Shirking 9 to 5

谭云飞

Insomnia, baldness, and death by exhaustion: Chinese professionals have been vocal recently about the consequences of overwork in their country.

But not all “corporate cattle” penned up in offices are actually pulling their weight. According to Gallup’s 2013 “State of the Global Workplace” report, only 6 percent of employees in Chinese companies were “engaged” in their tasks at work at any given time.

In workplaces, colleagues who appear to put in long hours at their desks, but are in reality surfing the web or shopping online, are said to be 摸鱼 (m4y%, “fishing,” literally “stroking the fish”). This term derives from the idiom 浑水摸鱼 (h%nshu@-m4y%, fishing in murky waters), which refers to taking advantage of a confusion to advance their own interests.

Not all shirking is voluntary. Employees may feel obliged to prove their industry by working late even if they’ve finished all their tasks. A debate over this practice, dubbed “被迫摸鱼式加班” (b-ip7 m4y%sh# ji`b`n, “forced overtime fishing”), received over 23,000 comments on Weibo in August. One user declared:

Our manager often works overtime and dislikes those who leave before him, so we have no choice but to fish after hours.

J~ngl@ j~ngch1ng ji`b`n, y0 b& x@huan z2o xi3b`n de r9n, w6men zh@h2o m4y%sh# ji`b`n.

经理经常加班，也不喜欢早下班的人，我们只好摸鱼式加班。

The term can be used to cheekily express one’s own disinclination to work:

Tomorrow is National Day. I’ll just “fish” until we’re off for the holidays.

M!ngti`n ji&sh# Gu5q#ngji9 le, j~nti`n m4y% d0ng f3ngji3.

明天就是国庆节了，今天摸鱼等

放假。

Laziness may be human nature, as partially evidenced in the ancient origin of another term for slacking off: 划水 (hu1shu@, “paddling water”). It originally described boatmen who would half-heartedly splash their oars from side to side while their colleagues did the actual rowing. It was picked up by players of  to refer to underperforming teammates, and then expanded to the realms of work and study.

Fans may use the term to deride the members of a sports team or musical group they dislike:

That band member forgot all her dance moves. She is definitely slacking.

N3ge n)tu1n ch9ngyu1n w^d2o d7ngzu7 d4u w3ng le, m!ngxi2n sh# z3i hu1shu@.

那个女团成员舞蹈动作都忘了，

明显是在划水。

A third term for those not engaged in their tasks, 打酱油 (d2 ji3ngy5u, “buying soy sauce”), originated in 2008 when a TV journalist approached a middle-aged man in the street for a comment on singer Edison Chen’s nude photo scandal. “關我什么事？我出来打酱油的。(Gu`n w6 sh9nme sh#? W6 ch$l1i d2 ji3ngy5u de. What’s it got to do with me? I just came out to buy soy sauce),” the apathetic citizen replied.

This expression is also used to show humility:

I won’t take any responsibility in this project. I’m just in it for experience.

W6 z3i zh-ge xi3ngm& li b% f&z9 sh9nme, ji&sh# l1i d2 ji3ngy5u de.

我在这个项目里不负责什么，就是来打酱油的。

From ancient boat convoys to Fortune 500 companies, no organization is safe from shirking; that is, until a deadline looms, and the boss requires all hands on desk to fix mistakes—by working overtime.