Two years with no rise. Xiaoyu asks her manager for ten minutes and comes in with a sheet of paper.
Xiaoyu
张经理，您现在方便吗？我想谈十分钟。
Zhāng jīnglǐ, nín xiànzài fāngbiàn ma ? Wǒ xiǎng tán shí fēnzhōng.
Mr Zhang, is now convenient? I would like ten minutes of your time.
Manager Zhang
方便。坐下说。
Fāngbiàn. Zuò xià shuō.
It is. Sit down and tell me.
Xiaoyu
我来公司两年了，工资一直没动过。
Wǒ lái gōngsī liǎng nián le, gōngzī yīzhí méi dòng guò.
I have been with the company two years and my salary has never moved.
Manager Zhang
我知道。去年公司的情况，你也清楚。
Wǒ zhīdào. Qùnián gōngsī de qíngkuàng, nǐ yě qīngchu.
I know. You know what the company's position was last year as well as I do.
Xiaoyu
清楚。所以去年我没提。
Qīngchu. Suǒyǐ qùnián wǒ méi tí.
I do. That is why I did not raise it last year.
Manager Zhang
那今年你想涨多少？
Nà jīnnián nǐ xiǎng zhǎng duōshao ?
And this year, how much of a rise are you after?
Xiaoyu
我把这两年做的事写在这张纸上了，您先看一下。
Wǒ bǎ zhè liǎng nián zuò de shì xiě zài zhè Zhāng zhǐ shàng le, nín xiān kàn yīxià.
I have written what I have done over these two years on this sheet, have a look first.
Manager Zhang
除了你自己的工作以外，还带了两个新人。
Chúle nǐ zìjǐ de gōngzuò yǐwài, hái dài le liǎng gè xīn rén.
As well as your own work, you have trained two newcomers.
Xiaoyu
是。他们现在都能自己做了。
Shì. Tāmen xiànzài dōu néng zìjǐ zuò le.
I have. They can both work on their own now.
Manager Zhang
你写的这个，比我心里想的多一点儿。
Nǐ xiě de zhè gè, bǐ wǒ xīnli xiǎng de duō yīdiǎnr.
What you have written here is a little above what I had in mind.
Xiaoyu
那您心里想的是多少？
Nà nín xīnli xiǎng de shì duōshao ?
And what did you have in mind?
Manager Zhang
我先不说。下个星期三，我给你一个准话。
Wǒ xiān bù shuō. Xià gè xīngqī sān, wǒ gěi nǐ yī gè zhǔn huà.
I will not say just yet. Next Wednesday I will give you a firm answer.
Xiaoyu
好，那我等您的消息。
Hǎo, nà wǒ děng nín de xiāoxi.
Very good, I will wait to hear from you.
工资一直没动过: the salary has never moved since. 一直 stretches the statement over the whole period, and the negated 过 says no instance has occurred. Without 一直, 没动过 would state only the fact; with it, the sentence carries two years, and it is that weight which constitutes the request.
准话 is a firm answer, one you can rely on, as opposed to something said off the cuff. The phrase 给你一个准话 is the one by which a Chinese manager commits to a date without yet committing on the substance; hearing it means the request is being taken seriously and that the meeting is over.
Xiaoyu never says the word "rise": she states, she puts down a sheet of paper, she hands the question back. This conduct protects the face of both sides, the one asking as much as the one who might refuse, and it is what allows the discussion to continue if the answer is no. The figure written on the sheet does the work the spoken word does not.
