我在中国的第一份工作

文、图/Vinnie Apicella 译/安落实

Vinnie Apicella，美国籍，专业顾问、教师和作家，毕业于哥伦比亚大学，拥有新闻学、传播学和工商管理学位

通往远洋国际中心的入口给我留下了深刻的印象。门前有四栋现代化的豪华办公大楼。后来我才发现，亚马逊（中国）和雅虎也在那里设有办事处。大堂装饰考究，穿着得体的工作人员会引导你乘坐电梯到达目的地。来到新办公室后，我站在前台，环顾四周。此时是上午8点半，大部分员工还没到。这是A公司的总部，虽然我以前从未在美国听说过这家公司，但该公司显然在电子商务领域表现相当出色。这里将是我未来的新“家”。

这不再是一个梦，我终于实现了——我现在就在北京，准备开始我的新工作，为实现未来的目标而努力。

迟到得罚款？

我感到既兴奋又紧张。当苏珊跟我打招呼时，我有点吃惊。几周前，当我还在美国时，我们还只是通过电话交谈。奇怪的是，当你通过电话与某人交谈却不知道对方长什么样时，你会根据对方的声音、说话方式等在脑海里去想象这个人的样子。所以，当我们第一次见面时，我很失望，因为她不像我想象得那样漂亮。但不管怎样，我们终于见面了，她会引导我走完剩下的路，并帮助我适应新工作。

我很感激她的帮助。实际上，她是个ABC（出生在美国的华人）。而且她对我们这个小组中的大多数人都有点傲慢和居高临下的意味。我想一些人认为当经理就意味着是“控制狂”。我很早就在她身上以及从那时起我在这里遇到的每一个有“经理”头衔的人身上发现了这种特征。上午9时，一拨又一拨的人们冲到前门刷卡或者“打卡”（我们在美国的说法），“嘟嘟声”不断响起。我茫然地看着他们一个个鱼贯而入，然后急匆匆奔向他们的工作区。我后来才知道，公司有着严格的规定，员工必须在9点之前开始上班，而不是9:01、9:02或者更晚。如果一个人在一个月内迟到三次以上，将会受到经济处罚。当我被告知这一点时，我简直不敢相信。

“他们可以通过扣工资来惩罚你吗？”我问我的同事。

“是的，这里有严格的规定。迟到就是迟到了，不管迟到多久。如果你迟到了，他们有权力惩罚你。不过不是很多，大概50元。”

我心想，“不多吗？”

我坐在那里沉思了一会儿。这在美国是闻所未闻的。无论出于任何原因，公司都不能通过扣工资来惩罚员工。如果这样做，公司就违法了。

从这次简短的交谈中，可以了解到中美两国在工作场所的一个重大差异，在我的同事看来，这是很正常的事情，我想所有其他中国员工也是如此认为的。但我认为，这不是对一个迟到员工的罚款那么简单，它还导致了一系列对整个社会产生负面影响的事件，比如混乱的交通状况和频繁的人事变动。

我们的编辑团队由当地的中国人和外国人组成，外国人中主要是美国人，也有几个英国人。我被聘为高级文案，签了三年工作合同。我们的编辑团队负责为公司的网站（也就是在线商铺）撰写和编辑文案，而我的职责是监督他们。对了，我刚刚讲到有美国人和英国人，所以我得看一看写作风格指南，弄清楚他们使用的标准。我们都知道，英国英语和美国英语在某些单词的拼写和含义上有差异。

上班后的第一天，我被告知我们没有写作指南。没有写作指南？我简直无法理解，为什么一个面向海外买家的电子商务公司竟然没有一份写作指南供编辑团队参考。所以我向部门经理反映了这个问题，经理同意制定一个写作指南。因为写作指南有助于保持公司的写作和创作内容的一致性。遵循写作指南中的要求，可以让你在客户面前显得更专业。

在来到中国的几个月前，我决定放弃在美国相当成功的职业生涯。我来到这里是因为我很久以前就想到中国探索未来，包括创办企业和重新开始我的人生。我要成为一个与众不同的人，为人们提供一些有价值的东西，并因此受到人们的赞赏。在美国，跟世界上其他许多地方一样，三十来岁的人基本上已经规划好了自己的人生，有了比较稳定的工作和生活。对我而言却不是这样，我走了一条不同的道路。

所以，离开美国是我自己作出的决定。这份工作使我受到一些鼓舞，让我一到中国就有了努力的目标和方向。但无论如何我都会来的。

我在2011年2月的第三个星期到了中国，我先去上海看了一些朋友，然后到无锡去看了我的公寓，最后到了北京。我觉得精神焕发，准备开始我的新冒险。从那之后，经常有人问我，如果我有机会重新来一次的话，我是否还会作出同样的决定，我的回答是“不会”。

多好的商业模式啊！

虽然在我之前来中国的几次经历中，对中国的工作环境以及我的中国朋友们工作有多拼命已经有了一定的认知，但是这份在A公司的新工作对我而言仍是严峻的考验。我不认为这是一个典型的中国公司，因为有许多外国人在那里工作，公司很需要他们。作为一家全球性的电子商务公司，公司的消费群体完全位于中国境外。他们的商业模式很简单：先在中国以低成本制造产品，然后通过网站批发给外国买家。通过直接销售，他们不需要雇用中间人，因此可以给买家很大的折扣。

“多好的商业模式啊！”当我还在新泽西家中的卧室里做编辑测试时，心里想道。这个公司给我的编辑测试是我们的面试过程的一部分。当然，阿里巴巴平台也是做类似的生意，但不知是什么原因，我认识的大多数人都知道阿里巴巴，但人们对这家公司却没有什么印象。

现在你知道我已经通过了面试，并且随后被聘为编辑团队的高级文案。公司的人力资源部门联系了我，通过几次夜间电话交流商定了我的工资和福利待遇。我喜欢她的讲话态度，并且对于能够在这样的电子商务公司工作充满了激情。我以前从来没有这样想过，所以对我来说，能够在一个提供相当体面的薪酬、并且经营非常专业的“全球化”公司里工作，似乎是一个不错的机会。

在办公室，大家都非常友善和热情。我很快就认识了我的同事们，我们经常一起出去吃午饭，包括外国和中国同事。我认为不管你在任何地方，一定要敢于走出自己的舒适区去尝试新的东西。事实上我和我的中国同事相处得很好，而且在工作之余，我们也经常在一起，比如共进午餐或者参加周末的社交活动。从他们身上我学到了很多东西。作为高级文案，我的工作是审核在网站上发布的所有书面材料，给不同的作者分配任务，并确保一切文案都能够很好的呈现。我之前有过做编辑的经验，所以这对我来说只是换了一种形式而已，而且是我喜欢的形式。第一个月，一切都进展得很顺利。如果我们能够一直保持这种势头的话，我想我们可以使公司的网站和促销页面变得越来越好。

但这只是“如果”……

第二个月，我被调到了客户服务部门。到第三个月月底，我就离开了。

所以，我在北京的前三个月竟然变成了一次充满希望却又布满陷阱的冒险。我有一半的时间住在旅社，睡在一张木床上，几乎所有的晚餐都在肯德基解决。我签了三年的高级文案的合同，却在一个月后被降职，三个月后被免职，公司给出的理由是“未能达到试用期的要求”。在租用新公寓和配置家具方面，我花的钱比预期的要多得多。在美国，我们是按月支付房租的。愚蠢的是，我以为在中国也是这样，所以当房东让我预付三个月租金的时候，我有些吃惊。由于这些事情的发生，我在中国的生活一开始并不顺利。

正当我觉得自己一切都已经安排妥当的时候，我开始在资金上捉襟见肘，所以我需要重新找一份工作。我觉得一切都要靠自己，这个地方突然让我觉得很陌生。

如果说在A公司的这段工作经历让我感到困惑和愤怒，这只是一种轻描淡写的说法而已。然而，这种变化是如何发生的以及为什么会发生，也是给我好好上了一课，使我静下来思考该公司的内部运作方式，以便为以后找工作做准备。正如我后来了解到的，我在A公司的经历并不是一种偶发事件，这样的事情在许多公司都是很常见的。但在当时我有点不知所措。从美国来到北京接受这份工作，我在那里只待了三个月，他们没有征求管理层的意见就一脚把我踢开了。而我的确满足了这份工作的要求，我不接受这种借口。那么为什么会发生这种事呢？我从不同的人那里得到了不同的答案。但根据我的推断，最有可能的原因就是，他们不再需要“高级文案”了，也不想再支付这份薪水了。

显然，他们一开始花了大价钱雇用了我，后来觉得我的工作并不是那么重要。当然，我从已经成为朋友的一些前同事那里听说的一些小道消息得知，由于雇用我的成本较高，我也更容易被他们抛弃。所以他们在我转为正式员工之前，也就是必须支付向我承诺的全部工资和福利之前，把我辞退了。

不过，在这段时间里，我很幸运地找到了一所当地的语言学校去学习中文。所以在最初的几个月里，每周在那里学习几个晚上就成了我日常生活中令人愉快的一部分。

北京是一个很大的城市。直到我生活在这里，并亲自从微观角度看到它，我才意识到它究竟有多大。在那个夏天快要结束的时候，那个第一次把我从美国召唤过来的招聘人员又给我找到了一个工作机会。

我打算继续前进，努力适应这个城市，了解这里的商业环境，等待更好的机会出现。

这里出现的文章是从我的新书《逃离美国》中摘录的。这是一个美国人渴望改变自己的生活，在中国规划未来的故事，记录了他旅行前后的经历。本书试图呈现给读者的是一个经验丰富的学者、旅行者和商人的深入分析，他对中美两国的相似性、差异和改进方法发表了独特的见解。

如果您想了解更多我在中国的故事和发展，请登录我的咨询服务网站：www.edgestudentsuccess.com

Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I heard so many negative things about China from friends from university that I started feeling like China’s unwitting defender during the ensuing debates. Sometimes I would try to correct what I perceived as crazy misconceptions or biased or inaccurate media depictions.The craziest thing is when I found myself doing what I have always found to be a frustrating cheapshot - using the dreaded“You don’t understand!” or even worse “You can’t understand!”To me, what such declarations usually really mean when used against me, is that the other person has run out of logical arguments for his or her position and is therefore feeling vulnerable due to their collapsing claim.

Now somewhat hypocritically, I found myself resorting to "You don’t understand," because some people really just did not understand with the limited amount of information they were operating on. Sometimes just to explain a simple point, might require such a large investment of time as to just not make it worth it, especially if I viewed this person as somewhat close minded.

It hurt to see, that some of my friends sounded like racists,though nowadays, I think lots of those cases can more aptly be labeled as ignorance, misinformation and an unwillingness to explore or experience things for themselves, therefore they rely on news stories with agendas or second hand accounts and stereotypes.

Don’t close your eyes, please be open-mind.

Is it fog?

China hasn’t been good for my allergies. Explaining that I didn’t have a cold, but rather was experiencing problems with allergies has been an exercise in patience. Even more exasperating was talking about pollution and air quality in China during my first few years. At that time most of the people I got close to and interacted with hardly ever seemed to acknowledge this problematic phenomenon. “It’s mist/fog, not smog” is the caption I sarcastically used when emailing a series of pictures to some contacts outside of China showing the extreme reduced visibility outside of my apartment.I’ve always maintained that I love or can somewhat tolerate just about everything I’ve encountered in China other than the pollution. Words can’t describe my feelings about the environment, but numbers can－2.5 out of 10.

I can’t recall schools ever being closed due to pollution in those years, but that has happened recently. Why? is it because the air is getting worse? No, I believe it’s due to more open discussion and sincere efforts to deal with this problem. Now we have alerts and color codes according to the air quality that day.Awareness has gone through the roof－PM2.5－is there a person in China who can put together a coherent sentence, and doesn’t know what this is?

When did the shift take place?

I wasn’t aware of the prevalence of either tobacco or alcohol in China. I often felt coerced into drinking way beyond my capacity and meals with colleagues, friends or contacts unquestionably meant I would be reeking of smoke by the time I got home. I heard and naively believed that if people knew you reached your alcohol limit due to physical symptoms they would cut you some slack. However, in one of the worst examples of the alcohol culture I literally threw up in front of everyone before I could safely run out of the room, only to be greeted with another 干杯 to celebrate my return to the room from the bathroom. Needless to say after that incident I threw politeness and respect for other’s face at the expense of my health out the window and became much more vocal in my future refusals to drink if I did not wish to.

I can’t say for sure when this shift took place, but looking back,recently I can recall numerous examples of people who I met for the first time politely telling me to drink according to my own discretion as opposed to playfully, artfully and cunningly attempting to get me drunk beyond my senses. The first time someone turned to me to inquire as to whether it was ok for him to smoke in my presence or not my mind was blown. I was so moved I didn’t dare to turn down his request. What was once the impossible peak to summit has apparently become the norm today.

I almost had to wipe away celebratory tears and restrain myself from instinctively going in for a high five when a staff member at the new train station calmly and politely informed a patron that smoking wasn’t permitted in the building. I instantly had flashbacks of the numerous times I wanted to speak up and ask someone to put out a cigarette, but didn’t dare to since I was a foreigner. This "no smoking" victory was only superseded by the property management in my building gently reminding people to not only orderly line up, but to first allow others to get out of the elevator. Calmly, gently and politely! I just have to emphasize that aspect, because this smooth and unexcited way of telling others what to do is not something I experienced much in my earlier days in China.

A relatively benign activity such as showing a movie to students on the weekend in a vacant classroom. A task such as opening a bank account. Inquiring about requirements for establishing a business in China. What do these have in common, you ask? I would think they should all be relatively straightforward, right?However, the real answer is that back then if you called 5 times to get information about these, you’d be greeted with 6 different answers; none of which were correct. And they all sounded so convincing in their authority on the matter－I never heard someone admit that they didn’t know. I did, however, often hear that it wasn’t their responsibility and the person I needed to talk to about it was in another department, building or branch.Getting things done back then was almost guaranteed to be a new and unwelcome adventure each time.

Contrast that with just a few days ago when I was inquiring about registering a dog. Not only did they admit that they didn’t know the relevant authority; they painstakingly went through old documents, made a few different phone calls and before they let me leave they ensured the place where they were sending me was the correct one. All with smiles, extremely pleasant attitudes and patience. I must say－customer service has made miraculous improvements.

Their stories captivated me

When I was still in primary school, inspired by some lovely school projects, I remember reading about ancient Greece, Rome and perhaps even Egypt. I recall wishfully dreaming about how cool it would be to be able to travel back in time to live in such an exciting world－something totally different from anything I’d ever experienced before. In primary school I also became close friends with some second generation Chinese immigrants and I remember being totally mesmerized by certain things in their home. Their stories captivated me, though now I realize some of them were actually things like urban legends. Emotions stick with us long after the words, actions or people who moved our hearts have forsaken our ageing or overloaded memories.My interest in and dreams of China never subsided. When presented with the opportunity to visit, even in the face of strong disagreement from my brother, I just couldn’t say no.

Today, those feelings are no longer confined to dreams. I’ve found what I was always looking for; it’s real, it’s amazing,it’s better than I could have ever imagined and I can’t wait to see what else the future holds.(The author, Hugo Diaz, was born in Trinidad and Tobago, graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and now lives in Shijiazhuang, China. His rich English teaching experience in China has included stints at universities,private training schools and even the Foreign Affairs Office of Hebei Province. Currently he is the co-owner of an English training school in Shijiazhuang and is working on numerous projects including a series of children’s books, a website for English learners and social media content creation. )