A Middle Manager's Story on the Eve of a Field Trip

I'm Peperin, a middle manager living in the exquisite gaps between hands-on work and coordination. I believe that the stable operation of that system was achieved again today. Our value isn't just in things going smoothly. If my presence—whether positive or negative—had some kind of impact on something, including myself, then that was my reason for being there.

Now, let's step outside in the evening, close our eyes, and take a deep breath. Along with the scent of the air, we'll time-slip back to our middle school days. It's just when we have a field trip coming up in a few days. The question is: what do we do?

Yes, the only thing that comes to mind is buying stylish clothes at Marukawa.

Let's turn back time.

For me, this was as natural as breathing. Marukawa was truly the global standard; there was no need to even look it up in a dictionary. In short, it was 'a cheap store where even a middle schooler like me could put together something decent.'

Whether it was a shirt that looked like it was printed on cheap newspaper, a tracksuit, or homemade bleach-washed jeans, it was a store where you could shop and get excited for the field trip. A field trip is an event for showing off, an event where you take two or three steps toward being stylish. Imagining that girl I was interested in, it was a major event filled with a sense of exhilaration.

Can you even imagine a field trip without Marukawa? (No, you can't—a rhetorical question). It's the common sense of the world.

However, this common sense was surprisingly not widespread. When I learned that, I cried all night long.

After becoming a working adult, or perhaps a manager, I was confronted with and realized that there are countless situations in this world where my 'common sense' and 'obvious things' don't apply at all outside of a two-centimeter radius.

In the field of supporting service users, I feel this painfully every day. 80% of the time when I think, 'Why don't they understand something so basic?' it's actually a case of 'it wasn't basic at all.' It's written in the manual, it's in the FAQ, I explained it at the briefing, and yet they still don't understand. Why? Because it's not 'obvious.'

It is said that the first word a human learns after being born is 'Marukawa.' Even if we assume it's at a level that can be called common sense in most cases, telling someone who doesn't know it, 'It's common sense, isn't it?' won't solve anything.

Can you take a step back and accept it by saying, 'I see, you didn't know'? Although, that is difficult.

The same thing happens in meetings. Because of my profession, there are times every month when I want to say, 'This is already a decided matter, right?' It isn't decided. Or rather, I thought it was decided.

Now is the time for humanity to remember: there is a distance of about two Marukawas between 'I told them' and 'they understood.'

How many years did it take me to realize that what I believed to be correct was just common sense within a narrow range?

Marukawa was no longer in that place. But that sense of exhilaration comes back clearly. Isn't that fine? Today, too, questions might come that make me want to say, 'Why don't you understand?' or 'Usually, it's like this.' I might even end up saying them. If I do end up saying them and feel torn apart, it's okay to cry. And then, from the bottom of my heart, I just need to ask.

'Teacher, I want to be able to say, "I see, you didn't know"...'

If you do that, the door is as good as open.