又談職場“閃辭”

Hunter： Dude！ Savannah， guess what？ You’re not going to believe this. I got the job！ I was waiting for this for so long. I really can’t believe I actually got it.

Savannah： Be quiet！ ①You can’t be serious. You really got the job？

Hunter： It’s true. Why would I be lying to you？ You know that you’re one of my best friends here. However， I’m a bit worried.

Savannah： What？ Why’s that？ ②You could have fooled me. You sound so excited about this job. It’s not like you’ve been talking about this for months with me.

Hunter： Real funny. You know that I’ve been looking for jobs for some time. It has been so hard to find a job now that we’ve graduated from uni. You know that one job that I just got an offer from last week？

Savannah： Yeah？ What about it？ I’m all ears.

Hunter： Well， last week they told me that the offer was good till Friday if I wanted this entry-level job position for a year.

Savannah： So？ What happened？

Hunter： You’ll think this is funny. I took the job because I hadn’t found anything for so long， and I actually sign a 1）contract with them this morning to start work next week. But the other job also starts next week.

Savannah： What did you do？ Did you also tell the other job that you’d work for them？

Hunter： Well， not exactly. I went to their office today and signed a contract with them to start work with them on Monday， but it’s OK because I will go to the other place tomorrow to quit that job.

Savannah： You can’t be serious， Hunter. ③Act your age！

Hunter： What？ What’s wrong with that？ People do this all the time. Employers don’t really care about it.

Savannah： Are you other people？ No！ Just because others do it， should you？

Hunter： Come on.

Savannah： OK， let me pose a question.

Hunter： Shoot！ What’s the question？

Savannah： If everyone jumps off a bridge， would you？

Hunter： You already know the answer. We’ve all heard that one before.

Savannah： ④So， why don’t you think that you need to keep your word？

Hunter： It’s not really a big deal you know.

Savannah： It is a big deal.

Hunter： I haven’t started working for them.

Savannah： ⑤You gave them your word， and not only that， you signed a contract. Those aren’t easy to get out of. Just the other day I saw a story in the paper about someone who signed a contract to work for a company and couldn’t 2）terminate the contract. They ended up looking so bad that they couldn’t find another job， and no one wanted to give them a job afterwards.

Hunter： That’s different though. I haven’t started work yet.

Savannah： People don’t want to hire someone who isn’t 3）committed to a job. In fact， if I was going to hire you and you said this， I wouldn’t even hire you if I wanted to.

Hunter： Why’s that？

Savannah： You don’t know？

Hunter： Tell me.

Savannah： It’s like this. This job is good for you today. But after training you， you up and leave. So I have to pay you for doing very little work for me. Let’s say you stay a month. Training is over， and you stay a month. I still haven’t made any profit off of you. ⑥I don’t want to hire someone who flakes out on a job. If you give someone your word， you have to keep it.

Hunter： Fine.

亨特：天啊！薩凡娜，你猜怎么著？你肯定不會相信。我得到這份工作了！我等了太長時間了。我真的不相信自己確實得到了這份工作。

薩凡娜：安靜點！你不是認真的吧。你真的得到那份工作了？

亨特：是真的。我為什么要騙你？你知道你是我在這兒最好的朋友之一。但是，我有點擔心。

薩凡娜：什么？為什么那樣？這難以置信，你聽起來對這份工作很期待。不像你這幾個月來一直跟我說起這事的語氣。

亨特：真的很滑稽。你知道我一直在找工作。我們大學畢業后一直很難找到工作。你知道我上星期接到錄取通知書的那份工作嗎？

薩凡娜：嗯？怎么了？我洗耳恭聽。

亨特：好吧，上個星期他們告訴我如果我愿意干這份初級的工作一年，那么我周五前回復都是可以的。

薩凡娜：所以呢？發生什么事了？

亨特：你會覺得這很有趣。我接受這份工作是因為我很長時間都沒有找到工作，事實上我今天早上和他們簽了合同，下星期上班。但是另一份工作也是下星期開始。

薩凡娜：你做了什么？你也告訴另外一份工作的（負責人）你會為他們工作嗎？

亨特：嗯，也不是這樣。我今天去了他們的辦公室，跟他們簽了合同，星期一開始工作。但是沒關系，因為我明天會去另外一個地方把工作辭掉。薩凡娜：你不是認真的吧，亨特，不要像孩子似的！

亨特：什么？那樣做有什么問題？大家總是這樣做。雇主不會真的介意。薩凡娜：你是別人嗎？不是！只是因為別人這樣做，你就應該這樣做？

亨特：得了吧。

薩凡娜：好吧，讓我問一個問題。

亨特：說吧！什么問題？

薩凡娜：如果每個人都跳橋，你會去跳嗎？

亨特：你已經知道答案了。我們以前就聽過這個問題。薩凡娜：那么，你為什么不認為自己應該守信？

亨特：你知道這不是什么大事。

薩凡娜：這是大事。

亨特：我還沒有開始為他們工作。

薩凡娜：你答應了他們，不僅這樣，你還簽了合同。那這些事都不是那么容易脫身的。就在前幾天我在報紙上看到一個報道，說一個人跟公司簽了勞動合同后不能解除那份合同。他們后來給人的印象很差，不能找到另一份工作，此后沒人愿意雇用他們。

亨特：但情況是不同的，我還沒開始工作呢。

薩凡娜：人們不愿意雇用一個對工作不上心的人。事實上，如果我打算雇用你而你這樣說的話，我即使曾經想過雇用你也會打消這個念頭。

亨特：為什么？

薩凡娜：你不知道嗎？

亨特：告訴我。

薩凡娜：事情是這樣的，這份工作現在對你來說有吸引力，但是培訓你之后，你得到了提升就要離開。那么我就要支付你做了那么點工作的薪水。讓我們假設你留一個月。培訓結束了，你只待一個月，我還沒有從你身上獲得任何利益。我不想雇用一個工作不著調的人。如果你答應了別人，你就應該守信。

亨特：好吧。

Smart Sentences

① You can’t be serious. 你不是認真的吧。

You can’t be serious： used to express doubts at what one has just learned（用以表達對剛剛知曉內容的質疑）。例如：

Hillary quit？ You can’t be serious. She just got promoted last month.

希拉里辭職了？你不是說真的吧？她上個月才得到了晉升。

② You could have fooled me. 這難以置信。

You could have fooled me.： used to express disbelief about sth. you just saw， heard or experienced （用以表達對剛剛看到、聽到、經歷過的某件事情的懷疑）。例如：

Are you serious？ You could’ve fooled me.

你是認真的嗎？難以置信。

③ Act your age！ 不要像孩子似的！

act one’s age： used to tell sb. to behave more maturely and don’t be childish（用以告訴某人舉止要與年齡相稱，不要小孩子氣）。例如：

Come on， don’t be such a baby. Act your age！

好了，別像個小孩子，想想你都多大了！

④ So， why don’t you think that you need to keep your word？ 那么，你為什么不認為自己應該守信？

keep one’s word： uphold one’s promise（守信）。例如：My dad always kept his word and never let anyone down.我父親一直都很守信，從來沒讓任何人失望過。

⑤ You gave them your word， and not only that， you signed a contract. 你答應了他們，不僅這樣，你還簽了合同。

give sb. one’s word： promise seriously and sincerely（鄭重承諾）。例如：

Sarah， you can take a week off after the project. I give you my word.

薩拉，我答應你， 你在完成這個項目后可以休息一周。

⑥ I don’t want to hire someone who flakes out on a job. 我不想雇用一個工作不著調的人。

flake out： simply not show up（無故缺席）。例如：

Sorry， I can’t drink tonight. I have an important presentation tomorrow and I can’t just flake out.

抱歉，我今晚不能喝酒。我明天有一個重要的演示，不能無故缺席。