Otaku customer thought he had an ally in his gatekeeping gripe session, but he was wrong.

The draw of maid cafes, aside from the frilly costumes and other eye candy, is the assurance that’s it’s OK to be as big an otaku as you want to be. Since they cater specifically to the otaku demographic, you can be pretty sure that the maid serving your table isn’t going to snicker when you talk at length about the idol concert you went to last week, or act bored when you passionately declare which anime series you’re looking forward to the most this TV season.

But just because maid cafe maids don’t look down on their customers, that doesn’t mean that they’re going to smile and listen with rapt attention while their customers talk trash about other people, as Japanese Twitter user Kenzaki (@knzk803) recently found out.

“I was talking with a maid at a maid cafe, and I said ‘Who do those guys who act like otaku even though they have girlfriends think they are?’” begins Kenzaki, recalling when he expressed his frustration at dudes who’ve found a girlfriend yet still act like they’re true anime fans. However, the maid didn’t share his gatekeeping attitude that real otaku should be perpetually single, replying with:

“Guys who have girlfriends also have a lot of common sense, so I think it’s fun to talk with them.”

“After she said that, I lost all courage to say anything else,” reports Kenzaki, who’s single himself.

The soft yet sudden resistance offered by the maid prompted online comments such as:

“Looks like you got hit by a pretty powerful counterpunch there.”
“That kind of thinking is why so many men are still single at middle age, and end up unmarried for life.”
“Otaku who are sociable find people to fall in love with just like anyone else.”
“If you’d just said ‘To be honest, I’m so jealous of otaku who have girlfriends!” then the maid probably would have said ‘Don’t worry! I’m sure you’ll find a girlfriend!’”
“Saying ‘Who do they think they are?’ and talking despairingly like that is naturally going to put people on their guard and make them avoid the topic. You’ve got a long way to go before you’ll ever be the kind of fun person with common sense the maid was talking about.”

So remember, just because the smiles and desserts at maid cafes are invariably sweet, that doesn’t mean the staff is there to put up with customers who’re feeling salty or bitter.

Source: Twitter/@knzk803 via Jin
Top image: Gahag
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