The waiter brings the food to the table as usual: "Sorry to keep you waiting. Here's your yakisoba." "Excuse me, this is the draft beer you ordered." ．．．．．．.

An elderly couple, having finished their meal, summoned the waiter for the bill.

"Thank you. Here's your bill, the total **** is one thousand seven hundred and ninety dollars."

The man takes two thousand dollars out of his wallet and hands it to the attendant.

"I received your two thousand dollars."

At this point, the man looks offended and reminds the employee, "You guys need to learn how to word your sentences. However, the waiter looked puzzled,

"Hey? What's so strange about it?"

"You don't seem to have noticed. What you're saying is very offensive!"

"Really? I'm sorry."

In this case, "Here's your yakisoba," "Here's your draft beer," or "I got your 2,000 yen" - all of these are part of the "supermarket restaurant honorifics" (ファミコン言葉) that are often used by staff at family restaurants and supermarkets.

Recently, these terms have become so common that some people have become paralyzed and don't feel comfortable with them, but they're actually the wrong way to use them. This is especially hard for older people to accept. It's not just for the sake of the restaurant, it's also for the sake of the people involved.

Is this the kind of superstore salutation you're using as part of your teaching? If so, you can't blame the whole restaurant for following suit and using the wrong terminology. First of all, the operator or store manager must lead by example in using the right words.

"Here's your yakisoba" → "Here's your yakisoba"

"Your order" means "what the customer chose". Except in the case of a delivery error, the meal is of course the customer's choice, so it would be strange to point out that it's "your choice".

"This is the draft beer you ordered" → "This is the draft beer"

The word "所" is used in conjunction with "為" or "被", which means passive. Basically, it can be said to be a superfluous word.

"Received your two thousand dollars" → "Received two thousand dollars from you"

There is no need to add "your", "received two thousand dollars from you" can already express the meaning clearly.

The manager not only has to make sure that his employees remember the correct way of speaking, but also has to explain to them what is wrong and why they can't use the wrong way of speaking. For example, if you tell your employees, "Although some people don't care about the way you speak, there are many who do. If you use honorifics correctly, customers will think you are a very reliable child." I'm sure the employees will be happy with that.

As a restaurant consultant, I often visit restaurants and find that many of the examples of honorifics in the employee handbook are wrong. So, please check your own employee handbook to see if you are using the wrong honorifics!

The use of honorifics is like a habit that is hard to break. Even if you have read the employee handbook carefully, you may still use the wrong words without realizing it. This is where we need to help our colleagues, and if we find someone using the wrong honorifics, we need to correct them immediately.

How to deal with it: Don't use the "superstore salutation".

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