaning "a proper understanding of right and wrong"). In other words, restaurants have to assume that most patrons are "good" people who would not risk their personal reputations in exchange for some free drinks.
The system can work to a certain extent. After all, the slight chance of being caught stealing drinks is certainly not worth the possibility of legal prosecution. Considering drink bar is only about $3 per person, buying it and having like two or three drinks is enough to make the money back for the customer. The cost and benefit analysis here would favor the customer buying the drink bar rather than not.
But not all instance of relying on 良心 is that definite in costs being so low. One phenomenon noted by Japanese business newspapers recently is a high percentage of no-shows for restaurant, hotel, and other reservations. Given the strong belief in 良心 among Japanese establishments, few ask for deposits or credit card numbers when making reservations. The cost of not showing up to reservations is literally zero, with no legal consequences.
And supposed costs of damages in social reputation is completely absent among foreign tourists who either not knowledgeable of local social norms or simply do not see the point of maintaining good personal image in a place that will be once visited once. For them, the convenience of being able to change plans flexibly as a benefit greatly trumps any supposed social costs of not fulfilling obligations of going through with prior appointments.
At the end, the business establishments are the ones who suffer from their blind belief in presence of 良心 among all potential customers. Whether it is family restaurants losing money on drink bars or hotels with unplanned vacancies, unexpected uptick in people not adhering a moral code that they perceive to be universal is affecting the bottom line of those business establishments as profit-seeking enterprises.
Yet, resolving the problem is equally simple, albeit perhaps a bit off-putting from the customer's point of view. Refundable deposits can be made for all reservations, while drink bars should be accessed with different sections and different cups. Instead of blindly trusting that customers should do what is morally right, business establishments should simply assume that all customers would steal and convince themselves if they see no cost in doing so.
In the Japanese context, such low view of customers may go against the concept of "omotenashi," where customer service is inherently based on respecting the client and assuming the client is always right. Presupposing the customer to be morally unscrupulous will take a substantial change in overall service mentality, but as a matter of minimizing unnecessary costs for business establishments, such a move may become more and more sensible in the near future.
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