Life is hard for convenience store franchisees in Japan. The market is already saturated, with over 56,800 stores nationwide, and the ongoing labor shortage threatens the 24-hour model. Add the pandemic on top of everything else, and now franchisees are engaged in a war for survival.
The slightest mistake can have serious consequences, such as ordering too much pineapple juice. That’s unfortunately what happened when a manager of a 7-Eleven in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward tried ordering eight cartons of pineapple juice and ended up ordering 81!
The poor manager took to Twitter to plead for help, and just like that, the store’s stock of pineapple juice sold out in a single day!
That’s a lot of juice
誤発注してしまいました。助けて下さい。
“I made an order mistake. Please help.”
購入にいらして頂いたお客様！いいね！ＲＴ！コメント！お電話を頂いた皆さん！有難う御座いました。お陰様でもう通常の在庫になりました。遠くからも沢山の方にいらして頂き感謝の気持ちでいっぱいです。有難う御座いました。
“Thanks to the customers who kindly made a purchase, to all of you who liked, retweeted and made phone calls! Thankfully, my inventory reached a regular volume. I’m filled with gratitude for all the people who came from afar. Thank you so much!”
Express what you intend or plan to do
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When @711shimane called his followers for help, he shared a picture of the pineapple his surplus pineapple juice. Above the refrigerated stand, he posted a sign explaining his predicament:
8本発注の予定が81本になってしまいました
“I intended to order eight, but ordered 81 by mistake”
Combined with a noun or a verb (at the dictionary form) 予定 helps express one’s intention or plan.
- はに予定してます = I’m planning to travel next month.
- の予定は？= What’s the program for today?
- の予定はですか = What are your plans for this weekend?
予定 is vaguer and insists on the intention.
Here are a few key expressions based on 予定 to keep in your hat. Keep in mind that both 予定 and 計画 mean “plan” or “to plan,” but they each have a distinctive nuance:
- 予定 is vaguer and insists on the intention. A decision has been made, but the details are left hanging.
- 計画 is about planning the details in advance, thinking about steps, methods or procedures.
予定する yotei suru Plan, schedule 予定がある/ない yotei ga aru/nai Have a plan/have no plan 予定を入れる yotei o ireru Schedule 予定を立てる yotei o tateru Make plan 予定を空ける yotei o akeru Keep one’s plan open 予定通り yoteidoori According to the schedule, to the plan
Vocabulary
誤発注する kobacchyuu suru Order wrongly 助けて下さい tasukete kudasai Please help, save me! 購入 kyounyuu Purchase お客様 o kyakusama Client(s) (polite) お陰様で o kage sama de Thankfully 通常 tsuujyou Regular, normal 在庫 zaiko Stock 感謝 kanshya grateful 気持ちでいっぱい kimochi de ippai Full of feeling
