The Total Perspective Vortex

When you're a JET there's a certain degree of emasculation you must put up with. You're no longer as independent as you were. Much of the frustration of this job comes from the fact that you have very little independence to do what you want. In school most things you want to do have to be cleared first, and often those things are judged to be "too difficult" to do. To go to the bank at lunch you have to get permission from the vice-principal. A few weeks ago we had a rare warm afternoon and the sun was shining. It put me in a rather good mood,

"Sensei" I said "I'm just going out to the quad to mark my papers there; it's such a nice day, and I have no actual classes, so I'll be outside. Marking"
"Ah but Geoff-san, the students will ssee you"
"Well, that's okay, we can chat, they won't be a nusiance I'm sure. be nice to get some fresh air, heh heh"
"No, you can mark in here ne? Too distracting for students"
"But, fresh air. Sun. I have no classes. Students have no classes"
"Ne, distracting..."
"...sniff..."

When we got back from Thailand (oh Thailand, you seem so far away now. Thailand, Thailand....) the Gas Company (that's their name: 'Gas Company') had cut us off. No cooking, no washing, no shower. Bit of a pickle. So, off I raced to pay the bill and have the gas restored. We waited all night, but no gas. Next morning - no gas. So today I asked my supervisor to give them a ring, to see what was going on exactly:

"Sensei, would you mind awfully giving the Gas Company a ring to ask when they’re switching our gas back on? We got cut off while we were away. But we paid the bill last night. Look, here’s the receipt with our details on it. Could you give them a ring?"
"Geoff-san, You have not paid your bills geoff-san?"
"No no, we hadn’t, but we have now."
"Maybe there is a way, you pay at a conbini"
"Yes, we paid it last night, this is the receipt. Could you phone this number. On the receipt?"
"Normal Japanese teacher have bill out of bank account, it is, they take it out for me, uh, uh…"
"…automatically?"
"...ne, they take it automaticarry. You can do this.."
"Yes, but paying it at the conbini is more convenient for us"
"But not this time ne?"
"Well no, but that’s because we were away. But we have paid it, no problem see. So if you could just phone…"
"Ehhh. They have sent many bills? They send you a bill to pay with?"
"Yes, yes, we got two bills, but we were going to pay it after we got back since we were up to date. We thought it was too soon to be cut off. But we paid it last night and the lady said it would be turned back on,“tonight” she said."
"Tonight? Maybe you should wait…"
"No no, last night, she said last night that they would turn it on, but they didn’t. So if you phoned…"
"Somebody, you Robin, has to be there to turn it on. The gas. Ehhhhhh. Hmmmmm. Maybe we can phone. There is a number here….…….they said they did not switch off gas. Is safety system. They will come tonight. They said they were not going to cut you off , it is too soon…"


Why do so many conversations go like this?