Monday, October 24, 2005

Cheeky Supervisor

Since my desk at the BoE has been changed, I now sit next to Cheeky Supervisor. Cheeky Supervisor discovered my small candy stash several months ago, when one day my large desk drawer was open as he walked by. Location of candy duly noted, he reached down and helped himself to a Werther's Original (yes, they sell them here). I'd been just about to offer him one, so I said sarcastically, "Dozo" (please, help yourself). I'm not sure he got it. This happened at least one more time, when he helped himself to two Werther's.

Of course the candy horking increased significantly when my desk changed a month ago. He was right there when I was organizing the drawers, and helped himself then. Actually, I think he just looked at it, and read the front of the bag like he didn't know what was inside, so of course I offered him some. Last week he tried to tell me something—I think it was that he'd been horking my candy while I was away from my desk, and that he'd replace it. But between his English and my Japanese, I couldn't be sure.

Today, about ten minutes ago, I opened up the drawer to get something. Remembering the candy stashed at the back, and Cheeky Supervisor sitting next to me, I pulled the drawer all the way open. "Dozo," I said, gesturing to the bag.
But the bag was empty. Yep, he'd already eaten it all. This time he really promised to replace the candy. "Yes, the same kind, please." I'm not entirely sure why I bought it in the first place, as I rarely eat it myself; I think I bought that bag last year. So it's not the fact that my candy is gone that gets me, it's the fact that he snuck it out of my desk.

You can probably guess why I call him Cheeky Supervisor.

A few months ago, when I was checking out new apartments, CS and I drove out to Yakawa on a warm June day. Getting into my car, he promptly closed the windows, turned the air conditioner on high, and aimed all the fans on himself. The temperature was maybe 28C (82F), and Yakawa is five minutes away, so it seemed excessive.

Cheeky Supervisor helped me move apartments, which was very kind of him. He, with Stimulant Man (that's the best name I've got for him now; I'll talk about him sometime else) did most of the heavy lifting. They drove the big truck to Yokota, while I drove my car, and my (real) supervisor and another office lady drove separately. CS and SM got to the Yokota apartment a few minutes ahead of the other women and me, and had already started to unload the truck when we arrived. It wasn't until everything had been moved in and everyone else had left that I realized someone had used my toilet (No. 1), and the water had not yet been turned on. This was a Friday, and the water was not due to be turned on till Monday. As it was, it wasn't turned on until Tuesday or Wednesday, and after then it took three days of ventilation fan and incense cones to clear out the smell. I have no real proof of which guy it was who used the WC, but I know who my money's on.

For a few days this summer I wore a new pair of sandals someone had gifted me: wooden soles painted with butterflies, and thin straps with purple sequins. I probably wouldn't have bought them myself, but since they were a gift, I thought I'd give them a try. At five o'clock one one of these days at the BoE, the chime sounded and we all got to work sweeping the floor. Cheeky Supervisor was sweeping near me, and noticed my shoes.
"Pretty," he said.
"Thank you," I smiled. So far, so good.
He paused, then asked where I got them. "Juntendo?"
I glared at him. Juntendo is the local hardware and home supply store, sort of like Home Depot. Fair enough for him to think I'd gotten them someplace local, but even Kuraichi, the supermarket next to Juntendo, has a decent shoe section; that might have been the better guess. In truth, the shoes had come from Shoes AiLand in Matsue.

So all this might make it sound like the guy drives me nuts, but really I like him. He's funny, he talks to me, and he helps me with car stuff. And he looks over to see what I'm doing on the computer every once in a while.

6 comments:

K said...

He sounds annoying to me. If I were you I would put the candy in the drawer that locks. If you don't have the key you should ask about it at the office. There is no way YOU could take things from his desk and get away with it. It's rude.

Arggghhhh I'm such a hard ass. But I have a "sneak" too.

K said...

Hey, this is completely unrelated but I was wondering if when you bought your Ipod here were you able to get the instruction booklet in English? I am thinking of buying mine here cause the exchange rate is such shit. I just don't want to get stuck with J instructions (happened when I bought my camera).

Emily K said...

I didn't try to get the English manual, but I think that if you download iTunes, the help files in there cover a lot about the iPod itself. And if I recall, the Japanese manual wasn't very large anyway. The first time you turn the iPod on, the first thing it asks you is what language setting you prefer. If I were buying a camera, I'd definitely make sure I got one that had English instructions and interface; but with the iPod's English interface, I've never needed the instruction manual.

K said...

That's it!! You've convinced me. Now I just have to figure out what to have engraved on it. I figured my name in katakana would make sense but that seems so...I don't know, boring? You have The Quiet American right? I need something interesting like that. Any ideas?

Emily K said...

/me shrugs.
The Quiet Canadian?

Anonymous said...

Thank you Emily for leaving your post, and I am agree with you , man is not a machine and man is suppose to be responsible for their own actions, because man always have two choices: to do bad actions and good actions. Unfortunately we have to deal with any type of behavior that exists in our society like one of my friends says: Never try to understand people, learn how to deal with them.