Blind, Stupid, Crazy…or Gaijin
There’s a coffee machine in the middle of my office, which I frequent. In front of the machine, there are two pails. Both are clearly labeled (in Japanese, of course) burnables and plastics, meaning one is for paper, such as sugar stick wrappings, and the other is for those used cream packets made of plastic.
I wasn’t especially ecologically sound until I came to Japan and saw how seriously the people here take such things. So, I got on board a couple of decades ago and have been since then. And by on board, I mean on board.
I walk around with pockets full of wrappers and such, I separate religiously, and even take the caps off of my PET bottles and whatnot. And I’m not rare here. It’s the norm.
However, I’ve noticed that someone in this joint is throwing their cream packets in the burnable bin, and I don’t like it!
Not that I’ve gone anal. I just know everyone is going to assume that the only reason anyone in their right mind would commit such a, well, such a crime is if they’re blind, stupid, lazy, or...gaijin.
Meaning me...the lone gaijin in these parts.
So, on my last trip to the coffee machine, my third today, and third time peering into the pail at the offending packets, I decided to head off the inquest with some proactivity.
I scanned around to see if anyone was looking. The coast appeared to be clear. Then I pretended to accidentally drop the sugar stick I was holding on the floor. When I stooped to pick it up, I casually slipped my hand into the burnables and rummaged around — ever so carefully — for the plastic packets, trying not to draw any...
“Baye-Sensei!” came a voice over my shoulder.
Fuck.
“Yes, I meant to tell you,” said one of my co-workers. “That bin is for paper only. Not plastic.“
She comes over, pointing at the bins.
“Japanese ways are so difficult, I know. This kanji means burnable and...”
Mind you, I’ve been working with this woman for 3 years...
“You must be more careful.”
You don’t say...
Baye McNeil