Personal Responsibility and the Presentation

10 April 2009

I have some kind of illness coming on. An illness where only my right nostril is leaking--can’t quite blow it, but it’s stuffy--and I have itchy eyes. It occurs to me that it could just be pollen--FOREIGN POLLEN. Only I am the foreign body in this environment.

So tonight I took a soak in the tub, trying to get the swelling in my ankles to subside. I don’t know if the swelling is from all the walking or if I’m retaining water or what. Actually I remember my ankles swelling when I have flown before, I wonder if that has something to do with it.

Today we had an academic orientation, and registered with our respective schools. Then we paid the co-op fee. Then I went online and arranged a time to meet with Heather and Stephen. I’m going to Kyoto on Sunday to visit with them and go to a temple, where there will be a procession of people in traditional dress. Judging from the weather this week, it should be a beautiful day. I also emailed Mom and Amanda. I haven’t heard back from Dave. His email provider changed recently, so I wonder if he even got my email. I have to get a calling card tomorrow so I can call my honey!

After being online for a while I had to go to ANOTHER orientation, this one for the dorm. I am going to be so glad when the semester is underway and these endless orientations are over. I’m beginning to notice a pattern with respect to their content.

You check in with someone whose job it is to mark you present. You get a big stack of papers, mostly in English, some in kanji, and you sit down in a chair. Most people get there on time, and the presenters (of which there seems to be an unnecessary number) wait nervously/somewhat impatiently, not wanting to start until all the attendees have been accounted for. Finally someone decides to begin, about five minutes late, and then they turn on the microphones. These are invariably wireless, and through them the presenters welcome you and thank you for coming to their (mandatory) orientation.

The presenters are introduced both in English and Japanese, and the number of words needed to say anything in Japanese seems to be A LOT BIGGER than the number of words needed to say (presumably) the same thing in English. From there the ENTIRE PRESENTATION consists of the presenters either reading to you from the big stack of papers they gave you to keep, or verbally informing you of VERY IMPORTANT PROCEDURAL INFORMATION that somehow did not make the cut when they were deciding the content of the big stack of papers. For instance, take the Co-op membership. There was a whole stack of information about it, and nowhere in the information did it say that we were REQUIRED to join the co-op. They even had a co-op member come and talk about why she encouraged us to join. After she spoke, Claudia took the mic and told us verbally that membership was mandatory so that we could get the personal liability insurance through the Co-op. Okay, fine. Why, then, not WRITE THAT FACT in the big stack of information, and why have someone talk for ten minutes about why we should join? We HAVE TO. Just give me the damn form and I’ll fill it out, and I will put the date as “year/month/day” and my name “surname/given/middle”.

On the other hand, in the U.S., even at school, we are given information in writing and no one calls a meeting with microphones and attendance to read it to us. We are given the information, and the first subject covered in the information is that it is OUR RESPONSIBILITY to read and understand the information. If we do not understand, it is OUR RESPONSIBILITY to ask for help in going over the information or having it explained to us. More and more often, we are asked to sign a statement saying that we have read and understood the information and have been given an opportunity to ask questions. Most people do this BEFORE they read the information, if they ever read it at all. Furthermore, people who actually sit there and read it before signing are treated by the info giver as though they are freaks, losers, or slow. The info giver looks put out if the person won’t sign the form stating s/he has read the information before s/he reads the information. God forbid you have any questions--the info giver usually can’t answer them. They have to check. The underlying message: just sign the form.

The message from the U.S. approach is clear: My job is to get you to sign this form, and then file it away to present as evidence should you try to say you didn’t know the rules when you mess up and violate some rule that’s in this information. Just sign it, and we’ll all be happy. Oh, by the way, even if you don’t read it or understand it, it’s still your responsibility to abide by it. If you don’t, you can’t say it’s my fault because I have this piece of paper that YOU SIGNED that says you do understand. If you read it but don’t understand, I don’ t have time to explain it to you, dumbass. Just sign the form.

The Japanese approach, while tedious, is actually more friendly, not to mention effiective: My job is to make sure you receive this information and, if you have questions about it, to answer them. In fact, I hope you have questions because I spent a lot of time and energy learning how these procedures work and how to help people follow them properly. We know you were at this meeting because we took attendance. We know you got the information in two ways: in writing and by us reading it to you. You got to see everyone responsible for various areas related to this information, because here they are, and we introduced them to you. We know you heard us because we used a microphone. We gave you ample opportunity to ask questions about the information presented. We invited you to ask if any questions arise after the meeting, when you are using the information presented here today. Our contact information and maps to our offices are included in your packet. We’re not going to say it out loud, but if you don’t understand this information and don’t ask questions, and then you don’t abide by the information, it’s your own fault.

All of this raises interesting questions about ethics of personal responsibility and how different cultures approach it. But right now, thanks to all the information, I am fading.