東急屋實業有限公司

Pros? There really aren’t many.

The only thing I can think of is that you’ll max out your life skills.

That’s about it.

The salary complies with the Labor Standards Act—because the boss is afraid of getting sued.

The cons? There are a ton. Although the salary is paid according to the Labor Standards Act,

it seems that each store does things differently. Some store managers let you clock out at the time you actually finish, while others tell you to clock out when your shift ends

and then stay behind to finish the work.

The Labor Standards Act stipulates limits on overtime hours,

but whether they actually follow it… hmm, I’m not sure.

Also, however many branches there are, you have to adapt to however many store managers’ working styles.

The items are placed in different locations at each store, so you have to memorize them.

It often happens that you’re working at one store but remember the layout from the previous store, then give the customer the wrong location and make them angry.

During the interview, you usually fill out an application form that asks whether you’re willing to be transferred between stores.

If you’re not willing, they’ll ask why during the interview.

Usually, when a store is short-staffed, the branches borrow employees from one another, so they’ll ask whether you can be transferred. The duration isn’t fixed either. Sometimes it’s quick: if the understaffed store finds someone, you can return. But if they can’t recruit anyone,

then basically, you’re staying at that store.

Personally, I think the reason they’re short-staffed is that they’re obviously understaffed but keep opening new branches. When they can’t recruit anyone, they transfer a few people from other stores to help out.

They call it “helping out,” but if no one is hired, you stay at that store. The chance of returning to your original store is extremely small.

Ultimately, when you work there, you’ll be adapting to a new environment every day,

and to the feeling of having new coworkers, because you never know when they’ll suddenly tell you to go help at another store~

At work, you’ll encounter lots of unreasonable customers who try every possible way to take advantage of you. For returns or exchanges, they’ll fail to bring the receipt. When you tell them it’s required,

they’ll turn around and accuse you, saying, “You never gave it to me in the first place”……

But the cameras can see everything, so it’s obvious whether it was given or not.

According to the rules, you can only exchange it for an identical item, and suddenly their expression and attitude improve… They just wanted to scam you into giving them a new one.

Another situation is when someone buys an electrical appliance, such as an electric kettle or hair dryer.

It has a one-year warranty, and after using it for more than a year, it breaks once the warranty has expired.

When you tell them repairs may incur a fee because it’s been a year since the warranty expired,

they’ll complain, saying, “It hasn’t been that long! Why can’t you do it?

I only bought this recently. How could the warranty have expired a year ago?”

Well, thankfully, all products have a warranty sticker with the date on it before they’re sold.

The customer shuts up once they see the date. In the end, we still send it for repair, ask the manufacturer to quote the customer first, and repair it only if they agree. If they don’t, we send it back to the store and ask the customer to take it home and deal with it themselves.

There was also a case where a defective rice cooker was returned from repair, but the customer wouldn’t answer no matter how many times we called.

When they finally answered, they said they’d come pick it up, but never did. It sat there for almost a year.

Apparently, they treated the place like their own storage unit and planned to pick it up whenever they remembered.

There are also customers who tell us “Thanks for your hard work” when they’re checking out,

but it’s really rare.

As for the benefits of working here?

Your skin will probably get much thicker, because you have to deal with a bunch of unreasonable customers.

If you’re thin-skinned, there’s a high chance they’ll lead you around by the nose.

And your mental resilience will improve a lot, because after dealing with a bunch of customers making inexplicable demands every day, nothing surprises you anymore.

Hmm~ For those of you thinking about working at Tokyuya:

The advantages of Tokyuya: You can learn things you normally wouldn’t know.

After working there for a while, if you look for another job, this experience will be a big plus.

The salary and benefits comply with the Labor Standards Act.

As for the disadvantages, first of all, you need to be mentally prepared to be used as three or four people’s worth of labor by yourself. You’ll learn a lot—for example, operating the register, checking deliveries, restocking, and moving goods.

You also need to know how to use the hardware products in the store, such as nail guns; the differences between charging cables and their functions; and how to distinguish one-, two-, and four-foot fluorescent tubes. Basically, you need to know how to use all the products, because customers won’t read the instructions themselves—they’ll only ask the staff. If you don’t know, they’ll instead ask, “Aren’t you working at a hardware store? How do you not know this…?”

You’ll also have to do a whole lot of maintenance work. For example, on typhoon days, you may have to climb a ladder to check whether the roof drainage pipes are clogged, because a blockage will cause leaks.

Why do you have to do it? Because there aren’t enough people and they can’t recruit anyone, so many tasks are handled by frontline employees.

You’ll also have to deal with difficult customers. For example, someone buys a lithium battery and asks you to replace the battery in their car remote. After you finish, they don’t even say thank you. Someone buys cigarettes and then says they bought the wrong ones and wants to return them. Or they send a child to buy rice wine, claiming it’s for cooking.

The important point is, the child clearly looks like a middle school student == How are you supposed to sell rice wine to them? Rice wine is alcohol too.

Or someone spends a few hundred dollars and asks you to round off the remaining amount for them so the total is an even number.

If you say you can’t, they’ll say, “I come here all the time,” or “I live nearby.” Or, even though home delivery is only available for purchases over several thousand dollars, they’ll insist on buying something like a three-tier cabinet worth five or six hundred dollars and tell you their home is very close, asking whether you can deliver it for them. ==

All I can say is that these customers were probably spoiled by the previous staff.

For example, when returning or exchanging an item, bringing the receipt is a basic requirement.

But some customers will say, “I didn’t bring it. Why do I need a receipt?

I didn’t have to bring one before, so why do I have to bring one now? ……”

There are piles of goods every day, but managers constantly come around to inspect the store.

Then they complain, “How come the goods haven’t all been restocked? The shelves are so empty.

What customer would want to come in and buy anything?”

Even if you tell the managers that you haven’t had any breaks and have been restocking nonstop,

they’ll only keep emphasizing, “There’s just no one—we can’t recruit anyone.”

Then they’ll tell you to hurry up and finish restocking the goods on the floor, because it would be troublesome if a customer tripped and fell, and so on……

All I can say is, if you want to work at Tokyuya, you need to prepare yourself mentally to be exhausted to death. But if you work there for more than a year and then change jobs,

you’ll feel that everything is very easy, because there’s no job more exhausting and demanding than this one.