Yesterday when I just started my day of work, my manager told me to call one of the Japanese-speaking guests of ours and to apologize.

"What happened?" I asked.

" The Concierge broke this." He showed me a broken Japanese bento-holder, which looked extremely expensive and antique.

"Looks expensive." I slipped it, again......

"Oh well......" He responded. "Just tell the guest we could not get something similar in Sogo, and asked what we could do to compensate."

O....K..... sounds easy. I wished it’s just that easy, knowing that the guest was one of the Japanese social celebrities, although I didn’t know who he really was.

Just as I had expected. The guest called me and complained, saying that it’s not a matter of money, but didn’t say what he really wanted. Oh well, maybe I just didn’t understand the language. I used my nothing-more-than-basic Japanese to apologize and asked whether we could do anything to make him feel better. He replied, not actually answering my question, " It’s a gift from my good friend and it’s not the money that can compensate." SO WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO???

I gave up. I guess I was too ignorant to understand what he really meant, or even if I understood, I didn’t have the power (at that moment) to offer him anything except my apology. I asked my manager to deal with him, which I believed was more proper.

"He said he wanted us to mend the antique," my manager came back with the answer.

MEND? If he accepts our mending with glue and tape, I will be more than happy to mend it for him.......