Isaac: G! Act busy. Here he comes.
Giovanna: You know that I don’t like you calling me G at work. The name is Gio-vanni. at’s Italian. You know, like, the famous artist Giovanni Bellini? Oh, wait! I forgot you don’t know about something unless you google it. It’s capital G. What’s the point. Never Mind.
Isaac: He’s gone! ①The coast is clear.
Giovanna: What are you talking about? I’m working here. Here who comes?
Isaac: You know, our boss! The 1)micromanaging, passive-aggressive guy who 2)practically lives in the corner office, Carl.
Giovanna: He’s only like that to you. ②He’s always on your case because you’re not doing the things that you should be doing. That is why he is always telling you how to do every little thing.
Isaac: One day I’m going to stick it to the man. He knows that he will get what is coming to him soon.
Giovanna: Where did that come from?
Isaac: I don’t like the guy. ③Carl is always stealing credit for other people’s work.
Giovanna: ④That will never fly around here. There are so many people who would speak up if he was doing something like that. Plus, I just heard you in a meeting saying really nice things about him. What is this really all about?
Isaac: I can’t deal with him. Before the meeting he told me how good my team and I were doing. ⑤While in the meeting, he came down hard on us and said that our work wasn’t up to par and took credit for the project’s success. Doesn’t that sound passive-aggressive to you?
Giovanna: I know that you don’t adore him because of that situation, but why such a sudden turn around? Last week you were doing really well, and I saw you guys hanging out at lunch.
Isaac: OK, it is like the saying, “⑥Give someone an inch, and they will take a mile.” I told him that he could take credit for all of the management strategies in the first part of the meeting. Suddenly, he took control of the whole project and said it was all his and nothing about the team.
Giovanna: But that’s just how things work.
Isaac: I know that. I’m not stupid.
Giovanna: Well, what did you expect was going to happen?
Isaac: I just thought that it would help me get ahead.
Giovanna: That is really self-centered of you. Bosses normally take the credit to show how they can lead the group. Then they move higher up the 3)corporate ladder faster.
Isaac: I just wanted this to turn into some type of promotion or raise.
Giovanna: ⑦You should just drop it.
Isaac: That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have a wife who is having a baby. I’m worried that I won’t be able to afford things.
Giovanna: Seriously, you really need to let it go. Everything will work out just fine.
Isaac: What if it happens next time?
Giovanna: Then you can speak up about whatever you have done before it happens and tell everyone what things you contributed to the project and steal all the credit from the team.
Isaac: Be serious! This is really important to me, and I’m really unhappy about what happened.
Giovanna: Seriously, just relax. This is the real world. We’re not in school any more.
艾薩克:G! 裝忙吧!他來了。
喬凡娜:你知道我不喜歡你在工作的時(shí)候叫我G。我的名字是喬凡娜,是意大利的名字。你知道嗎,就像著名的藝術(shù)家喬凡尼·貝里尼?噢,等等!我忘記你什么事都要去谷歌搜索才知道。是大寫的G。我到底在說什么,算了。
艾薩克:他走了!安全了。
喬凡娜:你在說什么?我在這里工作,誰來了?
艾薩克:你知道,我們的頭兒!那個(gè)什么都要管、被動(dòng)攻擊型又住在角落辦公室(譯者注:corner office指公司最佳位置的高級(jí)辦公室)叫卡爾的人。
喬凡娜:他只是那樣對(duì)你。他總是找你的毛病,因?yàn)槟銢]做該做的事。這就是為什么他總是教你做每一件小事。
艾薩克:總有一天我會(huì)去收拾他。他知道很快會(huì)有報(bào)應(yīng)的。
喬凡娜:這是什么原因?
艾薩克:我不喜歡這個(gè)家伙。卡爾總是搶別人的功勞。
喬凡娜:那在這里是行不通的。如果他真的那樣做,就會(huì)有很多人站起來說話。另外,我剛剛還聽見你在一個(gè)會(huì)議上說他的好話。這到底是怎么回事?
艾薩克:我對(duì)付不了他。會(huì)議前他告訴我我和我的團(tuán)隊(duì)干得很好。在會(huì)議中,他卻對(duì)我們很苛刻,說我們的工作沒有達(dá)到標(biāo)準(zhǔn),把項(xiàng)目的成功歸功于自己。這對(duì)你來說還不夠被動(dòng)攻擊嗎?
喬凡娜:我知道你因?yàn)槟菢拥那闆r而不喜歡他,但是為什么有這么突然的轉(zhuǎn)變?上個(gè)星期你們相處得挺好,我看到你們倆一起出去吃午餐。
艾薩克:好吧,就像那句話:“得寸進(jìn)尺。”我告訴他可以在會(huì)議的第一階段把管理策略的功勞都?xì)w功在自己身上。沒想到,他包攬了整個(gè)計(jì)劃然后說這都是他的功勞,跟團(tuán)隊(duì)一點(diǎn)關(guān)系都沒有。
喬凡娜:但那就是職場法則。
艾薩克:我知道,我又不傻。
喬凡娜:好吧,你期待會(huì)有什么事情發(fā)生?
艾薩克:我只是認(rèn)為這會(huì)幫助我晉升。
喬凡娜:你太自以為是了。老板們通常都會(huì)攬功以展現(xiàn)他們是怎么領(lǐng)導(dǎo)團(tuán)隊(duì)的。然后他們在公司往上升得越快。
艾薩克:我只是想這個(gè)能轉(zhuǎn)變成一種晉升或者加薪的情況。
喬凡娜:你應(yīng)該打消這個(gè)念頭。
艾薩克:你說得輕巧。你沒有懷孕的妻子。我擔(dān)心自己不能養(yǎng)家糊口。
喬凡娜:說真的,你真的需要放開點(diǎn)。一切都會(huì)變好的。
艾薩克:如果下次再發(fā)生怎么辦?
喬凡娜:那么你可以在事情發(fā)生以前站起來說你做了什么,告訴每個(gè)人你對(duì)項(xiàng)目作出的貢獻(xiàn),把團(tuán)隊(duì)做的事情歸功于自己。
艾薩克:嚴(yán)肅點(diǎn)!這對(duì)我來說很重要,我對(duì)現(xiàn)在的遭遇很不滿意。
喬凡娜:說真的,放松點(diǎn)。這是現(xiàn)實(shí)的世界。我們已經(jīng)不在學(xué)校了。
Smart Sentences
① The coast is clear. 安全了。
the coast is clear: nobody is around and there is no danger of being caught doing sth. secretively(安全無事)。例如:
Grandma and Mom left. You can come out now. The coast is clear.
奶奶和媽媽都走了,你現(xiàn)在可以出來了,安全了。
② He’s always on your case because you’re not doing the things that you should be doing. 他總是找你的毛病,因?yàn)槟銢]做該做的事。
on sb./sth.: keeping an eye on sb./sth, looking for fault(密切關(guān)注某人/某事;找毛病)。例如:
The management has been on you about the project for the last two years.過去兩年來,管理層一直都在密切關(guān)注你的這個(gè)項(xiàng)目。
③ Carl is always stealing credit for other people’s work. 卡爾總是搶別人的功勞。
steal sb.’s credit: claim praise and recognition from others for things one has not done(把別人做的事歸功于自己)。例如:
Carol, nobody stole your credit. You did not lift a finger so your name can’t be on the list.
卡羅爾,沒有人搶你的功勞,你什么事都沒干,所以你的名字不能出現(xiàn)在名單上。
④ That will never fly around here. 那在這里是行不通的。
fly: sth. is accepted or approved(某事被認(rèn)可)。例如:This sounds reasonable, but it just won’t fly.
那聽起來很合理,不過不會(huì)通過的。
⑤ While in the meeting, he came down hard on us and said that our work wasn’t up to par and took credit for project’s success. 在會(huì)議中,他卻對(duì)我們很苛刻,說我們的工作沒有達(dá)到標(biāo)準(zhǔn),把項(xiàng)目的成功歸功于自己。
up to par: as good as the standard or average; up to standard(達(dá)到一般水平,達(dá)到標(biāo)準(zhǔn))。例如:
This batch of samples is not up to par and a new batch needs to be finished by next Monday.
這批樣品沒有達(dá)到標(biāo)準(zhǔn),新的一批必須在下周一前完成。
⑥ Give someone an inch, and they will take a mile. 得寸進(jìn)尺。
give sb. an inch and they’ll take a mile: some people will never be satisfied(有些人永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)滿足,得寸進(jìn)尺)。例如:
After I let Ted use my car to pick up his wife from the airport, he wanted to borrow it for the Christmas holiday. Some people, you give them an inch and they will take a mile.
泰德借我的車去機(jī)場接妻子后,他又想在圣誕假期借車。有些人啊,真是得寸進(jìn)尺。
⑦ You should just drop it. 你應(yīng)該打消這個(gè)念頭。
drop it/sth.: give up an idea(放棄某個(gè)想法)。例如:
The decision was made to drop the subject for a while.
決定已經(jīng)下來了,先把這事擱一下。