陈豪在北京的ABC美国公司工作，他在休息室里遇到了美国同事Amy。
(Office ambience)
CH：Hi Amy, how are you?
A：I’m fine, thank you. And you?
CH：还好。
A：So why the puzzled look on your face?
C：今天早上接到我的同事Sue的电子邮件，说想给另外一个同事Lyn开40岁的birthday party，生日派对。
A：Oh, how nice. What are the details of the party?
C：Sue要组织大家星期五在楼下的意大利餐馆吃饭，而且还得带个礼物去。
A：How do you feel about that?
C：我觉得有点尴尬。我跟Lyn并不熟，不知道该给她买点什么，另外我也不知道花多少钱合适。
A：I agree that these occasions can be uncomfortable, especially when you don’t know the person well or you are asked to buy a gift.
C：那我是不是应该给Sue发个email回绝算了呢？
A：This is not the time to send an e-mail. Your words might be misunderstood. You need to discuss this and e-mail does not lend itself to discussion.
C：要不我就说星期五已经安排了其他事儿？
A：That’s not a good idea, especially if everyone else in your department is participating. Talk to Sue.
C：那好吧。
******
第二天，陈豪在办公室走廊上遇到了Amy.
A：Hi, Chen Hao. How did it go? Did you talk to Sue?
C：我昨天下午去找Sue，跟她说了我的顾虑。
A：I’m curious to know what happened.
C：谈得还不错。她说另外还有几个人找过她，提出了各种问题。
A：Like what?
C：有的人说跟Lyn不熟, 买礼物好像不太合适。但是大家并不介意凑份子，一起给Lyn买个像样的礼物。
A：Sometimes with these events, people aren’t sure how much to spend, like you, and they don’t want to come off looking stingy or cheap. Occasionally someone just doesn’t have any extra money to spend on an unanticipated expense.
C：其实我手头也有点紧。
A：So did you work things out?
C：Sue决定大家一起凑钱给Lyn买礼物，每人只要交几块钱就行了。她还说，如果有人不愿意，也没有关系。
A：That sounds like you all came up with the perfect solution. It is always nice to recognize special occasions in the office, like birthdays, weddings and the arrival of babies.
C：不过我觉得，办公室里遇到这种事情，应该有一个大家都觉得合适的做法。
A：I agree. These occasions are opportunities to build relationships with our co-workers, get to know each other outside the office and have some fun together. B if everyone is not in agreement, you’ll create ill will instead of good will.