[MMM]

One of the jobs of a lower level person is to protect upper level people from dealing with things when the answer is obvious. As someone who has had several Japanese bosses, I know this to be true. To work at Book Off you need to not only speak Japanese, but more importantly, read Japanese, fluently. Without that there is no point in going further. She might have been protecting herself by shielding you from her supervisor. Welcome to Japanese business culture.