Brrrr! It's cold up in this piece! Blast these barely-insulated un-centrally-heated Japanese houses. I'm having trouble getting out of bed.
Speaking of which, the takkyubin man came to the door this morning. I suppose I didn't hear his first few knocks, being burrowed deep into the covers, because suddenly someone's in the genkan and SHOUTING, "GOOD MORNING! DELIVERY! WATERFALLRIVER-SAN, DELIVERY!"
Well! He had woken me up, and it wasn't a scheduled delivery, and I was in my underwear. I wasn't about to go scrambling around, bleary eyed, to try to get down there and face an INTRUDER in my house.
It may be the neighborhood, but a lot of these people DON'T KNOCK. They just barge right in. This has happened on several occasions. Maybe I'm not home, maybe I'm in the shower or some other compromising position, maybe I JUST DON'T FEEL LIKE ANSWERING THE DOOR.
Oops. This post is getting a bit shouty. Sorry about that.
Anyway, he left with a great deal of muttering and cursing. Right back atcha, dude.
If I am home and available, I will answer the door, even though it's frequently someone trying to sell me a newspaper that I don't want to (and can barely) read, or the milkman trying to get me to sign up for a weekly delivery (this still exists?!?)(he also repeatedly asked me if my parents were home, fuck off), or some Jehovah's witnesses who exclaim about my gaijin-ness before going into their sales pitch. And if I have scheduled a delivery, I will certainly answer the door. Other that than, bugger off!
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Hehehe.... shouting quite reasonable.
ReplyDeleteI always thought it very strange that people have a tendancy to leave their front doors open (is your genkan after the front door, or on the outside?). My parents-in-law always got people knocking on the door... and they've got a video answering thingy....but the door is still open. Go figure.
Anyway... even I would feel uncomfortable when getting up late (hmmm let's say 8 am) when there'd be a knock at the door, and someone popping in. It wasn't even my house and I felt all nervous... ok... that's not sounding very manly... so I'll stop right...
I guess there's a different sense of boundaries. Where I come from your home is your castle, and we tend to fortify ourselves along just those lines. Our front door never goes unlocked.
Nice LOUD post anyway... good way to unwind after a day at work.
Oooh. I wouldn't take kindly to that either. Bear trap?
ReplyDeleteThe door is closed, of course, but not always locked. My brother is here and it doesn't always get locked when he goes to work. I'm not very paranoid, and it's not very dangerous here. This is just an annoyance. After this kind of thing happens I do lock it for awhile.
ReplyDeleteJen, or a nasty sign. Or I could get good enough at Japanese to tear him a new one. Which would necessitate me getting out of bed or coming out of the shower. Bah.
DUDE how timely a takkyubin rant! So I ordered a book late on the 9th and chose same-day delivery, thinking it would be there at least by 5 the next day and it would be easier than going to find the book somewhere else, and so it was okay that there was no scheduling option. I admit I was foolish. But I waited ALL DAY, I tracked the package, I tried to call and gave up. It still wasn't there by 6:30 when I gave up and just went down the street JUST TO SEE if the tiny bookstore by the station would have it, AND IT DID, for really cheap, so I bought it. And the next day I got home and there was a slip from takkyubin saying they'd tried to deliver at like 7:14, THAT DOESN'T COUNT DOES IT? It's not same-day delivery if it's not within business hours! So I huffed and went to my room to hibernate thinking I'd call and reschedule delivery later. Then the doorbell rang, and I waited for the delivery yell, because that's the ONLY thing I answer the door for. But there was no yell. So clearly just a psycho or salesman or witness. Then I hear the mailbox, and departing footsteps, and OF COURSE it was the takkyubin guy.
ReplyDeleteSo I still haven't rescheduled delivery and now I'll have to pay the same-day delivery rate for a SECOND copy of a book in Japanese that I can't even read AND STILL DON'T EVEN HAVE THREE DAYS LATER! Lame!
But at least nobody breaks into my genkan, I'd have to go all Home Alone on em
Ha ha Beth why aren't you posting? You want to do a guest post?
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing the book is a birthday present, maybe. And yeah, takkyubin is so convenient, sometimes, I mean, the UPS man just basically pisses on the edge of your property without even ringing the bell before deciding you're not home and absconding with your package. So, the timed delivery is nice and all. But some of these package people are AUDACIOUS! The nerve, I swear, of you waiting all damn day for a package that never shows and the guy cursing me IN MY OWN GENKAN which he did not have permission to be in. The sheer nerve.