One of my students had a very odd and disturbing experience in a Docomo shop in Japan recently.
Her smartphone was getting quite old and wasn’t working so well, so she wanted to upgrade to a newer model.
She visited her local Docomo shop to buy one.
“I can’t sell the mobile phone to you until I’ve called one of your family members to get permission,” the salesman said.
My student is in her early seventies, and is very active and capable. “You don’t have to check with my family before selling me a phone!” she said, “I’m not suffering from dementia!”
“That’s what they all say,” said the salesman, and he refused to sell her the phone unless he could call a family member.
My student’s children were all at work and did not pick up their phones. So she had to give up on buying a phone that day. The salesman apologised to her and said that Docomo had a policy of not selling phones to any person over the age of 65 without getting the permission of a younger family member.
I couldn’t believe this. It seemed like an obvious case of discrimination. If this policy were true, then Japan’s prime minister, Mr. Kishida would soon be unable to purchase a mobile phone without getting someone’s permission, even though he could decide to raise taxes or impose sanctions on Russia. Mr. Kishida turns 65 this year.
When I got home, I did an internet search for Docomo’s customer policy guidelines, to see if this salesman was correct. He was actually not quite right. Docomo’s guidelines say that the sales staff may refuse to sell a phone to customers over the age of 80 (not 65) unless a younger family member gives permission. The reason for this policy is not clearly stated, but I guess it is to avoid pushy salesmen twisting the arms of vulnerable elderly customers to buy an expensive phone that they don’t really need.
What does an elderly person do if they don’t have any family willing to help?
Vocabulary:
to be capable – to have the ability to do
something (or many things)
dementia – an illness which causes people
to become forgetful or causes a decline in their mental abilities
discrimination – the treatment of people
differently, and in an unfair way
pushy – aggressive or overly forceful in dealing
with other people
to twist someone’s arm – to put pressure on
someone (to do something)
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