Nobody likes to pay tax.
But somehow the government has to pay for schools, hospitals, roads
etc. So this is not a complaint about
having to pay tax.
It is a complaint about being tricked by shops which
want to make the price appear lower than it actually is.
I went to a supermarket called Seiyu to buy groceries the
other day. I chose the items I needed,
took them to the cash register and paid the amount I was asked to pay. They added 8 per cent to the final bill
because of Japan’s sales tax. I knew
that they did this, but didn’t really notice because it is too difficult for me
to keep calculating the cost of all my items plus 8 per cent. So I usually don’t think about it. I just hope that I’m carrying enough money.
But then my wife called me and asked me to buy some
milk. I had to go back to Seiyu and buy
just this one item.
The advertised price was 218 yen. As I was waiting in the queue to pay, I
looked through my wallet and took out the exact amount. I had forgotten that this price didn’t
include the sales tax, so I was very annoyed when I was asked to pay 235 yen.
If you are going to charge me 235 yen then advertise the
price as 235 yen! If JR says that a
train journey will take 10 minutes, then I expect it to take ten minutes, not
10.8 minutes because the advertised schedule doesn’t include the time needed to
speed up and slow down.
The stupid thing is that not every shop or business does the
same thing. Some supermarkets list the
price including tax. Some don’t. Some restaurants list the price of the meal
including tax. Some don’t. So you have to pay very close attention or
you may be surprised by the final bill.
I am going to start a campaign to change this stupid mess
of a system.
Tomorrow I am going to buy a carton of milk and a pack of
natto (smelly fermented soy beans). When the staff tries to add 8 per cent to the
bill, I will say, “Well, since I only brought the exact amount of money needed to
pay the advertised price, let’s do this instead. I’ll give you back 8 per cent of the contents
of my items.”
I’ll pour some milk onto the cash register and throw some
smelly, sticky beans at the manager.
And after that I suppose I’ll be sent to jail for 1.08
years.
Vocabulary:
to trick someone (passive, to be tricked) – to hide the
truth from someone or make them believe something false
to calculate something – to add, subtract, multiply etc. to
find the correct number or figure
a mess – an untidy state; something badly organised
smelly – having a bad or unpleasant smell
fermented – of food such as cheese or wine, left for a long
time so that it is no longer fresh but is still edible
ps. This blog is
intended to be humorous. Please do not
throw natto at your local supermarket.
That would be a waste of smelly beans.
No comments:
Post a Comment