Hawaii Trip 3-dot #2

This and perhaps the next several entries are being posted from Hawaii, where I’m on vacation. As naturally I’d prefer to spend my time on the beach or somewhere similar, these are more a collection of notes rather than anything I’m actually taking any time to write. Read accordingly.

Continuing my impressions on customer service, it has been a very much hit or miss affair. One company seemingly getting it right is the ubiquitous (in fact, they give new meaning to the word) ABC stores, for those that don’t know the on-every-corner souvenir-cum-convenience chain of stores in Waikiki. “Did you find everything that you were looking for?” I chalk it up to the large number of Japanese customers they no doubt get….on the other hand, at The Slipper House in Ala Moana, the most bored sorriest excuses for sales clerks you could ever have the misfortune to encounter. Handing me size 11 sandals while chewing gum and looking the other way. I only went in there because in that location, perhaps the same store I don’t know, 30 some years ago I remember going in there with my mother who asked for a pair “zoris”, a Japanese word in the local lingo for flip-flops. Strange what this boy chooses to remember. Anyway, I should’ve waited a bit longer and bought some Teva’s or Timberlands at a shoe outlet.

On this same thread, I had yet another annoying time yesterday while shopping at apparently Honolulu’s only used book store. I knew what I was in for as I had been there last time, but boy, that didn’t stop me from seething inside while listening to the ridiculous banter of the store clerk and some customer of the kind that looked like he dropped in everyday. Is it just me or do these guys always seem to talk in a louder register than is needed or appropriate for a place with books? I mean, cue up High Fidelity or Clerks here but these two guys were discussing everything from “the most Republican and Democratic counties in America, side by side in the same state” to “I want to get this movie but it is not on DVD or video, it’s made in this language that no one speaks, it’s listed at IMDB but it’s like really good but only some library in Colorado has a copy”. The clerk was this portly balding guy with a tone of voice that made it seem like he was fashioning himself after Wallace Shawn. (BTW, this “clerk” phenomenom is not limited to the states, if you go to Good Day Books in Ebisu (Tokyo) you’ll occassionally encounter the same thing!). The selection was decent but I just don’t understand how a store can keep stacks (and I mean like 4-ft. stacks) of books on the floor, in danger of tipping over (some had), and expect to sell anything! Compare this with a store on Kauai that I visited when we were here last year, that I wanted to write up before. It’s called Tin Man Books in Lihue (couldn’t find web link now) and it’s everything a used bookstore would be if I owned one. I doubt any of you will ever make it there but if you do, don’t miss it.

Coming back to customer service a bit, this clerk chatting thing is just incessant, no matter where you go. The cashier and the bagger at your grocery store will be chatting about one of their dates from the night before, or the proprietors of this very internet cafe will be arguing about some aspect of their business. The workers at Wal-Mart do more talking to each other than they ever will to customers. And then today, the shoe outlet woman, was pleasant enough but too pleasant, had to have a fucking heart to heart with every customer while she was ringing up their shoes. As I was waiting in that tortuous line listening to all this, I couldn’t help but long for the coldness of Japan’s worker-customer relationship.

Another emerging theme of this trip is discovering how Japan has turned me into something of a prude. I mean, I just don’t remember seeing all this cleavage when I used to live here, but it seems like you can’t be a woman and out in public unless you’ve got something happening (or pretending to happen) in the boobs department. Add to this all the midriffs. Now mind you, this trend started to appear in Tokyo this summer, for the first time (since I’ve been there) you could actually espy a belly button or two on the streets of Tokyo. But here it’s gone crazy, I mean these women would be better off just walking around in a sports bra. And I’m not talking solely about Waikiki either, wander into Borders or wherever and it seems like half the women are showing off their belly buttons….Speaking of the body, another rather surprising thing for me is the amount of tattoo-age. I mean it’s ridiculous, everybody has a fucking tattoo somewhwere. The most popular place seems to be the lower back region, and it’s invariably the same type of design, one of those hot-rod pin stripe looking things. Maybe that explains the midriff look, they’re really exposing that tat of theirs above their butt.

Coming from the super-anal-retentive recycling and garbage rules in Japan, it’s quite a shock that there seems to be no recycling policy to speak of. Certainly nothing that would even appoach San Francisco (which is still very lax compared to Japan). You would think on islands this small folks would be worried about it, but there are no separate bins for anything. Of course it’s quite liberating to just open up those huge green bins and just dump everything in, but….

No matter where we take Kaika, you can be rest assured that he will be (or pretend to be) non-plussed by the idea, and then when it is time to leave said place, he will say “no” over and over again until he starts crying. If you “threaten” to never ever take him to said place, he’s just say “ok”, so that doesn’t work. So now we have this “promise” thing where we hook pinkies and he promises to come with us and we promise to bring him back later….He seems to really love the beach, we’ve gone early in the morning to Ala Moana beach park the last two days. Today I held him and taught him how to kick his legs, he loved that. This is the same beach where I learned to swim via a free city program, some 30+ years ago. Really nice in the morning, because of a reef the water is calm, and there are only seniors about.

Having access to cable we’ve watched way too much TV at night, the other night Naoko and I caught up on the entire season (to date) or Real World: Austin on MTV, seemed a bit like old times. And more HGTV than I would care to watch (that’s Naoko’s), and SportsCenter and all those commercials, it’s all a bit surreal, feels so “foreign”.