Avoid Ramen Bari-Uma Japanese Restaurant @Tanglin Shopping Centre (Review)

Mon 29 Jan

Do not eat there. Do not work there. Bari-Uma is an example of how rotten the Japanese people are in Singapore.

Since the Japs are so badly behaved in Singapore, they must be worse in Japan. If not for the MOM (Ministry of Manpower), these Japs will jolly well not even pay.

And that is precisely the case in Japan. Japanese companies in Japan don't even pay overtime when they force staff to work overtime. The companies under-declare the amount of time staff work so that they pay less.

Coming from Japan, these Japanese people bring their shit mentality with them to Singapore.

Singaporeans must highlight companies that are shit during the hiring process. Don't just let it go. These companies don't read online anyway, they are uneducated, they are tired. They don't know shit about what customers complain about, they don't know what people say about them, they don't care.

So just go ahead & say the truth. So others will be aware & stay clear of these companies & interviewers.

As mentioned in my previous post, when a job ad constantly appears for weeks or months, it means something is wrong. Especially if the pay is good. Either the job is shitty or the interviewer is picky or they don't really need staff.  It is the last 2.

They don't really need staff & the interviewer is picky, mean & very inconsiderate. You can put all your money on that.

These people think they can just walk away from what they do & carry on as usual.

Bariuma is ramen cooked by the worst inconsiderate, irresponsible assistant Japanese manager named Satoshi. I still have his horrid name card (that I've thrown away).

This fellow's ad has been on Gumtree for months since November last year. The ad was put up again in December & January.  Why has this ramen restaurant not been able to hire anybody since last year?

As of this writing, Monday 29 Jan on which I was supposed to turn up for work, the Gumtree ad is gone.

A week ago,  after the interview which pretty much confirmed that I had been hired, I returned home to find that the ad was still up on Gumtree. And remained so days later.  Suspicious. Perhaps, he's hiring more.

What happened? I gave him the chance to reject my application on the spot on that day. I said, "If you don't need or don't want, just let me know.". He nodded. But after confirming the pay & everything all on his own, he made me wait a week for his staff schedule arrangement that never came & never apologized. Not even a single SMS to apologize.

Terrible. I don't know how many people he's done this to. But he cannot get away scott-free with me.

Do you still want to eat food cooked by such a horrid man? Bear in mind that his disrespectful mentality & behaviour towards job applicants, is also applied to you as a customer when he is cooking in the kitchen.

A week ago, I went to Bariuma at the lousy, ancient Tanglin Shopping Centre for the part-time kitchen crew job that was advertised on Gumtree. Before then, I checked up on the ad poster Satoshi. I discovered that he's been advertising since November last year. Strange that he hasn't been finding staff to still be posting ads even till January.

I SMS-ed the number & the first question was "how older you?".

Age discrimination in horrible English.

Another Japanese company practising ageism. He certainly thinks it's fine. The MOM doesn't control such companies.

As I needed a job, I replied that I hoped age was just a number & no problem because I look younger & work fast.

Do you know how it feels like to have to defend your age like that? Horrible. I mean, come on. Age has never been a problem for me. A 20-yr old can't even swim the Butterfly stroke whereas I can.

This shitty Satoshi took 1 hour to reply. He wanted to me to clarify the hours that I could work.  I gave him plenty of my hours every day.

He said:
I see.
I want to do interview.
when are you free?

The Japs have a weird way of typing their SMS. They split up their lines into paragraphs rather than sentences.

I answered that I was free the next day anytime.  It was another hour before he replied.

The long hours in which he took to reply was a bad sign.

Next day morning,  I arrived early & met this pale, round-faced Japanese man with shifty eyes. I didn't like the look of him, looked dishonest, but I dismissed it.  He was oddly evasive in his approach when he saw me. Kinda moved side-to-side avoiding me rather than approach directly. Don't know what's wrong with him.

I politely said that I was early for the interview & I don't know who (whether it was the manager) I was SMS-ing. He volunteered that he was Satoshi.

We sat & he pottered in the kitchen for a bit (shorter time than other interviewers I've met who purposely dragged). Then he "apologised" in his Japanese language as he took the seat opposite from me with his file of forms & business card.

Usual questions. Then he asked "IF" United Square outlet needed, would I be willing to go there? I said no, it's too far for me. His face showed weird displeasure with a weird awkward smile as he looked away & commented that bus 166 could go there.

Really? A bloody foreigner knows my country's bus better than me, eh? Whether it can or cannot go, I explained that it would take too much time (more than 1 hr) to get there. Whereas it only takes 30 mins to get to Tanglin.

He didn't say more about it. Continued his interview with "Have you been to Japan"? When I nodded, he said, "Really?".

For goodness' sake, he doesn't even know that Singaporeans are well-travelled. I stopped myself from saying that I went there alone for 2 weeks.

As if to check if I was lying, he asked, "Where?".

I said, "Fukushima. Niigata.". I didn't say the rest.

That's when he said the restaurant is from Hiroshima. (Well, I ain't going to the place that was bombed. I saw the Life photographs of the aftermath & the suffering. It's not a place to go to because of the horror.).

The interview went so well,  to the extent that he was even negotiating with me how much is my pay per hour.  My previous job paid well on regular days & higher on weekends. So, I wanted at least the minimum regular day pay.

As I was too honest, I failed to lie that I had kitchen experience. It gave him the chance to peg me as "no experience" with a lower pay.  Although I had applied for kitchen crew position, it was obvious he was now preferring my being a server instead of kitchen staff.

He said that if I could do both kitchen & server, he would pay more (50 cents more to reach my mininum pay requirement.). I said fine.

After being satisfied with almost all my days that I was giving him to do as he liked, he noted that it was in fact full-time (although it was part-time because I could choose which days I wanted to work). He asked me how much total salary I wanted. I said upwards of $1000. 

He then started helpfully calculating for me how much I would be getting after CPF. Much more than I expected.  I thought it was rather considerate & meticulous of him to calculate for me, as if he was looking out for his staff & making sure that I would be happy.

He even went to the extent of explaining when the salary is issued (payroll), whether I was ok with it & how & when it was going to be issued (cheque). And how my hours were going to fit into his scheduling. He explained that he would need me to submit my available days every week on Wednesday (after which, no changes allowed etc...).

He appeared to really & deeply consider everything such that there was little doubt that I had been hired.

He even asked what size uniform I would be wearing "S or M?". I asked how many he was providing as I needed to wash. He said if I worked 6 days a week, he would give 3.  How generous, I thought.

He was filling out his Japanese application form as he was interviewing me. The Japs have this weird thing about the type of transport you use to get there. If it's bus, they want to know which number & where.

He was so afraid that I would leave the job that he asked if I would still be looking out for a job after getting this one. And whether I intended to work other jobs together with this one. I had to assure him that, no, I had no intention of doing either one because I don't like doing multiple jobs & I didn't do that even when that damn unagi shop gave me only 3 hrs of work previously. I went home & had no other job. He seemed satisfied that I wouldn't be promiscuous after getting this job.

I haven't seen an interviewer so afraid of high staff turnover as this guy. And since he's so afraid, it means there is high staff turnover. Which means there's a problem with the place &/or working for this guy.

The interview must have been 30 mins. Damn pretty long. 

He asked me when I could start work. I said I could start the next day or the day after. Oddly, he paused, thinking.

He said he wanted all the applicants to start training together, so it would be next week Monday.  Sounds believable, right?

He said he would be texting the staff schedule to me on Saturday. 

He ended by walking behind me to the door & seeing me off in a Japanese way. I almost nodded back as I've seen Japs do while sliding close the door.

For a week, I waited for his text. There was no doubt something was wrong because companies that really urgently need staff, will want applicants to start immediately or on short notice. Not 1 week.

This is the longest I have been made to wait. The worst. 

As mentioned, at the start of the interview, I already told him that if he didn't need, didn't want, just let me know on the spot. Why waste so much time interviewing & talking so much?

And after 1 whole week of waiting, not even an SMS to apologize for making me wait. Terrible.

Some companies if you submit your resume, will say "only shortlisted applicants will be notified". This is a different situation entirely.

In this case, this guy Satoshi was sure he was hiring & discussed everything with the assurance that he would be texting the staffing schedule to me on Saturday.  Yet Friday passed, Saturday passed, Sunday & finally Monday & still nothing.

Come on. If you don't require staff, don't advertise. If you don't intend to hire, don't make the person wait. If you've given assurances & broken them, the least you can do is apologize.

Disrespect. Satoshi the assistant manager, disrespects the individual. Along with other Japanese interviewers in Singapore that I've come across. They completely disregard people & are completely disrespectful. Ironic since everyone thinks so positively of the Japs.

In fact, Singaporeans working in Japan have a cynical & jaded view of the Japs & sound like they look down on Japs.

These Japs shouldn't even be allowed to operate in Singapore. This is my country. They are not benefitting Singaporeans at all.

Japs in Singapore are arrogant, rude, stupid, disrespectful, mean & practise age discrimination.  

Don't be tempted by their higher pay. They are shit. Don't bother applying & don't work there. Even if you do manage to get a job with them, you won't be happy. They have odd hours anyway. And for kitchen crew, you have to waste money & time searching for restaurant kitchen non-slip shoes.

I totally didn't realize about the kitchen shoes until after the interview. Just as well I didn't get the job. I've no money even to continue taking buses there & was trying to think of how to tell the Satoshi fellow that I can't get the shoes (if I say that, he'll most likely cut the pay that we discussed.).