As per every Thursday morning—this week’s complaint thread! Time to get anything off your chest that’s been bugging you or pissed you off.
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Rules are simple—you can complain/moan/winge about anything you like, small or big. It can be a personal issue or a general thing, except politics. It’s all about getting it off your chest. Remain civil and be nice to other commenters (even try to help).
40 comments
Maybe it’s because tourists are back, but I swear I’ve been getting the “you don’t actually speak Japanese” treatment a lot recently. The あなた は にほんご が わかりますか type stuff when you’ve already ordered or whatever. Seems like where I live (semi-rural part of Kanto) has more people that do the whole “uh-oh a foreigner!” song and dance than other places I’ve been and lived in here. Most people, in most places, don’t care.
Does it really matter? Eh, gets to me on days when I haven’t gotten enough sleep and am grumpy but not really. My white-boy-that-speaks-Japanese card has helped me way more than not, so it is what it is.
Something that did get to me: doing a translation and I got my romanization of ふ “fu” corrected to “hu.” I pulled up a map of Fukushima and Mt. Fuji, as well as the Japanese Wikipedia page on Hepburn romanization in response.
My girlfriend gets annoyed when she doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say / explain. It drives me nuts sometimes.
I have studied Japanese for 10 years and we only communicate in Japanese. But sometimes I forget words, feel tired or my grammar just sucks. I’m not a native speaker, don’t get annoyed at me. Listening and speaking a foreign language ALL DAY isn’t that easy.
I wish she’d just study English but I know she’s never gonna learn it to a level where we can communicate in English.
Instant permaban for the next funster to post ‘Nihongo tabemasen,’ please.
Trying to clean up our cluttered house but all the furniture we have for storage are these stupid カラーボックス that are three times as deep as I’d like. Can’t even stack them vertically or the drawers would be inaccessible.
Could do with a rest from all the doomy posts about the economy and ageing population.
My cats have been possessed in the middle of the night most nights this week and haven’t let me (heavily pregnant) sleep in peace. It’s already hard enough to sleep in a position that doesn’t make me dizzy or uncomfortable, my husband sleeps after me and also usually wakes me up with his not so subtle phone’s flashlight, and then the cats make lots of noise in their bewitching hour.
And then the cats spend all day asleep in the bed and look annoyed when I wake THEM up.
And before anyone says, yes I know when I have a newborn I won’t be able to sleep but ffs I wanna sleep NOW.
https://preview.redd.it/51s5pme174ha1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=52aef030b3b65e03f3c6a7042d5e9c30ba6edfcb
Twitter seems hell bent on making me quit. It’s a shame, because it fills an information and contact style that I really want, but each new step is basically making it worse for free accounts and for keeping a healthy timeline that fulfills MY needs and wants. And I am not going to pay.
My first complaint is that this thread makes me sad and irritated right from the mornings.
My second complaint is that I want to move close to Yoyogi park but I don’t want to pay bullshit good for nothing fees.
I don’t know if anyone else listens to the Bilingual News podcast. My wife listens to it all the time, so it’s often on in the background.
My complaint? Michael needs to just go ahead and announce his love for Elon Musk. He’s such a massive fanboy and he can’t even admit it!
The rent is too damn high!
Coworker was on my case all day yesterday for calling someone “Mr.” instead of “Dr.” in a meaningless company newsletter article I translated.
The original Japanese text never mentioned his academic history, but that didn’t stop her from blaming me for it over the course of 4 emails.
Coworker sitting behind me almost always has her chair out so far that it’s blocking the aisle where people walk. When she gets up to go somewhere, she pushes her chair out and blocks the walkway. The phenomenon here is that instead of pushing HER chair in/away, people choose to actively avoid it, and instead bump into me when I’m very clearly sitting in my seat. What is wrong with people?!
The JTEs at my JHS rarely give me any classes. I get 5 classes a day at elementary and the day goes by so fast and is so fun, but then for the last two days of the week I just sit at my desk at JHS bored out of my mind.
Have complained to my coordinators and the school directly several times and the JTEs still won’t do anything. Hopefully when the new school year starts in April there will be new JTEs who actually take me to class.
I also usually give myself busywork to make the day go by, but all my English board prep is done and all my other tasks for the week got finished and now I just feel bored and burnt out. Just bring me to class >:(
Worked morning shift today so I’m sleep deprived and ✨ anxious ✨
I failed biology 2 🙃 don’t think I did very well in biochemistry or chemistry either ..I guess I’m retaking this semester
ADHD and WHY tf did I think going into STEM was a good idea…. It’s just the first year but I’m already scared I won’t even be able to graduate. I feel that I’m wasting years of my life just trying to scrape by just to be in a field I don’t really want to work in. Ugh
I want to move to my partners city but I’m having a hard time finding a decent job. I hate long distance.
heated pools are great but when the pool is something people exercise in maybe you can lower the temperature a little bit when I’m doing laps?
Maybe the Japanese just want to live their fantasy of swimming in an onsen. Or maybe my gaijin body hasn’t built up the tolerance to hot water that the 和 requires.
I just want to vibe.
Recently when we go out together, staff will try to talk to my husband in English. (He’s Japanese btw.) He just replies back in Japanese hella confused and we don’t even look like tourists
Questionnaire: What kind of company outing do you want to see next time?
Seriously? Okay, let’s go crazy and, I don’t know, have an entire day off. If the event finishes early, we can just go home. Shock and horror!
And something outside. I’m not interested in a factory group tour, no matter what you get for free at the end. That’s something I would take kids too. I don’t consider watching other people work or machines grinding away entertaining anymore. How about we go on a barbecue, hike, bicycle ride, try flying a drone etc? The further it is not related to work, the better.
I went to the dentist last Tuesday and that was still better than going to the office.
My diarrhea is too explosive for these little Japanese toilets. Especially the squat ones, it gets everywhere and it’s so annoying. I try to lay paper towels around the toilet, but it still doesn’t work. *sigh*
I finally reverse-bikkurishita’d my wife yesterday, and she got upset. Walked around a blind corner in the foyer of my building on the way to the elevator and we stopped in our tracks face to face, both startled. Simultaneous “bikkurishita‼️” exclamations.
I found it amusing that I could tally one against all the times I’ve startled her IN MY OWN HOME WHERE I LIVE.” She was incredulous.
“You’re almost two meters tall! How can I scare you? Watch where you’re going.”
“You didn’t scare me; you startled me.”
“You’re almost two meters tall!!”
I’m still amused.
My son who was given mostly formula or baby food from stores…is trying his first scrambled egg today. Looks like no allergic reaction…but omg. The mess.
The messsss.
Booked a hotel to stay with one of my parents while they’re visiting Japan. Booked a room (breakfast included), been to this hotel a couple of times already. Next morning my parent goes down to the breakfast lounge as I am still getting ready, but they forgot about the little breakfast paper ticket or whatever that you have to bring – my fault here for not reminding. I come down and find out that the hotel just *charged* my parent for breakfast for all the nights we’re staying despite the fact that breakfast is already included in the actual booking and that my parent has told them our names and room number for them to check. It’s literally already been paid for.
Had to spend some time speaking with the staff who first said they *can’t* make a refund and repeatedly telling them to check the reservation, while showing them the breakfast tickets that we already received. Finally another staff confirmed the original booking, did the refund, then for some godforsaken reason requested to pay the breakfast fee for one night, *again.* I just stood there with a ‘?’ expression, and told them *again* that everything’s been paid for. Is it really that hard.
I registered Rakuten Securities last week. I got the letter with login details. I did account opening process and answered a few questions. After that, mynumber card verification failed (can’t they do this at the beginning?). It said my name or date of birth doesn’t much the record. I just requested to send my juminhyo and I need to wait them to send me the envelop…
I opened SMBC bank account, Ahamo, V-point recently. None got passed at the 1st time.
Edit: Only city hall can issue juminhyo with mynumber (personal number). I can’t get that from convenience store.
My phone’s charging port seems to be screwed (won’t charge by cable, does charge wirelessly but I don’t have a proper wireless charger). Its case has also fallen apart so rather than going through the hassle of replacing both, I’ve decided to buy a new phone.
I want a US model (like my current phone) and since the Galaxy S23 is launching Feb 17th, I decided to order the S23 Ultra, have it sent to my friend in the US and have him send it to me.
My PayPal isn’t a US account so it won’t let me pay with that. Try to pay with my NZ card and my bank flags the transaction as fraudulent and blocks my card. I have to call them later to unblock it and let the transaction through. I mean, I guess I should be happy that they are keeping my money secure but it really is quite the hassle to buy a freaking phone lol
There should be mandatory workshops on manners and social etiquette for old people in Japan. They are worse than teenagers when it comes to both cutting in line and just being general nuisances. I halfway respect the DGAF attitude they have after a lifetime of conformity, but there are just too many of them and it feels like something’s gotta give.
One of my coworkers smells like cheap car deodorizer. A clingy, floral one.
When you’ve got a sleeping kid at home, suddenly you realize how fucking loud everything is. All of the light switches make a loud click sound. Same goes for the button to open the rice cooker. Every goddamn plastic container of eggs, kimchi, whatever in my fridge – loud as fuck. I’m paranoid about doing anything apart from sitting on the floor because I’m worried I’m gonna wake up the kiddo.
The news is having a meltdown because it’s forecasted for Tokyo to have between 1cm to 5cm of snow tomorrow. Sucks it happens to be the day that I have organized Sodai Gomi. The ward office is probably going to cancel it and I’m stuck with large garbage in my house for an extra week.
Sorry, kinda long.
I hate dealing with Japanese universities paperwork/bureaucracy. 3 weeks ago a professor contacted me about an opening in an university where a friend of his works.
The friends contacts me, thanks me because this is a short-notice thing, and it’s evident that they have no one else to ask. (Good timing for me tho because I need the money and I’m available, so I am grateful).
She sent me last semester’s syllabus and told me that I can change it as I see fit. This a 第ニ外国語 introductory level course, so super basic. The syllabus didn’t have a textbook, the professor did their own material, and there was no 小テスト, only レポート. Fuck that, I said, I already had the experience of doing my own material and I prefer a textbook. Also, reports? In an introductory class? I changed the thing, added 2 小テスト and a textbook. I sent the thing to her a politely asked if it was ok for me to use a textbook. Her reply came the day before yesterday.
It was ok to have a textbook, just make the order on the website…the deadline for that was January 31…also, I haven’t signed anything and I’m allowed to make textbook orders for your university? Where’s my contract and my officially assigned hours?
Then about my syllabus… She sent some corrections along with a checklist from the university for doing a syllabus… something that should have sent BEFORE when she asked me to do my syllabus. The checklist says that is not ok to put 小テストin the syllabus WTF? First time that I see this. I work for other universities and they all include that in their syllabus.
I can’t wait for the actual official process with all the paperwork and they asking AGAIN for all the personal information that I already sent. Sorry for this long 非常勤苦労 post.
Moving to an apartment just as the Electricity prices are going for a mad increase.
I’m also gonna complain about the fact that I’ve been irresponsible when it comes to taking care of the place I’m currently living in. I’m not sure what I’m gonna have to pay and it is stressing me out. It used to be a ryokan that they turned into a sharehouse so there was already some noticeable wear and tear but still.
I have scratched the floor a little bit and I ruined one if the tatamis (small square piece) . I don’t mind paying extra for what is clearly my fault
but I’m afraid they’re gonna try and milk me for as much as they can.
The wall paper has a small hole in it as well. Barely noticeable
One of those “sandpaper” ones. Don’t know if that is cheap or not to fix.
Was gonna buy a couch. Sold out.
Was gonna buy another couch. Only deliver in Tokyo.
Was gonna buy a third couch, delivery was too high.
So no couch. Guess I’ll just buy a big ass rug and out on the floor.
New job’s codebase is an absolute mess. Zero tests. Zero documentation. Been written on and off by a handful of contractors over the years. I keep finding weird corners of the code that throw up new problems and incompatibilities. Everything is out of date. The boss wants to launch at the end of the month.
I am at best, an average programmer. If I keep getting contracts like this I can’t see how I can make much progress in my career. I really want to be pumping out features in a tight team, or working on some really new interesting tech.
And of course, I’m at the keyboard so much my wrists are burning up again.
I just got the electricity bill for January and was shocked it was 30,000yen! Between me and my wife I expected something in the region of 15,000yen. We have been running the AC pretty much all the time in one of the rooms (mostly my office as I’m working 100% from home) and have extensively used a humidifiers (Panasonic kettle looking thing) which I’m sure doesn’t help but honestly kinda surprised.
Why is it so hard to find peas in our area 😭😭 i just want to get through a shopping trip without having to head on base just to get some peas.
lol I am so frustrated with myself in dealing with one of my lab mates at my university
basically he reached out to me about 1.5 years ago and said several times he was feeling lonely in the lab, so I went out of my way to meet with him consistently for like 6 months to make him feel welcome in our lab, but he’s a terribly annoying person to talk to (always asking me questions that can simply be Googled, and I feel like his conversation style is basically asking the other person questions), never wants to meet in the middle (he knows I work remotely and don’t go to campus, but he almost always asks to meet near campus), is pretty rude at times (he called one of our professors XX-san instead XX-sensei which was really uncomfortable), and there so many more examples that I shouldn’t bother going into detail with.
Anyways, after those 6 months passed, I met with him once more after a month or two (so much less frequent than before) and decided it was time to stop meeting him, since I’m not really interested in maintaining any kind of friendship with him.
He also asked several times to travel together somewhere (I did once and drove both him and his girlfriend somewhere as a day trip, but it was not fun for me, so I rejected every other time he asked to go traveling).
After he asked me to meet again for a meal, I said I was busy (which I was) and then he messaged me again on asking to meet. I didn’t reply and decided to just block him (on LINE), but now he messages me through our lab’s Slack! and he’s suggesting we meet again
I gave so many hints before that as well, and yeah, maybe I should just say things directly, but after someone rejects you several times, I can’t understand why you would keep asking
I can’t block him on our lab’s Slack (which is why at first I thought I would keep meeting him until he graduates basically lmao, and now he’s about to next month, but I decided there’s no need to spend any more time hanging out with someone I don’t vibe with). I still reply to him on Slack of course to remain professional. but I’m just hoping he stops asking me to meet
tldr: My lab mate is terribly dense and doesn’t know how to take a hint, and I’m terrible at saying no and prefer speaking indirectly, and that’s not a good combination for me lmao. I should probably learn how to just tell him directly I’m not interested in being friends. But I wish he would learn to take a hint too. asdojfmpioadsj,fpiodasj,fpiosj,
One of my visit schools (which is a sort of special school) has had a huge increase in the number of non-verbal ES kids and I’ve been struggling with English class since the school year started. Only this week I really felt down about it. I feel like I’ve run out of methods and I’m getting nowhere. All have selective mutism and/or severe anxiety.
The support staff are in there with me and as nice as they are they’re not trained for special needs or speech therapy…so they just stare at me wide-eyed waiting for instructions.
I feel like we’re just forcing these kids to do something they really don’t want to do and stressing them out but the staff are like OH NO ITS FINE GANBARU. I seems pointless trying to teach a communication-based class under that kind of atmosphere. It’s not fun for them and I end up talking the entire time.
Fear of missing out but at the same time feeling like I can’t be bothered to go to arrangements with friends to places/restaurants. I hate whatever is making me feel this way.
Noisy Construction.
Do you want peace and quiet in your apartment on the weekends?
No.
Construction.
Always construction
At 8:00 in the morning…. Construction.
At 3:24 PM….. Construction.
Always construction.
4:57 PM….. Construction.
Want to sleep in?
No.
Construction.
Tired of construction and have decided move to a new quieter apartment?
1 week later….. Construction.
More Construction for you.
Long working hours, lowest wages in comparison to the same roles overseas. Inflation at an all time high. Japanese yen at an all time low. Can’t afford anything. Lack of sleep. Constantly tired. Need rest. Need money. Need quiet.
Construction.
Always construction.
Only noisy construction for you from now until forever.
Humidity kills CD players.
I issue homework that requires the use of CDs.
Students come in and say their CD doesn’t work. The deck at my school plays just fine so either their player sucks or using that as an excuse to not do the homework either.
Passed my first interview and had to turn the position down for unrelated reasons. After the interview concluded I was like 99% sure I would pass based on how it went, which tells me I’m assessing my skills correctly and the huge number of 書類選考 failures are not due to my professional background. Which sucks.