“I need to talk with you,” Japanese worker tells boss, gets sweet reaction to “serious” problem

Boss fears the worst, shows that he’s the best.

“There’s something I need to talk with you about” aren’t the most reassuring words you can hear from your boss at the start of the workday, but they can cause panic in the opposite direction too. So when system engineer, supervisor, and Japanese Twitter user @Wizardlow had an employee come up to him on a recent morning with a serious look on his face and say the phrase, it quickly triggered visions of multiple unfortunate scenarios.

“Is he going to leave the company, like someone else recently did? Did he make some kind of mistake that’s going to be difficult to fix?” @Wizardlow wondered. His concerns weren’t only work-related either. “Is he going to say he’s gotten sick?” he worried, an especially serious concern in the current health climate.

Most Japanese offices have an open-floor layout, but since it sounded like whatever the employee wanted to talk about was going to be a delicate topic, @Wizardlow led him into the company’s separate meeting room, where they could talk in private. Once inside, he asked the worker what was the matter, to which he replied:

“My kid hasn’t finished their summer vacation homework yet, so I was wondering if I could take the afternoon off…”

It turned out the worker wasn’t quitting because he’d grown dissatisfied with the job, nor was there a medical issue that was going to prevent him from handling his workload. Instead, he just wanted some time off to help his kid with their homework, something all Japanese children are given over summer vacation, so that they could finish it all before it was time to go back to school for the fall semester.

So how did @Wizardlow respond to this request for purely personal, non-work-related time off? With complete understanding and accommodation:

“Yes, yes! Take the time off!”

部下が朝っぱらから深刻な顔で
「ちょっとお話が…」
なんつーから、また退職者が出るのか…それとも何かやらかしたか…まさか病気？などとげんなりしながら個室で話を聞いたら
「子供の夏休みの宿題が終わらないので午後から半休を…」
休め休め！まぎらわしい！JAROに通報すんぞ！

— 魔導師 (@Wizardlow) August 25, 2021

Given Japan’s reputation as an industrious society that regularly makes work a high priority, such a kind-hearted reaction isn’t always a matter of course, and @Wizardlow’s handling of the situation prompted praise and smiles from other Twitter users, with comments like:

“A very important reason to take time off.”
“This world aint so bad after all.”
“Sounds like an awesome place to work!”
“When I was a kid, my dad helped me with my summer homework too, especially with arts and crafts projects.”

@Wizardlow couldn’t resist a little tongue-in-cheek tongue-lashing. “Just don’t scare me like that,” he pleads to parent employee for the ominous manner in which the request was made, joking “I’ll have to report you for false advertising,” while proving that he’s a truly considerate boss.

Source: Twitter/@Wizardlow via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso (edited by SoraNews24)
Insert image: Pakutaso
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