Xiaoyu has slept badly for weeks. Her manager looks for the cause and finds that he is part of it.
Manager Zhang
小雨，你这两天脸色不太好。
Xiǎoyǔ, nǐ zhè liǎng tiān liǎnsè bù tài hǎo.
Xiaoyu, you have not been looking well these last few days.
Xiaoyu
张经理，我最近睡不好，常常两点才睡。
Zhāng jīnglǐ, wǒ zuìjìn shuì bù hǎo, chángcháng liǎng diǎn cái shuì.
Mr Zhang, I have been sleeping badly lately, often I do not drop off until two.
Manager Zhang
两点？那白天怎么可能有精神。
Liǎng diǎn ? Nà báitiān zěnme kěnéng yǒu jīngshen.
Two? How can you have any energy in the daytime?
Xiaoyu
我也知道。可是一上床我就看手机。
Wǒ yě zhīdào. Kěshì yī shàng chuáng wǒ jiù kàn shǒujī.
I know. But the moment I get into bed I look at my phone.
Manager Zhang
除了手机以外，还有别的原因吗？
Chúle shǒujī yǐwài, háiyǒu biéde yuányīn ma ?
Apart from the phone, is there another reason?
Xiaoyu
有。十点以后，群里还在发消息。
Yǒu. Shí diǎn yǐhòu, qún lǐ hái zài fā xiāoxi.
There is. After ten, messages keep coming into the group.
Manager Zhang
这个是我的问题。以后十点以后的事，第二天再说。
Zhè gè shì wǒ de wèntí. Yǐhòu shí diǎn yǐhòu de shì, dì'èr tiān zài shuō.
That one is my fault. From now on, anything after ten waits until the next day.
Xiaoyu
谢谢您。那我晚上也能放心了。
Xièxie nín. Nà wǒ wǎnshang yě néng fàngxīn le.
Thank you. That will set my mind at rest in the evening.
Manager Zhang
你也把手机放到客厅去，别带进卧室。
Nǐ yě bǎ shǒujī fàng dào kètīng qù, bié dài jìn wòshì.
And put your phone in the living room, do not take it into the bedroom.
Xiaoyu
试过一次。半夜醒了，我还是起来去拿。
Shì guò yī cì. Bànyè xǐng le, wǒ háishi qilai qù ná.
I tried once. I woke in the night and still got up to fetch it.
Manager Zhang
头几天都这样。坚持一个星期就好了。
Tóu jǐ tiān dōu zhèyàng. Jiānchí yī gè xīngqī jiù hǎo le.
It is like that for the first few days. Keep it up for a week and it will pass.
Xiaoyu
好，我从今天晚上开始。
Hǎo, wǒ cóng jīntiān wǎnshang kāishǐ.
Right, I will start tonight.
Manager Zhang
睡好了，白天的效率完全不一样。
Shuì hǎo le, báitiān de xiàolǜ wánquán bù yīyàng.
When you sleep well, your daytime output is a different thing altogether.
两点才睡: it is not until two that she falls asleep, and 才 carries the whole reproach. Replaced by 就, the same statement would say she is asleep as early as two, which would be absurd here. The two words do not change the fact, they change the judgement passed on it, and that is why English speakers confuse them for so long.
A 群 is a chat group on the phone. The department, the building, the child's class and the family each have one, and the work group never sleeps. The rule the manager sets here, dealing with nothing after ten, has become a matter of public debate in China; the dialogue stages it without commenting on it.
Xiaoyu says 您 and calls her superior by his surname followed by his title, 张经理; he says 你 and calls her by her given name. The asymmetry is the norm, it is not felt as cold, and reversing it is a register error more visible than a mistake of tone. You never say 张先生 to someone whose title you know.
