如何当好职场前辈：把初级员工当做人来对待

屈联西

　　Twenty years ago I started work as the FT’s most junior employee。 I was on the foreign desk.Every day I had to phone an angry middle-aged foreign correspondent， based in a far away city that he hated。 I was straight out of university， didn’t know how to talk to adults， and swiftly got up this man’s nose。 He’d shout at me。 One day， when he was telling me again how stupid I was， I said， “Yes， but you needn’t shout。” He shouted some more， then told me to puthim through to my boss， where he really let go。

　　二十年前我进入《金融时报》工作，成为一名最初级的员工。我被分到国际部，每天都得给一个愤怒的驻外中年记者打电话，这位记者驻守在一个遥远的城市，他非常讨厌那座城市。那会儿我刚离开大学校园，不懂该怎么跟成年人说话，于是很快就惹怒了这位中年人，他便开始训斥我。有一天，当他又对我说我有多么愚蠢时，我答道：“你说得没错，但你不必这样大呼小叫。”结果他骂得更凶了，他还让我把电话转到我上司那里，对我上司彻底发了一通光火。

　　Now middle-aged myself， I often recall the middle-aged colleagues I encountered back then.Some were awful， some wonderful， and combined they taught me the essential art of being an older colleague。 The secret： treat ignorant junior employees as humans。

　　如今我也人到中年，我常常回想起当年遇到的那些中年同事。有些人很可怕，有些人则让人如沐春风，而所有这些中年同事让我了解到身为前辈的基本艺术，秘诀就是：把无知的初级员工当做人来对待。

　　Juniors have loads to learn。 At 5.30pm on my first day in the office， it dawned on me that nobody was even getting ready to go home。 This is how grown-ups live， I suddenly realised， in offices where the windows don’t open。 I was equally green about financial news。 Once，excruciatingly， I asked on the internal messaging system whether anyone had heard of some ancient event called “the Guinness scandal”。 Everyone had。 It was the defining British corporate scandal of the 1980s。 No matter that I was at school then。

　　初级员工有大量东西要学习。我第一天上班时，到了下午五点半，发现大家甚至没有准备回家的意思。在窗户紧闭的办公室里，我突然意识到这就是成年人的职场生活。当时我在财经新闻方面也完全是菜鸟。有一次我实在没招了，只得在内部即时信息系统上问大家，有没有人听说过很久以前一起叫“吉尼斯丑闻”的事件，结果每个人都听过。它指的是上世纪80年代英国最典型的企业丑闻，那会儿我还在上学呢。

　　Being a junior employee teaches you about your colleagues’ characters， because everyone can mistreat you if they feel like it。 There were unsmiling pomposities who had swallowed a common fallacy among white middle-aged men： “I have a big job because I am a genius。” To them， it was an irrelevant factoid that almost all big jobs then went to white middle-aged men。

　　初级员工的身份可以让你了解到同事们的性格，因为每个人都可以虐你——只要他们乐意。有些人成天板着个脸摆架子，他们深信一种谬见，“我职责艰巨，因为我才华横溢”，这在白种中年男性群体非常普遍。他们有一种过时的错觉——几乎所有重要的工作都应交由白种中年男性负责。

　　My contemporaries at other companies suffered similarly。 One friend， a gifted graphic artist，once politely reminded his boss that he was terribly paid。 The boss replied， “You’re only 29， and you’re already working for this company。 You should be proud just to be here。” My friend thanked him， left the office with the useful knowledge that his boss was an antiquated buffoon，and soon had a top job at a rival company。

　　我的同龄人在其他公司的遭遇也一样。我有个朋友是个很有天赋的图形设计师，有一次他礼貌地提醒上司，他的薪水实在太低了。而他的上司答复道：“你才29岁就能进我们公司了。光是能来这儿上班还不够你骄傲的吗？”我朋友谢过了他，从中学到了一条非常有用的知识：他的老板是一个愚蠢守旧的老古董。他辞了这份工作，很快在另一家竞争对手那儿找到了高级职位。

　　Our seniors were missing an important fact： even ignorant junior employees possess useful knowledge。 In 1995 I was one of the only people in the building who had ever sent an email。 I’d just learnt cutting-edge stuff at university。 I had recently gone deep into foreign countries in away that older colleagues with families couldn’t。 One older colleague cannily took me to lunch and pumped me for information on a topic of mutual interest。 We became friends。 Today he issemi-retired， whereas I have the typical middle-aged man’s minor patronage powers.Recently， I put some work his way。

　　我们的前辈没有意识到一个重要的事实：即使无知的初级员工也掌握着有用的知识。1995年时，我是那幢大楼里少数曾经发过电子邮件的人。我刚刚在大学里学到了一些最先进的东西。当时我刚结束了对几个国家的深度旅行，而那些前辈们因为拖家带口是没法做到的。一位有远见卓识的前辈请我共进午餐，就我们共同关心的话题从我这儿汲取信息。我们就此成了朋友。现在他已经半退休，而我则成了典型的中年男子，拥有些许提携后辈的权力。最近我也开始学这位前辈的做法。

　　But back then I desperately needed guidance， and a few senior colleagues provided it。 One morning， my boss told me I’d made a mistake in the previous day’s paper。 I almost burst into tears。 She paused a few beats， then said， “It’s OK。 I can see you know that making mistakes is serious。” She had taught me the FT’s underlying i