I had not spent an afternoon shopping for quite a long time. Maki and I met at Chiba Sogo and I told her over lunch that my day was not going well and that I thought Taurus was probably listed worst in the horoscope for the day. Before lunch I had tried to buy something to wear and the woman at the shop took the liberty to tell me that I should "lose 4 cm around my waist and also hip in order to look more beautiful." I should tell you that I had not asked her for advice and actually I had given her enough signs indicating I didn't want her to talk to me. I guess I was wrong.
Then we ordered lunch and because all dishes contained pork, I told the waitress to please prepare my salad without the ham. Maki's chicken was brought to the table first--a common practice in Japan--and my salad WITH pork was put in front of me quite a long time after that. We had to complain and then wait longer for the new salad to be prepared without the pork. I was annoyed especially knowing that Maki would not eat her food before me. I told her to please go ahead, but you can imagine her eating little bits very slowly as her chicken turned really cold. Finally the waitress came and said in an extremely soft and annoying voice that she was sorry. I then had to explain why that was not OK and felt bad that I had to tell her myself that most people in Japan are extremely polite and in that situation Maki would not eat before me and the restaurant didn't even think about that. She then offered to prepare Maki's food again and I said, "Oh, and I would have to wait 15 minutes ?" I really appreciate the politeness of people who work at restaurants in Japan but I cannot put up with lack of carefulness about allergies and also with the concept that it's OK to just say "I'm sorry about that."
