The Emperors of Customer Service

The one thing that Japan absolutely excels at (not the only thing of course), or maybe its the one the the U.S. totally sucks at, is Customer Service. Go in any store in Japan and you totally get the feeling that every person working there wants nothing more in the world than to make you, the customer, happy. At many department stores, every morning all the store managers line up at the doors to bow and great customers as the store opens, and as the first customers make their way through the store, all the employees are lined up in front of their departements, bowing and welcoming everyone. As you enter any store at any time you will never fail to hear a chorus of "Irasshaimase!" Welcome! and you'll hear it 10 more times as each employee sees you while you're walking through the store.

Today I went to the Daiei (kind of like a Super Wal-Mart), as I was getting in line to pay it was really busy, I was 9th in line and there were only 6 registers open. Suddenly a bell rang and swarms of employees came running from the back of the store. They opened every single register!!! All 14 of them!!! They have a double cashier system that's used when its extra busy, the first cashier scans your items through, then the second one takes your money, the first cashier can start ringing up the next person while you're still paying and getting your change. They had managers and guys from the produce and meat departments running the second registers and I was out of there in under 10 minutes. It was truly a thing of beauty.