One of Japan’s leading IT companies, famous for making all its employees communicate in English, has incurred the wrath of netizens after one of their staff posted a question on Oshiete! Goo, a website that is similar to Yahoo! Answers.
The staff member revealed that despite the company having a luxurious dining room that staff don’t even have to pay for, that’s only for staff on full-time contracts. Those on part-time contracts are forced to eat their lunch in the food hall of a nearby Aeon Mall…
From 2ch.net:
Temporary Workers: “Banned From The Staff Dining Room” “Eating Packed Lunch At Aeon Mall” – “Callous” Treatment By Famous IT Company That Makes Its Workers Speak In English
The above discussion was happening on the Q&A site ‘Oshiete!goo’. It appears that the original poster seintoarou was a temporary worker at a famous IT company that enforces English as the common language between employees.
Up until now there have been many posters on the website that have gone to work for various other companies as temporary workers, having had ‘something surprising happen’ at this one company. They say that during their previous contract period they had to request a termination of said contract due to the severity of the company’s, ‘discrimination towards temporary workers’.
Employee story: ‘Eating in the nearby Aeon Food Court’
At this company, there is a famous staff dining room. In contrast to Google it is free. It is said that over seventy percent of the workforce go to eat there, and on a clear day one can view Mount Fuji.
However behind the facade there are invisible walls that separate colleagues working in the same place. It appears this dining hall is ‘only for full-time staff’.
The original poster, with no other option, asked, “So is it okay to eat at my desk?” Their colleague replied coldly, “There is no place to eat inside the company. You cannot use the break rooms or meeting rooms either.”
So they asked where temporary workers ate their lunch, and were told the following:
“There is a food court in the basement of the nearby Aeon food court, so go and eat there.”
The strapped for cash poster tried to explain that eating at the food court every day was simply too expensive, and in return was told that, “everyone brings their own lunch, heats it up using the microwave in the mall, then eats it there.”
So the next day, they brought in a packed lunch and went to the food court, only to find a sign above the microwave that read, “It is strictly forbidden to bring outside food here”!
Even so, the temporary staff all sneak into the crowded food court with their own lunches, use the microwave, then sit eating with an impassive face, as if they weren’t eating at all.
But they cannot spend their breaks anywhere other than at the mall, and even after they finish eating they still have an hour to kill, so everyone sits and has a chat, using up seats that should be for paying customers.
The temporary worker’s former company; “If you are concerned about that kind of thing, you won’t be able to work anywhere.”
The original poster had to bring in a packed lunch as the price of lunches in the food court cost from 600 yen to 1300 yen. But they tried to explain to their previous employer that eating while constantly looking over one’s shoulder can take its toll.
This major company’s line; “we do not allow temporary employees to eat within our company’s walls, so go and use another company’s food court on the down-low,” is so strange, right? The original poster, who has since quit working there, is even now completely perplexed by it all. “I wonder if this is commonplace in other companies…?”
Comments from 2ch.net:
名刺は切らしておりまして:
So the company’s gonna close?
名刺は切らしておりまして:
Even though they get them to come and ask, they are treated as a nuisance wwww
名刺は切らしておりまして:
So is Raku*** picking a fight with Aeon?
名刺は切らしておりまして:
The treatment of these temporary workers is so like Raku*** w ‘A famous IT company that made all its employees speak in English’
名刺は切らしておりまして:
Well if it’s that company, I’m not surprised.
名刺は切らしておりまして:
The efficiency of the workers will decrease.
名刺は切らしておりまして:
If this is true then they’re really gonna inconvenience Aeon
How can you bring in a lunch box and occupy the tables at a food court?
名刺は切らしておりまして:
Let the temporary workers eat in the dining hall if they pay
名刺は切らしておりまして:
So where do customers who come to the company get to eat?
I’m sure they must have meetings during lunchtime.
名刺は切らしておりまして:
Not even letting them eat there even if they pay for it? It’s madness www
名刺は切らしておりまして:
What’s the problem in letting them eat at their desks?
Raku*** is the worst.
