Last Tuesday at work, a new face was sitting at the communal computer in my office. Since we normally settle our visitors down at that computer, I thought that she was only another of those guests. I had things to do at my computer, and after we greeted each other I settled into my routine, plugged the earphones into my ears to listen to music while doing the work.
It was going to be just another normal day, but to my surprise the visitor started cleaning the empty desk next to mine some time after 16:00. Only then did it dawn on me that she was a new colleague! I took off my earphones in no time and introduced myself to her while apologising for being impolite for the whole day. She smiled and told me that she had wanted to talk to me earlier but decided against it since I had my earphones on.
I felt a little awkward because I certainly didn't mean to be cool towards her and I'm hardly that type of person! I only wanted to keep myself wakeful and alert at the computer with the music while doing some repetitive work.
Fortunately this brief moment of uneasiness went away as quickly as it came after we exchanged a couple of jokes about it.
Then it was my turn of my German colleagues, who asked her to help clean up everyone's place. The whole office burst into laughter with this interesting request! Well, it wasn't such a bad idea actually, since the cleaning lady of our department (responsible for cleaning some of the laboratory apparatus and the pantries) is always on leave and she's now on another one. This new colleague could have easily taken her place instead! This is one of the very few times I see German humour in action (maybe the only time I can catch it is when the people speak in English instead of German), but I will dare anyone to see or do anything like this in a Chinese setting - and doing this once would already be once too often ...
上星期二上班時，有個女人坐在辦公室的公用電腦，我以為是個普通訪客（因平時我們會安排訪客坐在那裡），那天我也要做些電腦工作，打個招呼後便如常用耳筒塞着耳朵，邊聽音樂邊工作。
下午四點多，驀然發覺那個女人正在清潔我隔鄰空着的桌子，我想了一想，難道她是新同事？我趕忙脫下耳筒，邊道歉邊向她自我介紹，她便微笑跟我說，她也本想跟我聊幾句了，祇是我一直戴着耳筒，以為有啥重要事要做，所以不敢打擾。
聽罷有點腼腆，我可不是個拒人於門外的人哪！我聽音樂還是為了提神，不然重覆的步驟做得久了，精神便不能那般集中。
幸好我們都沒有介懷，說了兩句笑後便沒事了。
這時輪到德國同事用英語跟她開玩笑，着她替所有人輪流清潔，大家都哈哈大笑。其實這個主意也不錯，實驗室的清潔女工（負責清潔實驗器具及小廚房）頻頻請假，最近亦然，這個新同事正好替補也！誰說一向嚴肅的德國人不懂幽默？（大抵我德語不靈，平常德國人說笑我一定不懂）但換了在中國人的地方，新同事的第一天便跟其開一個如此的玩笑，後果請自負！
It was going to be just another normal day, but to my surprise the visitor started cleaning the empty desk next to mine some time after 16:00. Only then did it dawn on me that she was a new colleague! I took off my earphones in no time and introduced myself to her while apologising for being impolite for the whole day. She smiled and told me that she had wanted to talk to me earlier but decided against it since I had my earphones on.
I felt a little awkward because I certainly didn't mean to be cool towards her and I'm hardly that type of person! I only wanted to keep myself wakeful and alert at the computer with the music while doing some repetitive work.
Fortunately this brief moment of uneasiness went away as quickly as it came after we exchanged a couple of jokes about it.
Then it was my turn of my German colleagues, who asked her to help clean up everyone's place. The whole office burst into laughter with this interesting request! Well, it wasn't such a bad idea actually, since the cleaning lady of our department (responsible for cleaning some of the laboratory apparatus and the pantries) is always on leave and she's now on another one. This new colleague could have easily taken her place instead! This is one of the very few times I see German humour in action (maybe the only time I can catch it is when the people speak in English instead of German), but I will dare anyone to see or do anything like this in a Chinese setting - and doing this once would already be once too often ...
上星期二上班時，有個女人坐在辦公室的公用電腦，我以為是個普通訪客（因平時我們會安排訪客坐在那裡），那天我也要做些電腦工作，打個招呼後便如常用耳筒塞着耳朵，邊聽音樂邊工作。
下午四點多，驀然發覺那個女人正在清潔我隔鄰空着的桌子，我想了一想，難道她是新同事？我趕忙脫下耳筒，邊道歉邊向她自我介紹，她便微笑跟我說，她也本想跟我聊幾句了，祇是我一直戴着耳筒，以為有啥重要事要做，所以不敢打擾。
聽罷有點腼腆，我可不是個拒人於門外的人哪！我聽音樂還是為了提神，不然重覆的步驟做得久了，精神便不能那般集中。
幸好我們都沒有介懷，說了兩句笑後便沒事了。
這時輪到德國同事用英語跟她開玩笑，着她替所有人輪流清潔，大家都哈哈大笑。其實這個主意也不錯，實驗室的清潔女工（負責清潔實驗器具及小廚房）頻頻請假，最近亦然，這個新同事正好替補也！誰說一向嚴肅的德國人不懂幽默？（大抵我德語不靈，平常德國人說笑我一定不懂）但換了在中國人的地方，新同事的第一天便跟其開一個如此的玩笑，後果請自負！
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