早就幻想过无数次跟这个工作白白的时候会说些什么，如何表现。我还以为是我在6月的某天平静地被开，临走时宽容得前嫌尽释，甚至可能很客气地跟橄榄说谢谢你的帮助什么的，也不枉在一堆虚假绅士中间混了那么久的日子。全然没想到会是这样的一个结果。为了不让橄榄得意到眼镜戴不住，以为是她把我吓跑的，我发了一封信给克里斯汀，全文如下：

　　Dear Mrs Campbell,

　　My name is Cristina Zhang, this morning we’ve just talked.

　　Please be advised that I’m going to quit this cleaning assistant job. Please find some relay(s) at your earliest convenience to keep the operation running well.

　　I’m not weak to say that due to any threat. Actually I have been thinking about this for quite a long time. The reason roots in the supervisor.

　　As you know, Olive is a VERY STRICT supervisor, which might be her strongest merit in your eyes. But when you only have weekly meetings with the supervisors, when you only listen to them carefully, you might have lost your correct judge about other numerous cleaners. Unfortunately, it is exactly those who are actually doing the job everyday. As a manager, you might have never tried the cleaning job in person, so you would ignore many details when you just try to imagine what is going to happen. If you have to keep clean of two classrooms, two lobbies, one stair and all the accessories within the area, will you do the same thing as what I’ve done–finish them as quickly as possible? And meanwhile, when you are trying your best to cover this, you are censured for some negligible reasons everyday, what will you feel?

　　Obviously, some dust will be left, between the wall and handrail, under chair, on the ledges beside the doors.

　　If this is the reason that a supervisor can throw stones at me?

　　Which is more important, sesame or the whole sky?

　　To be honest, this is the most terrible place I have ever worked in, and the most horrific“boss”I have ever met in my life.

　　I was told, clearly, that I can’t say bye from the office until 5 to 9. When I went earlier than that, I was ordered to stay. I was following that rule, 5 to 9. As I mentioned this morning, I have another main job after this part-time one Mon.-Fri. out of the university, so I have to run after I leave the library. Every time when I left earlier than 5 to 9, I was stopped by Olive. I think she meant that, 5 to 9. That’s why I was so surprised when you said her standard was 9 o’clock today, and even prosecute me relying on this despicable reason.

　　BTW, if you come to the office some day in the morning at a quarter to 9, you may find some“strict”supervisor smoking, drinking and chatting in there.

　　In a word, I feel lucky to quit this job and never come back. My suggestion is–try to speak to your real workers instead of to be cheated by a small group.

　　Best wishes for you and your workers.

　　Regards,Cristina

　　（译文一并奉上，谨供读者指正。）

　　亲爱的坎贝尔女士：

　　我的名字叫克里斯蒂娜;张，今天早上我们刚刚谈过话。

　　我谨声明我将退出清洁协助员一职。请尽快寻找替代人选以确保系统运转正常。

　　我并非软弱，迫于某种威胁而提出上述之言论。事实上我已考虑此事有相当久的一段时间。根源在于我的监管人身上。

　　正如你所知，Olive（橄榄）是一名非常严格的监管人。也许这正是她在你眼中最无可抵挡的强势优点。然而当你每周只与监管人们召开例行会议，当你仅对他们的意见仔细听取，你可能恰恰会丧失你对于其他众多清洁员工的正确评判。不幸的是，正是这些成千上万的员工在从事每日的基础工作。作为一名管理者，你也许从未尝试亲身实践清扫工作，因此你也许会忽略其中的若干细节，而仅凭想像力去弥补。试想如果你需要每天维护两个教室、两个大厅、一段楼梯及其周边一切设施的清洁，你是否会象我一样——尽快完成？与此同时，当你在竭尽全力，你却每日忍受无端指责，你会有怎样的感受？

　　很显然，一些尘土会留下来，在墙壁与扶手之间，在椅子下面，在门边的铝合金框上。

　　但一粒芝麻与整个天空，孰轻孰重？

　　坦率地说，这里是我所工作过的最可怕的地方，这个“老板”也是我所能接触到的最恐怖的人。

　　我曾被告知，非常清楚地告知，我必须在8点55以后才能从办公室离开。当我企图早于这个时间离开的时候，我会被勒令留下。我一直在遵守这个原则，8点55。我今天早上曾向你提到，我每天从这个兼职工作处离开后会去另一份全职工作，周一至周五，在学校外。因此每天离开图书馆后我都得狂奔。每次当我早于8点55离开时，橄榄都会阻止我。我想这正是她的意思：8点55。这就是为什么今天早上你对我说她的标准是9点整的时候我会如此惊讶。（我无法想像）她竟然会依靠一个如此卑鄙的理由来检举我。

　　顺便说，如果你能在某天早上8点45的时候到办公室来，你可能会碰见某位“严格的”监管人正在那里抽烟，喝茶和聊天。

　　总之，我觉得非常幸运，可以离开这个工作永不再回来。我的建议是——试着去与你真正的工人交谈，而不是被一小撮人蒙骗。

　　祝福你和你的工人们。

　　致礼

　　回想，我失去了一个月（暂且算还有一个月好了）的薪水220英镑，买回的是一份尊严，加上每天早上悠闲的2小时时光，还可以从此恢复穿高跟鞋职业装涂脂抹粉去上班。

　　我赚大了。