你听过“老狗学不了新把戏”吗?
One of the things I have noticed since I arrived to China that immediately caught my attention was that in many places or jobs you simply do not see older people. And older people does not mean in China men or ladies of 60 or 70 years old, old here sometimes it is 30 and definitely 40.
我来到中国后,有一件事情迅速地引起了我的注意,在很多地方和很多工作岗位,你基本上看不到上了年纪的人。而且在中国这个年纪大不是指六七十岁,有时候30多岁就算年纪大,更别提40岁了。
A good example that is still fresh in my mind and I will never forget is when I asked one of the drivers of our company how old he was (I had a person helping me with the translation) the answer of the driver was: I prefer not to tell you. I am sorry, I think that I am too old and I am afraid that once you know my age you may consider firing me because I am an old man for this job.
说个我印象非常深刻的例子。有一次我问我们公司的一位司机他的年纪(当然了,有人帮我翻译),司机说:“我不想告诉你,很抱歉,我太老了,我担心一旦你知道我的年纪有可能会考虑炒掉我,因为对于这份工作来说我太老了。”
Quite honestly I was very intrigued by this answer and told him not to worry that I was the Boss and I would not let anyone fire him whatever was his age. I asked about his age because he was telling us that he had a son in school that was really good at playing basketball, that he was very tall and was even able to dunk the ball and had potential to become a professional player. So I asked to myself “The kid must be at least 15 to 22 years old” so the driver must be around 40-45. After a few minutes of discussions he finally agreed to give me the information but was really scared. His he said was 16 years old and he was 42. So I was pretty close!
老实说,我对他这样的回答感到非常好奇,然后跟他说别担心,我是老板不会让任何人炒他的。其实我问他这个的原因是之前他告诉我他儿子在学校打篮球,个头很高还可以扣篮,有可能成为一名职业运动员。所以我猜,他儿子应该在15岁到22岁之间,这就意味着他应该是40-45岁的样子。几分钟的讨论之后他终于同意告诉我答案,但是看起来还是有些害怕。 他说他儿子16岁,自己42岁,我猜得还挺接近的!
I told the driver you are only 42 why are you saying you are old for this job? He replied: I am, I know I am old for this job, I was released by the previous company because they thought I was old for the job and quite honestly I am still very worried know that you know my age that I could lose my job again. At my age it is very difficult to find a new job.
我对司机说你只有42岁为什么说对于这份工作你太老了呢?他回答:“我确实老了。上一家公司不要我就是因为我太老了,而且老实说我现在还在担心你知道我的年纪之后我会不会再次失业,因为在我这个年纪很难再找到一份新的工作了。”
I told him: I am 10 years older than you! And he said: You don’t look your age, you look much younger and besides “YOU ARE THE BOSS” you can have any age and do not have to worry but I am simply a driver and I am 42 and I have to be very careful with people not finding out about my age and I am also extremely careful an care about my job, I have to do my best and make sure I please everyone with my driving, manners, looks, etc.
我告诉他:我比你大10岁!他说:“你看起来年轻多了,而且你是老板,你不需要担心年纪的问题,但我只是个司机,而且42岁了,我要非常小心,尽量不要让人知道我的年纪,我非常重视现在的工作,我要尽可能地取悦别人,在开车上也好,在平时的形象、行为也好。”
This conversation that I had with this man I would never forget and are the things that stick to my mind and teach me about the local culture, the way they think, the way the live, how the society works, etc.
One positive example that I have also experienced in Xiamen when I used to be in the stone industry and travel there a lot related to age and job position was that I saw how a driver of 24 years old in less than 6 years became the plant manager, yes from driver to plant manager! I could not believe this and the owner told me that he was really good managing people and the factory.
我永远不会忘记和司机的这番谈话,到现在还深刻在我的脑海,教会了我当地的文化,人们的思考方式,生活方式,这个社会如何运转等等。
还有一个正面的例子发生在厦门,当时我还在石材行业,经常去那里出差。它关于年龄和职位:一个24岁的小伙子司机在不到6年时间内成为了工厂厂长,是的,从一名司机成为了厂长!我不敢相信,那个企业老板说这个年轻人在人员管理和工厂管理上很厉害。
So the message here is that it does not really matter how old you are, how old you look, what really matters more is your attitude towards the work you do, the interest in keeping yourself up to date with change, with technology with the market new needs, and age simply does not matter!
所以,故事传递的信息是,重要的不是你的年纪多有大,看起来有多老,真正重要的是你对工作的态度,以不断提升新技能和紧贴市场新需求为追求和乐趣,年龄根本不重要。
Remember that if there is a will there is a way!
记住,有志者事竟成。
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