Handle Special Occasions with Co-Workers

陳豪在北京的ABC美國公司工作，他在休息室里遇到了美國同事Amy。

(Office ambience)

CH：Hi Amy, how are you?

A：I'm fine, thank you. And you?

CH：還好。

A：So why the puzzled look on your face?

C：今天早上接到我的同事Sue的電子郵件，說想給另外一個同事Lyn開40歲的birthday party，生日派對。

A：Oh, how nice. What are the details of the party?

C：Sue要組織大家星期五在樓下的意大利餐館吃飯，而且還得帶個禮物去。

A：How do you feel about that?

C：我覺得有點尷尬。我跟Lyn并不熟，不知道該給她買點什么，另外我也不知道花多少錢合適。

A：I agree that these occasions can be uncomfortable, especially when you don't know the person well or you are asked to buy a gift.

C：那我是不是應該給Sue發個email回絕算了呢？

A：This is not the time to send an e-mail. Your words might be misunderstood. You need to discuss this and e-mail does not lend itself to discussion.

C：要不我就說星期五已經安排了其他事兒？

A：That's not a good idea, especially if everyone else in your department is participating. Talk to Sue.

C：那好吧。

******

第二天，陳豪在辦公室走廊上遇到了Amy.

A：Hi, Chen Hao. How did it go? Did you talk to Sue?

C：我昨天下午去找Sue，跟她說了我的顧慮。

A：I'm curious to know what happened.

C：談得還不錯。她說另外還有幾個人找過她，提出了各種問題。

A：Like what?

C：有的人說跟Lyn不熟, 買禮物好像不太合適。但是大家并不介意湊份子，一起給Lyn買個像樣的禮物。

A：Sometimes with these events, people aren't sure how much to spend, like you, and they don't want to come off looking stingy or cheap. Occasionally someone just doesn't have any extra money to spend on an unanticipated expense.

C：其實我手頭也有點緊。

A：So did you work things out?

C：Sue決定大家一起湊錢給Lyn買禮物，每人只要交幾塊錢就行了。她還說，如果有人不愿意，也沒有關系。

A：That sounds like you all came up with the perfect solution. It is always nice to recognize special occasions in the office, like birthdays, weddings and the arrival of babies.

C：不過我覺得，辦公室里遇到這種事情，應該有一個大家都覺得合適的做法。

A：I agree. These occasions are opportunities to build relationships with our co-workers, get to know each other outside the office and have some fun together. B if everyone is not in agreement, you'll create ill will instead of good will.