A funny thing that happened on a trip to a government office here in Japan: I went to a counter to fill in a form and saw lost money. (cont)
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Replying to @patio11
So I cut in the line and said "Beg your pardon, sir, but someone has left approximately 5,000 yen ($50) on the counter." "Wait, what?"
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Replying to @patio11
"Someone left their money. And a receipt." "That's highly unlikely." "I'll walk you over there, sir." We do. "Oh no, there it is: lost CASH"
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Replying to @patio11
He looks at me and I can see the calculation: "I can't touch that, because bureaucrats can't touch cash ever, on suspicion of corruption."
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Replying to @patio11
"Can you watch that for me a minute while I get the office head?" "Sir, I can watch it, but I lack any authority to say 'Don't take it.'"
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Replying to @patio11
(I did, of course, not touch the money for fear of appearing on the 6 o'clock news: Foreign Robs Innocent Office Worker At Tax Office.)
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Replying to @patio11
"OK neither of us can touch it. We need the office head, but I can't leave it." "Tell me his name? I'll go ask for him." "GOOD IDEA."
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Replying to @patio11
The office head came, the person who had lost the money came back for it, and (small mercies) there existed a form which anticipated this.
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Replying to @patio11
And thus this little vignette is recorded for, hmm, probably 6 years in the paper records of the Ministry of Justice. Justice: served.
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Replying to @patio11
You might be curious about "Bureaucrats can't touch cash" -- any form requiring a filing fee has you affix a stamp worth the same as fee.
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Filing an LLC, for example, costs $600. So you buy a $600 stamp. (I got told "Don't drop it!") The stamps are sold by cashier.
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Replying to @patio11
At the beginning of the shift the cashier has $10k in stamps. At end of shift, sum of cash and stamps should be $10k, or else jail.
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Replying to @patio11
If you attempt to pass cash over counter to filing clerk, they will react like a vampire shown the cross: if cash touches their hands, jail.
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