Ten at night in the office. Xiaoyu and Chen Hao count their hours; Auntie Wang, who had her career before them, is not impressed.
Xiaoyu
又十点了。这个月我加班超过六十个小时。
Yòu shí diǎn le. Zhè gè yuè wǒ jiābān chāoguò liùshí gè xiǎoshí.
Ten o'clock again. I have done over sixty hours of overtime this month.
Chen Hao
我也差不多。可是加班费呢？一分都没见着。
Wǒ yě chàbuduō. Kěshì jiābānfèi ne ? Yī fēn dōu méi jiàn zhe.
Much the same here. But the overtime pay? Not a penny of it.
Xiaoyu
说是可以调休，可项目一个接一个，谁敢休？
Shuō shì kěyǐ tiáoxiū, kě xiàngmù yī gè jiē yī gè, shéi gǎn xiū ?
They say we can take the time back, but the projects come one after another, who would dare?
Auntie Wang
你们这样下去，身体迟早出问题。
Nǐmen zhèyàng xiàqù, shēntǐ chízǎo chū wèntí.
Carrying on like that, your health will give way sooner or later.
Chen Hao
王阿姨，话是这么说，可别人都不走，你先走就显得不合群。
Wáng āyí, huà shì zhème shuō, kě biéren dōu bù zǒu, nǐ xiān zǒu jiù xiǎnde bù héqún.
Auntie Wang, that is easily said, but when nobody else leaves, the first one out looks like a bad sport.
Auntie Wang
那是公司的毛病，不是你的。
Nà shì gōngsī de máobìng, bùshì nǐ de.
That is the company's failing, not yours.
Xiaoyu
我跟经理提过一次。他说年轻的时候辛苦点儿是应该的。
Wǒ gēn jīnglǐ tí guò yī cì. Tā shuō niánqīng de shíhou xīnkǔ diǎnr shì yīnggāi de.
I raised it once with the manager. He said it is only right to work hard when you are young.
Auntie Wang
这话我三十年前就听过了。
Zhè huà wǒ sānshí nián qián jiù tīng guò le.
I was hearing that sentence thirty years ago.
Chen Hao
关键是加了班，效率反而更低。下午三点以后我基本就转不动了。
Guānjiàn shì jiā le bān, xiàolǜ fǎn'ér gèng dī. Xiàwǔ sān diǎn yǐhòu wǒ jīběn jiù zhuǎn bù dòng le.
The worst of it is that the longer you stay, the less you get done. After three in the afternoon I barely turn over at all.
Xiaoyu
恐怕大家都一样，只是没人说。
Kǒngpà dàjiā dōu yīyàng, zhǐshì méi rén shuō.
I suspect it is the same for everybody, only nobody says so.
Auntie Wang
无论多忙，晚饭都得吃，觉都得睡。这不是懒，是常识。
Wúlùn duō máng, wǎnfàn dōu de chī, jiào dōu de shuì. Zhè bùshì lǎn, shì chángshí.
However busy you are, you have to eat dinner and you have to sleep. That is not laziness, it is common sense.
Chen Hao
我打算从下周开始，八点准时走。
Wǒ dǎsuàn cóng xià zhōu kāishǐ, bā diǎn zhǔnshí zǒu.
From next week I mean to leave at eight sharp.
Xiaoyu
那我跟你一起。一个人走是出头，两个人走就是规矩。
Nà wǒ gēn nǐ yīqǐ. Yī gè rén zǒu shì chūtóu, liǎng gè rén zǒu jiùshì guīju.
Then I will go with you. One person leaving sticks out; two people leaving is a custom.
Auntie Wang
这才像话。
Zhè cái xiàng huà.
Now that is more like it.
又十点了 is said at ten at night as at ten in the morning: spoken Chinese counts on twelve and lets the context decide. When doubt has to be removed, the part of the day goes before the hour, 晚上十点 or 早上十点, never after. Our translations keep to the usual English form.
不合群 is said of someone who does not blend into the collective: he does not stay for a drink, he leaves before the others. The word accuses of nothing definite, and that is what makes it formidable in an office. No single English word carries it; "bad sport" gives the tone, "antisocial" would be too strong.
一个人走是出头: to act alone is to stand out from the row, with the risk that implies. The proverb running behind it is 出头的椽子先烂, the rafter that sticks out rots first. Xiaoyu does not quote it, and that is exactly how a proverb works in Chinese: using two of its words is enough for everyone to hear the rest.
