原文:http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzU1MDQwNTgzMg==&mid=2247491418&idx=1&sn=f45003b635e554fffa47a52734828ea2&chksm=fba04cfdccd7c5eb4049eb10991a9d42347a8c17486d92170e3a95ffb683a839943a0909f498#rd
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Sophie,女,HR让我做自己,券商带我看世界
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Labour’s lost love
消逝的办公室恋情
英文部分选自经济学人20200815期Business版块
Labour’s lost love
消逝的办公室恋情
注:Love’s labour’s lost是莎士比亚的戏剧作品《爱的徒劳》。巴托比调整了词序变成Labour’s lost love《消失的办公室恋情》
The decline of the office romance
办公室罗曼蒂克的消亡
Their eyes met across the office photocopier. At long last, each of them had found someone who could push their buttons. Eventually, they settled down and decided to reproduce. Read more in “Fifty Sheets of Grey Paper”, out soon in paperback.
越过复印机,两人四目相对——终于,他们找到了那个能按动彼此灵魂按键的人。于是,他们安定下来,并决定(结婚)生子。更多内容,敬请阅读办公室版《五十度灰》,平装版即将面世。
Romance is a long-established side-effect of office life. After all, people may spend almost half their waking hours at work, and their colleagues will frequently have something in common with them, even if it is only complaining about the manager. Some relationships are inevitably bound to result.
办公室恋情是办公生活中长期存在的副产品。毕竟人们每天醒着的几乎一半时间都在办公室工作,他们和同事时常处于同频道之中,甚至可能是一起吐槽他们的经理。有些“办公室地下恋情”自然而然就会开花结果。
But the lockdown has made the forming of new romances much more difficult. Although online dating has thrived in the pandemic, the number of people who have met their soulmate via a work Zoom meeting must be vanishingly small. It is hard to flirt while your facial expressions are being observed by a dozen colleagues. And how private is company videoconferencing software’s private-chat function, really?
但是新冠疫情下的封锁使得孕育新的办公室恋情相比以往更加困难。尽管网上约会在此期间已经得到了蓬勃发展,但是通过Zoom会议认识自己灵魂伴侣的人却少之又少。因为在线会议时在同事的众目睽睽下隐藏自己坠入爱河的面部表情而不被发现,臣妾做不到呀/几乎是一项不可能任务!公司视频会议软件中的私人聊天功能又有多少私密可言呢,鬼才知道!
Even before the pandemic, however, office romances were in decline. In 1995, 19% of (heterosexual) people met their partner at work, according to a study by Stanford University. By 2017 this had fallen to 11%. It will be even lower now. As white-collar employees toil more hours at home and fewer at the office—which seems likely even after the virus recedes—opportunities for workplace romantic connections will dwindle.
然而,即使是在新冠疫情之前,办公室恋情也已处于颓势。斯坦福大学的一项研究显示,1995年,19%的异性恋者是在工作中结识另一半的。到2017年,这一比例降至11%。现在只会更低。因为白领们有越来越多时间居家办公,而在办公室的时间则越来越少——这一趋势可能一直延续到疫情结束之后——所以办公室恋情的机会也会减少。
One reason for the decline is that companies have realised that work relationships give rise to all kinds of ethical questions. The idea of a boss marrying his secretary (or a doctor dating a nurse) is one of the oldest clichés around. Sadly, the trope is so well established that secretaries and nurses have spent decades fending off the unwanted attentions of their superiors. As the #MeToo movement has demonstrated, some men use their positions of power to harass women who work for them.
办公室恋情之所以会减少,原因之一是公司已经意识到这层关系会引发各种伦理问题。最老套的剧情莫过于老板和秘书结婚(或是医生与护士约会)。可悲的是,这一比方太过深入人心,以至于几十年来秘书和护士都一直在防范上级不必要的关注。正如#MeToo运动宣称的那样,一些男性会利用职权之便骚扰女下属。
Consensual relationships can cause problems as well. A relationship with a subordinate makes it hard for a manager to be objective about their performance. Colleagues may understandably suspect the manager of favouritism. Things may be as bad if the romance breaks down. Hurt feelings may make it hard for the ex-partners to work together and will also make it awkward for everyone else in the office.
即使是两厢情愿,也可能引发问题。比方说,与下属的罗曼蒂克关系会使管理者难以客观评价属下的绩效表现。在此背景下,同事们怀疑经理徇私也可以理解。如果关系破裂,情况同样糟糕。受伤的情感会使人难以和前任再在一起工作,也会让办公室其他人感到尴尬。
The result of this is that many companies have policies that discourage or forbid managers from flings with someone who works for them. Office relationships were blamed for the departure of Steve Easterbrook from his role as chief executive of McDonald’s last year; the fast-food company launched a lawsuit against Mr Easterbrook this week.
因此,许多公司制定了政策,不鼓励或禁止上下级之间眉来眼去。去年,将办公室恋情推上风口浪尖的是麦当劳前首席执行官史蒂夫·伊斯特布鲁克(Steve Easterbrook),丑闻发生后,他被公司解雇;本周,麦当劳将对他提起了诉讼。
注:史蒂夫·伊斯特布鲁克(Steve Easterbrook):麦当劳前首席执行官,因违反公司规定与员工发生不正当性关系,并在调查时隐瞒证据,被麦当劳遣散,并对其提起诉讼。https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-sues-ex-ceo-steve-easterbrook-sexual-relationships-employees/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12378013/fired-british-boss-of-mcdonalds-steve-easterbrook-sexted-a-worker-and-gave-shares-to-another-after-bedding-her/
Some companies ban all office romances outright. Others issue guidelines such as the stipulation that employees should not allow a relationship with a colleague to influence their behaviour at work, and that they should disclose any relationship that might give rise to a conflict of interest. These rules seem perfectly sensible, although they do involve a sacrifice of privacy.
有些企业完全禁止办公室恋情。有些则颁布规章制度,例如规定与同事的(恋爱)关系不得影响他们的工作行为,以及雇员应披露可能造成利益冲突的(恋爱)关系。这些制度虽然会牺牲隐私,但貌似完全合理。
Some of these problems can be avoided if the relationship is at one remove: if people meet their partners through work, rather than at the same office. Clearly there could still be problems if, for example, a purchasing manager was dating the salesperson at a supplier. But in most circumstances these romances avoid the potential problems of favouritism or abuse of power. Bartleby was fortunate enough to meet his spouse through his job 24 years ago (a period that proves Mrs Bartleby’s infinite reserves of patience).
如果恋爱双方保持了一定距离,有些问题也可以避免:即恋爱双方不在同一间办公室,而是通过工作见面。当然了,如果一个采购经理在供应商处与其销售人员约会,那还是会有问题。但绝大多数情况下,这些恋爱关系杜绝了潜在的徇私或滥用职权等问题。巴托比先生就非常有幸地通过工作与伴侣相识于24年之前(巴托比太太竟能有如此耐心忍受丈夫这么多年)。
For that reason, this columnist can perhaps be forgiven for hoping that the office romance does not disappear completely. Millions of happy couples have probably met by their desks or the coffee machine. Perhaps couples will get a buzz from defying company rules. But they may have to be subtle about it: “Speak low if you speak love,” as William Shakespeare wrote in “Much Ado About Nothing”. That said, romance novels may need a bit of updating to cope with the post-pandemic era.
因此,本专栏作家巴托比先生希望办公室恋情不要完全消失的想法也就能被原谅了。办公桌、咖啡机可能撮合了几百万对幸福男女。违反公司规定或许能让他们小兴奋一下,但还是得小心为妙,正如莎士比亚在《无事生非》中所写,“情话还得悄悄说”。说到这里,今天的爱情小说也该换换水,体现一下后疫情时期的主题了。
Their eyes met across the bottle of hand sanitiser. “Would you like to break the social-distance rules and join my bubble?” he whispered. “Sorry, I can’t hear you through the mask,” she replied. He searched for inspiration. How could he convey his feelings? As creative director of Tomkins & Tomkins, surely there was an answer? A brainwave came: he raised his hands. Her eyes widened in understanding. “First word,” she said. “Sounds like ...”
两人视线在一瓶洗手液上交汇。“你可愿意打破社交隔离,与我合二为一呢?”他悄悄问道。“抱歉,你戴着口罩我听不清,”她回答。他苦苦找寻灵感。到底如何传情达意?身为Tomkins & Tomkins创意指导,就真能有灵感吗?突然,他灵机一动,抬起双手。她睁大眼睛,心领神会。“第一个字,”她说,“听起来像……”。
翻译组:
Clark,一笔,汽车公关行业
Hikali,女,准爱岛异术家,用力生活
Rena,坐标墨尔本的留学生,爱笑爱摄影爱看书
校对组:
Forest,女,自由职业,爱树的人
Hannah,女,教书匠,经济学人粉丝
VeRy,男,电气民工,经济学人资浅爱好者
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观点|评论|思考
本次感想
VeRy,男,电气民工,经济学人资浅爱好者
人们谈起办公室恋情来总有些放不开手脚,甚至于巴托比先生讲起话来都开始显得扭捏了。大概都觉得这不是件值得大书特书的事,虽然不少孤男寡女从中受益,因为有些工作着实没办法接触更多的异性,也没多余的时间,所以近水楼台委实是无奈之举。当然我们谈的都是虾兵蟹将的生活百态,小编让我谈谈国庆哥哥和渝姐姐的办公室里的爱恨情仇,我想了想,他们哪有办公室恋情可言,只是分赃不均的老板,恰巧在同一个办公楼、又恰巧是不同的性别罢了,和几乎所有的创业老板分道扬镳的例子没有任何区别。
我们谈论的是真正的爱情,是那些可能会被女方家的彩礼吓得半死的男方,辛辛苦苦买了房子却纠结写两个人的名字还是只写一个人的,甚至老是疑神疑鬼对方是不是高端女猎人的傻乎乎的笨男人,这才是属于我们的生活,这才是办公室恋情的本来面目。
即便是上下级关系,在同一个公司里恋爱的人们几乎都是处于同一个社会阶层的人,虽然也有傻如我同事一般去追求老板女儿的,到头来自然是触了霉头碰了钉,也许是风花雪月的爱情小说看多了,直把小说当了办公桌。处于同一个层次的人最大的好处就在于生活的半径几乎一致,不可能去想一些超过自己能力范围的事情,譬如大平层呀,天天换个Birkin包呀之类的,所以自然双方就会心想一块劲使一处了。要么等某一方高飞枝头后有可能会有些变化,包个二NAI二爷啥的,但这已经不在我们讨论的办公室恋情范畴里了,可能找1818比较好。
在学校的时候,或许我们背景各异,但是面对的是共同的东西,居住的是共同的环境,所以比较容易处在一块。但进入社会后,方知彼此差距之大是几辈子都难以企及的,自然会减少甚至不再联系,这也就是爱情夭折的一个缘由。办公室恋情的好处在于自动地帮你过滤掉了那些不在同一层楼的异性,而且朝夕相处,除非是刻意隐藏自己,否则还是容易看出对方是否是自己的菜,当然貌美的总是会有更多的选择,这也没办法,人总是生而不平的,我也没法抱怨父母没给我一个考上MIT的脑子。
所以,我们只能在已经摆上桌的菜里挑自己喜欢吃的,不是吗?(点外卖的话老爸老妈可又要不高兴了)
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