unit 1 party politics

1. Etiquette at an office party? Why, these people have been socializing happily every working day of their lives, give or take a few melees, rumors, and complaint petitions. All it takes to turn this into holiday merriment is a bit of greenery looped around the office―the staff will soon be looped, too. Surely it is enough that the annual Christmas party has the magic ingredients: time off from work, free food and drink, and a spirit of fun replacing such ugly work realities as sexual harassment.

2. Furthermore, partygoers figure, it offers relief from such pesky obligations as thanking anyone or being kind to wallflowers because there really aren’t any hosts. Nobody has to pay (that same Nobody who generously provides the telephone line for long-distance personal calls), and so nobody’s feelings need be considered.

3. This is all pure hospitality―there for the taking, like the office-supplied felt-tipped pens everyone has been pocketing all year. Out of the natural goodness of its corporate heart and the spirit of the holiday season, the company wishes only to give its employees a roaring good time, and the employees, out of loyalty and the thrill of getting to know their bosses off-duty as equals, delight in the opportunity.

4. For those still dimly aware of the once-standard give-and-take of real social life, this no-fault approach to business entertaining seems a godsend. In the now-rare domain of genuine society, hosts are supposed to plan and pay for the entertainment of their guests, on their own time and in their own houses. Guests have strict duties, as well―from answering invitations to cooperating with all arrangements, even to the extent of pronouncing them perfectly lovely.

5. Business entertaining appears to remove the burdens of time, effort, money, individual responsibility―and the etiquette connected with them. The people who do the planning are paid for their trouble, so those who benefit need not consider they have incurred a debt. Why, the annual Christmas party ought to be an inspiration to lower-level employees to work their way into realms where company-sponsored partying can be enjoyed all year long.

6. Not so fast. Flinty Miss Manners does not recognize any holidays from etiquette. (Employees, if not employers, should consider themselves lucky that she is only on the Party Committee, not the one that might take up ethical questions about those pens and calls.) Office parties differ from private ones but are no freer from rules.

7. If it were indeed true that everyone has a better time without etiquette, Miss Manners could easily be persuaded to take the day off. But having long served on the Office Party Etiquette Cleanup subcommittee, she is aware that things generally do not go well when there is no recognized etiquette and everyone is forced to improvise.

8. Let us look at all this spontaneous, carefree fun: There being no proper place for the boss, he or she hangs around the door, concerned about mixing with everyone. It might discourage hospitable bosses to see guests staring at them in horror and then slithering in by a side door. But etiquette’s solution of having everyone greeted in a receiving line was rejected as too stiff. So one can hardly blame employees for recalling a long-ingrained principle of the workplace: Seeing the boss and having a good time are best not scheduled at the same time.

9. Desperate to make the time count, the boss grabs the nearest available person and starts delivering practiced words about the contribution he makes to their great enterprise. The reaction is not quite what was hoped for. Discreet questioning establishes that this is an employee’s guest. He doesn’t work for the company, recognize the boss, or appreciate the attention―and, as a matter of fact, has only a passing acquaintance with the employee who issued the invitation. What this guest wants is not professional fellowship but a fresh drink, if the boss would kindly step out of the way.

10. Now, the reason the invitation said “and guest” was to avoid the ticklish issue of who is still married to whom and what the spouse calls itself. Last year, unmarried employees were furious when their partners were not included, and married employees complained that the forms by which their spouses were addressed were offensive: “Mrs.” offended women who preferred “Ms.,” and wives who had the same surnames outraged everybody who didn’t. This year, the complaints will be from spouses who were not told that there was a party or who were told that spouses weren’t invited―but found out otherwise. There won’t be many complaints. They will, however, be memorable, darkly charging the company with promoting immorality.

11. Meanwhile, what about those who are interested in promoting a bit of immorality, or just plain romance, of their own? They, too, are creating problems that will reach far into the new year. True office romances are the least of them, with their charges of favoritism and melding professional and personal time. More serious is the fact that, in spite of the liquor and high spirits, it still counts as sexual harassment when anyone with supervisory powers makes unreciprocated overtures to a lower-ranking employee. And foolhardy when a lower-ranking employee annoys a higher-ranking one.

12. Some employees have their minds only on business and will be spending party time actively promoting workaday concerns. Remembering the company rhetoric about open communications and all being in this together, they will actually seek out the boss, who by this time is grateful to be addressed by anyone at all.

13. But they don’t want to engage in platitudes. They accept compliments with: “Well, then how about a raise?” They plead for promotions, explain confidentially who ought to be fired, and advance previously submitted ideas about revolutionizing the business that have been unaccountably unappreciated for years. In one evening, they manage to cut through the entire hierarchy and procedures the boss has painstakingly established for the purpose of being spared this kind of importuning.

14. Eventually―usually somewhat late in the party―it occurs to someone that this informal setting is just the time to offer the boss some constructive personal criticism. What else does talking frankly and informally mean but an invitation to unload opinions without any career consequence?

15. Here is where the company has pulled a fast one on its employees. “Go ahead,” it has said, “relax, have a good time, forget about the job.” And the naive have taken this at face value. This event is called a party―a place where one lets loose without worrying about being judged by the cold standard of professional usefulness.

16. Even employees who adhere strictly to standard business dress in the office may not know what the bosses might consider vulgar in evening wear. Here is a chance to show off their racy and imaginative off-duty clothes. But over there are supervisors murmuring that people who look like that can’t really be sent out to represent the company.

17. Worse are the comments on anyone whose idea of fun is a little boisterous. It may be just the behavior that makes one a delight―or a trial―to one’s friends. But here, it is not being offered for the delight or tolerance of friends. It is being judged on criteria other than whether the person is a riot.

18. It is not that Miss Manners wants to spoil the office party by these warnings. She just wants to prevent it from spoiling careers. And the solution is what was banished from the party for being too inhibiting: etiquette.

19. The first formality that must come back is inviting everyone by name. The practice of merely counting every invitation as two is as dangerous as it is unflattering. But people who have been clearly identified and told that they must respond―the suggestion must be made neutrally, to show that the party is a treat, not a requirement―already have some sense that they are both individually sought after and expected to be responsible.

20. What constitutes a couple is a murkier question than Miss Manners and any sensible employer ought to investigate, but employees simply can be asked to supply the name of a spouse or friend they want to invite. (An office party can be limited by confining it to employees, in which case it should be held during office hours. But inviting spouses and such is better. Having to work is enough distraction from one’s more intimate relationships, and the staff was not compiled like a guest list, according to personal compatibility.)

21. Since we have established, Miss Manners hopes, that the point of an office party is not whooping it up or telling people off, what is it? It is showing appreciation of the staff.

22. This starts with a well-run receiving line. However much popular opinion may regard receiving lines as nasty ordeals, they were invented to be, and remain, the easiest way to get everyone recognized by the key people. The oldest receiving-line trick in the world still works: Someone whose business it is to know everyone―or someone unimportant enough to be able to ask each guest his name―announces the guests to the host as they go through the line. The host can then scornfully declare: “Of course I know Annette. We couldn’t run this place without her.” For extra charm, the employee’s guest is also told how wonderful that employee is. This always seems more sincere than straight-out flattery, and from then on, whenever the employee complains that everyone at the office is an idiot, the spouse will counter by repeating that appreciation.

23. It is often erroneously assumed that the style of the party ought to be what employees are used to: their own kind of music, food, and other things the executive level believes itself to have outgrown. Nonsense. What employees want is a taste of high-level entertaining. This may vary greatly according to the nature of the business. If, however, the party is too formal for the employees’ taste, they’ll get a good laugh and enjoy the contrast all the more when they continue partying on their own afterward.

24. The clever employee will dress as the executives do, keeping in mind that there are few fields in which people are condemned for looking insufficiently provocative. Refusing or limiting drinks is not the handicap at business parties that it may be under the overly hospitable eye of a private host. And the real opportunity for career advancement is not petitioning a boss but rescuing one who has been cornered or stranded, thus demonstrating that one knows how to talk charmingly about nonbusiness matters.

25. At the end, there` is another receiving line. That is, the bosses plant themselves conspicuously by the exit, grabbing the hand of anyone trying to get away and thanking him for coming. Even the dimmest guest will then realize it is appropriate to thank back―that is, to realize that something has been offered and deserves gratitude.

26. After all, isn’t that why the office Christmas party is given?

27. If the only goal were for the company to show the staff its appreciation, this could be effectively done with a day off and a bonus to go with it.

　

Background information

Judith Martin(1938-- ) ： a columnist. She was born in Washington DC of the United States and graduated from Wellesley College . She lived in various foreign capitals as a child, as her father, a United Nations economist, was frequently transferred. She worked at the Washington Post for 25 years, covering social events at the White House and the embassies, before becoming a theater and drama critic. As she spent her time as a reporter, she became aware of the fact that manners and proper etiquette was slowly diminishing in the United States . In 1978, she created the Miss Manners column answering questions on etiquette. The column is now syndicated. She has written ten books and two novels.

As her work as Miss Manners grew, situations began to arise that had never been broached before. She was called upon to provide answers to difficult situation. These answers have become the basis for polite society today. Her columns, as well as her books, have become the guidelines for handling everything from rude clerks to the proper way of handling second and third marriages. Her sly wit made reading about etiquette downright fun. She once explained that etiquette “ is about all of human social behavior” and is “a little social contract we make that we will restrain some of our more provocative impulses in return for living more or less harmoniously.”

  ( from an interview with Judith Martin by the Psychology magazine in 1998). 　

Miss Manners: The fictional figure created by columnist Judith Martin. It appears in columns of varied newspapers and magazines in the United States. 　

receiving line: A line of people formed to greet arriving guests individually, as at a formal gathering. This custom still survives to this day. It is a quaint and deadly dull tradition which is often practiced at wedding receptions, funerals, and almost anyplace where the food is really good.

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Paraphrases and Language Points

1. etiquette, propriety, protocol, decorum (para.1)

These nouns refer to codes governing correct behavior ( 礼仪、礼节 ).

etiquette and the plural form proprieties denote the forms of conduct prescribed in polite society.

e.g. ――Man is a slave to etiquette.

――Even when she was angry, she observed the proprieties.

protocol refers to the official etiquette observed in affairs of state. The word now often denotes simply a code of correct conduct:

e.g. ――The visiting prime minister, dispensing with protocol, exchanged informal reminiscences with her neighbor at the table.

―― Graduation exercises had to be consistent with academic protocol.

decorum and the singular form propriety denote conformity with established standards of manners or behavior.

e.g. ―― One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum?

―― He was afraid that, from some obscure motive of propriety she would bring Janet with her.

2. melee (para.1): a confused, hand-to-hand fighting in a pitched battle or confused, tumultuous mingling, as of a crowd.

e.g. ―― The man tried hard to push his way through a melee of bicycles and crowd.

―― During the rush-hour melee, John lost his briefcase.

3. petition (para.1): a solemn request to a superior authority (as a noun) or to ask for or request formally (as a verb).

e.g. ――The town’ s people sent a petition to the government asking for electric light for the town.

―― They petitioned for an early end to the fighting.

4. pesky(para.2) : being troublesome or annoying.

e.g. ―― He could not sleep last night because of the pesky mosquito.

―― The pesky weather could only worsen her sorrow and frustration.

5. Nobody has to pay (that same Nobody who generously provides the telephone line for long-distance personal calls), and so nobody’s feelings need be considered.(para.2)

In this sentence, the three “nobody” connotes that everything in the office party is free since there is not any host in the traditional sense.

6. thrill (para.3): to cause to feel a sudden intense sensation (as a verb) or a source or cause of excitement or emotion (as a noun).

e.g. ―― The traveler thrilled us with his stories.

―― It gave me a thrill to know I had passed the examination.

7. For those still dimly aware of the once-standard give-and-take of real social life, this no-fault approach to business entertaining seems a godsend.(papa. 4)

In this sentence, the expression “the once-standard give-and-take” refers to the conventional idea that if one wants to take or gain something he has to give or pay at the same time. The word “no-fault” means being free from duty or obligation.

8. incur (para.5) : to acquire or come into (something usually undesirable).

e.g. ――More than half of these companies incurred substantial losses during the stock market crash.

―― His irresponsibility and dishonesty incurred the anger of his friends.

9. Flinty Miss Manners does not recognize any holidays from etiquette.(para.6)

This is a metaphorical expression implying that etiquette or appropriate deeds of act are still necessary for the more relaxing occasion such as a party.

10. hang around (para.8) : to spend time idly or to keep company with someone else.

e.g. ―― Having no mood to read the books, he hanged around on campus.

―Her parents wanted to know more about the friends their daughter has been hanging around with for the past several months.

11. ingrained (para.8) : being firmly established or deep-seated.

e.g. ―― It an ingrained prejudice that intelligence concerns one’s skin color.

―― No one can persuade him to get rid of the ingrained habits of a decade.

12. Discreet questioning establishes that this is an employee’s guest. (para.9)

This sentence means that the by way of asking several questions in a careful and clever way the boss finds out that the guest is not one of the employees in the company.

discreet: marked by, exercising, or showing prudence and wise self-restraint in speech and behavior

e.g. ――The secretary is very discreet. She never tells anyone unconcerned anything about the company's business.

―― One should drive at a discreet distance from the vehicles ahead.

13. a passing acquaintance (para.9): someone with whom one is not very familiar except seeing or greeting for one or two times.

14. Now, the reason the invitation said “and guest”…(para.10)

In this sentence, “and guest” refers to the expression commonly written on an invitation meaning the partner the invitee is with for attending a party.

15. They will, however, be memorable, darkly charging the company with promoting immorality.(para.10)

These spouses who did not go to the party would remember this event and accuse the company for encouraging their employees to tell lies. The word immorality in this sentence indicates the act of lying or cheating the spouse.

16. True office romances are the least of them, with their charges of favoritism and melding professional and personal time.(para.11)

This sentence implies that generally those who intend to have some romantic affairs will not develop a relation with a colleague of the company because such a behavior will be regarded as inappropriate. And persons who do have such a romantic relation would tend to be criticized as favoring one particular employee over others or mixing business with private life.

favoritism: a display of partiality toward a favored person or group

e.g. ―― It was a badly run enterprise where the management appointed people by favoritism.

―― During those years, the joint ventures investing in this special economic development zone enjoyed substantial public favoritism from local government.

meld: to mix or combine

e.g. ―― Looking afar from the beach, swimmers could see the white clouds and an azure sky melded.

― The new prescription is claimed to be a meld of traditional Chinese and western medicine.

17. unreciprocated (para.11): not showing or giving in response or return

e.g. ―― The clerk was disappointed when realizing that his business proposal was actually an unreciprocated one.

―― Good wishes should never be unreciprocated.

18. have one’s mind on (para.12): mind or care about something

e.g. ―― Peter has his mind on cars, he never talks about anything else.

―― Mary cannot forget her first lover and she will probably have her mind on him for the rest of her life.

19. platitude (para.13): a cliché or banal remark

e.g. ―― There is nothing original in his article but a pile of words and expressions full of platitudes.

―― This book on etiquette is no more than water-and- milk platitude.

20. unaccountably (para.13): surprising or not easily explained

e.g. ―― The photographer was enraged because his works was unaccountably withdrawn from the gallery.

――The young man had to see the doctor for his recent unaccountably forgetful behavior.

21. In one evening, they manage to cut through the entire hierarchy and procedures the boss has painstakingly established for the purpose of being spared this kind of importuning.(para.13)

This sentence means that those business-minded employees hope to have a promotion or have their business ideas appreciated or proposals approved by their bosses in a shortest time. But actually the bosses have worked for years to build up the steps or blocks which are intended to avoid employees to make such a request.

spare of: to avoid or to be free from

e.g. ―― You might have a relief once you are spared of all the duties.

―― He tried his best to be spared of trouble in this project.

importune: to ask for urgently or repeatedly.

e.g. ―― The child importuned the mother to take him to the amusement park again.

―― Don’t give him money. He would only importune more for it from you.

22. What else does talking frankly and informally mean but an invitation to unload opinions without any career consequence? (para.14)

This sentence means that the idea of frank and free talk implies one could speak out to the boss without worrying that his career would be affected by the not-so-nice words towards the boss.

23. pull a fast on sb.(para.15): to play a trick on someone as in a magic show

24. let loose (para.15): to give someone freedom or the chance to make changes or be in charge

e.g. ―― Who let the teacher loose on that class?

―― An inexperienced politician should not be let loose to run the party.

25. What constitutes a couple is a murkier question than Miss Manners and any sensible employer ought to investigate… (para.20)

This sentence implies that it is very difficult to know who and who will come to the party as a couple.

26. Having to work is enough distraction from one’s more intimate relationships, and the staff was not compiled like a guest list, according to personal compatibility.(para.20)

This sentence means that working away from home has affected the close relationship among family members. If the employees’ spouses or friends are not invited to the party, the invitations would not look like the guest lists in the real sense which identify guests together with their agreeable or harmonious partners.

compatibility: the ability of existing or performing in harmonious, agreeable, or congenial combination with another or others:

e.g. ――More and more people realize that spending quality time together is one of the best ways to enhance the compatibility of family relationships.

―― The negotiators have attempted to prove that compatibility between the two political parties is not only possible but also feasible.

27. whoop it up (para.21): to have a wild and enjoyable time usually with drink (alcohol)

e.g. ―― Let’s go to the party and whoop it up.

―― The graduates whooped it up all night in the disco.

28. tell off (para.21): to find fault with someone

e.g. ―― The director told John off for being late for work again.

―― If we don’t want to be told off, we’d better hurry up in processing the task.

27. counter (para.22): to go against or oppose

e.g. ―― It turned out that what he had done countered his promise.

―― To my surprise, she countered my proposal with one of her own

29. outgrow (para.23): to lose or discard in the course of maturation

e.g. ――During the stay in the city all by herself he outgrew her youthful idealism

―― When he turned into his forties, he seemed to outgrow all the bad habits he had formed for years.

30. The clever employee will dress as the executives do, keeping in mind that are few fields in which people are condemned for looking insufficiently provocative.(para.24)

This sentence means that the smart employee will wear the same or similar style of clothes as that of the boss because they understand that less bold or vulgar dress is safer and will be free from blame and unfavorable judgment by others.

provocative: causing or interest or other emotive reaction

e.g. ―― Inspired by the provocative speech delivered by that politician, the demonstrators marched to the city hall to have a sit-in.

―― What the opponents have done are highly provocative.

31. Refusing or limiting drinks is not the handicap at business parties that it may be under the overly hospitable eye of a private host.(para.24)

This sentence implies that at office parties the guests could refuse to drink or drink as less as they like without being complained. But at a private party, due to the hospitality of the host and out of politeness, the guests have to drink more than they want to.

32. corner(para.24): to force someone into a difficult or threatening situation

e.g. ―― The company was cornered for the last business quarter due to the sluggish market.

―― The police cornered the bank robber in the building.

strand(para.24): to bring into or leave in a difficult or helpless position

e.g. ―― The convoy was stranded in the desert.

―― He was stranded in the strange town without money or friends.