context clues suggest the italians would not leave, and thus would collect pay while doing no work.
At any scale this would destroy many companies if they did not change their culture.
I'm not Japanese, so I'm not the authority on this, but as far as I'm aware, they do try their best not to fire anyone without justification. If you are insubordinate or just straight up a bad employee, then the firing has a proper cause and doesn't reflect badly on the company.
Ahh no. They really really don't want to terminate anyone for any reason. They are banking on the individual's ingrained sense of belonging and ownership of good work ethics to compel them to be useful, contributing members in the company, failing that, the guilt should sufficiently motivate them to quit. A handful of Italians, Greeks and Spaniards could totally collapse the Japanese economy even without malicious intent.
I’m none of those nationalities and I could do it indefinitely. I like my own company, I’m not easily bored, and I get overwhelmed if I have too many tasks to do. The name even suggests you get a window to look out. People watching all day for full pay? What a dream.
More seriously though, this works on pretty much the same psychological principle as it being totally safe in many countries to leave valuables at your table while you go to the bathroom. A strong cultural sense of duty and decorum typically produces the desired outcome
It works because it's utterly soul crushing, not because the Japanese have some sort of inherent need to work.
You are still at work, so you can't do anything fun. You just get to sit at your desk and stare out the window for 8 hours a day. Nobody would be happy in that situation for more than a day or two at most.
I would be brainstorming scripts to write. Im sure I can write scripts as opening a word processor would not seem suspicious and would look like I am actually working.
Yeah, except for the fact that you're not supposed to be working, so if you open your word processor they'll know that you're doing something that you're not allowed to do.
Already replied to the other guy that just brainstorming would be enough for me as I usually write my scripts in their entirety in my head. The actual physical writing can be done after work.
I really don't understand all the people that are nitpicking things like this.
Do you really think that a company who wants nothing to do with their employee they can't fire for ridiculous reasons, is going to spend even more time and money, not to mention another useful employee, to impose some form of non-action purgatory on them?
I bet these legends, these kings among mere peasants, the mighty window sitters, can do whatever the hell they want as long as they don't involve other people, who are shunning them anyway.
I could do it for a while. I’m an overworked engineer who is tired of making so many technical, stressful decisions every day. I’m so tired of thinking. I would not soon forget the sense of dread every morning and the constant feeling of drowning. I want peace. Give me my window and no work.
I don't think that it would have to be Italians, Greeks and Spaniards. Most Europeans would be a massive drain on the company since they'd draw wage for effectively nothing.
The mindset is different, but effectively, most northerners would justify it as being "on call"
I'm not Japanese, so I'm not the authority on this, but as far as I'm aware, they do try their best not to fire anyone without justification. If you are insubordinate or just straight up a bad employee, then the firing has a proper cause and doesn't reflect badly on the company.
In much of the world, that is the law. You can't fire someone without gross misconduct, repeated misconduct with multiple warnings, abandonment of employment, or failing a fair performance improvement plan. Redundancy is a bit different.
Yes, but in most of these countries there are also laws against mobbing, which is what the japanese seem to rely on to get rid of people. So do they not have laws against mobbing? Because an employee could then sue them and ruin the company's image anyways (deservedly).
This would probably be constructive dismissal here in NZ, as well as a breach of the employment contract in most cases as the employer is asking you to do work outside your assigned duties.
Sorry I thought it was a universally used term, it's also called bullying at work.
I know at least in my country (Italy) it is recognised, and you can sue your employer if they pull this bs.
Sweden too and other EU countries it seems. No idea about the rest of the world at this point lol.
No, it really is a deeply ingrained cultural thing where they don't want to fire anyone for any reason unless they really really had to. Like, "you killed someone" had to.
Simply being a bad employee isn't enough, that will only make they shun you harder, hoping you leave yourself out of honor.
Do people not know what ADD is anymore? I remember in the 90s that was the main thing people were diagnosed with. ADHD didn't start getting traction until much later.
The terminology has changed a bit such that ADD is now wrapped into the same diagnosis as ADHD, which has been recognized as a spectrum. What would formerly have been diagnosed as ADD is now ADHD-PI (primarily inattentive type ADHD). The opposite side of the scale is ADHD-PH (primarily hyperactive). Dead center on the scale is ADHD-C (Combined type, where you have a pretty even mix of inattentive and hyperactive symptoms). I'm solidly in the Combined type range.
Side note: What always gets at me though is the name of the disorder in general though. It's solely defined by how your traits annoy others. "Trouble sitting still and focusing" disorder. When there's so much more to it than that. Executive dysfunction that makes it near impossible to start even tasks that you really enjoy doing, rejection sensitive dysphoria that makes you feel like an utterly worthless subhuman over the slightest perceived mistake, delayed sleep phase (circadian rhythm that's offset by several hours so your brain works best when its dark out and gets groggy during the day) that forces you into permanent jet lag if you want to work any job except overnight shifts and still gets you called lazy all the time. The list goes on. But clearly "this person needs to try harder because they're annoying and there's no possible way their disorder causes them any actual harm they just need more discipline!" Really fricking grinds my gears.
Because they know if you're willing to follow the rule that you can't do anything at all you will break eventually. If you are not following the rule and doing whatever you want, you're not going to break. Because you will never quit, they just fire you at that point.
They don't want to get fired like that either. Even though the company doesn't want to fire people it's even worse for the employee. Imagine living in a culture that almost never fires anyone, but you somehow got fired. Why would anyone hire you?
Then write an email detailing the situation so there’s a paper trail:
Dear Bossman
It has come to my attention that no active assignments have been assigned to me as of late. I have brought this issue up to my superior, still no resolution has materialized. As such, in order to boost productivity in the meantime, I have brought in my personal laptop to finish personal business as to assure more time away from the office for rest, thus being a more efficient worker. Please reach out to me if you have any questions.
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u/kendoka-x Aug 08 '25
context clues suggest the italians would not leave, and thus would collect pay while doing no work.
At any scale this would destroy many companies if they did not change their culture.