陈豪在北京的ABC美国公司工作。美国同事Amy来办公室找他。

(Office ambience)

CH：Hi Amy. How are you?

A: I’m fine. Do you have a moment to talk?There is something I’d like to discuss with you.

CH: 坐下说。

A: This is a bit awkward, but important to talkabout.

CH: 是什么要紧事吗?

A: It has come to my attention that you havebeen discussing salaries with some of your co-workers.

CH: 这个，是啊，谁告诉你的?

A: Marie in Marketing came to me yesterday. She was upset. She said that you asked herhow much money she was making after the new raises were given out.

CH: 没错，我是问过她工资涨了以后赚多少钱。我问了不少人呢。这有什么不对吗?

A: There are a number of reasons not to talk about money with co-workers oracquaintances.

CH: 我真的不知道。跟同事为什么不能谈工资的事呢?

A: I realize that you didn’t intend any harm, but discussing salaries with your co-workerscan create problems.

CH: 会有什么问题呢?

A: Unfortunately I just remembered a conference call that I have to take in five minutes.Would you like to continue our conversation over lunch?

******

两人中午一起在餐厅吃饭。

CH: Amy, 你上午说最好不要打听别人的工资，这是为什么?

A: It can cause dissension among co-workers.

CH: 引起矛盾?

A: For example, if you and Marie have the same job title and job description and you findout that she is making more money, you might resent that and resent her.

CH: 言之有理。我其实没有别的想法，我就是想知道，等我干到Marie那个资历，能赚多少钱。

A: That is a subject that you should ask your boss or someone in Human Resources.

CH: 其实啊，我问了好几个人，只有一个人告诉我说，他不愿意讨论工资的问题。

A: That is exactly what everyone else should have said.

CH: 不瞒你说，他们还想从我这儿打听别人都赚多少呢?我就把Marie的工资告诉他们了。

A: It’s bad enough that you asked Marie, but you should never have mentioned her salaryto anyone else.

CH: 我真的没有恶意。Marie不会告到老板那儿去吧?

A: I think you should apologize to Marie and assure her that you meant no harm. Then goto other people and ask them to keep the information about Marie to themselves.

CH: 好，我马上去向Marie道歉。除了不能谈工资，还有什么不能谈的吗?

A: Stay away from all private matters. Keep professional and personal conversationsseparate. And never talk about one co-worker with another unless what you are discussing iscommon knowledge.

CH: 我知道了，以后一定不在办公室里谈私事。