Railway Workers Get Daily Smile Scans

More than 500 workers at Japan's, Keihin Electric Express Railway, must have their faces scanned each morning to determine their optimum smile. The "smile scan" analyzes a smile based on facial characteristics, from lip curves and eye movements to wrinkles. After the program scans you, it produces a smile rating that ranges from zero to 100 depending on the estimated potential of your biggest smile. If your number is sufficient, you can go about your day grinning like a maniac. If your smile number is too low the computer will give you a message such as, "lift up your mouth corners" or "you still look too serious." Every morning employees receive a printout of their daily smile which they are expected to keep with them throughout the day.

Comments

Japan is insane.

[Trinexx]

What the hell is wrong with the Japanese? What practical purpose does this serve?

Re:Japan is insane.

[dyingtolive]

I agree entirely. At the same time, this scares me. What if they start demanding you report to the attitude modification center for your antidepressants because you're not smiling all day long? This especially bugs me because I'm not a smilier and I like being bitter, damnit!

Re:Japan is insane.

[Lumpy]

To demean and control your workers. That is the ONLY use.

Re:Japan is insane.

[jellomizer]

Simple, if you smile and pretend to be happy, you actually become more happy. When you are happy annoying people are less annoying and allows you to do service work more effectively.

If you fly a lot compare Southwest with American Air.

Southwest people are trained to smile and be cheerful. American Air doesn't.

Southwest has less delays and is more profitable and the passagers are better behaved and quiet and cuterious of others.

Re:Japan is insane.

[HappyHead]

Happiness is mandatory citizen! Smile, and move along.

Re:Japan is insane.

[Ohio Calvinist]

While it is kind of creepy, having worked in Technical Support, I found that when I made myself smile, even when I was furiously angry or irritated, it helped me "be" more friendly and attentive to my callers, than when I frowned, or wrapped my phone cord around my neck like a noose, etc...

When you are in customer service, it makes a huge difference, and belive it or not, it often makes a huge difference to customers who expect that you don't care about them and are just jockeying the time clock. Perception is everything.

However, rather than doing this, it might be better to just talk to the employee if you see them routinely looking like they ate a lemon.

Re:Japan is insane.

[hcs_$reboot]

What the hell is wrong with the Japanese? What practical purpose does this serve?

I do not agree. A big difference between Japan and the West is that Japanese do not live/feel this like a constraint. And a guy won't be fired because "he cannot smile". There are many other similar aspects of the Japanese companies that would be hard to understand West side. This one is certainly humorous and original, thus it was publicized.

Re:Japan is insane.

[betterunixthanunix]

This seems to be common on commuter railroads and subways. In New York City, the MTA has an entire "discipline department," whose job is the creation and enforcement of rules -- the rulebook is as thick as several of my engineering textbooks stacked on top of each other, and concerns everything from legitimate safety issues (employees cannot be intoxicated while on the job) to absurdities (procedures and times allotted for bathroom breaks, approved travel times when summoned for random drug tests, approved procedures for filing reports on infractions committed by other employees, etc.). It is also impossible for an employee to break any single rule, as one of the rules is "employees shall follow all the rules" and another is "employees shall be aware of all the rules." I am told that a typical disciplinary hearing involves 4-6 infractions, each of which is listed separately in the employee's work history if they are found to be in violation of the rules.

Re:Japan is insane.

[digitig]

Over here if you smile all day at work they test you for pot.

Re:Japan is insane.

[ShieldW0lf]

It was originally called Acedia. It's an ancient Greek word describing a state of listlessness or torpor.

This was subdivided into Despair (Latin, Tristitia) and Sloth (Latin, Socordia)

It wasn't until around the 17th century that the interpretation of laziness became dominant. It was intended to refer to a sadness and depression that kills the charitable nature of a mans soul, cutting him off from the possibility of redemption.

Nowadays, we label it "mental illness".

Re:Japan is insane.

[spire3661]

    First thing in the morning, don't expect a smile on my face, unless I was up all night the night before, and had a morning quickie before leaving the house. Even then, I've never had a job that made me want to smile in the morning. Work is work, it's not to be freakin' enjoyed.

    I prefer that work ethic. I don't need shiny happy people asking how they can help me. I'd say my wife, but any married man knows, once the ring goes on the finger, friendliness and complements are gone, unless she wants something. The friendlier she is, the more expensive the thing she wants.

I feel sad that you think this is a normal life. If you are serious, so am I.

Re:Japan is insane.

[alen]

MTA workers are in a union and you have to have all these rules since the union wants there to be a good reason to fire anyone. where i work there is a 30 page book where half of each page is empty

Re:Japan is insane.

[Oswald]

Actually, Sunshine, the ring effect is probably indirect. I'm guessing (just guessing!) that as the relationship got to the set-in-stone phase -- perhaps shortly after the honeymoon was over? -- your true nature began to assert itself. Your wife, I imagine, is just doing the best she can to deal with the horrible mistake she made. She'll be friendly and cheerful again when she finally faces the truth that things are never getting better and ditches you.

I've been married for 18 years. My wife still says nice things about me to my face and to our children all the time. She is independent enough not to have to "want something" from me -- she can do and get things for herself. We're both glad we didn't marry someone as congenitally cranky as you.

Now stop insulting women in general and your wife in particular. It's rude.

Re:Japan is insane.

[Chris Mattern]

absurdities (procedures and times allotted for bathroom breaks, approved travel times when summoned for random drug tests, approved procedures for filing reports on infractions committed by other employees, etc.)

I might note that some of these are not so absurd, particularly when dealing with union labor. Procedurees and times allotted for bathroom breaks? When it is necessary that a station be properly manned at all times, you can't have everybody heading to the can at the same time. Approved travel time when summoned for a drug test? Well, yeah. If you can take two hours, it becomes much easier to set up arrangements to cheat. Why not just use common sense for these problems? 'Cause with union labor, you can't. You have to be able to point to a specific rule that states in some measurable quantity what the employee did wrong. So specific rules like these have to be set up.

Re:Japan is insane.

[snl2587]

Your attitude shows the typical american attitude -- if its not like us, its bad or weird.

Or, really, just the natural human response...which is not exclusive to Americans.

Re:Japan is insane.

[pegr]

It is bad and/or weird. Japan, one of the most racist and nationalistic societies left on the planet (though not the only one left), practices many forms of conformity at the cost of the individual. Individuality is (sometimes literally) beaten out of the japanese since birth. There is no consideration of fairness, only service to the greater good, as defined by the politics of the day. I would be hard pressed to come up with a more accurate definition of institutional EVIL, quite frankly.

Yup, company-enforced smiling... Doesn't surprise me a bit. Most japanese will lie to you if they think that's what you want to hear. It's all about saving face, literally in this case. It's all a pack of lies to strengthen the greater good at the cost of the people. It's a broken model and should be treated with scorn and derision. It is bad and/or weird.

Gaijin-and-prefers-it-that-way

(Damn, now to post this comment, I have to hit "submit"!)

Re:Japan is insane.

[RabidMonkey]

Having worked in a very open company, which devolved into a restrictive one like you describe (books of rules) I can tell you exactly why they have books: because they need them.

There is always someone trying to game the system, someone looking for a loophole, an out, a way to abuse, steal, harass, annoy, slack, avoid and so on. So rules have to be made because one idiot decided to try and use $LOOPHOLE to get out of $WORK_BEING_PAID_FOR.

Add to that a union, and you've got a recipe for pages and pages of very specific rules.

For example, in that company, there was a rule: no tank tops. By common consensus, that meant no shirts without sleeves. But some would take that too far, and wear shirts that had very tiny sleeves, then claim, "its not a tank top". So they had to implement a rule that said "sleeves must be longer than 3" from the shoulder", but then someone argued about where the shoulder started, so they had to make an even MORE specific rule about the distance from the neck to the shoulder.

In short, there's one in every crowd. And that one ruins it for everyone else, in small, death-by-a-thousand-papercuts ways.

Re:Japan is insane.

[Trepidity]

That's all, incidentally, the same reason unions exist in the first place: if you don't get the company's commitments down on paper, in a legal contract, negotiated and enforced by someone with the power to do something about breaches, the company will find as many loopholes as possible to cheat you.

(This applies to large companies' interactions with consumers too, which is why there are consumer-advocacy organizations and class-action lawsuits.)

Re:Japan is insane.

[bickerdyke]

This especially bugs me because I'm not a smilier and I like being bitter, damnit!

You should get a job over here in germany. You'd be perfect for german customer-service. Learn to utter something that might sound like german, and you're perfect employee for the national railway service.

Bad news...

[tnk1]

Those employees about to be terminated receive the following critique:

"WHY SO SERIOUS?"

Flair!

[Anonymous Coward]

And be sure to wear some flair. That would be great.

Re:Flair!

[palegray.net]

See James over there? He's got a fantastic smile! Customers really like him... you could just do the minimum smile, but you don't want to be a minimum kind of employee, now do you?

Re:Flair!

[Talderas]

You know, the Nazis had pieces of flair that they made the Jews wear.

Is James a Jew?

I can say only one thing

[Ronald Dumsfeld]

Fuck. Right. Off.

I can be polite and professional without smiling.

Re:I can say only one thing

[iron-kurton]

Looks like someone has a case of the Mondays

Re:I can say only one thing

[tnk1]

Fuck. Right. Off.

I can be polite and professional without smiling.

There's something contradictory about these statements... but I can't quite put my finger on it.

fake vs genuine

[prakslash]

This may seem bizzare but scientists have long made a distinctinction betwen "fake smiles" and "genuine smiles".
See this and this.

For people who have to deal with members of the public on a daily basis, being able to produce a smile that seems genuine may make a difference in how their customers perceive their service.

Life in Japan must be tough

[elrous0]

The overcrowding, intense pressure to conform, the legacy of the 90's real estate bust, and now this? Well, at least they have a lot of robots.

Break out the happy helmet

[SendBot]

Sing along everybody...

"Happy happy. Joy joy!"
"Happy happy. Joy joy!"

"I don't think you're happy enough"

"I'll teach you to be happy. I'll teach your grandma to suck eggs!"

"and the little critters of nature. They don't know that they're ugly."

"I TOLD YOU I'D SHOOT, BUT YOU DIDN'T BELIEVE ME!!! WHYYYYY WOULDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!!!???"

"Happy happy. Joy joy!"
"Happy happy. Joy joy!"

a company that cares - that's so sweet

[Tumbleweed]

Beatings will continue until morale improves!
- The Management

ps Have a nice day!

(Seriously, have a nice day, you little piss-ants, OR ELSE.)

Coincidentally

[32771]

Constant smiling is bad for you:

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health/wearing-smile-masks-all-day-at-work-may-lead-to-depression_10016884.html

I wear my scowl with pride.

Re:Omron is the Manufacturer

[beckett]

as a followup, here is the OAKO Realtime Smile Recognition technology probably being employed in the worker scanning. according to the sparse sites the system can operate without calibration.

Japanese Perfection

[Hercules Peanut]

This is the perfect example of treating a symptom. Smiles represent good feelings and a positive attitude which can very very infectious and so desirable in customer service. However, if someone is "too serious" the response "still to serious" doesn't really help. Perhaps they should consider the root of the issue and try to make their employees genuinely happy.

Another option is to have them all wear smiley face masks :)

"Your smile is perfect, Yoshi!"

[hyades1]

Thought bubble over Yoshi's head:

"It is so easy to smile like this when I think about pulling out Boss-san's intestines with rusty fish knife and feeding them to my dog in front of his dying eyes. His time to visit honourable ancestors comes faster than he thinks.

I am not a morning person

[hairykrishna]

If the smile auditing machine told me I didn't look happy enough, prior to my first work coffee of the day, there's be a serious danger that I'd attack it with a fire axe.

Pretty much

[Unoriginal_Nickname]

The only first-world country with no laws about racial persecution. They are signatories to all of the applicable treaties, of course, but the national and prefecture governments have been playing hot potato with the blame for never ratifying any of them. Meanwhile you have employment, products and services that are unobtainable unless you are a Japanese citizen, born in Japan, pure-blooded Japanese, never lived outside of Japan and also fortunate enough for none of your ancestors to have butchered an animal or buried a dead body.

Mod parent up.

Re:Pretty much

[Repossessed]

"The only first-world country with no laws about racial persecution."

They did outlaw discrimination based on blood type though! That they even needed that law is pretty terrifying though.

Japan is insane, but so are gaijin.

[kklein]

One question: How is your Japanese?

Because every time--every time--I hear someone blathering on about how racist Japan is, it's someone who can barely carry on a conversation, and who is almost completely illiterate.

I'm just sayin'.

Now, let me temper that with this: Yes, there are some things that need to be worked on (piss-testing foreigners in Roppongi is really disturbing, but... Well, they wouldn't be piss-testing them if they thought that they wouldn't get a lot of them on drug violations), but over all my life is just fine. In fact, it's great. I have a well-paying job and a nice apartment and Japanese food is the best. I want for naught.

The foreigner community has just as much work ahead of them to more peacefully assimilate into the host community as the host community has to challenge some of their racist notions and policies. Just as a "driving while black" story loses much of its punch when it ends with "and then they found a little pot I was taking to the party," a "walking while foreign" story shouldn't end with "and then they found out that I forgot that my visa had expired." Foreigners are mistreated here, yes, but many of them mistreat the locals. They act like the Loyola researcher in this Slashdot story, and are similarly flummoxed when the absolutely predictable occurs.

To all the foreigners in Japan reading this, please, for all of us:

• Learn Japanese. And not just enough to nampa a chick in Roppongi and order a beer. Actually learn how to read. Kanji. English is not the language of Japan; Japanese is. I'm sorry if someone told you otherwise. That person was wrong. No one is under any obligation whatsoever to provide all services to you in your native language. Only English speakers would be so arrogant as to need to be told this.
• Pay your taxes. Don't try to game the system when you leave the country.
• Cancel your cellphone service and pay what you owe. Don't just leave.
• Pay your incidental fees when you change apartments. Yes, renter law here is utterly ridiculous, but when you take off without paying, it makes it harder for others to get a place (which is probably why you're bitter about your apartment in the first place!).
• For god's sake put your goddamn visa expiry date on your goddamn calendar. There is no excuse for overstaying, and even if nothing comes of it, your overstay will be logged as "foreigner crime" which will let the cops bug us without anybody caring.
• When you move, update your address on your gaijin card. This isn't a foreign-only thing, guys. Japanese people have to do it too. If you don't like the government knowing where you live, leave. That is the law here.
• Get a Japanese driver's license. Stop whining and waving the little gray paper with you picture taped to it that you bought at AAA for ten bucks that says you can drive a car on holiday. That is not a license. Go get a real license. It is not that hard, because all you really have to do (if you're American) is get your US license translated, pass a silly multiple-choice test in English, and drive around a little car obstacle course. If you're from any other English-speaking country, it's even easier (since US driver's licenses are handled at the state level and the states' rules are different, Japan makes Americans take a slightly longer test--not true for other countries). It's easy. And it's the law.
• Don't do illegal drugs. Seriously, guys. At least wait until holiday if you really want to. The laws are strict here, but be thankful Japan is enlightened enough not to hang you, like some other Asian countries. Just don't do it in Japan. If you do, you are a stupid person.
• For the love of god don't make sexual remarks to or about every woman you see. People's foreign-language listening proficiency always far outstrips their speaking ability. They know what you are saying