| Quality control - train staff checking the food and drink offering Posted by grahame at 12:32, 31st August 2025 |     |
From Malay Mail
Luxury Japanese sleeper train cancels trip after crew help themselves to the wine in the name of quality control
TOKYO, Aug 23 — The operator of a Japanese luxury sleeper train said it has scrapped an upcoming journey after discovering its crew had been liberally helping themselves to alcohol in the name of “quality control” for years.
“Some of the crew were repeatedly drinking more than they were allowed to as part of their routine quality control testing,” said a subsidiary of the East Japan Railway Company, commonly known as JR East.
TOKYO, Aug 23 — The operator of a Japanese luxury sleeper train said it has scrapped an upcoming journey after discovering its crew had been liberally helping themselves to alcohol in the name of “quality control” for years.
“Some of the crew were repeatedly drinking more than they were allowed to as part of their routine quality control testing,” said a subsidiary of the East Japan Railway Company, commonly known as JR East.
We used to encourage our staff to see things as the customers did to help ensure the best customer experience. Things like settling on the loos in our bedrooms to check what the customer saw. Eating the food sometimes too - but we were not licensed for alcohol. And, yes, we were aware of the temptation to oversupply at breakfast to ensure there were left-overs, but a temptation only given in to with known discretion and limited frequency.
