Business in Japan

POSTED BY DANNY CHOO On Thu 2010/01/21 18:00 JST in Japanese Culture
"Eigyou" is the Japanese word for "Business" or "trade" but there is another meaning which I would like to talk about today and thats for the term "sales."
"Eigyou Man" is typically used to refer to a sales guy who goes out to look for business. Much of it involves cold calling - they just ring or turn up on the doorstep. In most cases its a man in a black trenchcoat from an internet provider trying to sell a cheaper deal.
Folks working in a Japanese office will from time to time see these sales folks pop up on the doorstep bowing.
There are a few terms that you can use to get rid of sales folks - the most typical is "Mani Atteimasu" which in this case means "I'm already being catered for."
I would usually say:-
Gomen-nasai, mani atteimasu.
This online dictionary translates "mani atteimasu" as "I've got nothing particular to order (from you)" but its not as harsh as that.
Today however, I had a tough time closing the door within a few seconds because provider KDDI changed their strategy of sending not-so-good-looking-men-with-breath-smelling-of-fart and instead sent over their latest series of lethal weapons - "Cute Sales Girl 001" together with "Handsome Sales Boy 001."
She was trying to get me to use them as an ISP instead of Nifty - I nearly said yes ^^;
After being pounded with her cute smile and sweetness, did eventually manage to say "Mani Atteimasu" but did tell them that I admired KDDI's new strategy of them sending out gorgeous girls (Bijo ) and handsome men (Ikemen ) - also told them about dannychoo.com and how I would love to upload a photo of them - so here you are ^^;
Do sales folks just turn up on your doorstep too?
Currently paying about 6000 yen-ish for our optic fiber connection which you can see being installed at our office in this post. Am sure I've asked before but how fast is your connection and how much are you paying per month?
A bit slow today but my up n down speeds are:-
You can take your speed test at http://www.speedtest.net/