Customer Safety Recommendation for McDonald's Kemang

The following is off topic, but still related to security and safety, thus part of self defense.

I went to McDonald's Kemang this early morning, around 0520hrs. This McD is 24 hours, and I woke up early today around 0400hrs and was not able to go back to sleep, so by 0500hrs, I was hungry, so I drove to McD because I felt like having a Sausage Egg McMuffin.

I entered McD through the smoking area, but not much people were smoking then, but what I smelled was something else, this area reeks of alcohol. It is not surprising for a place that opens 24 hours in Jakarta to have customers that just finished their "late night activities" to have something to eat or just hang out a little bit more until sunrise. I've been to this particular McD in the early morning a few times before, and so far I have never been involved in any incidents, I haven't heard that anybody else had. As far as I know, the drunks are quite docile.

The dining area inside, the non smoking one, was alright. Ordered my food and went to the table and ate it. Saw a customer approached the counter, looking quite drunk, and asking if he could just wrapped up the food to go because his friends could not eat it. The staff obliged and the customer thanked him. I didn't think about it much at first, until I exit the store. I saw the guy and his friends in the smoking area, one of them hunched over the table and had puked his guts out. I was like... ewww... Good thing I did not bring the kids, I would have a hard time explaining to them what just happened, and the situation afterwards as well.

As I walked to my car, this Toyota Fortuner sped through the parking lot into the drive thru just a split second after I passed. If I was just a bit late coming out of the store, I could have been hit! If the driver was drunk, probably would not even see me walking through that parking lot.

As I entered my car, I saw the drunk customer and his friend carrying the puking guy who had literally passed out. They were having a difficult time trying to load him into the car.

This is just an accepted scene, especially places that are opened 24 hours. However, we must never be complacent. McD should be prepared to handle if the situation escalate. What would happen if the drunks that came in are not the docile type and start ? What happens if somebody got hit on their parking lot? Are they ready to manage the situation? There are maybe a number of negative scenarios could happen, but I just named a few in my suggestion to McD Kemang.

The staff in the late shift should know how to deal with that type of situation, how to deal with drunks, trained in de-escalation, and other emergency procedures. This may not be as important in other stores, but when drunks gather together in one place, late at night, the uncertainty comes up a bit higher. Alcohol is the X factor. I am not saying that McD should reject these customers, I'm not saying they are bad, I'm just saying that they could become unpredictable and the staff should be ready for it. If the staff need proper training then management should give it to them, including how to handle crisis management. People think that this is over the top, until it actually happens. Why wait? Action defeats reaction.

I see drunk drivers as well, this is just a known fact for people down here, they don't understand the concept of designated drivers or how dangerous drunk driving really is. McD do not have control over this, but they need to protect other customers as well. Point in fact is with the speeding Toyota Fortuner, I could have been hit. What if my kids were hit? If McD put in speed traps, bollards, and/or chicanes the car could have slowed down, or if the car didn't then they could hit one of these barriers before they hit me, there is a risk mitigation. Putting up a signage is useless for these people, but it does help McD to avoid lawsuits if somebody got hit in their parking lot. That is beside the point, we don't want people to get hit by cars in the parking lot or drive thru. This is something that must be further explored by McD Kemang.

This would seem a bit funny, but they could consider having a bucket prepared around the areas that have drunk people. These drunks could hardly walk, let alone find the bathroom. It would save other customers to have an unsightly view of an adult puking his guts out all over the floor and save the effort for the staff to clean it up.

Again, I'm not saying that McD should reject these customers, just need to think through some scenarios and how to manage them. Don't wait until it's too late. I actually sent such suggestion to McD below (in Bahasa Indonesia).

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Dear McDonald's Kemang,

Saya pagi hari ini Sabtu 30 November 2013 sekitar jam 0520 ke McD Kemang dan saya tidak heran tempatnya berisikan pelanggan-pelanggan yang baru selesai "aktivitas malam" dan banyak di antaranya masih mabuk. Ini sebetulnya suatu hal yang sering ditemukan akan segala tempat yang bukanya 24 jam.

Saya masuk ke dalam McD Kemang lewat smoking area dan baunya bukan bau rokok tapi sudah bau alkohol. Sementara ini kalau saya ke sana pagi-pagi seperti ini, pemabuknya tidak rusuh dan secara relatif masih sopan. Saya melihat seseorang yang mabuknya cukup berat dan bukan saja muntah tapi pingsan dimana temannya harus mengangkat dia ke mobil. Untung anak saya tidak ikut jadi saya tidak harus menjelaskan apa yang telah terjadi.

Sewaktu saya mau balik ke mobil, tiba-tiba ada Toyota Fortuner mengebut ke dalam drive thru beberapa saat setelah saya menyeberangi lajur teersebut. Kalau ternyata pengemudi itu mabuk, mungkin dia tidak akan lihat saya dan saya bisa menjadi korban.

Memang tidak akan bisa dihindari kondisi pelanggan yang datang ke McD Kemang dan sementara saya belum mengalami insiden, akan tetapi McD Kemang bisa mempersiapkan diri jika sesuatu terjadi atau bahkan bisa menghindarinya.

Karena McD Kemang bisa menjadi berkumpulnya orang mabuk, maka ada naiknya resiko untuk para staff ataupun pelanggan lain yang ada di lokasi tersebut.

Berdasarkan pengalaman saya hari ini, saya ada beberapa rekomendasi:

1. 1. Para staff shift malam ke pagi dilatih khusus untuk memanajemen pelanggan yang mabuk atau bahkan diajarkan bagaimana de-eskalasi situasi yang memanas. Karena jika sudah mabuk, banyak faktor tak terduga. Ini bukan tindakan secara fisik, tapi bagaimana cara berbicara kepada pelanggan atau mengatasi situasi dimana bisa terjadi tindakan kekerasan. Walau saya belum mengalami ini, alkohol bisa jadi faktor tak terduga dan bisa saja terjadi suatu saat.
   
2. Ini akan terdengar lucu, tapi mungkin bisa disiapkan ember sekitar orang-orang yang mabuk. Karena kalau sudah mabuk berat, jalan ke toilet untuk muntah pun akan sulit. Ini supaya pelanggan lain tidak perlu melihat muntah berserakan di lantai dan mempermudah staff untuk membersihkan.
   
3. Berikut ini adalah yang paling penting, polisi tidur dan/atau bentuk lain (seperti tiang tambahan, bollards, chicanes) yang bisa memperlambat mobil masuk ke drive thru. Jalur drive thru memotong jalur pelanggan yang akan balik ke mobilnya. Jika mobil tersebut mengebut atau bahkan pengemudinya mabuk, bisa jatuh korban.

Saya angkat isu ini karena saya peduli dan saya adalah residen lama daerah Kemang. Saya ingin Kemang tetap damai dan tentram, terlepas apa yang telah terjadi dengan Kemang 10 - 20 tahun terakhir ini dimana banyak night club bermunculan. Sebagai warga kita punya kewajiban untuk menjaga keamanan dan keselamatan bersama

Terima Kasih,

K'

4 principles of the unification of mind and body

The below was originally posted on my Facebook page:

I want to revisit the translation ki-no-kenkyūkai's "4 principles of the unification of mind and body". The current one, though they are the official translation, seems to be oversimplified and may miss key points of these principles

心身統一の四大原則
shinshin tō itsu no yon daigensoku
4 principles of the unification of mind and body
4 prinsip penyatuan pikiran dan tubuh

一、臍下の一点に心をしずめ統一する。
ichi, seika no itten ni kokoro wo shizume tō itsu suru
1, calmly unify the mind with the one point of the lower abdomen
1, dengan tenang satukan pikiran dengan satu titik yang terletak di perut bawah

二、全身の力を完全に抜く。
ni, zenshin no chikara wo kanzen ni nuku
2, totally loosen up the strength throughout the whole body *
2, kendorkan secara keseluruhan tenaga seluruh tubuh

三、身体の総ての部分の重みを、その最下部におく。
san, karada no subete no bubun no omomi wo, sono saikabu ni oku
3, weight of all parts of the body are to be put at the lowest side of that part
3, berat semua bagian tubuh diletakkan paling bawah bagian tersebut

四、氣を出す。
yon, ki wo dasu
4, let out ki **
4, keluarkan ki

* the word "nuku" (抜く) is usually used to mean "to pull out (in order to release something)". So I use the word "loosen up" in replace of this context

** the word "dasu" (出す) does not literally mean "extend" as the official translation. The dicitionary translation is "to exert" or "to put/pull out". In this context, it could mean "to release" or as I wrote above "to let out"

100%

I have never been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADHD), then again my parents never had me tested. It's not a common thing in Indonesia, at least back when I was in elementary or junior high, to get somebody diagnosed with ADHD, we simply think that the child has disciplinary issues.

I was not that bad. I was mediocre with sometimes less than average achievement during my first 9 years in school. Then I went to a military academy, by my own request, and did very well academically for the 3 years I was there. Maybe I do have disciplinary issues. When I the academy, I didn't do that well in the university either. That's enough of my academic history for now.

I may have a mild version of ADHD. I do have a bit of a learning disability. My mind wanders off after a while, easily distracted, and trouble sitting still for too long. I have difficulty of piecing together thoughts. When I read my eyes goes all over the pages skipping words and lines. At times I need to re-read things because I lost the context of the writings. When I write my thoughts have to many things to put down, going back and forth, such as now. On top of that, my blood type is B, which according to the Japanese have their own issues, as well as advantages of course.

I took up aikido in 1998 under the guidance of Hakim sensei during my "second round" of my university education. The reason of taking it up was quite pragmatic actually, I've torn my knee ligament and had surgery done a couple of years before. My basic was Tae Kwon Do back then, did both WTF then ITF.

A few years later (I think 2001/2002) a couple of my anime/manga mailing list friends introduced me to Ki-no-kenkyūkai under the guidance of Kinoshita sensei. Our organization was affiliated with Aikikai, so if you are familiar with the rift between the two organization then I need not say more. I was not aware of this at the time, but this is for another story, let's just say that I was accepted after a period of scrutiny.

I would actually say that we had no technical training but a lot exercises and this is what we do every training. Study the principles, do them, test them, over and over again. Practicing one mind one body.

Kinoshita sensei made a point that every movement must be done 100%. Not thinking of what is going to happen next or what just happened. The mind must not be separated into different parts, it must be one. In other words, no "multi-tasking". Many people boasts their ability of multi-tasking, but when a person multi-tasks the mind focuses less on each tasks. Doing 2 things at the same time means doing each of them with 50% focus or less. Science has proven this and many were presented in articles or TV shows such as in NatGeo or Discovery.

Kinoshita sensei went on that when working, focus on the task at hand and do not think of the other things. After you have done allocating your resources for this task, you move on to the next. This is more like time management, taking things one at a time but dedicating ones full focus.

In practice, it is the same, each movement is meaningful. There is no such thing as formality. All is done 100% with 100% effect, not worrying about what comes next or what just happened, let's say splitting the mind 80-10-10.

For example with zengo undo (turning 180 degrees back and forth exercise), when you are at one side you do not worry about the other side, but when it's time to turn your mind is already 100% there. The same whether you are doing four directions or eight directions. How and when to turn is part of the practice and experience.

When one starts practicing, one will be taught to do it one step at a time. One technique may have 10 steps and these are done taught one by one. Each move must be done at 100% before moving to the next one, once you moved to the next one, you do not worry what had just happened that was in the past, and you do not worry what is going to happen next as that will be in the future, you focus on the now. Worrying about what just happened and what's going to happen will split your focus. This takes training. Each step is done at a 100% before moving on to the next one rather than only giving 10% for each 10 steps. This is true for every thing, there is only one you.

Once you have practiced correctly and thoroughly, it is no longer that you take it one step at a time, but you have taken the whole thing as an end to end process, instead of 10 steps you see one process. When you give this process 100%, then you have given 100% to all of the steps at the same time.

When facing many opponents, it is the same principle. When facing one, you are not worried about the other. How to do this must be explored in practice. You give 100% to one opponent, and then another, and then another. When you are dealing with one and worried about another, your focus goes lower than a mere 50%, as to think about thinking of the other opponent has taken away a percentage of your mind as well.

What about having all of the opponents as one? This clicked to me when I saw Kubota sensei was demonstrating a technique when his hands were grabbed by two people. First he will demonstrate the technique when one person grabbed both his hands, then he'll have one person grabbed one hand and then demonstrated the same technique, then he will have one demonstrated for his other hands. Then it clicked, it is not a technique of managing two separate people, but a technique of managing two people as one entity, or somebody that is of twice the size/strength of one person. If the mind is able to perceive this, with correct practice, then it is probable. After that apply it for multiple opponents that are attacking freely. Easier said then done. That's why such concept must be explored / experimented upon in order to be understood.

Albeit facing one or many, there is only one you and there is only one mind and body, therefore the principle must be the same, one is many and many is one.