打破公司生日聚会的尴尬气氛

　　My first glimpse of an office birthday party was via the movie Office Space, when the corporate drones stand awkwardly around the cake and sing “Happy Birthday” to their boss in monotone voices. Flash forward seven years: the first company I worked for as a recent college grad had its monthly birthday celebration, and I had an overwhelming sense of deja vu. We see these people every day, and yet the situation feels different when we’re holding small paper plates and plastic forks. I think there are ways around the awkwardness – if you’re willing to break a few office birthday party rules, that is.

　　我对公司生日派对的初次认识是在电影《上班一条虫》里——影片中，公司里那些无所事事的员工尴尬地围着蛋糕，对着老板单调地唱着“生日快乐”。从这个时间快速推进七年：我大学刚毕业从事第一份工作的那家公司每个月都举办生日庆祝会，我当时有种强烈的似曾相识的感觉。我们这些员工天天见面，但在这种场合拿着小小的纸盘和塑料叉子的时候，还是产生了异样的感觉。我认为，一定有办法消除这种尴尬氛围—— 如果你愿意打破几条办公室生日派对规则的话，办法是有的。

　　No more singing “Happy Birthday.”

　　Let’s be honest: does anyone really enjoy this tradition? Everyone mumbles along because no one wants his or her voice to stand out, and the person with the birthday forces a smile and looks at the ground until the song’s over. Unless your office is filled with karaoke superstars who love belting out “Happy Birthday,” perhaps it’s time to nix the song from birthday gatherings.

　　别再唱“生日快乐”歌。

　　让我们明说了吧：真的有人喜欢这个传统吗？每个人都咕哝着附和，因为谁都不想让自己的声音突显出来。而那个过生日的人则在歌声飘荡的时候，强挤出一丝微笑，低头看着地面。除非你们公司到处都是K 歌之王，他们大爱高歌“生日快乐”，否则，或许是时候该将这首歌逐出生日聚会了。

　　The birthday person shouldn’t have to cut the cake.

　　Who came up with this one? If it’s your birthday celebration, you shouldn’t be expected to do the grunt work. Have the person in charge of HR draw names out of a hat to see who gets cake-cutting duty each time, or if someone in the office volunteers to be the official cake cutter, more power to her.

　　 “寿星”不该亲自切蛋糕。

　　这是谁想出的幺蛾子？如果是为你开的庆生会，你可不期望自己去做费力不讨好的活儿吧。以后每次都让负责人力资源的同事抓阄决定每次该谁来切蛋糕，或者，如果你们公司有人主动担当 “正式的”蛋糕执刀手，那就授予她更多权利吧。

　　Make it a cake free-for-all.

　　At my first office job, I was the receptionist and therefore almost always the cake cutter. It was my responsibility to hand out slices to coworkers, though I never understood why. Just arrange the plates on the table, and the people will come – albeit hesitantly, since no one wants to be the first to go for cake.

　　蛋糕自由取。

　　在我的第一份工作中，我是接待员，因此基本上总是我来担当蛋糕执刀手的角色。我的职责便是将切好的小块蛋糕递到同事手里，尽管我不知道这样做的缘由何在。还是把盘子摆在桌子上吧，人们会去拿的——虽然会有点迟疑不决，因为没人想第一个去拿蛋糕吃。