Sergeant claims he was trying to “guide” his officers through hot noodles.

On 20 March, Kumamoto Police announced the punishment of a sergeant in his fifties for incidents of “power harassment” against several lower ranking officers. As a result his pay will be docked 10 percent for three months.

The incidents took place between September of 2015 and October of last year and included cases of the sergeant hitting officers on top of their helmet with an LED light baton, like the kind used to guide traffic at night. Other complaints included forcing subordinates to eat spicy instant noodles.

▼ The exact brand or brands is unclear, but from our own research
Peyang’s Motto Motto Gekikara MAX Yakisoba is a prime suspect

At one point an officer in their 20s required several days off to recover from complaints of poor health. In a survey conducted last October the sergeant admitted to his deed, saying “The intention was to guide them. I went too far.”

Readers of the news weren’t overly concerned with the level of harassment, as prepacked Japanese instant noodles (or any Japanese food for that matter) tends to not be all that spicy in the grand scheme of things.

▼ If the sergeant really wanted to send a message, he should have gone
south of the border where they really know how to party

However, everyone was mystified by what lesson the sergeant thought he was teaching through his piquant peppers.

“What does eating spicy noodles teach someone?”
“Make sergeant eat Atsuzu Oden!”
“I wonder if it was [Peyang] Spicy Max. That stuff’s delicious.”
“Spicy food feels painful, but it doesn’t really hurt your body.”
“Sounds like that one guy was agonizing on the toilet for a few days.”
“Spicy noodles don’t hurt people. People hurt people.”
“I wouldn’t expect the police to have power harassment, but there you go.”
“I wonder what he does to the subordinates he likes?”
“Aren’t the police supposed to be tougher than this?”
“Eating five cups of Nakamoto Spicy Miso Tanmen would be cruel and unusual punishment.”

Personally, I’d consider a boss who made me eat some spicy yakisoba to be a nice guy, and I’ve had past jobs where whacking someone in the hardhat with a piece of plastic was a standard form of communication.

However, sometimes power harassment boils down to a lack of self-awareness. While I might respond positively to the sergeant’s actions, many others clearly do not, and effective leadership is really about seeing and understanding these differences in people.

Source: Jiji.com, Golden Times
Images: SoraNews24