Thursday, August 28, 2008

Dateline: Narita, Japan

When I arrived at the Narita airport baggage claim, I noticed something strange: An airport employee was patiently adjusting the position of each bag as it came down onto the rotating carousel. She laid the bags flat, or turned them vertically, choosing a position for each bag seemingly arbitrarily.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out what value this woman added. Who pays for her? (Probably us passengers, indirectly). This same pattern has been repeated at the hotel and at the currency exchange -- "extra" employees whose function seems to be nothing more than to give the appearance of a high level of service.

There are undoubtedly factors here that I don't yet recognize, but this entire country seems to need to undergo a business process rationalization effort.

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