Tokyo wants to stop customers harassing workers
Listen to the story (Australian accent)
Tokyo made a new rule to protect workers in shops from bad customers.
The rule will start in April, but there is no penalty for bad customers. Experts hope this rule will make customers think before being rude to workers.
The customers’ bad behavior is called "kasuhara" in Japanese, which means "customer harassment."
A survey says that half of the workers in shops and restaurants in Japan had bad experiences with customers. Some bad behaviors are yelling, hitting, and being mean on social media. For example, a customer yelled at a worker in a Tokyo supermarket because his tofu was old.
These bad situations also happen in government offices. One old man told a government worker to die.
Tokyo might change the rule to protect workers in buses, trains, and restaurants, too. Other parts of Japan are thinking about making the same rule.
Some companies let workers hide their family names on name tags to stay safe. A department store in Tokyo said it will call the police on bad customers. Nintendo said they will not talk to bad customers.
Vocabulary20 words
- Rule
- A guideline or regulation; sometimes a law; A guide that tells us what we should or shouldn’t do
- Protect
- To keep something safe; to defend something
- Customer
- A person who buys things from a store or business; client
- Penalty
- A punishment in a game for breaking the rules
- Expert
- a person with a lot of knowledge and experience in a trade, job or profession
- Hope
- something good that you want to happen in the future; a confident feeling about what will happen in the future; wish
- Behavior
- How someone or something acts or behaves; the way someone is or acts
- Harassment
- To bother or annoy someone in a way that is harmful or unwanted
- Survey
- a poll or questionnaire; a set of questions for the public to understand opinion; a study of something, usually by collecting and analyzing data in order to learn more about it
- Experience
- something that happens to you or something you do that affects how you feel; an emotional situation; Something that you have seen, felt, or done, which has given you knowledge or skill
- Yell
- To shout loudly; to scream; to talk very loudly in an angry way
- Hit
- To strike or impact something with force/power
- Mean
- To be unkind or hurtful; rude; not polite; not nice
- Social media
- Websites and apps that allow people to communicate and share information online (Facebook, X, TikTok, etc.)
- Yell at someone
- To shout or speak loudly at someone in an angry way
- Situation
- What is happening at a certain place/time; circumstance; state of affairs; the way it is; event; occurrence
- Government
- the group of people who have the authority to make and enforce laws and manage a country or region; the people/group that manage and operate a country
- Hide
- to keep something out of sight; to conceal something; to make something not possible to see; to make it difficult to find something
- Family name
- Last name; surname
- Name tag
- A small piece of paper or plastic that people where with a name on it
Fill-in-the-blank listening
Play the audio again and fill in the missing words as you listen.
Tokyo made a _____ rule to protect workers in shops from bad customers.
The _____ will start in April, but there is no penalty for bad _____. Experts hope this rule will make customers think before being _____ to workers.
The customers’ bad behavior is _____ "kasuhara" in Japanese, which means "customer harassment."
A _____ says that half of the workers in shops and restaurants in Japan had bad experiences _____ customers. Some bad behaviors are yelling, _____, and being mean on social media. For _____, a customer yelled at a worker in a Tokyo supermarket _____ his tofu was old.
These bad situations also _____ in government offices. One old man told a government worker to _____.
Tokyo might change the rule to _____ workers in buses, trains, and restaurants, too. Other _____ of Japan are thinking about _____ the same rule.
Some companies let workers _____ their family names on name tags to stay safe. A department store in _____ said it will call the police on bad customers. Nintendo said they will not talk to _____ customers.
Discussion questions
- Do you think the new rule in Tokyo is a good idea?
- Why do you think some customers behave badly towards shop workers?
- What other things can companies do to protect their employees from customer harassment?
- Have you ever experienced or witnessed "kasuhara"? How did it make you feel?
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