“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.”
― Robert Frost
“Maizumi-san!” His manager’s voice echoed through the office. Out of the blue Maizumi, one of my former colleagues, walked away from the office during working hours and never looked back. It was an early summer day in June 2014. He quitted the job. That was one of the legendary moments of my life and his legacy lives on…
Considering our situation back then, no one could blame him because the job was a total nightmare. One after one, people kept leaving the team. According to some rumors, a few of them suffered from mental disorders during their employment in the work. And I’ve heard through the grapevine that my predecessor didn’t show up for almost a month during which he kept telling excuses not to go to the office, such as: “my wife is sick today, so I have to take care of her” or “I have to attend my grandpa’s funeral”. He kept telling those excuses every single day for a month until the day he was finally given his walking paper.
Now you may wonder what kind of company that is. Frankly, it was a typical dishonest Japanese company that doesn’t value their employees’ human rights. Every day, we were verbally beaten into submission and our self-esteem was shattered. Since I didn’t have much choice for my career back then, I was forced to adapt myself to the toxic environment. Every morning, I found it difficult to get out of bed. It was not because I was not a morning person, but it was because of the severe workplace bullying we all experienced while working at the office, including Maizumi.
During those days, I always blamed myself for my tiny mistakes they pointed out. My boss, Kojima, was particularly obsessed with bullying me for those tiny mistakes I made and treated them as if it were the end of the world! But now that I know that he only wanted someone to blame for – someone he was able to take advantage of to vent his daily stresses. Since I took longer to get my job done than others because of my lack of experience, my unproductivity gave him a perfect reason to torture me mentally.
On the other hand, Kojima was the type of person who couldn’t even talk back to his boss or someone in an upper position than him. He was definitely not respectable at all. Don’t you think like this: if you talk back to the authority or someone stronger than you, that’s considered bravery. But if you keep beating someone weaker than you, that’s nothing but a bully. Kojima was the latter one. And I was always looking for an opportunity to fight him back.
When I turn my focus on the corporate structure, that company I was working for was a subsidiary of a much larger company, Fujitsu. And there was someone who was way worse than Kojima in the Fujitsu HQ. We nicknamed her the queen, and she was a psychopath who sold her soul to the devil. The queen was the obvious reason why Maizumi decided to quit his job. Not only did the queen abused us mentally with her thoughtless words, she verbally beat Kojima into submission numerous times. As I mentioned earlier the fact that Kojima is the type of person who never talked back to someone in an upper position than him, he always obeyed the queen’s orders no matter what.
Here, let me talk about my legend, Maizumi. Maizumi spent his 20s in New Zealand, so he was fluent in English. He told me he used to have a Taiwanese wife whom he met during his stay in New Zealand, but they eventually parted for some reason. Even though he was single, he was satisfied with his life. And it all comes down to the fact that he had a wide range of interests, including photography, blogging, anime, and more.
Because of his fluency in English, he played an important role in English translation projects. But he was all thumbs when it comes to doing anything with a computer. And his new position required him to have some basic digital skills. Because he spent most of his career in English-Japanese translations and constructions, he had barely used Excel until being assigned to the team. To make matters worse, the queen was the kind of person who loves to rub it in when she finds some fault in other people, and Maizumi was her constant target.
Maybe Maizumi was not an ideal workforce due to his technological illiteracy, but he was a heart of gold. In our team, we had a little Korean-Chinese lady. And we used to have some little chat during lunchtime. One day, Maizumi apologized to her for what Japan did to Korea and China during the second world war. Even though what our nation has done to our neighboring countries 70 years ago was not his fault, his depth in knowledge in our nation’s history and international relations was nothing short of amazing. Our little chat during the lunch break was our pleasure amid the hell. But those days didn’t last long.
It was an early summer day in June 2014. When I bought a bottle of coke in a vending machine and was heading back to my desk, Maizumi came into my view. He was closing his laptop and preparing to leave the office. When I sat at my desk, Maizumi came to me and told me “Ito-san, thank you for those days. I’m done whit this bullshit. I quit. Goodbye.”
“Maizumi-san!” His manager’s voice echoed through the office. Maizumi ignored him and walked away. Eventually, he disappeared from our sight. We all knew he was struggling with his job to keep up with his tasks. But no one couldn’t see this coming.
After his departure from the team, the situation got even worse. My manager, Kojima, kept yelling at me for my tiny mistakes, and I fought back. I was convinced he had it in for me. Kojima often takes his anger out on me, and I did the same. You know, hatred is contagious. Every day, our angry voices echoed through the office and our conflict never ended. Three months later, I left the company too.
It’s been seven years now. When I take a look at what I experienced in the workplace, it was not solely about my personal issues. It released our social problems. They couldn’t take advantage of Maizumi’s English fluency. Since their clients were foreign companies, they were in constant need of those who can speak English. But instead of giving him a bigger role as a bilingual assistant, they bullied him into silence for what he couldn’t do. I was in a similar position. Since Kojima couldn’t speak English at all, it was obvious that he felt intensely jealous of my English ability. Don’t be so stupid, Kojima, please… He was only embarrassing himself.
Think about it. Globalization is a huge topic in Japan. Slowly but surely, Japan has been adjusting itself to the global standard. But there are always some people who can’t keep up with the constant surge and demand for English ability. Kojima was one of them. He must have known that he wouldn’t be able to keep up with this global trend. I, therefore, was a stark reminder of what he could be if he had spent his younger days abroad and had more interactions with the world outside of Japan. Since my existence was a constant threat to him, he tried so hard to bully me into submission. But I didn’t surrender. This is my assumption, but the existence of people like Kojima is the reason why Japanese globalization won’t get anywhere. Those assholes bend over backwards to bully younger generations who have the potential to replace them. I have no clue what Kojima is doing now, but probably he’s still acting like the queen’s dog.
And one last thing. Why can’t we be kind to others? Where did the humannity go? Maizumi was all thumbs to computers, but he had many other great things to offer. He was a heart of gold, and he wasn’t the type of person who hurt other’s feelings. As the saying goes; only the good die in young. I think that’s true. So, I ask you one more time. Where did the humanity go?
Finally, I was sorry for having used strong words. Hope you can understand my feelings.
Here are some pictures I photographed and edited in the summer of 2011.
