Grumbles of a Near-Sixty-Year-Old Chapter 1 Vol. 11 | I Meant to Order Pickled Ginger, but Asparagus Came Instead

Thanks as always.

The other day, my wife and I

"Kushikatsu Tanaka"

went there.

That's a great place.

They really think about how to attract customers.

Between the dice games,
the takoyaki,
it's like a festival.

A child in the lower grades of elementary school
played rock-paper-scissors with the staff.

They won,
and got a free soft drink.

Just watching everyone having fun
makes me feel warm inside too.

The kushikatsu was also perfectly seasoned and delicious.

It was a good time.

I'll say this just in case.

I'm not a shill for Tanaka-san (laughs).

The problem is the ordering.

"Please scan the QR code"

That's become common lately.

Even when I hold up my smartphone,
it won't focus.

My wife and I together

"To the right"

It's gone too far.

It's exactly like a UFO catcher game.

And on top of that,
it's a nightmare for my aging eyes.

Just when I thought I finally opened it,
the text is way too small.

I thought I ordered pickled ginger,
but got asparagus.

I must have just
breezed right past the order confirmation screen.

I have no memory of it.

I enjoyed the asparagus, though.

Back in the day,

"Excuse me!"

was all it took to settle things.

A staff member would come over, we'd chat a bit,
and that was that.

Now, it's all smartphones.

The restaurant saves on labor costs.

And customers don't have to deal with
the frustration of
a server not coming over.

Still,
don't you feel like something is missing?

You finish ordering
without saying a single word to the staff.

Even in such a lively restaurant,
all you're doing
is staring at your phone the whole time.

Is this really easier?

After that,
I get notifications from the restaurant on LINE.

Promotions, coupons, and the like.

Even when I think about deleting it,
I just can't seem to do it right.

In the end, it stays as it is.

Yet, it's a strange thing,
every time a notification comes,
I remember that sauce,
and the smell of rich, heavy oil.

Ah, I want to go there again.

Even though our conversations have decreased,
the memories remain vivid.

It's really well-made, isn't it?

Things have become convenient and easy.

But in exchange,
the little interactions have decreased.

'I don't need useless conversation'

there might be many people who say that now.

Even for me,

'Just leave me alone'

there are days when I feel that way.

But, once in a while,

'Excuse me!'
there are days when I want to say that too.

Just by doing that,
I feel a little more connected to people.

It's a complicated thing.

Well then, goodbye.