BOOKOFF Akihabara Ekimae Store — Attraction in Tokyo

One male staff member at this store (whose first name starts with "Ko コ") was extremely rude and unfriendly towards foreigners. Today when I went to buy manga, I had a basket full of comics. At checkout, I was just about 50 yen short of the 5,500 yen tax-free threshold. My family member went to grab one more book to make up the amount, but this staff member showed clear impatience on his face. When I asked "Can I get tax-free?" he flatly said "No." I followed up with "Even if we exceed 5,500 yen?" and he again refused. I proceeded with payment anyway, while he maintained a sour expression throughout the transaction as if I owed him money.

When leaving, we asked a female staff member at the entrance about tax exemption for books. She confirmed it was possible but pointed at the wall clock indicating they were about to close, which we completely understood. As for that male staffer, I can only speculate - maybe he was too eager to finish work, or perhaps he holds prejudice against foreigners visiting Japan. There's no other explanation for such hostility. I won't be returning to this store on future...

The selection was good as I ended up buying a bunch of stuff, every staff member I interacted with was friendly until I had to check out. I was only 200 yen short of tax free and thought I had enough stuff. I asked about Tax free only for the employee to look at me and just say "NO". I just assumed my items didn't count(I looked at the receipt when I got to the hotel and figured out I was short but I would have got more stuff.) The employee hands me my stack of stuff which was to big to carry on its own and I didn't have a bag so I asked for a bag and the employee says "No, we charge for those". I was willing to pay for a bag as I didn't want to drop my stuff but the employee just seemed annoyed to have to interact with foreign customers. I have been to two other bookoffs on this trip and have been to this one on other trips and never not been asked about a bag when I had enough stuff to fill a...

Terrible (and surprising) experience with the customer service from a female employee at this particular store. First time feeling like we were discriminated.

My girlfriend and I was trying to make a purchase and required tax-free process. We lined up properly, she told us to go to another counter for the tax-free, and we waited in front of the empty counter for more than five minutes without getting any help.

Another employee saw us and told us to go line up again, my girlfriend went to the female employee and asked about the situation. The female employee gave her the bitter look (literally rolled her eyes), cursed in Japanese, ignored her completely, and continued with other customers.

Another employee helped us at the end, otherwise we would just walked out. We were following the rules and communicating politely. Her behavior was really unacceptable.

Please have some respect for...