打破公司生日聚会的尴尬气氛

　　I still can’t figure out why office workers’ gathering to enjoy afternoon dessert is so synonymous with awkward chats. But if you focus on what birthday gatherings really are – a reason to leave your cubicle for a few minutes and catch up with office mates – then it seems a lot less uncomfortable. And when you act more at ease, people around you will, too.

　　将生日聚会看作工间休息。

　　我仍然想不明白，为何公司同事聚在一起享受午后甜点会和尴尬的闲谈对等起来。公司生日聚会的实质不就是让大家有几分钟的时间离开小隔间，和公司同仁们聊上几句嘛。如果你专注于这个实质，不自在的感觉就会少很多。而当你表现得更轻松的时候，身边的人也会轻松许多。

　　Set aside one day a month for staff birthdays.

　　Unless you have a very small staff, honoring everyone’s birthday individually could become tedious and costly. I’ve only worked in places that reserved a day to celebrate the birthdays that fell within a given month, and that usually worked out well. This might not work for every company, as some people who genuinely like having their special day honored. But it doesn’t hurt to suggest the change and see how people respond.

　　每月设定一天来庆祝员工生日。

　　除非员工人数很少，不然单独地庆祝每个人的生日便会既枯燥又费钱。我待过的公司都在每月留出一天来为生日在当月的员工庆祝，而且通常效果很好。这种方式也许不适合每家公司，毕竟有些人确实喜欢单独庆祝自己的这个特殊日子。不过，提出这种改变看看人们如何反应也没什么坏处。

　　If someone doesn’t want his or her birthday celebrated, don’t make it mandatory.

　　Not everybody likes birthdays. Not everybody enjoys being the center of attention, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Rather than forcing people to celebrate, give them the opportunity to bow out via their HR representative. You can still have cake day, but don’t guilt someone into standing in front of the group if she doesn’t want to.

　　如果有人不想过生日，也别强求。

　　不是每个人都喜欢过生日。不是每个人都喜欢成为大家关注的焦点，即便只有几分钟也不行。与其强行要求人家庆祝，不如给他们机会，让他们通过人力资源代表来解决。你们当然仍然可以分享生日蛋糕，但是，如果“寿星”不想站在众人面前，也不要勉为其难，让人家产生负罪感。

　　Don’t be the office grump.

　　Remember that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine railed against the office cake-centered celebration after her coworker commented, “I think it’s nice”? She cried, “What is nice? Trying to fill the void in your life with flour and sugar and egg and vanilla? I mean, we’re all unhappy. Do we have to be fat, too?” Don’t be Elaine and ruin it for everybody else. If you’re asked to break from work monotony in order to eat a piece of sugary, buttery deliciousness, that’s hardly something to complain about.

　　别当公司的“怨妇”。

　　还记得《宋飞正传》有一集里，伊莱恩在她的同事评论道“我觉得很不错” 之后，她是如何抱怨公司以蛋糕来庆祝生日这种形式的吗？她大声说，“有什么不错的？试图用面粉和糖和鸡蛋和香草精填满生活里的空虚吗？我是说，我们都够不幸福的了，难道我们还非得要变胖吗？”别像伊莱恩那样把别人的兴致也毁了。如果让你放下枯燥乏味的工作去吃一块甜蜜的、油滑的美味，这可真不是你该抱怨的。