Helpful Bike Shop / 親切なショップ

先日購入したNishikiについていたパーツで分からない事があった。仕事の関係ですぐ自転車屋さんへ行けなかったので27インチタイヤの事と共にパーツの写真を撮って幾つかの自転車屋さんにメールで問い合わせをしていた。

その中で丁寧にご返答してくれた自転車屋さんが私の仕事の営業回りで行っている地域にあったので自転車も持ってお礼を言いに行ってきた。

Bikes For All と言う自転車さん。私のような一見さんのオヤジにも丁寧に対応してくれ、とてもありがたかった。残念ながら探している27インチタイヤはなかったけど、昔ながらの自転車屋さんで私はとても好きな雰囲気であった。

そしてもう一軒、こちらはバンクーバー内に数軒ある老舗自転車屋さんのCap's。私のNishikiは元々このお店からオリジナルオーナーに売られていた形跡があったので、このお店にも行ってきた。そしてここでもとても親切丁寧に対応して頂き、探していた27インチタイヤも在庫があって倉庫の中から3セット出してきてくれ、どのセットもGood dealで売ってくれるとの事でSchwalbeのタンウォールタイヤを買わせて頂いた。私は本当にハッピーです。😆

I had a question about some parts that came with Nishiki I bought the other day. Since I couldn’t make it to a bike shop right away due to work, I took photos of the parts along with the 27-inch tires and emailed several bike shops to ask for advice.

One of the shops that responded so thoughtfully was located in an area I visit on my sales rounds, so I took my bike there to thank them in person.

A bike shop called Bikes For All. They treated me an old aged guy who was clearly a first-time customer with great courtesy, which I really appreciated. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the 27-inch tires I was looking for, but it was an old-school bike shop with an atmosphere I really liked.

Then there was another shop: Cap’s, one of several long established bike shops in Vancouver. Since there were signs that my Nishiki had originally been sold to its first owner by this shop, I decided to stop by. Here, too, they treated me very kindly and politely. They even had the 27-inch tires I was looking for in stock they brought out three sets from the warehouse and told me they’d sell me any of them at a good price, so I ended up buying a set of Schwalbe tanwall tires. I'm really happy.😆

 

どちらのお店もとても暖かく対応してくれて本当に嬉しかった。私のような移民者のジジイは自転車屋さんに限らずどこでも時として邪険に扱われることがある。でもそのような事に慣れているから今更それについてはどうこうと言うこともないのだが、やっぱり親切にしてくれる所には余計に感謝の意がでるのだ。

I was really happy that both shops treated me so warmly. An old immigrant like me is sometimes treated coldly, not just at bike shops but just about anywhere. But since I’m used to that sort of thing, I don’t really have anything to say about it now though I do feel all the more grateful to places that treat me kindly.

話が逸れるけど、そのような移民者への差別と言うものに私は子供の頃から興味があり、日本から異国に出てみたかった理由の一つであります。

まあ、このような話は簡単に語れないのでここまでにしますが、異国での移民者と言うか人種差別と言うものは、何処の国でもあります。それは差別する方だけでなく、"差別される側にも問題がある" 事は事実で、多民族国家に暮らしているとそのような事を感じます。

This is a bit of a tangent, but I’ve been interested in discrimination against immigrants like that since I was a child, and it’s one of the reasons I wanted to leave Japan and experience life in a foreign country.

Well, this isn’t a topic that can be easily summed up, so I’ll leave it at that, but discrimination against immigrants or racial discrimination, if you will exists in every country. It’s a fact that “ the problem lies not only with those who discriminate, but also with those who are discriminated against, ” and living in a multicultural society, I’ve come to realize that.