It amazes me that the little light bulb never goes off....

[gomichild]

Just answered one of those annoying sales calls. It always amazes me that they'll rant on with their name and the company name without giving you a chance to jump in and tell them you're not interested. I usually answer in English - "Sorry which company are you calling from?" at which the person on the other end will immediately respond with "Do you speak Japanese?" in Japanese - which I usually answer with "No." (which gets them off the phone).

Now what strikes me as absurd is that if I didn't speak Japanese then how would I know what they had asked?

The most ridiculous example of this is when a sales guy came to the door and immediately said to me in Japanese "Oh you don't speak Japanese" before I had even opened my mouth. I replied in Japanese "Yes that's correct I don't speak Japanese so you are wasting your time". And he agreed and walked off. I wonder if it ever occurred to him that I had spoken to him in Japanese, so therefore his assumption was incorrect?

Hmm perhaps a funnier story is when my flatmate at the time opened the door and the salesman asked if her husband was home. I happened to be wearing a lumberjack-ish shirt at the time so I walked around the corner to the door and asked him in a deep voice what he wanted. You could see the stream of dust as he ran.

Is it mean to mess with sales peoples minds?

[FG Lurker]

Is it mean to mess with sales peoples minds?

Hell no! It's free entertainment!! Get all you can -- not much free in Japan!

[Mulboyne]

Last year, I was dawdling through the back streets of Shinagawa when I spotted this young guy, looking like he was wearing a suit for the first time, coming the other way. As we got closer, he noticed me and asked me if I spoke Japanese. For some reason, it makes me ridiculously happy when a local asks me for directions so I said yes. He proceeded to open his briefcase and started telling me about the stationery samples he had inside. I suddenly twigged that he was selling to me. I briefly wondered if I'd stumbled into a Japanese episode of "The Apprentice". Whatever was happening, I couldn't help but admire his gumption so I walked away with a thousand yen's worth of pens.
I still wonder whether another buyer had let him down and he'd had to resort to selling on the street or whether it was part of some induction into his new company. Fear of failure of fear of his boss must have overwhelmed his natural reserve. Or maybe he was just a very gutsy operator.
If anyone has a bridge they'd like to sell, I'm clearly in the market.

[sillygirl]

If anyone has a bridge they'd like to sell, I'm clearly in the market.

There's a very nice tower type thing in France you might be interested in.

I like it when the Jehovahs Witnesses come round, and I answer the door in my pajamas, dishevelled and hungover .

Tell them in English 'there IS no God'.

[dimwit]

Middle aged ladies selling door-to-door condoms are my favorite. Probably a rarity up in Tokyo, but we still get them in the sticks. I love it when I try to get them to tell me what they are selling.

[Kurofune]

Middle aged ladies selling door-to-door condoms are my favorite. Probably a rarity up in Tokyo, but we still get them in the sticks. I love it when I try to get them to tell me what they are selling.

First I've heard of that.

[Mike Oxlong]

Middle aged ladies selling door-to-door condoms are my favorite. Probably a rarity up in Tokyo, but we still get them in the sticks. I love it when I try to get them to tell me what they are selling.

These are the same ladies that 'study' at the local eikaiwa, right?

[dimwit]

Middle aged ladies selling door-to-door condoms are my favorite. Probably a rarity up in Tokyo, but we still get them in the sticks. I love it when I try to get them to tell me what they are selling.

These are the same ladies that 'study' at the local eikaiwa, right?

I'm under no obligation to tell. :P