Bartleby

The decline of the office romance

辦公室戀情的減少

Fewer romantic relationships will be forged at the water cooler. That is a shame

在飲水機(jī)旁建立的戀愛(ài)關(guān)系變少了。這真是一種遺憾

Aug 15th 2020 |

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.

愛(ài)情是辦公室生活長(zhǎng)期存在的副效應(yīng)。畢竟，人們可能會(huì)把醒著的一半時(shí)間花在工作上，他們的同事經(jīng)常會(huì)和他們有一些共同點(diǎn)，即使只是抱怨經(jīng)理。有些關(guān)系（愛(ài)情）是不可避免的必然結(jié)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（疫情帶來(lái)的）封鎖讓新戀情的形成變得更加困難。盡管線上約會(huì)在大流行中蓬勃發(fā)展，但是通過(guò)“Zoom會(huì)議（類(lèi)似于騰訊會(huì)議，釘釘這種）”平臺(tái)工作來(lái)結(jié)識(shí)他們的靈魂伴侶的人數(shù)卻是少得可憐。當(dāng)你的面部表情被十幾個(gè)同事觀察時(shí)，你很難調(diào)情。公司視頻會(huì)議軟件的私人聊天功能到底有多私密，真的能做到私密嗎?

詞匯

Flirt/調(diào)情；玩弄

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，即使在大流行之前，辦公室戀情也在減少。根據(jù)斯坦福大學(xué)的一項(xiàng)研究，1995年，19%的異性戀者是在工作中遇到他們的伴侶的。到2017年，這一比例降至11%。現(xiàn)在會(huì)更低。由于白領(lǐng)們?cè)诩夜ぷ鞯臅r(shí)間越來(lái)越長(zhǎng)，而在辦公室工作的時(shí)間越來(lái)越少——即使在病毒消退之后，這種情況仍有可能出現(xiàn)——辦公室戀情的機(jī)會(huì)也會(huì)減少。

詞匯

Dwindle/減少；變小

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.

下降的一個(gè)原因是，公司已經(jīng)意識(shí)到工作關(guān)系會(huì)引發(fā)各種道德問(wèn)題。老板和他的秘書(shū)結(jié)婚(或者醫(yī)生和護(hù)士約會(huì))是最老套的想法之一?？杀氖牵@一比借代此根深蒂固，以至于秘書(shū)和護(hù)士們花了幾十年的時(shí)間來(lái)抵御上級(jí)不必要的關(guān)注。正如“我也是”運(yùn)動(dòng)【一項(xiàng)女性爭(zhēng)取權(quán)力的運(yùn)動(dòng)（自己去年有文章翻譯過(guò)）】所表明的，一些男性利用他們的權(quán)力地位騷擾為他們工作的女性。

詞匯

Trope/ ?比喻；修辭；轉(zhuǎn)義

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.

兩廂情愿的關(guān)系也會(huì)帶來(lái)問(wèn)題。與下屬的關(guān)系使得管理者很難客觀地評(píng)價(jià)他們的表現(xiàn)。同事們可以理解地懷疑經(jīng)理徇私。如果浪漫關(guān)系破裂，情況可能會(huì)同樣糟糕。受傷害的感情可能會(huì)讓前伴侶很難在一起工作，也會(huì)讓辦公室里的其他人感到尷尬。

詞匯

Consensual/交感的；在雙方同意下成立的

Favouritism/徇私；偏愛(ài)

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.

其結(jié)果是，許多公司制定了政策，不鼓勵(lì)或禁止經(jīng)理與為其工作的人調(diào)情。去年，人們將辦公室關(guān)系歸咎于史蒂夫?伊斯特布魯克(Steve Easterbrook)辭去麥當(dāng)勞(McDonald 's)首席執(zhí)行官一職;這家快餐公司本周對(duì)伊斯特布魯克提起了訴訟。

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.

有些公司完全禁止辦公室戀情。其他機(jī)構(gòu)則發(fā)出指引，例如規(guī)定雇員不應(yīng)容許與同事的關(guān)系影響其工作行為，以及雇員應(yīng)披露任何可能引致利益沖突的關(guān)系。這些規(guī)則看起來(lái)非常合理，盡管它們確實(shí)涉及到隱私的犧牲。

詞匯

Stipulation/規(guī)定；約定；條款

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).

如果雙方的關(guān)系是有一定距離隔閡的，其中一些問(wèn)題是可以避免的:如果人們是在工作中認(rèn)識(shí)他們的伴侶，而不是在同一間辦公室。但是；顯然，如果采購(gòu)經(jīng)理與供應(yīng)商的銷(xiāo)售人員約會(huì)，問(wèn)題仍然存在。但在大多數(shù)情況下，這些（非同一辦公室職員之間的）戀情避免了潛在的徇私或?yàn)E用權(quán)力的問(wèn)題。24年前，巴特比很幸運(yùn)地通過(guò)工作結(jié)識(shí)了自己的另一半(這段時(shí)間證明了巴特比夫人的無(wú)限耐心)。

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.

出于這個(gè)原因，我們或許可以原諒這位專(zhuān)欄作家希望辦公室戀情不會(huì)完全消失。數(shù)以百萬(wàn)計(jì)的幸福夫妻可能在他們的辦公桌或咖啡機(jī)旁見(jiàn)過(guò)面。也許，無(wú)視公司規(guī)定會(huì)讓情侶們感到興奮。但他們可能不得不小心翼翼:正如威廉·莎士比亞在《無(wú)事生非》中所寫(xiě)的那樣:“說(shuō)愛(ài)就要小聲點(diǎn)?！币簿褪钦f(shuō)，愛(ài)情小說(shuō)可能需要一些更新來(lái)應(yīng)對(duì)大流行后期時(shí)代。

詞匯

Buzz/唧唧喳喳的談話聲；（愉快或興奮等）強(qiáng)烈情感