Friday afternoon,a stack of paper six inches thick sat on my desk.I laid a ruler on the top of the sheet,using it to keep my place.I was a senior financial analyst at the biggest bank in Minneapolis,and my division was responsible for a billion dollars.Every number had to add up.But that's not what worried me.My mind kept wandering to a bigger problem:what my manager would say when I told him I was expecting my first child.
周五下午，一疊6寸厚的文件在我辦公桌上放著。我在最上邊放了一根尺子，以表明工作進(jìn)度。我在明尼阿波斯市最大的銀行工作，是一個高級金融分析師。我的部門負(fù)責(zé)10億美元的業(yè)務(wù)，每一筆款項都必須計算進(jìn)去。但是，這并不令我擔(dān)憂。我心中不停地想著另一個更大的問題：當(dāng)我告訴經(jīng)理說我已懷上第一個孩子時，他會說什么？
My due date meant I'd miss next year's entire budget season.Dan,my hard-driving boss,would never understand.He was so work-obsessed he practically ate three meals a day at his desk.Today he looked utterly exhausted,rushing to pack his briefcase full of work to take home.Does he have any time for his family!I wondered.Will I!
我的預(yù)產(chǎn)期意味著，我將不能參加明年的整個預(yù)算工作。我的老板丹是永遠(yuǎn)不會理解的，他對下屬特別苛嚴(yán)，簡直是把人當(dāng)驢使。他是一個工作狂，一天三頓幾乎都是在辦公桌上吃的。今天他看上去極度疲勞。他匆匆忙忙地往他的公文箱里塞滿文件，準(zhǔn)備帶回家去干。我納悶：他還有時間顧及家庭嗎？我會有時間料理我的家事嗎？
I thought of talking to Mike,my team leader.Mike went home at 5 o'clock almost every night.He had two boys and a wife who went to school in the evenings.“I've got to be on time for the second shift at home”he joked.His cubicle was plastered with pictures of his children on the jungle gym he had built for them and T-ball team he coached and the family dressed up for church on Easter.
我想和邁克談一談，他是我的組長。邁克幾乎每天下午5點就下班回家。他有兩個男孩，太太要上夜校。“我得趕緊回家，以便能按時在家上下一個班。”他開玩笑說。他的隔間里貼著三張照片，一張是他的孩子們在他親手為他們做的攀援游戲架上玩耍，一張是他擔(dān)任教練的足球阻截手訓(xùn)練隊的照片，還有一張是復(fù)活節(jié)全家穿著盛裝準(zhǔn)備去教堂前的合影。
Even before I knew I was pregnant,he had said to me,“You can get your work done and leave on time.Just figure out what's important to you.Everything else follows from there.”But Dan was my real boss.You kept his hours.I couldn't postpone our talk much longer-I had to start wearing maternity dresses.Pushing aside the stack of paper,I got up.Just then,Dan's assistant dropped a memo off at my desk.We were supposed to run a new set of numbers on our report.“Have them sent to me by Monday”Dan wrote.
甚至在我知道有了身孕之前，他曾對我說過：“你可以把工作做完按時回家。弄清楚什么對你來說是重要的，其他的事可隨其后。”可是，丹才是我的老板，你得遵從他的時間按排。我不能再推遲和丹之間的談話了--我馬上要穿孕婦服。我把那疊文件往旁邊推了推，站起身來。就在此時，丹的助手在我桌子上放了一份備忘錄。我們被要求在報告中將一組新的數(shù)字包括進(jìn)去。“下周一交給我。”他寫道。
I glanced at the clock.The mainframe computer was already shut down for the weekend.Making the changes by Monday meant doing them by hand on Saturday.I heard the angry voices of my teammates in Mike's office,so headed over.“It'll take at least eight hours to plug in those numbers,and the figures might not even be right”I said.Another analyst said“Dan did this just to make us work a Saturday…”“We don't need to”Mike said,smiling as he leaned back in his chair.“I'll run a program first thing Monday when the computer comes back up.And I'll explain things to Dan on Tuesday.The extra day means there won't be any mistakes.”
我看了一分鐘。主機(jī)計算機(jī)已經(jīng)關(guān)閉，因為是周末。周一前改好報告意味著要在周六用手工來做。此時，我聽到邁克辦公室中傳出氣憤的大聲說話的聲音，就走了過去。“要加進(jìn)這些數(shù)字至少要用8小時，而且數(shù)字還不一定準(zhǔn)確。”我說。另一位分析師說：“丹讓我們干這個就是不讓我們周六休息……”“我們不需要這樣做，”邁克背靠椅子笑著說，“下周一，電腦一啟動，我首先運行一個程序。周二我會對丹解釋。多加一天可以保證不出任何差錯。”
I had a terrible weekend.Mike probably played ball with his boys,but I barely slept.After this,how would Dan view my mater nity leave!
我過了一個糟糕的周末。邁克或許跟他的孩子們打球去了，可我卻無法入睡。在此違抗上司命令事件之后，丹會如何看待我的產(chǎn)假呢？
Monday,Mike finished running the program before I came in.I checked the information for my division,skipping lunch to go over it all.I kept envisioning Dan exploding in anger the next morning.Tuesday,I arrived before the rest of the team.I poured a cup of coffee and sat in my cubicle.Dan stalked in.“Get in my office”he said without looking at me.“Now”I sat down across from him,sitting on my shaking hands.His eyes narrowed.“I wanted those reports yesterday so I could get my notes ready.If that meant working on a Saturday,that is normal at your level of responsibility.Instead,you deliberately disobeyed me.”
周一，邁克在我上班之前就運行了那個程序。我核校我的部門的有關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)，連中午飯都沒有顧得上吃，一直堅持到干完。我一直想像著第二天早上丹盛怒的模樣。周二，我比其他同事來得都早。我倒了一杯咖啡，在我的隔間坐下。丹高視闊步地走了過來。“到我辦公室來一趟，”他正眼都不瞧我一眼，“馬上過來！”我坐在他對面，顫料的手壓在大腿下面。他瞇起眼睛說：“我昨天需要那些報告，以使用來寫我的發(fā)言提綱。如果那意味著你周六要干活的話，這是你責(zé)任分內(nèi)的事，是正常的。相反，你卻故意違抗。”
I struggled to hold back my tears.That was when Mike breezed in with the new report.“Here we go,Dan”he said plopping it on his desk.“Guaranteed accurate down to the decimal.To me that was worth taking an extra day.”Dan flipped through the pages.“Why didn't you work on Saturday to finish this!”“It seemed like a huge waste when we could just use the computer and get is right”Mike said“so we waited until Monday.I had to follow my own judgment.”Dan stared at the top page for a long while,then nodded.At that moment the tension went out of the room like air going out of a balloon.We spent the rest of the morning helping Dan prepare for the meeting.He even cracked a smile.
我極力克制著自己的淚水。正在這時，邁克飄然而進(jìn)，手里拿著新的報告。“丹，給，”他啪的一聲把報告放在桌子上。“保證準(zhǔn)確無誤，分毫不差。在我看來，一天的耽誤是值得的。”丹快速地翻看報告。“為什么你們不在周六完成？”“那會是對人力的巨大浪費，因為這活兒我們可以用電腦來做，而且準(zhǔn)確性高，”邁克說，“這樣，我們就推到了周一做。我得遵循我自己的判斷。”丹花了很長時間看第一面，然后點了點頭。在那一刻，緊張的氣氛頓時煙消云散，就像氣球泄氣那樣。我們用了整個上午幫著丹為會議做準(zhǔn)備，他甚至咧嘴笑了。
That afternoon he called us into his office and said“The executive committee felt our presentation was the most thorough.”We all congratulated each other as if there had never been a problem.Later,finally on my way to talk to Dan about my pregnancy,I stopped by Mike's cubicle.There he was,working as had as ever,surrounded by the photos of his boys,his T-ball team,his family on Easter Sunday.They weren't a distraction.They were his inspiration.That's why he didn't make time wasting decisions or worry about his status and office politics.He had his priorities right:faith,family,then work.And because of that he was good at all three.
那天下午，丹把我們叫到辦公室，對我們說：“董事會認(rèn)為我們的陳述最為全面縝密。”我們互相祝賀，就好像根本沒有發(fā)生過不愉快的事情。過后，當(dāng)我最終要去找丹談我身孕之事時，我順便去了下邁克的隔間。他在那兒，和以往一樣努力地工作著，周圍貼著孩子們。阻截手訓(xùn)練隊和復(fù)活節(jié)全家福的照片，這些不是分心的東西，而是他力量的源泉。正因為如此，他從不做浪費時間的決策，從來不把自己的地位或辦公室政治放在心上。他對輕重緩急心中自有原則：信仰口家庭，然后才是工作。正因為如此，他在三方面都很成功。
“Thanks,Mike,for everything you did.”“It was just a report”he said.“No,it was more than that”I said.I'd gotten my priorities straight.Now I was ready to tell my boss the good news.
“邁克，謝謝你為我做的一切。”“不就是一份報告嘛。”他說。“不，不僅是報告。”我說。此時，我也有了自己的輕重緩急的原則。我這就去告訴老板我的那個好消息。