Well, at least he's not licking them, I guess, making out with them or whipping out his privates, like some fast food employees have done in the West. Make that, former fast food employees.
This photo was uploaded by Japanese Twitter user @inotayuta, whose account has since been deleted. In the pic, he's sprawled out on bags of hamburger buns, next to an incredibly gross-looking bucket—which worried some more than the buns. In the Tweet, @inotayuta wrote that even though it was a weekday, the Burger King he works at was packed.
"How many Whopper Juniors do you think I've made?" he added. "See if you can figure out it for yourself." Considering how he's shown sprawled out on a bed of buns, the implication is a lot.
Online in Japan, many were not amused. While, yes, the buns were wrapped in plastic bags and might even be trash, the image of a Burger King employee reclining on food made some upset.
In Japan, you are supposed to show respect for food! You are supposed to clean your plate. There are even manners regarding how food should be eaten. For example, you should eat all the various types of food on your plate in similar portions. Notions of "eating clockwise" or "save the worst for last" are bad manners. Children are taught all this from a very young age.
And then, quality of customer service is very important in Japan. In the service industry, for instance, you are not supposed to even chew gum while working. That's a rude no-no!
The photo sticks its middle finger up at both Japanese notions of manner and good customer service. On 2ch, Japan's largest online forum, people started emailing complaints to the fast food chain. The same Twitter user also uploaded a photo of himself sitting in a garbage can at Burger King.
These are both a pretty stupid things to post on Twitter, and a lot of people in Japan are calling this Twitter user "Baka King" ("baka" or 馬鹿 means "stupid" in Japanese). But that bed of buns sure looks comfy, no? The bucket looks effing gross, though.
Update: Burger King Japan has issued an apology for this latest incident. It did emphasize that the employee, a part-time worker, had posed on excess buns that were not served to customers and were disposed of after the photo was taken. The employee, Burger King added, is receiving a "strict reprimand" for the photos.
Burger King also said it will take steps, such as retraining staff, to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again. Somebody, however, really needs to apologize for that bucket.
バーガーキングの店員もやらかしてた [2ch]
To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.
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