What do you/would you do if the NHK Rep. came to YOUR door?

[koku]

Not sure if you guys know the story behind it, and I'm sure Az and some of the others can explain it better, but I'll introduce it quickly.

One of the channels/programs on Japanese Television actually has a represenative come to your door and ask/demand for you to pay the company. Kind of like telemarketing it seems. Yet....you're not "required" to pay it. I've heard a few funny stories of how people dodge this guy, and I really wonder what it must be like to have his job.(note a good portion of people actually just pay).

I truly feel sorry for him (The NHK Represenative), I really do...the poor little guy!




But it's just too funny. I wonder if foreigners are also less apt to pay. Well, I'll stop here and let the one's that have experienced it share.
__________________
Love Live Life. And Don't get mad at me personally for what I said in a post; I'm trying to change.

[PopCulturePooka]

First time he popped up, I genuinely had no idea what he wanted. I had been in Japan for 2 weeks and was still culture shocking. He gave up and left.

Second time round, I feigned lack of english knowledge. When he tried to use basic english I told him we had no TV and gaijin smashed the door closed.

THIRD time the SOB tried (about a week after round two) my idiot very good at Japanese roomie answered. He was ready to pay but had no cash. He asked me if he could borrow some to pay NHK guy and I said I had none on me. After NHK guy had left, my roomie returns to see me on the sofa counting a wad of 10,000yen notes from my wallet.

[Monkey]

When the NHK guy came round I just showed him that I have no TV. Even if I did have TV, Japanese television isn't worth paying for anyway :p

[Marblehead]

I'm suprised no one tries to use that as a scam. All you have to do is arrive ahead of the real NHK dude.

[koku]

I'm suprised no one tries to use that as a scam. All you have to do is arrive ahead of the real NHK dude.


lol hahah. wow. that's good.


Az I have to post this. This is what inspired me to make this thread.

Az wrote this in a different thread.


True story.

My friend, who spoke very little Japanese, had interesting battles with the NHK guy. He lived in the 5th floor of an apartment complex with no elevators, so it was quite a Stair Trek to get up there.

1st Time
NHK Guy: (in Japanese) Good evening Sir, I'm here on behalf of NHK...
Friend: (In English) Sorry, I don't speak Japanese.
NHK Guy: Ah...ok....

2nd Time
NHK Guy: (in Japanese) I'm here on behalf of NHK. Here. *gives him English language pamphlets*
Friend: (In bad Russian accent) I'm sorry comrade, I don't speak English.
NHK Guy: Ah, ok...

3rd Time
NHK Guy: ....Here. *hands my friend pamphlets in English, Russian, French, and German*
Friend: (In English) Thanks, but I don't have a TV (the TV is obviously playing in the background)
NHK Guy: Ah, ok.

And he never came back after that.


Ah..ok... lol.

[Ender at Eros]

2nd Time
NHK Guy: (in Japanese) I'm here on behalf of NHK. Here. *gives him English language pamphlets*
Friend: (In bad Russian accent) I'm sorry comrade, I don't speak English.
NHK Guy: Ah, ok...

Wow, that's a good one... my friend can make a good russian accent imitation

[PopCulturePooka]

My friend used to fake Russian and German accents to avoid Language Leeches on the train.

[Dana]

The first time the NHK guy came I had been here about a month and was not watching any tv because my cable didn:t reach the TV and I hadn't yet bothered to buy a longer one. I told him this and he look sad and left.

He came again a couple weeks ago and I spoke in finnish at him. This sufficiently scared him into booking it, but I am sure he knows that I speak english. He'll be back... I am sure of that.

[koku]

lol you guys are so mean. This guy must have an awesome job though. And he has to like...stay polite and never call your on your BS. In Az's story, the factg the came back with brochures and then got other languages just to try to pin your friend in his crappy life is hilarious.

In america, the NHK guy would yell "bull f'n sh**. Quit trying to dodge me and pay like a man." Or at the very least accuse you of lying. In Japan? No way, they came back with brochures.

[Kustom]

A lot of Japanese dodge payment for a good reason (or what is considered a good reason in Japan). NHK executives have been stealing and misuing money in several scandals, obviously thinking that since the people who paid had no idea where the money went, they might as well use it to buy their girlfriends nice presents...

This kind of scandal is not uncommon at all in large companies, but this is a rare case in which the public heard of it, so people are still pissed.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200503290128.html

That said, I still dodge the NHK guy out of stingyness and not because of some greater principle ^^

[moo]

I'n america a telemarkter started calling me a lier when I said my mom wasn't home.
Then he was nice enough to accuse me of being my mother, now I try not to be rude to telemarketers, so it took all I had to just hang up, and not curse his ass out.

[koku]

Japanese telemarketrs lol roffls, they would be like too nice to get to the point.

I could imagine that job.

[Annorax]

Japanese telemarketrs lol roffls, they would be like too nice to get to the point.

I could imagine that job.

Hello, is Mr. *target* home? No? Thank you. ~click~

Seems like a boring job.

[Arilou]

Bah, these japanese need to learn from SVT's 1337-sk1llz.
SNAILS ON THE EYEBALLS I TELL YOU! Works every time.

[stsparky]

I simply said - the wife pays those bills. And then showed him our Sky Perfect TV setup. 2nd time, Hiromi told him we don't use "free" channels because I'm an American who needs English language TV. I was watching Cartoon Network at the time. He never came back. That was when a Kumamoto Branch NHK exec thought it a good idea to give a "golden shower" to some poor Office Lady at a Popeye's Internet Cafe. :D - Sparky

[Pierrot le Fou]

Me: "Do you pay your NHK fee?"
NHK guy: "Errrr, umm, err..."
Me: "Good-bye."

-----

Me: "I will gladly pay the fee for 1575 yen/month in considerations from NHK in the form of a direct bank transfer."
NHK Guy: "But that's how much the fee is!"
Me: "You're a bright one."

-----

<Answer the door buck-ass naked>
Me: "You're not the delivery health person I ordered..."

[erbiumfiber]

Fortunately, my building has good security and very few residents so the NHK guy can't get in unless I let him in. And you could wait around for an hour before someone comes in or out at certain times of the day- even then the door automatically closes really quickly. So we just don't let him come up. I'm sure all of my neighbors are doing exactly the same thing...

[koku]

Me: "Do you pay your NHK fee?"
NHK guy: "Errrr, umm, err..."
Me: "Good-bye."

-----



That's a bit sad; you'd think he would atleast pay it himself.

[Pierrot le Fou]

They were all jokes kokujin.

[koku]

They were all jokes kokujin.


You didn't actually say that?


:(

[Monkey]

Yet another example of why you have to make jokes really obvious over the internet. Text has very little emotional content.