我在中國的第一份工作

文、圖/Vinnie Apicella 譯/安落實

Vinnie Apicella，美國籍，專業(yè)顧問、教師和作家，畢業(yè)于哥倫比亞大學，擁有新聞學、傳播學和工商管理學位

通往遠洋國際中心的入口給我留下了深刻的印象。門前有四棟現(xiàn)代化的豪華辦公大樓。后來我才發(fā)現(xiàn)，亞馬遜（中國）和雅虎也在那里設(shè)有辦事處。大堂裝飾考究，穿著得體的工作人員會引導你乘坐電梯到達目的地。來到新辦公室后，我站在前臺，環(huán)顧四周。此時是上午8點半，大部分員工還沒到。這是A公司的總部，雖然我以前從未在美國聽說過這家公司，但該公司顯然在電子商務(wù)領(lǐng)域表現(xiàn)相當出色。這里將是我未來的新“家”。

這不再是一個夢，我終于實現(xiàn)了——我現(xiàn)在就在北京，準備開始我的新工作，為實現(xiàn)未來的目標而努力。

遲到得罰款？

我感到既興奮又緊張。當蘇珊跟我打招呼時，我有點吃驚。幾周前，當我還在美國時，我們還只是通過電話交談。奇怪的是，當你通過電話與某人交談卻不知道對方長什么樣時，你會根據(jù)對方的聲音、說話方式等在腦海里去想象這個人的樣子。所以，當我們第一次見面時，我很失望，因為她不像我想象得那樣漂亮。但不管怎樣，我們終于見面了，她會引導我走完剩下的路，并幫助我適應(yīng)新工作。

我很感激她的幫助。實際上，她是個ABC（出生在美國的華人）。而且她對我們這個小組中的大多數(shù)人都有點傲慢和居高臨下的意味。我想一些人認為當經(jīng)理就意味著是“控制狂”。我很早就在她身上以及從那時起我在這里遇到的每一個有“經(jīng)理”頭銜的人身上發(fā)現(xiàn)了這種特征。上午9時，一撥又一撥的人們沖到前門刷卡或者“打卡”（我們在美國的說法），“嘟嘟聲”不斷響起。我茫然地看著他們一個個魚貫而入，然后急匆匆奔向他們的工作區(qū)。我后來才知道，公司有著嚴格的規(guī)定，員工必須在9點之前開始上班，而不是9:01、9:02或者更晚。如果一個人在一個月內(nèi)遲到三次以上，將會受到經(jīng)濟處罰。當我被告知這一點時，我簡直不敢相信。

“他們可以通過扣工資來懲罰你嗎？”我問我的同事。

“是的，這里有嚴格的規(guī)定。遲到就是遲到了，不管遲到多久。如果你遲到了，他們有權(quán)力懲罰你。不過不是很多，大概50元?！?/p>

我心想，“不多嗎？”

我坐在那里沉思了一會兒。這在美國是聞所未聞的。無論出于任何原因，公司都不能通過扣工資來懲罰員工。如果這樣做，公司就違法了。

從這次簡短的交談中，可以了解到中美兩國在工作場所的一個重大差異，在我的同事看來，這是很正常的事情，我想所有其他中國員工也是如此認為的。但我認為，這不是對一個遲到員工的罰款那么簡單，它還導致了一系列對整個社會產(chǎn)生負面影響的事件，比如混亂的交通狀況和頻繁的人事變動。

我們的編輯團隊由當?shù)氐闹袊撕屯鈬私M成，外國人中主要是美國人，也有幾個英國人。我被聘為高級文案，簽了三年工作合同。我們的編輯團隊負責為公司的網(wǎng)站（也就是在線商鋪）撰寫和編輯文案，而我的職責是監(jiān)督他們。對了，我剛剛講到有美國人和英國人，所以我得看一看寫作風格指南，弄清楚他們使用的標準。我們都知道，英國英語和美國英語在某些單詞的拼寫和含義上有差異。

上班后的第一天，我被告知我們沒有寫作指南。沒有寫作指南？我簡直無法理解，為什么一個面向海外買家的電子商務(wù)公司竟然沒有一份寫作指南供編輯團隊參考。所以我向部門經(jīng)理反映了這個問題，經(jīng)理同意制定一個寫作指南。因為寫作指南有助于保持公司的寫作和創(chuàng)作內(nèi)容的一致性。遵循寫作指南中的要求，可以讓你在客戶面前顯得更專業(yè)。

在來到中國的幾個月前，我決定放棄在美國相當成功的職業(yè)生涯。我來到這里是因為我很久以前就想到中國探索未來，包括創(chuàng)辦企業(yè)和重新開始我的人生。我要成為一個與眾不同的人，為人們提供一些有價值的東西，并因此受到人們的贊賞。在美國，跟世界上其他許多地方一樣，三十來歲的人基本上已經(jīng)規(guī)劃好了自己的人生，有了比較穩(wěn)定的工作和生活。對我而言卻不是這樣，我走了一條不同的道路。

所以，離開美國是我自己作出的決定。這份工作使我受到一些鼓舞，讓我一到中國就有了努力的目標和方向。但無論如何我都會來的。

我在2011年2月的第三個星期到了中國，我先去上?？戳艘恍┡笥?，然后到無錫去看了我的公寓，最后到了北京。我覺得精神煥發(fā)，準備開始我的新冒險。從那之后，經(jīng)常有人問我，如果我有機會重新來一次的話，我是否還會作出同樣的決定，我的回答是“不會”。

多好的商業(yè)模式??！

雖然在我之前來中國的幾次經(jīng)歷中，對中國的工作環(huán)境以及我的中國朋友們工作有多拼命已經(jīng)有了一定的認知，但是這份在A公司的新工作對我而言仍是嚴峻的考驗。我不認為這是一個典型的中國公司，因為有許多外國人在那里工作，公司很需要他們。作為一家全球性的電子商務(wù)公司，公司的消費群體完全位于中國境外。他們的商業(yè)模式很簡單：先在中國以低成本制造產(chǎn)品，然后通過網(wǎng)站批發(fā)給外國買家。通過直接銷售，他們不需要雇用中間人，因此可以給買家很大的折扣。

“多好的商業(yè)模式啊！”當我還在新澤西家中的臥室里做編輯測試時，心里想道。這個公司給我的編輯測試是我們的面試過程的一部分。當然，阿里巴巴平臺也是做類似的生意，但不知是什么原因，我認識的大多數(shù)人都知道阿里巴巴，但人們對這家公司卻沒有什么印象。

現(xiàn)在你知道我已經(jīng)通過了面試，并且隨后被聘為編輯團隊的高級文案。公司的人力資源部門聯(lián)系了我，通過幾次夜間電話交流商定了我的工資和福利待遇。我喜歡她的講話態(tài)度，并且對于能夠在這樣的電子商務(wù)公司工作充滿了激情。我以前從來沒有這樣想過，所以對我來說，能夠在一個提供相當體面的薪酬、并且經(jīng)營非常專業(yè)的“全球化”公司里工作，似乎是一個不錯的機會。

在辦公室，大家都非常友善和熱情。我很快就認識了我的同事們，我們經(jīng)常一起出去吃午飯，包括外國和中國同事。我認為不管你在任何地方，一定要敢于走出自己的舒適區(qū)去嘗試新的東西。事實上我和我的中國同事相處得很好，而且在工作之余，我們也經(jīng)常在一起，比如共進午餐或者參加周末的社交活動。從他們身上我學到了很多東西。作為高級文案，我的工作是審核在網(wǎng)站上發(fā)布的所有書面材料，給不同的作者分配任務(wù)，并確保一切文案都能夠很好的呈現(xiàn)。我之前有過做編輯的經(jīng)驗，所以這對我來說只是換了一種形式而已，而且是我喜歡的形式。第一個月，一切都進展得很順利。如果我們能夠一直保持這種勢頭的話，我想我們可以使公司的網(wǎng)站和促銷頁面變得越來越好。

但這只是“如果”……

第二個月，我被調(diào)到了客戶服務(wù)部門。到第三個月月底，我就離開了。

所以，我在北京的前三個月竟然變成了一次充滿希望卻又布滿陷阱的冒險。我有一半的時間住在旅社，睡在一張木床上，幾乎所有的晚餐都在肯德基解決。我簽了三年的高級文案的合同，卻在一個月后被降職，三個月后被免職，公司給出的理由是“未能達到試用期的要求”。在租用新公寓和配置家具方面，我花的錢比預期的要多得多。在美國，我們是按月支付房租的。愚蠢的是，我以為在中國也是這樣，所以當房東讓我預付三個月租金的時候，我有些吃驚。由于這些事情的發(fā)生，我在中國的生活一開始并不順利。

正當我覺得自己一切都已經(jīng)安排妥當?shù)臅r候，我開始在資金上捉襟見肘，所以我需要重新找一份工作。我覺得一切都要靠自己，這個地方突然讓我覺得很陌生。

如果說在A公司的這段工作經(jīng)歷讓我感到困惑和憤怒，這只是一種輕描淡寫的說法而已。然而，這種變化是如何發(fā)生的以及為什么會發(fā)生，也是給我好好上了一課，使我靜下來思考該公司的內(nèi)部運作方式，以便為以后找工作做準備。正如我后來了解到的，我在A公司的經(jīng)歷并不是一種偶發(fā)事件，這樣的事情在許多公司都是很常見的。但在當時我有點不知所措。從美國來到北京接受這份工作，我在那里只待了三個月，他們沒有征求管理層的意見就一腳把我踢開了。而我的確滿足了這份工作的要求，我不接受這種借口。那么為什么會發(fā)生這種事呢？我從不同的人那里得到了不同的答案。但根據(jù)我的推斷，最有可能的原因就是，他們不再需要“高級文案”了，也不想再支付這份薪水了。

顯然，他們一開始花了大價錢雇用了我，后來覺得我的工作并不是那么重要。當然，我從已經(jīng)成為朋友的一些前同事那里聽說的一些小道消息得知，由于雇用我的成本較高，我也更容易被他們拋棄。所以他們在我轉(zhuǎn)為正式員工之前，也就是必須支付向我承諾的全部工資和福利之前，把我辭退了。

不過，在這段時間里，我很幸運地找到了一所當?shù)氐恼Z言學校去學習中文。所以在最初的幾個月里，每周在那里學習幾個晚上就成了我日常生活中令人愉快的一部分。

北京是一個很大的城市。直到我生活在這里，并親自從微觀角度看到它，我才意識到它究竟有多大。在那個夏天快要結(jié)束的時候，那個第一次把我從美國召喚過來的招聘人員又給我找到了一個工作機會。

我打算繼續(xù)前進，努力適應(yīng)這個城市，了解這里的商業(yè)環(huán)境，等待更好的機會出現(xiàn)。

這里出現(xiàn)的文章是從我的新書《逃離美國》中摘錄的。這是一個美國人渴望改變自己的生活，在中國規(guī)劃未來的故事，記錄了他旅行前后的經(jīng)歷。本書試圖呈現(xiàn)給讀者的是一個經(jīng)驗豐富的學者、旅行者和商人的深入分析，他對中美兩國的相似性、差異和改進方法發(fā)表了獨特的見解。

如果您想了解更多我在中國的故事和發(fā)展，請登錄我的咨詢服務(wù)網(wǎng)站：www.edgestudentsuccess.com

Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I heard so many negative things about China from friends from university that I started feeling like China’s unwitting defender during the ensuing debates. Sometimes I would try to correct what I perceived as crazy misconceptions or biased or inaccurate media depictions.The craziest thing is when I found myself doing what I have always found to be a frustrating cheapshot - using the dreaded“You don’t understand!” or even worse “You can’t understand!”To me, what such declarations usually really mean when used against me, is that the other person has run out of logical arguments for his or her position and is therefore feeling vulnerable due to their collapsing claim.

Now somewhat hypocritically, I found myself resorting to "You don’t understand," because some people really just did not understand with the limited amount of information they were operating on. Sometimes just to explain a simple point, might require such a large investment of time as to just not make it worth it, especially if I viewed this person as somewhat close minded.

It hurt to see, that some of my friends sounded like racists,though nowadays, I think lots of those cases can more aptly be labeled as ignorance, misinformation and an unwillingness to explore or experience things for themselves, therefore they rely on news stories with agendas or second hand accounts and stereotypes.

Don’t close your eyes, please be open-mind.

Is it fog?

China hasn’t been good for my allergies. Explaining that I didn’t have a cold, but rather was experiencing problems with allergies has been an exercise in patience. Even more exasperating was talking about pollution and air quality in China during my first few years. At that time most of the people I got close to and interacted with hardly ever seemed to acknowledge this problematic phenomenon. “It’s mist/fog, not smog” is the caption I sarcastically used when emailing a series of pictures to some contacts outside of China showing the extreme reduced visibility outside of my apartment.I’ve always maintained that I love or can somewhat tolerate just about everything I’ve encountered in China other than the pollution. Words can’t describe my feelings about the environment, but numbers can－2.5 out of 10.

I can’t recall schools ever being closed due to pollution in those years, but that has happened recently. Why? is it because the air is getting worse? No, I believe it’s due to more open discussion and sincere efforts to deal with this problem. Now we have alerts and color codes according to the air quality that day.Awareness has gone through the roof－PM2.5－is there a person in China who can put together a coherent sentence, and doesn’t know what this is?

When did the shift take place?

I wasn’t aware of the prevalence of either tobacco or alcohol in China. I often felt coerced into drinking way beyond my capacity and meals with colleagues, friends or contacts unquestionably meant I would be reeking of smoke by the time I got home. I heard and naively believed that if people knew you reached your alcohol limit due to physical symptoms they would cut you some slack. However, in one of the worst examples of the alcohol culture I literally threw up in front of everyone before I could safely run out of the room, only to be greeted with another 干杯 to celebrate my return to the room from the bathroom. Needless to say after that incident I threw politeness and respect for other’s face at the expense of my health out the window and became much more vocal in my future refusals to drink if I did not wish to.

I can’t say for sure when this shift took place, but looking back,recently I can recall numerous examples of people who I met for the first time politely telling me to drink according to my own discretion as opposed to playfully, artfully and cunningly attempting to get me drunk beyond my senses. The first time someone turned to me to inquire as to whether it was ok for him to smoke in my presence or not my mind was blown. I was so moved I didn’t dare to turn down his request. What was once the impossible peak to summit has apparently become the norm today.

I almost had to wipe away celebratory tears and restrain myself from instinctively going in for a high five when a staff member at the new train station calmly and politely informed a patron that smoking wasn’t permitted in the building. I instantly had flashbacks of the numerous times I wanted to speak up and ask someone to put out a cigarette, but didn’t dare to since I was a foreigner. This "no smoking" victory was only superseded by the property management in my building gently reminding people to not only orderly line up, but to first allow others to get out of the elevator. Calmly, gently and politely! I just have to emphasize that aspect, because this smooth and unexcited way of telling others what to do is not something I experienced much in my earlier days in China.

A relatively benign activity such as showing a movie to students on the weekend in a vacant classroom. A task such as opening a bank account. Inquiring about requirements for establishing a business in China. What do these have in common, you ask? I would think they should all be relatively straightforward, right?However, the real answer is that back then if you called 5 times to get information about these, you’d be greeted with 6 different answers; none of which were correct. And they all sounded so convincing in their authority on the matter－I never heard someone admit that they didn’t know. I did, however, often hear that it wasn’t their responsibility and the person I needed to talk to about it was in another department, building or branch.Getting things done back then was almost guaranteed to be a new and unwelcome adventure each time.

Contrast that with just a few days ago when I was inquiring about registering a dog. Not only did they admit that they didn’t know the relevant authority; they painstakingly went through old documents, made a few different phone calls and before they let me leave they ensured the place where they were sending me was the correct one. All with smiles, extremely pleasant attitudes and patience. I must say－customer service has made miraculous improvements.

Their stories captivated me

When I was still in primary school, inspired by some lovely school projects, I remember reading about ancient Greece, Rome and perhaps even Egypt. I recall wishfully dreaming about how cool it would be to be able to travel back in time to live in such an exciting world－something totally different from anything I’d ever experienced before. In primary school I also became close friends with some second generation Chinese immigrants and I remember being totally mesmerized by certain things in their home. Their stories captivated me, though now I realize some of them were actually things like urban legends. Emotions stick with us long after the words, actions or people who moved our hearts have forsaken our ageing or overloaded memories.My interest in and dreams of China never subsided. When presented with the opportunity to visit, even in the face of strong disagreement from my brother, I just couldn’t say no.

Today, those feelings are no longer confined to dreams. I’ve found what I was always looking for; it’s real, it’s amazing,it’s better than I could have ever imagined and I can’t wait to see what else the future holds.(The author, Hugo Diaz, was born in Trinidad and Tobago, graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and now lives in Shijiazhuang, China. His rich English teaching experience in China has included stints at universities,private training schools and even the Foreign Affairs Office of Hebei Province. Currently he is the co-owner of an English training school in Shijiazhuang and is working on numerous projects including a series of children’s books, a website for English learners and social media content creation. )