So its been a while since my interview, but I just had a thought. While prepping for my interview, I saw this potential question pop up a couple of times. The question was “If you were asked to serve tea to your superiors, what would you do/say?”. I honestly can’t remember if they asked that in my own personal interview (the trauma and stress of it all probably blocked it in my brain lol). But I wanted to ask my fellow JETS, and hopefully help future JETs here: what is the most “correct” answer to this question? And have any of you actually been asked to serve tea to your superiors? If so, what did you end up doing?
12 comments
Now that I’ve been here a few years, I think something like
“While I personally would be a little uncomfortable with it, I would still serve the tea as it is a request by a superior. Usually tea is served when visitors or guests arrive at the school, so I do not want to create an awkward environment by refusing to, especially in front of guests. Later, I would want to ask other teachers, such as my JTE, about what they think about me serving tea, and also in a polite way say that it made me a bit uncomfortable.”
is good
I had this question during my interview a few years ago. Caught me totally off guard and if I recall, I answered with “I’d have no problem making them tea, but I hope they like English breakfast” which got a laugh out of the interviewers. And yes, I’m a UK JET.
I’ve never had to serve anyone anything (at least so far!!) and I haven’t heard of anyone else getting that question. I think a safe answer would be to say you’d agree but to be wary of why they’re asking you (context, etc.) because it is not your job to do that every day. In terms of what to say while serving it, a simple “dozo~” is fine I guess.
I’d pretend it was my idea and offer them a cuppa lol
Most schools have a dedicated school secretary/office staff whose duties includes making tea for principal/vice and guest these days so hopefully interviewers will get with them times?
I help prepare the tea sometimes and I literally don’t mind at all because it’s just being nice to someone. The whole school is full of hierarchies you have to act upon everyday and serving tea isn’t a hill to die on.
I have been an ALT for more than 10 years in more than 20’schools. I HAVE NEVER BEEN ASKED TO SERVE TEA TO ANYONE.
I got asked why the US bombed Hiroshima in my interview during a roleplay portion. I would have been glad to get this serving tea question.
The correct answer is being respectful and not panicking or saying something dumb. I think pretty much anything else is fine. This is one of those questions that’s designed to throw you off/see how you’ll handle being asked something you might be uncomfortable with. I’ve usually seen women talk about being asked it, as a way to ask about sexism in the Japanese workplace and gender roles. It’s a (much) lighter version of the gender neutral ‘why nuke?’ question that others get.
I’ve never heard of an ALT be asked to serve tea, and I’ve never heard of anyone actually getting asked why Japan was nuked. It’s just interview stuff…
I didn’t really get a specific question to throw me off, but they dug pretty deep into my interests in Japan to see if I was really interested or just surface level, which was kind of nerve wracking, but I did OK.
“Homie don’t play that.”
But seriously, it’s making tea. “How do you like it?” would be a normal response.
In my school (SHS) there are electric water heaters kept at the end of every set of desks. So, if you want a hot drink, you get up, take 2 steps with your cup and tea/coffee bag in hand and press a button yourself.
I refill the kettle often, by choice because I have free time. But that is the extent of what I do regarding that. I imagine it can differ a lot, however I have never heard of anyone being asked to make tea for others.
If that was a question brought up in an interview for jet I would question if the interviewer understood what they’re doing. There are surely much better questions to ask.
Think the difference here is whether you’re a man or woman, since traditionally (and probably still in some places), women would make the tea in offices, and obviously non-Japanese women might object to that. That is, it would not be a gender-neutral “hey put on a cuppa” (or whatever British people say), but a “hey young woman please make tea for the men”. This never came up in my JET interview or my actual JET experience but of course it wouldn’t since I’m a man. (Actually people teased me for always making tea on my own and sharing it with others sometimes.) So would guess this question is more asking “hey foreign woman, are you able to handle some mild gender discrimination gracefully?”