Shirking 9 to 5

譚云飛

Insomnia, baldness, and death by exhaustion: Chinese professionals have been vocal recently about the consequences of overwork in their country.

But not all “corporate cattle” penned up in offices are actually pulling their weight. According to Gallup’s 2013 “State of the Global Workplace” report, only 6 percent of employees in Chinese companies were “engaged” in their tasks at work at any given time.

In workplaces, colleagues who appear to put in long hours at their desks, but are in reality surfing the web or shopping online, are said to be 摸魚?(m4y%, “fishing,” literally “stroking the fish”). This term derives from the idiom 渾水摸魚?(h%nshu@-m4y%, fishing in murky waters), which refers to taking advantage of a confusion to advance their own interests.

Not all shirking is voluntary. Employees may feel obliged to prove their industry by working late even if they’ve finished all their tasks. A debate over this practice, dubbed “被迫摸魚式加班” (b-ip7 m4y%sh# ji`b`n, “forced overtime fishing”), received over 23,000 comments on Weibo in August. One user declared:

Our manager often works overtime and dislikes those who leave before him, so we have no choice but to fish after hours.

J~ngl@ j~ngch1ng ji`b`n, y0 b& x@huan z2o xi3b`n de r9n, w6men zh@h2o m4y%sh# ji`b`n.

經(jīng)理經(jīng)常加班，也不喜歡早下班的人，我們只好摸魚式加班。

The term can be used to cheekily express one’s own disinclination to work:

Tomorrow is National Day. I’ll just “fish” until we’re off for the holidays.

M!ngti`n ji&sh# Gu5q#ngji9 le, j~nti`n m4y% d0ng f3ngji3.

明天就是國(guó)慶節(jié)了，今天摸魚等

放假。

Laziness may be human nature, as partially evidenced in the ancient origin of another term for slacking off: 劃水?(hu1shu@, “paddling water”). It originally described boatmen who would half-heartedly splash their oars from side to side while their colleagues did the actual rowing. It was picked up by players of ?to refer to underperforming teammates, and then expanded to the realms of work and study.

Fans may use the term to deride the members of a sports team or musical group they dislike:

That band member forgot all her dance moves. She is definitely slacking.

N3ge n)tu1n ch9ngyu1n w^d2o d7ngzu7 d4u w3ng le, m!ngxi2n sh# z3i hu1shu@.

那個(gè)女團(tuán)成員舞蹈動(dòng)作都忘了，

明顯是在劃水。

A third term for those not engaged in their tasks, 打醬油?(d2 ji3ngy5u, “buying soy sauce”), originated in 2008 when a TV journalist approached a middle-aged man in the street for a comment on singer Edison Chen’s nude photo scandal. “關(guān)我什么事？我出來打醬油的。(Gu`n w6 sh9nme sh#? W6?ch$l1i d2 ji3ngy5u de. What’s it got to do with me? I just came out to buy soy sauce),” the apathetic citizen replied.

This expression is also used to show humility:

I won’t take any responsibility in this project. I’m just in it for experience.

W6 z3i zh-ge xi3ngm& li b% f&z9 sh9nme, ji&sh# l1i d2 ji3ngy5u de.

我在這個(gè)項(xiàng)目里不負(fù)責(zé)什么，就是來打醬油的。

From ancient boat convoys to Fortune 500 companies, no organization is safe from shirking; that is, until a deadline looms, and the boss requires all hands on desk to fix mistakes—by working overtime.