2010-04-16 05:52:00
... not because I'm going to work in Japan, but because even in the Netherlands it would be quite, quite helpful.
Quoting Hiko who is giving tips to survive in the Japanese workplace.
There are times in our lives that we have had the joy of letting rip with a phrase of self righteous condemnation like [this is bulls**t!]. Look back and remember those times. Savor them, and cherish them knowing that so long as you are in Japan and wish to remain employed and an unstigmatized non-social-outcast, you will never be able to have memories like ever that again, unless the story ends "and so then I was fired, and left Japan and overall I was a better person for the experience". Japan is a pathologically non-confrontational culture. All that bottled up indignation and rage tends to get released as passive aggression, or internalized into digestive-tract disorders. The best solution is to learn to undo your reflex to want to butt heads and learn how to resolve conflict the Japanese way.
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Posted by Thomas
Nope, I disagree with you. In many cases I should do better not to voice my agitation because it will simply not serve a purpose beyond ventilating.
As a recent example, I should have said "I would not recomment letting person X work on this", while I actually said "I've seen his work, it fucking suck and wouldn't trust this project with him at all!". The prior gets the same message across, while the latter leaves little room for correction when mitigating circumstances come to light later on.
Posted by Menno
I see what you mean but the first more polite example is also expressing and that's what I meant. The trick is expressing it right away and not keeping it inside.
I agree with you that the second option isn't usefull at all. I'm very curious what brought you to the point that you would talk about his work that it "fucking sucks". Sounds like bottled up stuff from earlier experiences with him leading to this moment of not so subtle expression ;).
Long story short: instead repressing to voice your agitation perhaps it could be useful to focus on what caused your agitation in the first place and fix that.
All content, with exception of "borrowed" blogpost images, or unless otherwise indicated, is copyright of Tess Sluijter. The character Kilala the cat-demon is copyright of Rumiko Takahashi and used here without permission.
2010-04-16 10:51:00
Posted by Menno
So what are they saying? Keep things bottled up inside and avoid confrontation? Hell no! Express it!