An irritated customer waiting in line at a store complains non-stop to a cashier about the length of the line for ten minutes. A passenger on a bus has a seizure after the driver says prepaid IC cards cannot be used. A resident points a camera at a town hall employee and threatens to put his face and name online.
In Japan, “customer harassment” – customers harassing frontline workers with aggressive behavior or unreasonable requests – has become a growing problem in the service sector, prompting municipalities and companies to take stricter measures.
A 2022 survey conducted by the Japan Trade Union Federation, better known as Rengo, found that 67.5% of respondents had experienced some form of customer harassment in the past three years, including another 76.4% said such experiences had negatively affected their lives.
